Dragonfly Central

Yesterday I set off with every intention of doing another "Stone to Steel" walk from Deepcar and along Wharncliffe Crags. I missed the starting point of the walk and found myself on the Stocksbridge bypass, whence more by good luck than good management, I found myself at the TPT car park at Finkle Street at the far end of the intended walk. I set off to do the walk, just from a different starting point, but after less than a mile, I found a pond which had a large number of damselflies flitting about, and on closer inspection, I noticed that there were a lot of dragonfly nymphs ready to emerge.


I spent over an hour watching and photographing as they emerged and also saw numbers of newts in the pond. I did manage to get up onto the crags, where I sat and enjoyed the sunshine as the earliest of the heather was starting to bloom and the heath was alive with the sounds of bees and grasshoppers, and I spotted this splendid chap on the path.


Rather than complete the walk, I retraced my steps, as I was keen to see how the dragonflies were getting on. In the woodland, I saw yet another treecreeper. It's a weird fact that once you get your eye in for things, you seem to see them all the time.
The decision return to the pond was inspired because not only did I see yet more dragonflies and newts, but a grass snake - a first for me - swimming across the pond. I had hoped to see lots of butterflies, but there were relatively few considering the warm sunshine, but there were the occasional commas, gatekeepers, ringlets, and speckled woods. Still, mustn't grumble as overall, it was an excellent day's wildlife watching.

Stinky Sunday

I needed a rest yesterday, so got an early start today for a much needed stretch of the legs. As I've spent so much time in South Yorkshire recently, I decided to go towards Derbyshire today and thought it would be nice to have a wander along Burbage Edge. Big mistake. As I drove up their, the mist got thicker and thicker, so I cut back through Hathersage and Bamford and parked up by the viaduct at Ladybower (still plenty of room at 8am). As I set off it was pouring with rain, but eventually it settled into a pattern of showers.



Not a day for stunning photos, but a gentle circuit of the northern arm of the reservoir was very pleasant with the unexpected bonus of a surprising number of fungi - bolbitius vitellinus, blusher, larch boletes and more stinkhorns than I've ever seen along the western shore. Birds seen include lots of house martins and goldfinches, a heron, a pair of grey wagtails and a very noisy wren.

Stone to Steel

Discovered a website based on the Stocksbridge area with some interesting- looking walks. I was going to do one which took in Wharncliffe Woods and Heath, but then changed my mind and set off for one which began in Glen Howe Park at Wharncliffeside and took me through the Wildlife Trust site at Carr House Meadows, in the hope that it was not too late for the best of the show of meadow flowers.





It was an extremely nice walk, and one which I shall no doubt do again, but was a touch disappointing on the wildlife front. Maybe my expectations are too high. Saw one dragonfly in the woodland at Glen Howe, but only fleetingly. Bird highlights included lesser spotted woodpecker (fleetingly) and treecreeper. Butterflies aplenty, including speckled wood, gatekeeper (also seen in my garden), small tortoiseshell, and red admiral





The flower meadow was looking past its best but still had a real magical summer feel about it. I imagine it will be cut soon, so at least I saw it before that happened. Must make myself a note to go earlier next year.

Resuming!

Now I've got my iPad, and a blogging app, there's no excuse for me to be so lazy about blogging. Recently I've spent a lot of my precious Saturdays in the Dearne valley, which is just great for wildlife, and has more RSPB reserves and wetlands than you can shake a stick at. Today I had a gentle stroll from Bolton Ings to Old Moor along the trans-pennine trail, having done a stretch from Mexborough via Denaby Ings last week. The best bit was actually at the start of the walk, where I found an idyllic pond just off the trail, and sat in the sunshine watching swans, various ducks, damsel an dragonflies and some reed warblers flitting around in the lovely sunshine.

Blogging from IPad

Trying out my new blogging app.

Location:Home

Happy New Year!

I'm experimenting with a new blog, but I'm going to keep this going for now. The snowy weather has kept me fairly local. On Christmas Day, I had a great walk down Rivelin Valley, and although it wasn't technically a white Christmas, the lying snow made everything look fantastically pretty. One of the highlights of the day was a sighting of a dipper.

Yesterday was my first outing beyond the local area: Old Moor on public transport. Cold and icy, but quite a lot to see: finches: bull, green, chaff; tits: great and blue; song thrush, tufted duck, goosander, cormorant, heron, wigeon, lapwing, reed bunting (?) and my top viewing; barn owls - one at the far end of Wath Ings, another whilst sitting eating a sandwich, from the window of Gannets Cafe!

Today, I ventured out after more snow last night, down the slippery slope, to the valley. No treats in the bird world, but another flying wonder: a close-up view of a Yorkshire air ambulance helicopter . It circled several times, and got quite low, but eventually flew off without landing or lowering a winch, so I could only assume the problem was sorted out from the ground.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30269206@N02/4240478721/

Winter.

One of the problems with failing to blog for such a long time, apart from forgetting some details, might well be choosing a single image to represent the whole period  so I've included a few this time. However, my flickr posts act as a good reminder, as I am better about keepng those up to date. I'm going to start with the present and work backwards. After an unpromising forecast, the weather this weekend is proving very pleasant; plenty of blue skies. I decided to stay local and have a stroll along Rivelin Valley. The recent rain meant the river was quite swollen and everything was looking very nice in the winter sunshine. There was a surprising number of fungi, especially jellies and brackets, a number of inkcaps and oyster mushrooms. On the bird front, I managed a couple of reasonable shots of a grey wagtail, and a sweet one of a robin. The Heron of Doom flew overhead.

Last weekend, the weather was so foul, I didn't get out, so it was a bit of a lost weekend, but the one before saw me walking from home up to Stacey Bank on Loxley Valley. The Enviromnment Agency work at Malin Bridge makes it look very bare, but now you can actually see "Watersmeet" and I'm sure that in time, it will benefit from the clearance and new vegetation will soften the edges. There were quite a few Canada geese near Damflask and some nice bracket fungi around.

The previous weekend, I went to Old Moor. It was a cold, dull day, but there were quite a few birds around - including a few new for me, including goosander and green sandpiper. I managed a few reasonable pictures before the heavens opened; I got a good soaking on the way home, so a good excuse for mulled wine!

The week before that I set off to walk along Loxley Valley, but by the time I had got to Malin Bridge, I was already very wet. I was determined not to return, and putting my faith in the weather forecast, I decided to have a bit of a mystery tour, so bought a South Yorkshire Day Tripper on the tram and decided to keep going until the weather improved, catching the first local train available at the station. I ended up at Elsecar and as the sun came out, had a pleasant stroll around the res. As always, there were several Great Crested Grebes - as advertised on the information board. I was also treated to a sighting of a stoat (I say this with conviction, as I saw it's black tail tip), a blewitt, and some rather fine Phellinus igniarius (picture chosen!) on willow.

Can you see the face with its fine hat?

The week before was half term; we had a rather splendid few days in Sherwood Forest. I have been promising myself a trip to Creswell Crags for a number of years now, so it was incorporated in this trip on the outward trip. Well  worth a visit! It is amazing how this remarkable and atmospheric limestone gorge is only a stone's throw from the unspectacular scenery of this area on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The new visitors' centre is very good, and the cafe is to be recommended. We finished that first day with a stroll round the forest, and managed to get lost as it was going dark. The following day, we walked around Clumber park, and on Saturday, we did an extended  superb walk through the Sherwood forest and its surrounding area. This photo is of one of the finest areas of the forest near the centre tree. 

Watching Autumn

Last week saw the annual Fungus Foray, Sloe Hunt and Bacon Buttie Bonanza. We had a modest haul of boletus badius, some hygrocybe pratensis, a couple of lactarius deliciosus, a slippery jack and a negligible number of field mushrooms for the pot. I've been surprised how few field mushroons there have been this year. Of the non-edibles, plenty of blushers as always, a fly agaric, and some hygocybe, russula and tricholoma that I wasn't organized enough to pin down. It was blowing a gale on the tops so it was hard enough staying on our feet without faffing around with books, cameras etc. We also gathered a respectable number of sloes, and thanks to the stong wind, I also managed an unusually large number of hazelnuts. So, some of the mushrooms went into an autumn stew with home grown borlotti beans and garlic and some butternut squash, the sloes are percolating nicely in gin, and I'm considering making some hazelnut liqueur.

This week, I fancied a trip out to Old Moor. It was a lovely day so I had a leisurely bus / tram / train / bus ride out there, and a stroll round the hides in the afternoon sun. There was plenty about: cormorant, lapwing, teal, wigeon, tufted duck, heron (of course)  golden plover, mute swans, canada geese, coots, moorhens, a wader (godwit?) siskins, pied wagtail, and lots of other stuff I couldn't identify. Still lots of dragonflies around. I've been watching Autumnwatch and have posted a few photos on the flikr stream.

Misty Morning

Having deferred my foray from yesterday, I set off at dawn this morning . The sunrise was glorious, but as I approached Fox House, the cloud descended. However, the damp in the air gave the day a real autumnal feel and there were some interesting light effects as the sun struggled with the low cloud for ascendancy. Within 15 minutes of parking the car near Sir William Hill, I had found 4 ceps and a good collection of hedgehog fungi, saffron milk caps and meadow wax caps. Other fungi included brown birch bolete, blusher, snowy wax caps, fly agaric and brown roll rim. On the bird front, I saw wren, meadow pipit and siskins. Next week I'll be out with friends, so I'm hoping for good weather and a good show of edible mushrooms.

Not quite autumn.

This morning's walk near Grenoside was a little disapponting on the fungi front. I found a few bay boletes and that was it for edible species. A couple of stinkhorns - "before " and "after" and a few russulae were the only other things spotted. On the bird front, I managed a photo of a wren, and spotted a jay. I also heard a woodpecker, along with a few other tantalising bird calls that I was, of course, unable to identify. The leaves are only just thinking about turning and the grass and other plants are past their summer flush, but not yet ready to die down.

Summer's end

It's a glorious Indian Summer, and today was the perfect day to go out early on a foray. There were plenty of mushrooms about, although the haul of edibles was relatively small there were some quality finds including these chanterelles, some saffron milk caps and hedgehog fungi, charcoal burners, larch boletes and a small orange birch bolete. I also found a large beefsteak fungus but it was past its best, and I'm not really a fan. I had hoped for some ceps or at least some bay boletes, but no joy. One of my usual spots for field mushrooms had been left ungrazed and had become overgrown so even if the mushrooms were there, it was impossible to see them. Other fungi seen include laccaria amethystea, amanita rubescens and fulva. I saw plenty of birds as well. Amongst those I could identify were goldfinch, and green woodpecker.

Suffolk

It seems an age since we returned from a brilliant

2 weeks in Suffolk. Fabulous cottage, wall to wall sunshine, and great scenery and wildlife. Birds, especially marsh harriers, deer - roe and muntjac, butterflies and most notably dragonflies. The air was alive with them

The cottage was on Aldringham Common so there were lots of walks from the doorstep - to Thorpeness, Aldburgh, Sizewell beach, Minsmere and Dunwich Heath. Also not far away was Southwold, Dunwich and Orford, and Tunstall and Rendlesham forests.

Since returning, it's been back to work. We came home to masses of plums and apples, so there's been lots of jam-making and such going on. The dehydrator came out of storage today, and it's high time the seasonal mushroom forays began. Some decent weather would be nice. Still in the process of uploading holiday photos onto flikr - there are so many to sort through.

Something to blog about

July has come and gone. Wet, for the most part, and nothing to report in the way of walks. I can never work out why these periods of "inactivity" happen. I think it's a comlex combination of factors.

Last Saturday, however, was definitely the highlight of the month, and something to blog about. Richard Bell, whose online diary I follow assiduously (see links) was leading a workshop on "drawing on reserves". It was one of those days where everything comes together. The event was organised by Kirklees Countryside Unit in the form of the lovely Simon. The location was great, because it was a lovely spot, and the meeting point was right next to the station at Stocksmoor. Best of all, the weather was perfect. Dry, sunny and warm (not hot!). It was lovely to meet Richard. He is just as I'd imagined him from his diary, and although I have to say, I did not come away with lots of fabulous drawings, I did come away feeling inspired to get drawing again, a real pleasure that I have been neglecting since my night classes finished.

On the gardening / wildlife / photography front, things have been a bit sparse. I have been fairly conscientious about my bird feeding station, and that is paying dividends. I have regular visits from a bullfinch, and more recently a greenfinch, which are new to the garden, alongside the usual sparrows, tits, blackbirds, woodpigeon and collared dove, as well as the less welcome magpies (they make a mess of the feeding station and terrorise the other birds). The blackbird pictured, although it looks scary, and seems to have startled the sparrow, is not such a problem. It hoovered up the windfall cherries from our tree, of which there were many.

The garden accelerated a little in June, what with the fine weather, although the recent cool, and very wet July has slowed it down again. Yesterday, I lifted the garlic as they had all fallen over, and put them in the greenhouse to dry, as the ground outside is so cold, wet and heavy at the moment.

I suspect next time I blog, it will be on return from our hols. I'm keeping everything crossed that the weather will improve, so watch this space, and hopefully my flikr for a flurry of fabulous photographs.

Old Moor again

Yes, I know it's an RSPB reserve, but

when I went yesterday, the insect life was just wonderful! And where would the birds be without them? Apart from that, my bird photos were really not that brilliant. Saw quite a lot of birds, though, mainly black headed gulls, but also great crested grebe, grey heron, greylag goose, canada goose, wigeon, tufted duck, coot, oystercatcher, ringed plover, lapwing, redshank, dunnock, tree sparrow and chaffinch. Quite a few had young, and I was amused to see that coot chicks have orange heads. What's that all about? Seen quite a few jays over recent weeks. One was pretending to be a crow - standing in the middle of the road - and there was one in the garden this morning. Had to go out to stock up on bird food this morning. A family of house sparrows are eating us out of house and home. My local B&Q doesn't do bird food during the hanging basket season, so I had to go up to the garden centre as well. At least our front door which had been numberless since we had a new one installed is now displaying its shiny new number 17 proudly.

Last week I did a little bit of the missing part of the Barnsley boundary walk, but I kept getting lost, it wasn't especially nice, and I had just decided to abandon it for the day when I finally saw a BBW sign. Perhaps I'll try and finish the 2 remaining legs before we go on holiday. They are pretty long and will take a bit of travelling to and from so I should really take advantage of the long days.

Auld Reekie

As suspected, the new job is taking its toll on other activities. That's not a complaint or an excuse, just a fact of life. However, we got full value last week from a weekend in Edinburgh. Back in the dark(ish) days of March, I discovered I had won 2 nights DB&B for 2 in a hotel in Edinburgh. How great is that? It could have been almost anywhere, but Edinburgh would have been my first choice!

On arrival on Friday afternoon, we split up to do a bit of shopping in the new town, dodging the tramworkings which have turned the area into a nightmare for motorists, and even we users of public transport had trouble figuring out which way the buses were going. Yes, they all stop on George street, but the direction of travel is not so obvious as when they stopped on Princes St, as we discovered to our cost on one occasion. We finished off with a quick trip out to Ocean Terminal on the bus.

The free evening meal turned out to be rather good, so we had no mixed feelings about eating in the hotel rather than finding a nice restaurant in town for Saturday night.

Saturday started with fine weather. We got a bus across to the Botanical Gardens - one of my favorites - and spent an enjoyable hour or so wandering around and dodging an occasional shower before joining the Water of Leith Walkway at Stockbridge and following it through Dean Village (see photo - I'll put a few more on Flikr) as far as the Museum of Modern Art. I've done the walk in its entirety twice now, and would strongly recommend it for its varied scenery and wildlife. It's hard to believe you are so close to the centre of a huge city. The Museum has a gateway leading from the walkway, and I promised myself I would visit it on my next trip. The amazing thing was meeting people we knew from Sheffield in the cafe. The first time I did the walk, I also met someone I knew near the start of the walk. The gallery itself was interesting - worth a visit, but I can't say there was anything unforgettable in there. The most impressive stuff was Damien Hirst works - as with so much art, it has to be seen in real life to have its full impact. We both liked one of his "turntable images" best, and seeing a lot of his anatomical / pharmaceutical stuff all displayed together made much more sense of it.

On emerging, we found the weather had deteriorated. We hopped on a bus and went out to Musselburgh. I love the Esk estuary, and the beach with its thousands of mussel shells and lumps of driftwood. Sadly, it was freezing cold and wet by now. We braved it briefly, and saw lots of martins, gulls, swans, and what we thought were clods of earth on the banks from a distance, turned out to be dozens of huddled eider chicks and mums.

We had plenty of time to enjoy Sunday, and despite an unpromising start, we decided to go out to the north east of the city, onto the Firth of Forth, near Silverknowes. The weather improved as the day wore on, and we had an excellent walk along the promenade, seeing oystercatchers, shelduck, herons, and more eiders. We continued our walk by following the River Almond walkway from the Firth with its small picturesque harbour upstream for a couple of miles. It was just magical! After catching a bus back to the city centre, we stll had time for a late lunch and a stroll along the Royal Mile. It was obvious from the comments of some of my Twitter friends that we had been incredibly fortunate with the weather: it had obviously been very cold and wet in England, providing a suitably high water table for the torrential rain on Wednesday which brought the railways a chaotic state on Thurday for my work trip to Banbury - apparently because of flooding at Dore!!!

So this weekend has seen me neglecting my walking in order to catch up with jobs at home. But the weekend in Edinburgh was well worth getting a bit behind. What a superb city it is!

I can't imagine why I've never walked through Wharncliffe Wood and along the Crags before now. It's not that far from home. Yesterday I finally put that right as I reached leg 9 of the BBW. And what a glorious day for it! Within minutes I heard my first cuckoo of the year and watched a great spotted woodpecker swerve across the path. Butterflies were aplenty, but moving so fast in the heat of the day, that photographing them was impossible. The only half-decent bird photo I managed was a chaffinch with a juicy morsel in its beak, but I did find a nice clump of coprinus micaceus and a pink slime mould. Apparently slime moulds do move, but so slowly that even I could manage a photo. Thank goodness for wild flowers! The bluebells are nearly over now. I'm sure there are a lot more buttercups than usual this year - they look so cheerful, and the foxgloves are just about ready to flower. They always remind me of a brilliant trip to Mid-Wales one flaming June, many years ago now. I chose this cranesbill (cut-leaved, I think) as my blog photo as cranesbills are one of my favorites, both in the wild and in the garden. As usual, there are mor pics on Flikr. I also saw green alkanet, yellow pimpernel, the lovely germander speedwell.
I made a start on leg 10. I was hoping to get as far as Midhopestones, and count the section from there to Langsett as done (completed on one of Rob's walks), so my next leg would be Langsett to Dunford Bridge. Realistically that was never going to happen, so I'll have to fill that gap in a week or 2. Of to Sunderland for work next week, and then a weekend in Edinburgh next weekend.

High Green to Oughtibridge

Once again flowers were the top attraction of the walk. Bluebells still very much in evidence as well as field pansy, crosswort, ladies' mantle, self-heal, and red campion. Lapwings and greenfinch were the main birds of note, and painted lady and this beautiful delicate green veined white the butterflies. The first part of this walk was mainly field and meadow walking - very pleasant for the most part. The best bit was the section of Wharncliffe Woods between the Hollow and Oughtibridge, which was magical in the dappled sunlight. I got a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to spot where I had to break out for Oughtibridge and the bus home because once past this point, there is no escape for several miles as the path turns north and tracks the River Don and the railway line with the road on the far side. http://www.multimap.com/s/TyEwGOAD . It was faily clear, as it happened, and I emerged at a point which was the nearest that BBW passes to home. The next leg should be pleasant and straightforward, but the problem with the final sections will be transport, as the route sweeps out into a hard-to-reach part of the Peak District.
At home, the garden is growing furiously, and soon my favorite section will be in bloom. The combination of a warm and dry April and a mild and wet May have meant that things are growing quickly. The thuggish rose on the arch has more flowers than ever before and I'm just hoping that the squash plants, which have been disappointing for the last few years, will take off and produce some fine crops.
There have been lots of swifts overhead recently, and on the feeders there seems to be a proliferation of house sparrows, and great tits. There has been high drama over the last 2 days, firstly as an unfledged blackbird looking very sorry for itself, found itself on the patio. Not sure what was its fate, but I think it might have managed to get under cover of the undergrowth. Then today, the presence of a very bold little tabby high up in a neighbour's tree caused pandemonium with a number of blackbirds and magpies collaborating successfully to drive it away. Calm has now been restored.

Barnsley Boundary Walk resumed

No big surprise that the new job is curtailing my leisure activities. I don't resent that, though, as the job is bringing lots of other new experiences and challenges. The lousy weather recently is also making me focus on other things that need doing - you don't mind getting on with the practical and mundane tasks quite so much when there is little prospect of pleasant sunny walks.

Last week, I resumed the Barnsley Boundary Walk - leg 7 and a bit of leg 8, from Elsecar to High Green. Very little of it was new as the first part duplicated one of Rob's walks, and the latter part a section of the Penistone line walk in reverse. It was a fine but gusty day and there was not a lot of bird or animal interest. I saw goldfinches in Elsecar park, but there was not a great deal wildlife on or around the res unless you count fishermen. There was also a warbler of some kind, but no idea which one, and a thrush which I managed a photo of (see flikr). Again, don't know whether it was song or mistle. The books are really not helpful. Yes, one is bigger than the other, but just try getting them to stand side by side for comparison!! A pied wagtail in St Peter's churchyard, but not even a kestrel at Tankersley. Surprisingly, saw quite a few butterflies: peacock, small tortoiseshell, orange tips and quite a lot of speckled wood. The real triumph was the profusion of wild flowers: bluebells, of course, pink purslane, speedwell, forget-me-not, honesty, cuckoo flower, vetch (bitter vetchling?) herb robert, violet, yellow archangel, white dead nettle, and wild garlic in such profusion it was breathtaking (the photo really doesn't do this patch justice).

Close to home this week, saw a jay from the window, swifts earlier in the week, and housemartins. The tits (mainly coal and blue) and blackbirds are keeping busy and a pair of house sparrows are regular visitors to the feeders. Haven't spotted any robins or bullfinches for a little while.

In the garden, the beans, courgettes and squash are getting planted out today. There doesn't seem much point in holding off. The forecast is not good - lots more rain on the way, but at least the roots will get a chance to take off - if they aren't washeded away! A bit of pricking out and salad sowing under the cover of the greenhouse is in order, then maybe a bit of sewing, sketching and, as a last resort, ironing later. Next weekend, the extra day off will be an incentive to get out and about at least once. The next leg of BBW will take me through some great woodland towards Oughtibridge. I'm off to Northampton and Swindon during the week, so perhaps a bit of birwatching from the train.

Another day, another county

Today the weather was not quite so kind, but a spring fungi and bluebell walk was in order, so off we went to a lovely woodland near Bawtry. We didn't find the hoped for prizes, but A very fine cluster of Jew's ear and some splendid hoof fungi provided the fungal interest, and the bluebells didn't diasappoint despite the lack of dappled shade.
Meanwhile, in the garden, the bullfinch is still putting in a regular appearance, as are some greedy starlings, a robin, dunnocks, collared doves, blue, coal and great tits. Next weekend, I am determined to do a long, leisurely solo walk so I can concentrate on the photography and wildlife. I just hope the good weather returns. More pics on Flikr.

Glorious Peak District

I've been doing so many walks in the Barnsley area recently that I've been a stranger to the Peak District, especially the White Peak. Yesterday that was remedied in the shape of a reunion of colleagues from my first ever school. A very special lot they are too! We had a lovely walk from Youlgreave, organised by Pete, who lied about the hills, but we forgave him. As much time was spent chatting and catching up with friends from long ago, the fantastic scenery, although it was a wonderful backdrop to the day, did not get my full attention, and the wildlife was largely out of the corner of my eye. I did see an Orange Tip - something I hadn't seen for a while, and one very special highlight was this slow worm basking by the side of the round. Slow worms don't give much away, but I imagine it was bemused by the attention it got.