A Good Weekend

A couple of hours at Fairburn on Saturday and Sunday morning at St Aidan's made up our weekend outings (I'm mostly trying to dodge the worst of the sun and stay cool at the moment, me and this never ending heatwave are not getting on too well!).

At Fairburn we had a wander over to the Spoonbill viewing point spotting Greenfinch and Tree Sparrows on the way, with Sand Martins and Swallow flying over the field and surrounded by damselflies and butterflies - a beautiful day. The sound of Grasshoppers was everywhere though we never managed to spot one. A Kestrel flew over. 

Tree Sparrow

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars on Ragwort

Greenfinch

Meadow Brown

Large Skipper

Common Blue Damselfly 

The 'teaspoons' were sat up in nest with one of the adults, there are up to 12 Spoonbills in the area now, we spoke to a chap who'd seen adults flying in but it was pretty quiet whilst we were there. 

We spent a while sat in the hide watching the Sand Martins fly in the wall, a Heron and Little Egret were fishing on the water and I spotted my first Treecreeper at Fairburn in about three years! A Collared Dove watched from the side and a Comma butterfly was sat in the sun.

As is the way we just missed a Kingfisher at the viewing screen and instead saw a Pheasant fly across. In the trees were Ringlet butterflies and more blue damselflies everywhere you looked. We only walked as far the Big Hole stopping to see what was down there - Little Grebe, BH Gulls and Lapwing.

Ringlet

Common Blue

By the visitors centre I saw my first ever young Pheasants, two were with the adults round the feeder.

On Sunday I was hoping for a Black Tern on Astley Lake at St Aidan's but no joy though we spent a thoroughly enjoyable time watching Common Terns fishing, a Reed Warbler catching flies and around 55 young Greylag Geese on the river, they point blank refused to go over the weir, almost looking like they'd put their brakes on when the got to it! A Buzzard and a Kestrel flew over.

Again everywhere was covered in Butterflies - Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Skipper and Damselflies including beautiful Banded Demoiselle's.

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar 

Meadow Brown

Skipper

Banded Demoiselle

Small Tortoiseshell

A couple of Little Owls were showing quite well on the Dragline by the visitors centre, I think the best views i've had of them. I met Leeds Birder who posts wonderful videos on twitter and volunteers for the RSPB though I didn't realise it till afterwards. He does have a lovely video of the Little Owl on twitter if you search!

We took a shorter and more shaded walk, the route we took on the bat walk, hearing Chiffchaff, seeing Linnets, Swifts and Blackcaps and only passing a couple of other people. 

Another beautiful day

St Aidan's

St Aidan's had a litter pick for the reserve on Sunday so we headed over to help out. It was a gorgeous day, lots of sun and very warm! Also people were swimming in the lake, i'm not sure i'd want to do that!

Quite a few people turned up (you can see the photo on the social media account). After  we had the health and safety chat and signed the relevant paperwork we all headed out to a part of the reserve we've not walked before via a path leading off the car park. This is definitely the worst part of the reserve for rubbish, lots of bottles and cans!

There are some lovely looking ponds around here and we'll definitely be exploring this side further next time we come. We did manage to stop and check out the Common Scoter on the lake - a new bird for me. 

The banks were just buzzing with bees, flies and butterflies, the flowers looked beautiful and luckily this area wasn't too bad for rubbish. Unfortunately one of the things we did find a few of was discarded poop bags.......full ones.......i'll never understand the mentality of picking up the poop then flinging it in a bush, why would you do that??

The option of heading back to the visitors centre was suggested at one point because it had got so hot but a few of us carried on. Some saw a Kingfisher fly over the path but we missed it! We saw plenty of geese though plus Lapwings, a couple of Common Terns, Cormorants, Mallards and Coots.

Taking a breather

I was taking a couple of photos of the butterflies and one of the other guys mentioned that a Clouded Yellow Butterfly had been seen a little further ahead. It was right where he said it was and we watched it fly around for a little while, i've never seen one before and unfortunately only got one really dreadful photo as it didn't settle on anything for more than a second or two. Very pretty and very yellow!

I must admit we were flagging a little as the visitor centre came back into view in the distance and we were heading up the rear of the group now. Plus we did keep stopping to look at things along the way including a Kestrel hovering in the sky and a Small Copper hidden in the grass.

Reaching the centre we added our bag to the pile, there was quite a few, everyone picked quite a bit of rubbish along the way. We made for the tea waiting for us - the best cup of tea, much needed, thank you!! It was nice to sit and chat a while and have a bite to eat too. Everyone we spoke to today - all the RSPB folks and the folks doing the litter pick were lovely, it makes a difference and especially for my daughter as people made the effort to speak to her too, that doesn't always happen and she gets quite put out, she likes to talk! 

We couldn't leave without checking out the dragline for the Little Owls that have nested there and eventually we saw two of them.

That grey blob in the middle is the owl (honest!) 

We really enjoyed today, it's a shame there is litter to pick in the first place of course but it's great to get people involved this way. We'll be happy to help out at the next one!

Rodley Nature Reserve

Sunday morning saw us at Rodley just after it opened. It was a decent morning again and no rain forecast today.

There were lots of geese - Greylag and Canada - in the field by the car park. In a tree nearby a Greenfinch, first one i've seen in a while.

We sat in the Lagoon hide for a while and watched the Moorhen feed the chicks on the raft. We also saw Common Tern, Great Crested and Little Grebes, Coot, a couple of sleeping Oystercatchers and flitting about in the trees in front were several lbjs which I thought were Reed Warblers. The Sand Martins are making use of the bank here.

We did see Reed Warblers from the Duck Marsh hide, a pair of them hanging the reeds. A Greylag Goose family were on the grass, the parents keeping the goslings quite well hidden.

Along the willow path a bank vole was in the usual spot, hiding behind a little bit of grass.

As we sat down in the Reedbed hide a Jay flew across into the trees by the river, we always seem to see one in the same spot every time we visit. The Lapwings were very defensive and chasing off Crows and Jackdaws if they landed anywhere near.

We saw a fair few insects and butterflies around the reserve including a beautiful moth, a Carpet Moth I think?

The ponds were full of tadpoles and a patch on the river walk was full of snail shells.

Making use of the lovely visitors centre we stopped for a coffee and watched the birds on the feeders around it - Bullfinch, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Blue Tits...

Up at the managers garden is was a little quiet, a few Blackirds, Dunnock, Reed Bunting and Jackdaws. Then a movement off to the side, the Little Owl! It landed on a branch at the back for a few moments and then was off. We got talking to the chap sat there so ended up staying a while and the Owl came back, landing on the same branch. Fantastic!

We made a bit of a mistake on the way out - we went for another look out of the Lagoon hide and saw a bit of a horrible nature moment! One of the Moorhen chicks had fallen off the raft, it kept trying to climb up the chain at the side without success of course. A Coot spotted it and unfortunately went for it, one of the adult Moorhens attacked the Coot but it was too late for the chick and we thought the adult took a bit of an injury to it's wing too but I think it was ok.

We should have ended the day with the Little Owl and skipped the hide I think!