Rodley Nature Reserve

A highlight of a weekend trip out to Rodley Nature Reserve were the Common Whitethroat, a summer visitor to the reserve. A first positive sighting for me, id'd with the help of friendly fellow visitors. Armed with the ability to put a name to a feathery face, it became easier to spot them due to their habit of perching conspciuously on the tops of bushes and tall weeds. These two hung around by the Dragonfly ponds.

This Great Tit popped its head out of the bird box situated in the Dragonfly ponds area.

Butterfly action consisted of four Small Torstoishell, two by the pools and a couple in the Meadow.

On the way to the Visitors Centre for a cuppa and to pick up a copy of the Annual Report for 2009 another Common Whitethroat appeared in the vegetation on the edge of Tim's Field.

Refreshes and refuelled I made my way up to the meadow, I followed the mown path up to the far end of the field and sat for a while to admire the view. I became engrossed in the thin stemmed flowering perennial grasses with densely packed spikelets Common Timothy (Phleum pratense) or Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) perhaps?

Looking down over the reserve I couldn't help but hear these three Mute Swans raise themselves from the wetland and head off downstream together.

Here you can see the stamens more clearly, grey at first, turning brown with time, maturing from the top of the spikelet to the bottom.