St Chad's Churchyard, Headingley

Wandering through St Chad's Churchyard you can't help but notice the flowering clumps of Ribwort Plaintain (Ribwort lanceolata) at the moment. A familiar perennial wildflower, its brown flower heads sit on top of tall unleafed stalks, with dark green, deeply veined lanceolate leaves.


Here's a fine description of the flowerheads from Botanical.com "The sepals are brown and paper-like in texture and give the head its peculiar rusty look. The corolla is very small and inconspicuous, tubed and having four spreading lobes. The stamens, four in number, are the most noticeable feature, their slender white filaments and pale yellow anthers forming a conspicuous ring around the flower-head. "

I seem unable to walk past these flowering grasses without lifting the camera, I'm certainly drawn to the near abstract qualities of the views they provide as they sway in the breeze.

Walking back through the campus this Crow was perched on a tree stump beak ajar and wings held open, similar to pose adopted by the Crow we saw at Rodley on Saturday. Couldn't help but think that it might have been more beneficial to pick a more shady spot....

Adel Churchyard

We visited St John the Baptist Churchyard in Adel on Sunday. Its part of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Living Churchyard Project, a tranquil, picturesque spot and within close proximity of the wonderful one-acre garden that is Yorkgate. The churchyard is currently full of bluebells, buttercups and flowering grasses.

The previous day, at Rodley I noted with interest that recent sightings included a Small Copper butterfly, I've never knowingly seen one, and had recalled Warren's pic at Pittswood Birds last week so it was up there on my list of ones to watch out for. So today I was so delighted to see not one but two Small Coppers at Adel. Whoop whoop!

As if that wasn't enough we spotted this small green beauty as it settled on a wilted daffodil flower, not the best pic but good enough for an identification, and I think this is a Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi). I was interested to see that Emma, Northumberland Naturalist and Frank, Early Birder both enjoyed sightings of the Green Hairstreak this weekend and managed better pics.

There were over 15 Speckled Wood's, along the perimeter hedgerows and in amongst the dappled shady areas, tirelessly seeing off all-comers whenever they strayed into their patch. A range of 20 White's on the wing, none obliging enough to pause for a picture, amongst them Small White, Green Veined White and Orange Tip.

Feathered inhabitants included, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Wren, Nuthatch, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Magpie, Mistle Thrush, a female Mallard settled in the grass, and a Buzzard flew overhead mobbed by Crows.

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.

Askham Bog

This weekend we enjoyed an afternoon jaunt to Askham Bog near York, the weather was warm and cloudy with bursts of intermittent sunshine. During our first visit in September last year we were lucky enough to observe a Water Vole, today's highlight were two Brimstones (Gonepteryx rhamni), a first for me and I was chuffed to come away with a pic of one. My guess is that this one is a female which have more of a greenish yellow tinge than the males which are bright yellow.

To quote Richard South FES in his book The Butterflies of the British Isles “Probably this insect to which the name “butter-coloured fly” contracted into butterfly, was first given.” The Brimstone lays eggs on the developing leaves of buckthorn and alder, leaves the chrysalis at the end of July, hibernates in evergreen shrubs and trees, appears in February to May.

Throughout the walk we encountered six Peacocks (Nymphalis io) on the wing, the first looked very tatty, although the subsequent Peacocks looked a lot fresher. They all displayed a tendency to follow the wooden walkway, landing on the decked surface nearby to bask in the sunshine, very obliging thank you.

A little less obliging but more profuse 8 or so male Orange Tipped butterflies, ever on the go and deftly evading me at every pass.

This flowering grass was a common sight, and very striking, Citybirding helped me to identify it as Mountain Sedge (Carex montana).

The familiar hammering of a Great Spotted Woodpecker drew our attention to the treetops, and although too obscured for a decent pic we could at least identify it as a male by the distinctive red patch on the back of the head.

As I've said before I really struggle to identify warblers and only managed a dodgy pic of this one in flight.......blink and you'll miss it.

A carpet of Lesser Celandine attracted a host of insects and gave the dappled shade of the banks a springtime zing with its bright buttery yellow flowers.