Bolton Abbey

We spent Good Friday at Bolton Abbey - getting a early start to have a wonder before the crowds arrived. It was a beautiful day and as we walked up through the Strid Woods we only came across a handful of people - it was very peaceful with only the birdsong and the sound of the river around us.

I heard a noise off the path and spotted a Roe Deer just up in the woods - we stopped to watch as it stood for a while, another joined it before they both ran off - a beautiful moment!

We soon spotted Dippers on the river and Kingfishers too, the Dippers were not hanging around for photos at first though and the Kingfishers landed too far away, I managed a distant blurry shot of one!

The woods were filled with Chaffinch, Robins, Blue, Great, Coal and Long Tailed Tits, Wrens, Jackdaws and Nuthatches we also saw Song and Mistle Thrushes.

On the river there were quite a few pairs of Mallards - I saw my first youngsters of the year, a lone Goosander and the odd Pied Wagtail on rocks.

On the banks the Sand Martins are already quite at home and we saw quite a few flying in and out the holes there - one even briefly landed on a fence post nearby.

There were plenty of butterflies amongst the flowers we saw Small Whites, Orange Tips, Peacocks and Red Admirals.
I also saw my first Swallows of the year too flying about a nearby farm, I haven't seen them in the local haunts yet. I'll post about the Dippers in my next post.