Tuesday 16 July 2019

Rodley Nature Reserve

We spent a a little time at Rodley a couple of Sundays ago. It was sunny and warm and the reserve was full of Butterflies. We watched a Kingfisher fishing in the reeds and saw a large flock of young birds flit through the trees - Great, Blue Tits, Chiffchaff, Blackcap.

Heron



Blue Tits - the youngsters were all over the plants and were lovely to watch




Heron


Coot & Lapwings


Little Grebe


Kingfisher


Chiffchaffs (I think!)




Reed Warbler - we saw a few but they stayed well hidden!


Large Skipper


My husband spotted this newly emerged Comma


Speckled Wood 


Small Tortoiseshell



Soldier Beetles were everywhere


Comma


Meadow Brown



Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet Moth 


More Peacock caterpillars



14 comments:

  1. Lovely to see the freshly emerged comma! Looks like a great trip!

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    1. Yes, it's the first time i've (knowingly) seen a newly emerged butterfly!

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  2. One of the great pleasures for a naturalist at this time of the year is to see the renewal of life and I can only imagine that encountering all these recently fledged songbirds was a source of particular joy. Many of them will not make it to breed next year but others will survive to perpetuate the species.

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    1. It certainly was, I was reluctant to move on!

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  3. Really love all the butterflies, and my favorite shot is the Little Grebe sooo pretty! Summer is marching onto fall and those babies will become part of the bird population of the world.

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    1. They are beautiful little birds, there were two diving about the reeds!

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  4. It looks a wonderful reserve and how lovely to see the newly emerged Comma :) I love the Heron and young Blue Tit photos.

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    1. I loved watching the Blue Tits, there were so many of them!

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  5. Great post Pam, it's such a great place to see a great range of "nature" I really must get round to going soon. Loved your photos, especially the Blue tit, think you should get that one framed and put it on your wall.
    Amanda xx

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    1. Thanks Amanda :o, I do love the Blue Tit photo! It's just blooming there at the moment, so much to see (and if you go when it opens on a Wednesday I should think a little quieter too!) x

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  6. Lovely photos of birds and butterflies, what a super place to visit:)

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  7. Lovely pictures Pam, especially the butterflies. I find it really difficult to photograph them as they just fly off as soon as I focus on them! Love the Comma one :)

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    1. Thanks Sharon, they can be very flighty, some more than others!

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