My ramblings, my photos, photography, image editing, etc.

A Bit of June Wildlife

I have now found out why the right hand bird box in our garden was all akilter the other day.

One of the squirrels that visits our garden uses it to leap up to the next branch. I had seen a pair of Blue Tits taking food into it so there had been young. After it had been twisted I kept an eye on it to see if it was still being used. I saw no activity so when I straightened it I looked inside to see if they had been disturbed. The bottom of the box had a nice mossy and empty cup inside so I guess they all fledged.

I am pleased to see Mint Moth in our garden again, tiny with a nice bit of colour.

I have been down to Denso Marston Nature Reserve and the river a couple of times this week. One reason for going down there was to check on the outflows near the back of Charlestown Cemetery. The flow down Barnsley Beck had been a lot lower than in the past but now a channel in an underground chamber just above the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Browgate has been cleared and the flow restored. The restored flow did not help me confirm which outflow is used by the above-ground Beck water. You can read a bit about this on the Baildon Wiki here.

As expected there were lots of Damselflies on the reserve and along the river. Quite a few Banded Demoiselle could be seen flying along the river banks.

One was kind enough for me to see it land and let me take a couple of photos of it.

Next to the pond were lots of Azure Damselflies.

Several were mating, the female in this case is green. They would raise their wings to deter any other Damselflies if they were getting too close.

Large Red Damselflies were also around. The header image also shows Large Reds.

A little further up river several Grey Wagtails could be heard. I spotted this one across the other side of the river with its beak full of “tasty” flies. It leapt into the air a couple of times to catch more. I kept my eye on it for a while wondering where its young was.

I then saw it fly across to my side of the river where it walked up and down. Even though I kept still and was partly hidden by trees it seemed to be keeping an eye on me and was not taking the flies to its chicks. I therefore walked down river away from it and saw it eventually fly up to where its nest must have been.


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