Churwell Urban Woodlands and beyond

A couple of weekends ago we took a long walk around the woods and made a little detour over the M621 too.

I didn't take as many photos as I thought, the weather was a bit dull and blustery though so it wasn't the best day for them.

A few plants were flowering by the stream, not too many but enough to add a splash of colour to a bit of a dark shady spot.

Marsh Marigold (Thanks Louise!)

The shapes of the trees are fascinating

On the other side of the motorway we saw our first Skylark of the year, it rose up over us singing loudly. Though we didn't see much else here, i'll keep doing the detour through the year to see what else it brings. 

We did see lots of blossom!

Back in the woods we walked right down to the bottom of the Pit Hill Fields where they join Churwell New Village, the stream runs alongside the field mostly hidden but opens out at the bottom, a Kingfisher and Mallards have been seen here recently but not while we where there! 

We walked a different way round the field back towards the woods, another (or the same) Skylark was now over the field rising and falling and singing, the song was the soundtrack to a big chunk of our walk! 

Lots of the trees were covered in this bright yellow lichen

View from the top of the Pit Hills, the stream runs through the trees, you can just see the M621 past the trees and the green field is where we first saw a Skylark

A few weeks back the Highways Agency started planting trees at the side of the motorway near the woods and the tunnel that leads under the motorway. The Churwell Environmental Volunteers who look after the area have been asking for this for some years so were very pleased to find out they are planting about 400 trees - Silver Birch, Oak, Holly, Hawthorn and bird friendly shrubs. 

The spot shown in the second photo already has a few small trees and we had a very close encounter with a Goldcrest there earlier in the week.

The ponds and parts of the streams were full of frog spawn, we didn't see any actual frogs though.

Lots of shoots are coming up in the water now too

The bird hide area is proving very popular with people and birds! We saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker, lots of Blue/Great Tits, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Magpie and Dunnock.

A good mornings walk and I added a Skylark to this years patch list. 

Fairburn Ings

On Tuesday a much needed walk was had at Fairburn, It was a frosty morning but sunny and quite lovely.

We spent a quite a bit of time watching the birds on the feeders around the reserve. The water itself from the Pickup hide was quiet, we could see Herons and Cormorants in the distance in the trees though.

Reed Bunting

 Chaffinch

 Blue Tit

 Great Spotted Woodpecker

 Robin

 Greenfinch

 Long-tailed Tit

 Dunnock

Willow Tit

The highlight of the morning was watching a Water Rail fishing right in front of the Kingfisher screen (I believe it's still there now), all the fish have piled up in the water in front of the screen for some reason and it's perfect for the Rail.

There was a moment when a Kingfisher landed further down in the trees but it was straight off again, too quick for anything other than a very blurry photo with a blue dot in the middle!

A stop for tea and flapjack and onto Lin Dyke. A Heron was hiding in the reeds across the road from the car park.The cattle were very noisy this morning, I don't think i've ever heard so much noise from them.

We saw a several birds including Teal, Moorhens, Little Egret, Shelduck, Canada Geese and quite a few Blackbirds in the hedgerows.

We only went as far as the hide, which looked like it had been used for a party, cans of beer and vodka bottles had been thrown into the water :( who does that?! It was quiet out on the water here too.

Adel Dam & Golden Acre

Saturday saw mini me and myself heading for Golden Acre with plans for a leisurely walk around the Dam and Breary Marsh as we had plenty of time and the weather, for most of the day, looked fine.

We made good time and were there early enough there wasn't too many people about. Right away by the car park we had a Robin singing at us, the whole place was just full of them, we saw Robins at every turn all day long. Beautiful birds so this isn't a complaint!

On the lake were the usual Mallards, Canada Geese, Tufted Ducks, a few farmyard type ducks and a pair of Mandarin. I caught a Swan flying across.

We went through to the Dam, which as always was pretty much people free, we saw I think 4 or 5 people the whole time we were in there. Part of me is pleased as it's lovely to have the place to ourselves but then I think what people are missing. 

Straight away a pair of really noisy Jays were flying about in the tops of the trees, we saw at least two possibly three pairs as we walked around. Unfortunately they didn't settle for long and instead played peekaboo when it came to the camera!

We sat a while in the marsh hide, which had half a dozen squirrels running about, the usual Blue/Great/Long Tailed Tits, Chaffinch, Robin, Mallard and Moorhen. Just about to leave when a Nuthatch flew in.

The woods were full of more Nuthatch, Tits, Blackbirds and Pheasants. Hopping up the steps to the lake hide was a Song Thrush, beautiful!

The lake itself was pretty quiet, a few Moorhen, Mallard and Woodpigeon along the edge.

We spent a bit of time exploring the woods and along the path parallel with the field were more Jays and the best part of the morning a Great Spotted Woodpecker putting on a show on some felled trees. It was a joy to watch and we spent a good twenty minutes doing so.

There was some lovely splashes of colour around the reserve.

Back into Goldenacre, which is now quite busy, I heard something singing away, a Blackcap, first of the year. Unfortunately is was scared off by the throngs before I could get a good photo. 

Surprising to see a Stock Dove in the trees, not something that you see very often, or I don't at least!

A quick lunch in the cafe conservatory saw us watching Red Kites flying overhead, always a great bird to see. A rabbit was hidden away not far from the cafe too, we saw a couple through the day. 

On to Breary Marsh with Chiffchaffs all through the woods, we'd heard several around the reserve but they'd stayed pretty much out of sight. On the pond were a pair of Canada Geese, Tufted Ducks, Mallard and Moorhens with 3 Sand Martins flying over the water. 

We were travelling on public transport which has the odd perk, in this case deer spotting! We've seen deer before in the grounds of the water treatment works in Far Headingley, which due to the buildings, walls etc around it you can only really see into it from the top deck of a bus, good for us as we saw a deer on the far side near the trees, excellent. A great end to our day (and a handy little tip if you ever happen to be heading that way on a double decker)!