CD Rock Carving

As I was walking over the hills to the North of Stoodley Pike I came across this carving in the rock in a small quarry. It has been done quite recently because the stone hasn't had time to discolour. I wonder who CD is? Quite nice though.

A walk to Gaddings Dam

It's been a while since I visited Gaddings so I walked up there this morning to see what was about. Although it was raining when I set off, it soon stopped and the calm day made for pleasant walking conditions. I made my way through Mankinholes and Lumbutts, past Longfield Dam and up the Pennine Bridleway to Gaddings. The highlight of the walk was undoubtedly the Golden Plovers at Gaddings. They were on the South East side on the shore line and I'd taken out my camera to get a photo but then the battery died on me! By the time I'd changed it they had taken off.

Mankinholes

Long Tailed Tit – 7

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Treecreeper

Little Owl in usual place

Kestrel

Lumbutts

Goldcrest – 5 in the church yard

Longfield Dam

Black-headed Gull – 34

Common Gull – 2 (1^st winter)

Lapwing – 10

Canada Goose - 19

Gaddings Dam

Goldeneye – 4 (1 x ♂ 3 x ♀)

Tufted Duck ♂

Golden Plover – 20 on South East shore

Red Grouse – 2

Raven -2 flying over

Above are the 20 Golden Plover after they had taken off!!!

Great Northern Diver

Went to Ringstone Edge res this morning with Andy H to see the Great Northern Diver that's been there for the last few days. Good views of this wonderful bird - only wish the pics had reflected this! I'll have to get a new camera soon...

Sparrowhawk in the garden again

A Sparrowhawk came into the garden this afternoon for a snack. Looked like it took a Blue Tit and went to the garden wall to pluck and eat it.

Little Gull

I caught up with the Little Gulls at Hornsea Mere this week at long last. Here are a few pics -

Langfield Edge and Gaddings Dam

Took my first walk to Gaddings and Langfield for 5 months this morning. A smashing still day with the sun shining, blue skies and a real pleasure to be out after the horrendous gales and rain of the last week. There were lots of Meadow Pipits around, enjoying all the flies and insects.

Jail Hole
Mipit - 30+
Wheatear
Sparrowhawk - 3







 

















Langfield
Mipit - 20+
Reed Bunting - 2
Stonechat
Kestrel
Flock of Goldfinches and Chaffinches - 40+ birds. Goldfinches were feeding on the grass seeds
Red Grouse - 2

Gaddings
Mipit - 100+
Skylark
Tufted Duck
BH Gull
Swallow - 43 feeding over the dam

 The sun was glinting through the rain drops on the grass so I couldn't resist putting the starburst filter on the camera!

        

 

Sparrowhawk in the garden

A young male Sparrowhawk was keeping a watch on the garden bird feeders to see if there was a tasty snack to be had:

but then it spotted me taking photos and was off empty talon'd

Over on the East coast last weekend the weather was good so a few pics were in order:

Teasels starting to flower

Wildlife photos are hard to come by at the moment as I'm sort of house bound so I've resorted to taking pics of the garden. Sad, but I'm finding several new subjects of interest. Today's subjects are seeds and bulbs that were given to me by friends.

The teasels that were planted as seeds last year (thanks Robert) are now starting to come into flower and although there are only a few florets on the flower heads at the moment, they are already attracting a fair number of insects:

Hopefully the 20 or so flower heads will self-seed and we'll have a karger crop next year, although they don't actually flower until the second year so we'll have to wait a while for any significant increase.

The Crocosmia Lucifer (thanks Allan) are bursting with colour and really brighten up the whole garden: