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The latest is a blog post per day during the Corona Virus lockdown. The intention is for each day to have something spotted in the garden that has not been listed in the series before.
I went out on Sunday again combining photography, walking and Ingress. Click on an image to see it at a better quality.
Swans on Leeds Liverpool Canal at Cygnet Way
Swans on Leeds Liverpool Canal at Cygnet Way
Canada Goose chicks by Leeds Liverpool Canal at Cygnet Way
Just near the Beer Plaque in Ingress (on Saltaire Brewery) along the Leeds Liverpool Canal at Cygnet Way were some Cygnets. It’s nice to see them nesting along there. The Cob was keen to see off any of the Gosling chicks if they wandered too close. Along the sloping gardens of the houses of Cygnet Way were dozens of Canada Geese – nice in small doses but I bet they can get a bit noisy at times. The Goslings look as though they have full/bulging crops.
Heron on the weir at Baildon Bridge
Heron on the weir at Baildon Bridge
Some of the access to view the weir at Baildon Bridge has now been fenced off by the small businesses there. The only access is by the side of the bed shop. I heard a Peep, peep of a Kingfisher but didn’t see it but a Heron, Mallard and Black Headed Gull were on the weir. I couldn’t get a better view of the rubbish to see what name was on the bag.
On Saturday I took my camera (and phone to play Ingress) down to Denso Marston Nature Reserve.
Azure Damselfly at Denso
Moorhen – Juvenile & Chick
Moorhen Chick being fed
Male Orange Tip Butterfly at Denso
As expected there were lots of Azure Damselflies near the pond and Moorhens on it. Several Chiff Chaff could be heard and I heard, then saw, a Kingfisher flying low along the river. I didn’t spend long there because I was really out to play Ingress and the italics below indicate locations in the game, many of which were first time visits for me.
After Denso I crossed the river using Baildon & Idle Bridge AD 1889 and turned left into Buck Wood. I stayed on the path near the canal. I know midday is not the best of times for bird spotting but it was quieter than I expected. I then turned up one of the main paths in Buck Wood to visit Latin Stone Carving, carved Stone Rabbit, Stone Squirrel, Stone Carving, Carved Stone, Buck Wood Stone spiral, Buck Wood Archaeological Site, Thackley open air school site, School stone carving, Woodland vent shaft, Thackley Entrance to Thackley Skills Park, Buck Wood trail, Deer carving on rock, Buck wood information board, and Ventilation shaft. Then on to Park Road for the Community hall foundation stone and back round and down Thackley Road for Friends of Buckwood Information Board and another Ventilation shaft and across the canal and river back into Baildon.
Speckled Wood Butterfly on the Buck Wood Noticeboard Ainsbury Ave
Tree Felling, Thackley Rd near Buck Wood
When I came out of Buck Wood onto Ainsbury Ave a Speckled Wood settled on the notice board. For a while I had been hearing a chain saw and at the bottom of Thackley Road I finally got to see what was happening. This link to Google Streetview shows the tree, if this is being viewed much later than 2021 Google may have been round again so change the time back before 2021.
The long distance views from near the canal were clear so I decided to try again for the photo of Emley Moor transmitters but the heat haze meant the view was not as good as I had hoped. I then plugged the car into the charger at Aireborough Leisure Centre in Guiseley and wandered around turning a few Ingress portals from green to blue. I then headed home with more miles in the battery than when I set out. Unfortunately free charging is set to end in September.
I have yet to make some sense of the thousands of small video files form the nest box camera in our garden. Hopefully I will be able to put something together but the shear number of them makes it rather difficult. In the meantime here are a few other photos of somethings that have gone on in the garden.
Goldfinch with twine
Goldfinch with twine
Goldfinch with twine
We have a small obelisk in the front garden that last year was used for Sweet Peas to grow on. The twine and wire is still on it and this year it looks as though Goldfinch are trying to get some of the twine to use in their nests. Last year I saw them getting blades of grass, this year it will take them a few visits to get enough twine for a nest.
Dunnock
Dunnock
Dunnock
We often have Dunnocks in the garden and over the last week or two it has looked as though we have had at least one pair. These photos show that either one of them has been dragged through the bushes by a cat or it is a newly fledged bird.
Parent Blue tit
Parent Blue tit
Parent Blue tit
Our nest box with the internal camera is still visible, it has not yet been hidden by the Clematis. The parents were busy feeding the young. The caterpillars seem to be much more nutritious compared to the spiders we saw in previous weeks. The chicks are growing fast and the parents are taking away, or eating, the obligatory faecal sack.
Blue tit chick
Blue tit chick
Blue tit chick
The video files that we had seen recently start to show that the chicks were hopping up towards the entrance so I had a look through an upstairs window. This shows that we do not have long to wait for their fledging. More photos from the inside of the nest are to follow.
I hope this works for people over the internet. This video was taken from our back garden with the camera in the shade of the chimney. It is looking West just before 5:00pm on 30 March. I often see seeds floating past, but the numbers in this video are just amazing. I have looked on a few occasions since and seen nothing like these numbers.
I haven’t taken my camera out much this year nor have I been on to Baildon Moor much this year. Tuesday seemed like a good day to have a wander.
Mating Large Red Damselflies in our garden
Aquilegia in our garden
Female Orange Tip in our garden
During the morning I had my camera to hand in the garden and spotted several Large Red Damselflies, some of them mating. Earlier in the year I had seen rather bright Orange Tip butterflies. I followed this female Orange Tip as it flew around lots of flower heads hoping that it would settle. Several times it looked as though it was about to but this was the only time it settled during several trips through the garden.
Curlew on Baildon Moor
Flying Curlew on Baildon Moor
Crow being mobbed by Lapwing on Baildon Moor
During the afternoon we went for a pleasant walk on Baildon Moor. We could hear several Curlew and spotted a few in the fields. In previous years I have seen twenty or so Lapwing take to the air to scare off predators. Today we saw about eight mobbing a Crow that was being quite persistent in its attempts to pick something up from the ground – probably a Lapwing chick.
Meadow Pipit on Baildon Moor
Skylark on Baildon Golf Course
Male Linnet on Baildon Golf Course
There were quite a few Meadow Pipits around and we spent a while scanning the sky for Skylark. We could hear them but it can take a while to spot the tiny dot in the sky as it sings away. I was pleased to see the Linnet, at first I thought it was a young Meadow Pipit or Skylark feeding on the fairway but closer inspection showed it to be a Linnet. Of the numerous people we saw with dogs I think only two of them had them on leads. No wonder there were several Skylark in the air, they were being scared off the fairways by dogs.
Incident Responses Unit on Baildon Moor
Air Ambulance on Baildon Moor
Towards the end of our walk we heard several emergency sirens and saw a few flashing blue lights. An Air Ambulance flew in and landed over towards Bracken Hall Green. A little later we saw several vehicles and the helicopter leave so we were a little surprised to see ambulances, fire tenders and unmarked vehicles with tucked away blue lights still on Glen Road. On Facebook I later read that someone had been sitting on rocks, lost their balance and fell off.
Last year I watched and photographed Goldfinch pulling at blades of grass in the vegetable plot and taking it off for nest building.
Goldfinch
Goldfinch
Goldfinch
Today I spotted one tugging at the garden twine on the frame for the Sweet Peas. It bent down and grabbed the twine, tried nibbling on it and gave it a good tug. I think it managed to get a few strands out of it.
Four tiny chicks to feed
Last year I watched and photographed Blue Tits going to and from a nest box. This year I have a camera inside a nest box. Unfortunately I did a poor job of focusing it when I fitted it. I should have focused it above the bottom of the box. I must do a better job next year. Over the last two days four of the eggs have hatched with another four to go. Now that there are mouths to feed the male is dropping in much more frequently. Those chicks are tiny though.
The header image is one of the parents leaving the nest box. I will no doubt be posting more videos as the we go through the next couple of weeks.
To encourage birds to find the camera nest box I put up some Sunflower seeds not to far away. The feeder is in the middle of a climbing Rose and is easy for small birds to get to. What I didn’t think about was that the rose gave little rodents a way to get to the feeder. And it didn’t take them long.
Mouse eating Sunflower seeds
Blue Tit near the feeder
Blue Tit near the feeder
Blue Tits have been using the feeder too, they don’t seem to mind the mouse droppings on the tray. I can see the tray from a first floor window but from the ground it is above head height and it can be a bit painful reaching past the thorns to clean it.
The mouse has plenty of places to hide and breed, under stacked-up tiles, in a pile of bricks, under the shed, in plant pots and even inside a little burrow I have found under a Sage plant. I am OK with them as long as they stay out of the house.
