Adel Dam

Back in July we spent a Sunday morning at Adel Dam, as usual it was fairly quiet despite the number of people in the adjoining Golden Acre Park. The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust had a little information desk set up at the entrance and we had a nice chat with the guy there.

With it being quiet we spent quite a bit of time in each hide, which turned out to be a good thing. From the Marsh Hide, a lot of Blue and Great Tits on the feeders with a couple of Chaffinch on the table. In the undergrowth we saw a squirrel and rabbit. Then in flew in a Great Spotted Woodpecker and put on quite a show, it was lovely to watch.

We spent about 40 minutes in the lake hide, on our own the whole time. Overhead we saw a Red Kite in the distance and over to the right over the trees a Buzzard.

A Heron flew into the trees followed by another which flew right across in front of the hide. Mallard and Tufted ducks with young were dotted about. Then we spotted not one but three Kingsfishers, these birds are a joy to watch and we tracked them flying around the lake for quite a while. They never made it close enought for a great photo but we were happy enough to just enjoy plus anything that can capture my 8 yr olds attention for that long is always a bonus!

Part of me was pleased it was so quiet but then of course just look at what people are missing out on!

St Aidan's Nature Reserve

I paid a visit to the newly opened RSPB reserve at the weekend. What a beautiful place it is, we spent a lot longer there than we planned and still didn't walk around it all. The wide pathways make it easy to get around and there is definitely plenty to see!

It's full of nesting Black Headed Gulls and I saw chicks for the first time, spotty little things, nothing like the adults!

Here's a list of the birds we saw for anyone interested in visiting.

Great Crested Grebe
Black Necked Grebe
Mute Swan
Greylag Goose
Shelduck
Canada Goose
Gadwall
Tufted Duck
Pochard
Moorhen
Coot
Avocet
Reed Bunting
Lapwing
Swift
Meadow Pipit
Sedge Warbler
Whitethroat
Crow
House Sparrow

We heard lots of noise from the Bitterns but they proved elusive this time, just another reason to go back though. 

Lastly this huge machine - a Walking Dragline - sits on the reserve, it's an impressive sight and we were told is a possible breeding ground for Kestrels and Little Owls.

Rodley Nature Reserve

The week before the snow hit we spent the afternoon at the reserve. It was a gorgeous spring day and we saw plenty including a Mandarin duck on the river as we drove in.

There were the usual Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans, Mallards, Herons, Canada Geese and Cormorants. We also saw Teal, Tufted ducks, Pochard, Great Crested Grebe, Gadwall and my favourite spot of the day a pair of Snipe by the Kingsfisher hide.

Unfortunately I couldn't get a good shot of the Snipe.

There were frogs everywhere in the ponds a few large groups (not sure of the right term) of frogspawn too.

My daughter spotted a couple of Red Kites circling overhead with a flock of Black Headed Gulls

Final shot from the managers garden.

Snow at Easter

As usual these days i'm a bit behind!

Like many we had a large snowfall over the last week and it's taking some melting. It's been a while since we've had snow at Easter.

Last weekend our garden looked like this.

This weekend the garden still has a fair bit of snow and I found a pot of daffodils abandoned in the garden from last spring!

Our young cat Kevin loves the snow, she spent a lot of time charging around in it having an absolute blast, she may possibly be the only one sad to see it go.........

It's been a while!

I didn't realise it had been over a year since I last posted. Life just took over unfortunately leaving me little time for anything else. For the first time in years I didn't even get chance to do the RSPB garden bird watch in January.

Of course we still have the birds in the garden and even had a visit from a Waxwing a couple of weeks ago, my second only ever sighting of one and a lovely garden tick! I only got chance to take a distant picture.

I'm hoping to do a few catch up posts and then try and post a little more over the coming months. I'm looking forward to catching up on all the blogs I've been missing out on too.