Location Summary
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT) nature reserve with extensive woodland and lakes. Numerous hides. Good waymarked trails over a variety of distances.
Possibility of seeing: Heron, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Canada Geese, Mute Swan, Oyster Catchers, Coot, Little Egret, Redshank...and many more.
Visitor Centre, shop and cafe.
Recommend taking a trail map from the Visitor Centre.
Website: YWT Potteric Carr
Car Park: Free Parking
Fee: £5 (2022)
Expand to see Walks including this Place Event (Click To View)
None
Captain's Log
Goldfinch
27/09/22
Black-winged Stilt
The last time I visited Potteric Carr was in July. The best viewing hide at the time was Piper Marsh. I went in today, but the lake had drained (or dried up) to a small area. I read an interesting notice on the wall though...
It related to pair of Black-winged Stilts that had bred on the lake in May. They arrived on the 24th Many and had produced four chicks by the 14th of June. I remember seeing a large bird attacking other birds on the lake back on the 8th of July. It appeared to be repeatedly attacking anything on the Lake. Looking at my photos, this was definitely one of the Black-winged Stilts. It is a very rare bird, and the nesting success is the furtherst north ever recorded in Britain. In the 50 years to 2021 only 23 young had fledged in the UK.
Black-winged Stilt In Attack Mode 08/07/22
Protective Black-winged Stilt 08/07/22
Wicker Man
Osprey
I chatted with one of the workers doing some maintenance work and I said that there weren't many people around. She said that a lot of people will have gone down to Sprotborough Flash to see the Osprey. I'd seen on social media that there was an Osprey around, but as might be expected, people are vague with location. There have been some stunning photos of it on social media. I did think about going down there myself after I'd finished at Potteric Carr, but I suspected it would be packed out with people. I'll maybe catch it next year.
The Konik ponies were just stood around, almost in the same place that I saw them on my first visit. They are used to prevent the marshland from overgrowing and creating new habitat for ground nesting birds.
I followed the trail in the wooded section. Didn't see much wildlife but I though the wicker man sculptures were quite good.
The site was pretty quiet on this visit. At least the Goldfinches added a bit of colour.
Shieldbug
08/07/22
First Visit
I knew I was in for a good day when I spotted a Kestrel hovering above the traffic lights just outside Potteric Carr visitor centre. It was dead centre over this huge expanse of tarmac and I wondered what it thought it might find; it seemed an odd hunting location.
In the Visitor Centre, the entrance attendant offered me a map of the nature reserve. I'm really glad I took it since the reserve covers a huge area and has many trails and hides. Its boundary includes the M18, a dual carriage way into Doncaster and the main East railway line. Sometimes you can hear traffic or trains, but you can't see them because of the woodland. Some of the paths wind about and it is easy to become disorientated. The map is very useful and great for directing you to the various hides.
Out of all the hides, I found that Piper Marsh had the best view. It is also the furthest away from the Visitor Centre. There were many birds, including Herons and Little Egrets. A Redshank entertained us by dive bombing every other bird on the lake.
Despite the large number of cars in the car park, I came across very few people on the trails themselves. The hides with good views were fairly busy.
It took me about 4 hours to wander around all of the trails. Great place and I'm sure I'll return.