Bolton Abbey Dippers

This weekend we visited Bolton Abbey and enjoyed some fine sightings of Dippers on the River Wharfe. Andrea spotted one on her previous visit so we arrived at our destination hopeful but certainly didn't anticipate four separate sightings.

Dippers are fascinating to watch, when feeding for aquatic invertebrates they dive underwater staying submerged for 10 to 30 seconds at a time due to the fact that their blood has high levels of haemoglobin which increases their ability to store oxygen. We didn't manage to get any pics of the bird diving into the water but were pleased to come away with a few of the Dippers perched in the midst of the riverbed.

Also on the river this pair of Goosander male (front) and female (rear).

An unexpected pleasure to see this pair of Mandarin Duck travelling downstream.

A more familiar sight, Nuthatch are abundant throughout the woodland walk and are particularly easy to see at the stone shelters along the riverside walk where visitors leave seed for the birds. Other visitors included Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Robin.

Bolton Abbey

Blue skies and bright sunshine tempted me out on a day trip to Bolton Abbey. Parking at the Barden Tower end we made our way as far as the Cavendish Pavilion then back down the other side of the Strid. A shelter on the woodland path was a great spot to see a variety of the smaller birds as they came in for a feed. The Nuhatches showed particularly well on such a bright day.

After a refuelling stop at the cafe I then spotted some ripples in the water far below - a quick look through the binoculars confirmed that it was a Dipper, the first I have ever seen. The light at that precise point was awful and I struggled to get any decent shots, though we watched it swim underwater and catch small fish which it then ate on the rocks. Walking slightly further we found ourselves back on the bank of the main river where the current was running very fast. To my surprise we saw a second Dipper fishing here and I did manage to get some pics. It was hard to believe that it was able to fish here as the water was really racing along.

As we walked back under Barden Bridge we saw a Grey Heron in the shallows. It took exception to being photographed and flapped off upstream, landing in a tree further down. An Oystercatcher and a male Goosander were the other notable sightings of the day, but nothing could top my first Dippers!

Andrea