Rodley Nature Reserve Blackcap

Rodley Nature Reserve provided this year's first clear sighting of a Blackcap. We watched this female hop tirelessly from branch to branch gathering insects, presumably to take back to the mouths of hungry nestlings. I was quite taken by its beautiful grey plumage.  The distinctive chestnut cap easily distinguishes it from the black cap of the male.

 

Rodley Nature Reserve damsel updates

Having finally resolved some technical glitches, here's the first installment from last weekend's jaunt to Rodley Nature Reserve which provided a great opportunity for damselfly sightings. My favourite was this lovely juvenile male Banded Demoiselle, basking on pondside vegetation. Last summer, we found good numbers of Banded Demoiselle on a stretch of the River Aire near Kirkstall Abbey, only a couple of miles downstream from Rodley.

There were lots (20+) of male Azure Damselfly amongst the vegetation bordering the ponds and along the hedgerow leading up to the visitors centre.

And smaller numbers of Large Red Damselfly in closer proximity to the ponds.

We also caught sight of a pair of Broad Bodied Chaser dragonfly, too quick for a pic. Here are views of some of the dragonfly ponds at Rodley, well worth a visit.

Rodley Nature Reserve pondlife

We visited Rodley Nature Reserve this weekend and enjoyed a walk around the dragonfly ponds which were teeming with toads. This one took time out from courting duties to bask in the sunshine. I also spotted my first two butterflies of the year, two fresh Small Tortoiseshells in the Willow Coppice. Yay! These two were too distant for a decent photo, so purely for reference purposes.

In the managers garden, we saw Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, and a flock of 12+ Linnets. Keep up to date with Rodley Nature Reserve's Latest Sightings page.

Rodley Nature Reserve

A weekend trip to Rodley Nature Reserve offered the first dragonfly sighting of the year in the form of this Four Spotted Chaser, accompanied by a restless Brown Hawker and a female Broad Bodied Chaser.

On our way out we popped into the Lagoon Hide where we bumped into Chloe, Gav and Jackie, visiting the reserve for the first time. In a welcoming display of impeccable timing a Kingfisher flew into view to settle on its post before moving to another perch, focussing intently on the water below before propelling itself underwater and emerging triumphant with a fish.

Twenty+ Ringlets fluttered amongst the long grasses of the embankment running alongside the Access Road. A handful of Meadow Browns evaded our attempts to photograph them in the Hay Meadow. Five Small Tortoiseshell settled amongst nettles around the Dragonfly ponds where we saw a female Kestrel fly overhead.

Rodley Nature Reserve

A visit to the Manager's Garden at Rodley Nature Reserve on Saturday gave us our first Brambling sighting of the year, the bare branches of nearby shrubs allowed for clearer views of the Brambling than at Fairburn Ings in November last year.

Around the feeding stations, and in adjacent hedgerows I counted 12 Reed Bunting at one point.  Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tail Tit, Bullfinch, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Jay, Magpie, Wood Pigeon appeared the garden during our visit.

The shrubs to the left of the hide provide good cover for the birds as they wait their turn to visit the feeding stations and it was here I managed to get a few pics of Reed Bunting, Chaffinch and Bullfinch.

Rodley Nature Reserve

This weekend I took my mum and dad along to Rodley Nature Reserve where an overcast sky cleared unexpectedly to reveal glorious sunshine, and some enjoyable sightings.

Male and female Gatekeepers

A fresh looking Peacock butterfly

At the dragonfly ponds a female Brown Hawker.

A male Common Darter

Another Female Brown Hawker

 

Tim's Field is planted with a mix of cereals, quinoa, kale and sunflower to provide cover and an abundance of seeds. Here's a view of the mixed vegetation. 

Rodley Nature Reserve

On Saturday we enjoyed a gloriously warm afternoon jaunt to Rodley Nature Reserve. The grasses that had just started to flower last week were fully flowering today, and looked striking against a clear blue sky.

We stopped off for a cold drink at the Vistors Centre and marvelled at the webcam stream from the Blue Tit box. I think there were eight or nine babies, an adult appearing every few minutes, the volunteers reckon they'll have fledged by mid next week. From inside the Visitors Cente we could see this Crow sat on a gatepost open beaked in an attempt to cool down.


By the Dragonfly Ponds Large Red Damselflies were busily going about their business.

And here a ropey pic of a blue damselfly, perhaps a male Azure Damselfly? Slightly different to a Common Blue in which abdominal segments 8 and 9 are all blue. Any thoughts appreciated.



Butterfly sightings included 3 Green Veined White, 3 Small Tortoiseshell, 4 Speckled Wood, 3 Orange Tip, 2 Peacock, this one here sat close winged on a fence post, plus 8 unidentified Whites on the wing.


From the lookout point overlooking the Wet Grassland we could see this Roe Deer on the opposite bank, it stood for a minute before bounding over the verge towards the riverbank, providing us with our first sighting of a Roe Deer at Rodley, thank you very much.

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.

Rodley Nature Reserve

Making the most of this weekend's fine weather we stayed local and visited Rodley Nature Reserve. The vegetation was first to catch the eye, the coppiced Willows were laden with catkins and these hedgerow trees were covered in delicate white blossoms Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) perhaps? Five petalled flowers appear before the leaves, clustered in groups of 2 - 6.

Over in the Manager's garden, 5 Reed Bunting, this one a male.

And a pair of Bullfinch, the male had such a strikingly red chest, other woodland visitors included Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Wren, Blackbird, Robin and Chaffinch.

Viewed from the hides, a Little Grebe, a pair of Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Coot, Canada Geese, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Wren, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Mallards.

During our visit we saw at least three Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on the wing, and three white species that I'd guess to be Small White's but couldn't be sure. This Small Tortoiseshell was the only butterfly to rest, basking in the sunshine for a few seconds before taking to the air.

A beautiful Cowslip (Primula veris) in the Wildflower Meadow.

Near the riverbank this Butterbur (Petasites hybridus), a perennial plant with pink/red tubular florets in robust vertical spikes, leaves are stalked and heart shaped and can grow up to 1m.

The Dragonfly Ponds were popular with visitors this weekend, especially as there were lots of these Common or Smooth Newts to see,

and toads, plus endless strings of toadspawn.