Bolton Abbey

We headed up to Bolton Abbey early morning on Good Friday to try and avoid the crowds. We walk from the Cavendish car park, up to Barden Bridge and back down the other side. Luckily it tends to be fairly people free the further away we get from the Strid.

As we drove into the place there were a couple of Curlew on the field.

This is one place where you have a good chance of spotting Dippers and we saw one pretty much straight away and several more through the day. It was followed down the river by a Goosander.

We heard and finally saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker that seemed to follow us up the path for a while. There were plenty of birds in the woods & on the river through the day - Chaffinch, Great, Blue and Coal Tits, Nuthatch, Song Thrush, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Pied and Grey Wagtails, Pheasant, Mandarin Ducks, Mallards and their chicks.

The Sand Martins were flying about the banks just before Barden Bridge and as we walked through the little wood there I spotted a largish brown bird in the undergrowth, managed to snap a couple of photos before it flew of and when checking realised i'd seen a Woodcock - a new bird for me and not one I'd ever thought about trying to see!

To finish off the day as we were driving home we spotted a Red Grouse perched on a fence post next to a field - very chuffed another new bird!

A few pictures from the day.

Rodley Nature Reserve

This was at the end of March, we picked a good day and spent nearly 4 hours here. We checked out every hide, every pond & basically every nook and cranny we could!

A couple of the highlights were a flock of Meadow Pipits flitting about and a Willow Warbler in the managers garden.

There were a few Little Grebe on the lagoon and reedbeds and plenty of Reed Buntings - not surprisingly in the reeds!

Some other spots - Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Teal, mating frogs, Bullfinch and a very sorry looking Robin that was missing a lot of feathers.

Fairburn Ings & Walton Colliery

This is from a visit back on the 12th January, it was a freezing day & so miserable but we wrapped up and took a shorter than usual walk around Fairburn.

Here's some of the birds we saw.

Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Shelduck
Willow Tit
Bullfinch
Treecreeper
Tufted Duck
Shoveler
Great Crested Grebe

My husband had spotted Walton Colliery whilst out and about for work so we called there after Fairburn. As we stood there reading the information board a Kingfisher landed right by us on the little stream by the entrance. Of course my camera was still in my bag but it was a fantastic start to a new place. We walked round the whole park, which has several lakes and streams through it.

Bird wise (apart from the Kingfishter) it was fairly quiet - if they had any sense they were snuggled up warm somewhere - we saw Canada & Greylag Geese, Pochard and the usual Coots, Moorhens. We'll definitely go back though, it'll be interesting to see with a bit more life to it.

Redpoll

I know it's been a while again, i'm going to try and do a few update posts over the next week - in theory anyway!

A couple of weeks ago I had a new visitor to the garden in the form of a Redpoll, it's only the second time i've seen one so nice to get it on home turf.

The garden has been busy with all the usual birds - House Sparrows, Starlings, Blue & Great Tits, Dunnocks, Robins, Collard Doves, Goldfinch, Blackbirds, the odd Magpie and Woodpigeons. The Starlings are nesting up in the eaves of the house as they do every year now. As always it's a joy to wake up to the birdsong at this time of year - even from the noisy Starlings.

Oh and we get this guy every day too.

Leighton Moss

During a holiday last week I spent a day at Leighton Moss reserve in Lancashire. It's a beautiful place and it's a shame I don't live closer, i'd be spending a lot of time there!

Unfortunately the Bearded Tit, one of the star species, was elusive but I did add some new birds - Little Egret, Ruff, Black Tailed Godwit.

A few photos

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.