People might have gathered by now that I quite like walking along the river and/or canal with my camera. These photos are from a couple of such walks. One on Friday 16 May 2025 to Denso Marston Nature Reserve and the other on Sunday 18 May 2025 along the Leeds Liverpool Canal at Dockfield Road to the swing bridge at Buck Wood and then back along the river, with a stop off at Saltaire Brewery.
Grey Heron, Mandarin Duck, Carrion Crow, Swan, Grey Wagtail, Sparrow, and Chiffchaff.
Azure & Large Red Damselflies, Banded Demoiselle, Sawfly, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue, and Tadpole
Dog Rose, Hedgerow Crane’s Bill, Wood Avens, and Hawthorn.
Bikes, bags, tyres, carpets, and washing machines.
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Birds
It is likely that the gas canister and shopping trolley next to the Grey Heron will not be too much of a health risk unless it is going to explode, but it is not good to see. In previous years I have taken photos of Roe Deer on the river bank picking their way around sheets of corrugated iron. Thanks to the Aire Rivers Trust, and their volunteers, all that iron was cleared away, but stuff still manages to get down to the river somehow.
The gas canister Heron is from 16th, the others are from the canal and river walk on 18th.
A Grey Herons throat is like the Tardis, bigger on the inside. When you look head on to a Heron its head and neck look really thin, but then when it opens its beak to toss a fish down it is a massive gape.
I watched the Grey Wagtails across the other side of the river while near the Lower Holme footbridge. They kept catching Mayflies and one has a Damselfly. I then noticed that they weren’t eating them themselves but were calling and just moving a small distance up and then down river, but with no young to feed. So I moved so that I was partly hidden by foliage and the bridge. The birds then flew across to near where I was standing and then up behind leaves to feed young on a nest I guess.
The Swans and Cygnets were on the canal near the Otley Road bridge. The parents were dipping their heads down and pulling vegetation up to the surface for the Cygnets to eat.
The Gosling and House Sparrows were on the canal near Boatman’s Wharf.
Wings & Tails
This group of photos are of the things with wings or wriggly tails. The pond at Denso Marston Nature Reserve now has lots of Azure Damselflies, some of them mating and ovipositing. Ditto with the Large Red Damselflies. There were quite a few Banded Demoiselles around the pond but also along the river.
Some of the Tadpoles look as though they are starting to bud their little legs.
The Holly Blue has snuck in, it was in our garden.
Flowers/Blossom
On these walks I didn’t take any photos of Red Campion, I have enough of those. I like seeing it, and the White Campion, but on these walks I spotted tiny Hedgerow Crane’s Bill and Wood Avens.
Rubbish
Sometimes it is only when I get home and start reviewing my photos that I see the rubbish cluttering the river. On these visits one of the first things I noticed was what was around the Grey Heron – a large gas canister and a shopping trolley. This set me up to look at what was not natural. In the past I have posted photos of Roe Deer working their way past sheets of corrugated iron. pipes and plastic. That has all been cleared away now by the Aire Rivers Trust and their volunteers, but stuff continues to appear.
I wonder if the Grey Wagtail appreciates that it is stood on a carpet. Most of the plastic will grumble away under the action of the sunlight and water to get into the water and fish and then the sea.
Some of the rubbish will provide homes and shelter for various organisms but most of it should simply not be there.
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The images are published under the Creative Commons, BY-NC-SA license. Feel free to share them, edit them, but please keep my name in the credits. And if I have got the ID of anything wrong please let me know, I don’t consider myself an expert but I have write something. It is often a best guess and it would take up too much room to say It could be this, or it could be… or perhaps.
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