Yet more photos from a three walks along the River Aire, through Denso Marston Nature Reserve, and along the Leeds Liverpool Canal – 20,22 and 23 April 2026. They are not in any particular order though the image description says where they were taken.
The header image is of a pair of Swans on the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
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I now need to get on with posts about last weekend’s walks with Bradford Urban Wildlife Group, and the RSPB Airedale and Bradford Local Group.
Little Belters
The small birds are certainly belting out some good songs. Wrens are amazingly loud for their size.
Dunnocks seem to smarten themselves up for the breeding season and a quite tunefull.
I was lucky to spot both male and female Blackcaps. I did expect the females to be tucked away in the low vegetation with their nests and possibly eggs. The males still singing to keep invaders away.
- Wren
- Dunnock
- Male & Female Blackcap
- Robin
- Chiffchaff
Birds
The pale blue egg is of a Song Thrush, I think. Blackbird’s eggs are similar but I reckon the dark spots a re dark enough to say Song Thrush. Let me know in the comments what you think. I didn’t know that Ants ate eggs.
A few minutes before I took the photo of the Jackdaws I saw a horse rolling about on its back. When It got up I could see a pale patch where it had been rolling. I assumed it was bare earth and dust. Later I spotted the Jackdaws and realised that it was horse hair that had come off the horse and they were collecting it for nests.
The Blackbirds on the path to Denso Marston Nature Reserve were looking up into the Ivy. I wondered what could have held their attention. Then one of them flew up and landed back down with a berry in its beak. Were they looking over the young berries, deciding if any were ripe enough to eat?
When walking along the river to the Buck Lane footbridge I spotted something an one of the rocks of the “weir” near the bridge. I managed to get a better look at it through the trees and was surprised to see a Common Sandpiper. The trees meant that I was able to be reasonably close. In the past they have quickly flown away when they got sight. A Grey Wagtail was also in the same area.
The Swans were on the canal. One, asleep, was on its own. The other two were slowly imitating each other with their neck movements. It was rather gracefull.
The tiny Mallard Duckling got its little legs an feet going a couple of times and showed that it could actually run on water. However it stayed close to its parents and did not go near the Grey Heron that would neatly plucked it off the water and swallowed it.
The Rest
Here we have a Banded Bee-fly with its fantastically long proboscis stuck into the Lesser Celandine flower.
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Orange-tip butterflies were quite numerous.
Peacock butterflies hibernate over winter and emerge during March and April. New ones don’t emerge until July so the difference in these two Peacocks is surprising, one looks very ragged with torn wings but the other looks rater smart.
The last photo is of a False Puffball. I took a photo of the same one, looking nice and fresh, that you can see here – 2026 18 Apr. Denso Marston Nature Reserve & canal.
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