Lawnswood Cemetery Sightings

During a sunny interval at Lawnswood Cemetery we spotted this Peacock basking graveside, I guess the stone retains some heat as they often perch on the stonework.

A Jay, a bird often seen at the Cemetery, seemed unperturbed by our presence as we stood still to watch it hop from stone to stone for a good few minutes.

Whilst watching the Jay, a Nuthatch flew onto a nearby tree and proceeded to check out gaps in the tree trunk. We watched it remove leaves lodged in the nooks and crannies presumably searching for a tasty snack. Here you can see it tossing aside a leaf removed from the split in the trunk.

Adel churchyard sightings

On a visit to St John the Baptist Churchyard in Adel I spotted a pair of Jays sunning themselves. The first one basking on the ground made little effort to rouse itself until disturbed by visitors heading in its direction at which it hopped into the holly tree above while the other moved into dappled shade on a nearby headstone.

After last weeks first butterfly sighting of the year at Rodley, I saw two more Small Tortoiseshells in the churchyard and watched a couple of Peacocks spiral up into the sky, despite my best efforts to track them down I managed to find one only for a brief moment pointing the camera in its direction before it disappeared again.

St Chad's Churchyard Friday Wander

On a lunchtime stroll to St Chad's churchyard I was rewarded with clearer views of one of the pair of Jay that I glimpsed briefly last week, what a lovely bird it is.

Here's my first decent shot of a Speckled Wood that greeted me as I entered the churchyard and later settled nearby amongst paper thin golden leaves. The Speckled Wood was my most familiar butterfly last year, it prefers the dappled shade of hedgerows and woodland margins, I welcome its return and look forward to many more happy encounters.

Three Blue Tits fed on emerging pinnate leaves (Rowan or Ash perhaps), the spire of St Chad's Church can be seen in the background of the first pic. Note to self: must identify this tree on my next visit.

Field Horsetail Equisetum arvense, growing by a gravestone, Phil Gates (Cabinet of Curiosities) recently blogged about Equisetum telmateia, and as usual its well worth a read.

St Chads Churchyard

St Chad's was a sunny haven this afternoon and on stepping into the churchyard almost immediately a pair of Jays flew overhead. Both birds carried twigs, landing briefly in view before settling safely out of sight.

High up on a neighbouring tree, a Nuthatch called out loudly, and sat amongst the bursting buds preening itself in the sunshine.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew overhead, Robin and Dunnock darted between the hedgerows, a pair of male and female Blackbirds collected worms from the grassland, and a Blue Tit continually flew to and from a nestbox. To my delight my first Speckled Wood butterfly of the year landed smack bang in front of me and darted off as soon as I lifted my camera, the other butterfly sighting an unidentified white.

I noticed this plant growing through the grass on my previous visit, its Field Wood-rush or Good Friday Grass (Luzula campestris) so named as it emerges around Easter time. It is relatively short, between 5 cm - 15 cm in height, has three to six stemmed clusters of flowers. Its common on grassland in acid conditions, and spreads via short stolons and seed.

Beckett Park woodland

We stayed close to home this weekend and went on a wander through Beckett Park woodland. Under the beech & oak canopies wood pigeon and squirrels busied themselves. Stepping into the woodland our first spot was this Treecreeper.

Not such a good pic but its characteristic outline is more apparent here.

Other bird sightings included a pair of Jays on the edges of the woodland, and in the wooded area just behind Queenswood Drive we caught the side profile of the Great Spotted Woodpecker on its favourite tree trunk, no pics of either birds though.

Plenty more fungi at this time of year. On this fallen deciduous trunk was an abundance of what I think is Honey Fungus, Armillaria medea. Growing in clusters & individually.

Here's one found lying on the ground nearby, you can see the fruitbodies are joined together at the base.

Wavy mature caps & well spaced gills.

Another illustration of the joined fruitbodies.

A second cluster growing at the top of the trunk.

A third cluster growing under the trunk.

Elsewhere in the woods, I found these small black fungi. I wonder whether this is Urnula craterium before it opens, it has a black coal-like exterior & was growing at the base of this dead deciduous tree.

Common Earthball, Scleroderma citrinum growing amongst deciduous leaf litter.

Rodley Nature Reserve, Leeds

Rodley Nature Reserve held an Open Day last Sunday & it was great to see so many visitors & so much wildlife. Whilst we watched from the hide a Kingfisher flew over & perched briefly on a post overlooking the water before darting off as quickly as it arrived. As it was our first sighting of the beautiful bird we were delighted.

Five Grey Herons settled in the trees beyond the water. On the ponds a Great Crested Grebe (so far our nearest sighting of a GCG to Kirkstall), Oystercatchers, Lapwing, Mallards, Coots, Little Grebe. A couple of Kestrels soared overhead & turned out to be the pair nesting on the reserve that Andrea mentioned in her earlier post.

Damselflies & Dragonflies danced around the newly created ponds that were also choc full of tadpoles. Could these be Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) or Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)?
I wasn't able to capture the Dragonfly in profile, so I'd struggle to ID this one.


Meandering through the meadow full of grasses, Ox Eye Daisy, White clover & Buttercups, a Jay flew into view, settled in the hedgerow & quickly made off again.

Familiar Speckled Wood butterflies were plentiful. I watched a pair in aerial combat, one made a hasty retreat while the other took up a vantage point on a hawthorn to bask in the sunshine. Once identified they’re easy to recognise, Ive found that once they land they tend to settle for prolonged intervals which makes them easy to photograph, .

To round off the visit we bought some honey from a local beekeeper in Calverley. Our Allotment Association was recently approached by a local beekeeper to ask about the possibility of installing & maintaining a hive at the back of our plots. She was given the go ahead which I’m really excited about & hope to learn a little more about our super-pollinating pals.