Oakwell Hall has fast become our favourite place for a walk, it's so close by and just the right walk so my little one doesn't completely wipe out! Yesterday we took advantage of the sun and headed over there.
It's quite a difference now of course with most of the trees bare of their leaves.
This is the same shot of the photo at the top of this post - big difference!
The birds were a bit scarce but it was mid afternoon and quite busy. We did see Long Tailed Tits, Goldfinch, Robins, Blackbirds, Crows, Magpies and Blue Tits.
This Gorse bush was in full bloom and looked quite striking.
This walkway doesn't have quite the same impact with the bare branches.
We came across a fair bit of fungi, which is fast becoming a favourite to hunt out - weird I know, who'd have thought i'd have such a liking for fungus!! I was very excited when my stepson spotted these Fly Agaric, an iconic fungi, which i've never actually seen before in the 'flesh'.
Of course then we saw quite a few dotted about. There were plenty of others too including these tiny little ones on a lot of tree stumps - no idea what they are though. It's not the greatest picture but if anyone has ideas?
We saw plenty of others too and though I keep forgetting I will get a guide and try and id these - it will be nice to put a name to what we see!
Thought i'd end with this giant leaf we discovered, which is next to my hubby size ten foot for a guide. I'm ashamed to say that I only think it's a Sycamore leaf and really I should know exactly what it is!
Our squirrel has become quite a regular over the past couple of weeks. This week when I went out to top up the feeders I discovered he had not been happy at the lack of nuts on the tray!!
He's decided to have a go at the plastic instead! So now I'm making sure there are plenty of nuts on the tray, which is also pleasing the Blue Tits and a Magpie too. The Magpie fills his beak with a row of nuts and then flies off to elsewhere to eat them.
The garden is keeping busy with lots of birds and no sign of the Sparrowhawk again. The Coal Tits are visiting every day that I see my garden (don't always get to see it in daylight these days!), there have been up to three now and again. The regulars - Goldfinch, Blue Tits, Dunnocks, House Sparrows, Starlings, Blackbirds, Collared Doves - are being joined by the odd Great Tit and a Robin, which has started to appear a lot more too.
We had a Wren in the garden for a while last Sunday, it even managed to cling to the patio doors for a while so we had an amazing view of this beautiful little bird. I've had my first sighting in many months of Mistle Thrushes in the garden when a pair landed in the tree briefly last week.
So as usual with the weather getting worse, it gets better for seeing the garden birds!
What a day today, torrential rain and strong winds. We were going to pay a visit to Adel Dam today but decided against going anywhere! The rain has brought out many garden birds though and the garden has been non stop all morning.
There are 9 Collared Doves sat in the tree right now looking very bedraggled. We have had about a dozen Goldfinch too. House Sparrows, Starlings, Blackbirds, Blue Tits and a Dunnock have been around too. A lone Magpie has been sat in the tree but can't quite bring itself to come down for the bread. They often perch in the trees but i've rarely seen them in the garden.
Earlier in the week we went over to Blackpool - purely a touristy visit but I did manage to get a couple of pictures of the large flocks of Starlings flying about over the pier.
Oakwell Hall has fast become our favourite place for a walk, it's so close by and just the right walk so my little one doesn't completely wipe out! Yesterday we took advantage of the sun and headed over there.
The birds were a bit scarce but it was mid afternoon and quite busy. We did see Long Tailed Tits, Goldfinch, Robins, Blackbirds, Crows, Magpies and Blue Tits.
We came across a fair bit of fungi, which is fast becoming a favourite to hunt out - weird I know, who'd have thought i'd have such a liking for fungus!! I was very excited when my stepson spotted these Fly Agaric, an iconic fungi, which i've never actually seen before in the 'flesh'.
We saw plenty of others too and though I keep forgetting I will get a guide and try and id these - it will be nice to put a name to what we see!
Thought i'd end with this giant leaf we discovered, which is next to my hubby size ten foot for a guide. I'm ashamed to say that I only think it's a Sycamore leaf and really I should know exactly what it is! 
