A party of six set off from the Unitarian Church, to visit once again this excellent reserve. We were last there on the 29th November 2022. We arrived at 10:30 where we met up with another four members (one of whom was Tracey, making her BEES debut). The weather was glorious throughout the day.
We began successfully by finding two Little Owls perched on the wooden sleepers that are positioned below the massive machine. After that we headed in a northerly direction that took us below the Pastures. We had hardly begun, however, when we were sidetracked by seeing a group of birders on the Bower's Lake path. The assumption was that they were observing Black-necked Grebes and this proved to be correct. I have seen them on the reserve many times, but never this near to the visitor centre and never this close up. Binoculars were not required for one bird and its cute little grebeling? At the same time we were treated to an obliging Sedge Warbler singing from atop a large bush.
Continuing on our planned route the party soon broke apart into two groups of four and one pair. Just before lunch I found with the help of Maddie a small species of longhorn moth (Cauchas rufimitrella) that feeds on Lady's Smock. There is a large amount of that plant on site. A moth I had searched in vain for during the last 3 weeks. Whilst attempting to photo these tiny, flitty insects we watched a Reed Warbler sing at the top of some nearby reeds.
Other insects encountered by the group: Orange Tips, Green-veined Whites, Peacock, Small Coppers, Holly Blue and several freshly emerged Common Blue butterflies. A Drinker caterpillar, found by Sue, that was crawling over her shoe by the time I arrived, Large Red, Common Blue & Blue-tailed Damselflies, Banded Demoiselle and a brief glimpse of what was probably a Four-spotted Chaser.
Bird song was everywhere, from the raucous BH Gulls, Sedge, Reed & Willow Warblers, Reed Buntings, explosive calls of Cettis, none seen! and even a booming Bittern. Amongst birds seen were Little Egret, Gadwall, Shoveler, GC Grebe,Tufted Ducks, Canada & Greylag Geese, Common Tern, Lapwings & Kestrel.
Our group of four searched without success around the North Ings (Prison Gates section) for the two pairs of nesting Black-winged Stilts. We followed up that lack of success with another one at the far end of Astley lake for the solitary Ring-necked Duck. We were informed by two of the many helpful birders we encountered that the duck was at the far end of the lake & usually out of sight behind a wooded island! When we all met up again the group of two (Tracey & Cathy) had seen the Stilts on the move as had Maddie before she met up with her group!!
Plantlife is abundant on the reserve; Pussy Willow (their catkins covered many paths & other vegetation), Common Vetch, Cow Parsley, Gorse and a new one for me; Beaked Hawks-beard.
After buying ice creams at the VC we headed back at 16:00 & reached Bradford just after 5.
Many thanks to Julia for driving the mini bus & enduring the miserable M62 !
See the photos here.
John Gavaghan