North Cave Wetlands

During the weekend we headed east to North Cave Wetlands, a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, where we counted 40+ Peacock along with a couple of Red Admiral nectaring on newly flowering Teasels.

A closer underwing view of the Red Admiral, showing the strong  contrast between the brightly marked forewing and the camouflaged hindwing. Usually it takes a little burst of flash to do justice to the colouring but strong sunshine helped illuminate the wing detail.

All were lovely fresh looking butterflies, with as many as 5 Peacocks per plant.

We saw the majority of Peacocks in this sheltered sunny ditch full of Teasels & Ragwort, bordered by hawthorn hedge,

and this, my first Painted Lady of the year amongst the Teasel.

 

Mandarins at Adel Dam Nature Reserve

On Tuesday afternoon we visited Adel Dam Nature Reserve next to Goldenacre Park. Small birds flew back and forth between the feeders and surrounding vegetation, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Robin, a pair of Nuthatch, Long Tail Tit, Dunnock, joined briefly by a Great Spotted Woodpecker. A single female Mandarin duck fed on the outskirts of the pond, whilst a couple of male Mandarins kept their distance near the stream at the back of the clearing. After 10 minutes a brightly coloured handsome male marched towards the pond followed by more and ending up with a total of 12 Mandarins.

Bolton Percy Station - Holly Blue

A trip out to one of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's smaller reserves - Bolton Percy Station, near Tadcaster provided further Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) sightings and this year's first glimpse of a Small Copper.  





Male Holly Blue (Bolton Percy)

Female Holly Blue (Adel)

 





The Holly Blue that we saw at Adel churchyard was a female (see the black border to the upperside forewing in the pic above right), by the lack of a black border on the upperwing of this one (above left) I'd say its a male. 



Also at Bolton Percy Station, our first Small Copper sighting of the year.

A Green Veined White (Pieris napi)







Adel Dam Nature Reserve

On Sunday afternoon we jumped on the bus to Goldenacre Park, how cold it was or rather how cold I was, words cannot convey. Discomfort aside we headed for Adel Dam, a local Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve. The Marsh Hide feeders were busy with smaller woodland birds including of a pair of Bullfinch, Nuthatch, Robin, Blue Tits, Long Tail Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, along with a sorry looking Magpie, Blackbird, a pair of Moor Hen, and 6 Squirrels, though sadly no sign of the Great Spotted Woodpecker today.

From the second hide, overlooking Adel Dam, only the far reaches of the dam remained unfrozen, kept clear by the current of the inflowing Adel Beck. An assortment of footprints were visible across the frozen surface.

From the left, flying low, heading directly for the unfrozen patch of water zipped the electric blue of a Kingfisher, our first ever sighting of the bird here at Adel Dam. This pic is taken at a distance, but its plumage colouration is unmistakable, it perched here for a few minutes before heading off, hopefully with better luck elsewhere, according to the RSPB website they're particularly vulnerable to hard winters. 

As the Kingfisher made its exit, on the far bank we could just make out the profile of a Roe Deer, well camouflaged amongst the snow and bare branches.

 

Having endured enough of the cold temperatures made worse by sitting still in the hide for a few minutes, we followed the woodland trail back through the reserve and found this fungi.  I'm guessing its Pleurotus sp. Buff coloured, convex cap, the gills are cream coloured and decurrent, growing in abundant clumps on a deciduous stump. Any help with the ID would be greatly appreciated.

Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve

On Sunday afternoon we visited Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, it's YWT's closest reserve to Leeds City Centre. Clear sky and afternoon light illuminated the golden canopies and shrubby layers. The backdrop of still green foliage not yet transformed by the processes of leaf senescence served to emphasise the richer autumn foliage. 

  

The reserve is located on the site of a former power station which opened in 1930 and demolished in the mid 80's, the Leodis database features images of the land's previous use. 

Bird sightings included Jay, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Magpie, Long Tail Tit, Wren, Robin, Wood Pigeon.

The 25.5 acre site is situated between the River Aire (pictured here) and the Leeds Liverpool canal is a valuable resource in the green corridor of habitats along the Aire valley.

There'll be more pics from our visit to Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve in my follow up post.

Brockadale Nature Reserve

We headed out to Brockadale Nature Reserve, another Yorkshire Wildlife Reserve, with the hope of catching our first ever sighting of the Marbled White. Despite pretty continuous cloud cover we were rewarded with three seperate sightings of the distinctive black and white butterfly.  

Throughout the reserve Yellowhammers could be seen and heard from the treetops.

I caught sight of a Holly Blue on a Hawthorn but only managed this record shot.

Towards the end of our wander the sun popped out and so did this Common Blue. 

Saltmarsh Delph

We enjoyed a recent visit to Saltmarsh Delph, a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve where the greenspaces were brimming with interest. The most abundant species were these Ringlets that appeared wherever we paused to look.

There were a number of Dragonflies zipping around, this was the only one I managed to photograph. Thanks to Warren who suggested a Southern Hawker.

Passing through the gate, on the approach to the hide were a noisy gang of Long Tailed Tits, Marsh Tits and Warblers (I'm guessing a Reed Warbler). Nearing the hide we caught a glimpse of a Marsh Harrier through the overhead branches, just a few metres above the reeds.

Comma butterflies stood out against fading vegetation.

I enjoyed my first Gatekeeper sighting of the year, identified by the double white eye spot.

We carried on a few miles down the road to Blacktoft and stopped for a half at the pub situated on the opposite bank to Blacktoft Sands Nature Reserve. Strong winds kept the numbers of airborne birds to a minimum although we did see a couple of Grey Heron and 2 or 3 Marsh Harriers.

Staveley

The Yorkshire Wildlife Reserve at Staveley was a nice surprise as I didn't realise the scale of the reserve, it comprises a lagoon, woodland, grassland and shallow ponds, and covers approximately 40 hectares. The 2 hides overlooking the water were locked at the time of visiting but it didn't hamper our enjoyment of the area.

We spotted 8 Meadow Brown, I was confused about the identity of this first one until it revealed the front underwing.

A Small Tortoiseshell landed to feed on Red Clover and gave great views of both its upper and underwing. Other butterflies included 10 Ringlets, 6 Small Skippers, 6 Speckled Wood.

Its a good time for wildflowers in bloom, including one of my favourites, this Field Scabious Knautia arvensis.

At one of the ponds I watched three Damselflies ovipositing in a relatively small area within close proximity to each other. Unfortunately the pics didn't come out too well but I did manage to salvage this shot which shows two close together.