I still need to pay a few more visits to Baildon Bank, I have heard Green Woodpeckers but have yet to see one. Baildon Bank is now part of the Bradford Pennine Gateway Nature Reserve and you can see the extent of Gateway on the interactive map on the Baildon Moor page. We have yet to see what it means in terms of access and management but I have enjoyed my wanderings, and there have been surprises, so I am looking forward to more visits. This posting is from 4 visits – 8th, 10th, 11th and 13th August 2025.
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Oak
In parts of Baildon Bank there are lots of Oak trees and, following the Bracken Hall Countryside walk, I have continued to check them for the growths due to Gall Wasps, and there are lot of them. Some trees seem untouched, others have lots of one kind and others have lots of several kinds.
The sequence of the photos is:-
- Acorns
- Artichoke Galls from the Andricus foecundatrix cynipid wasp
- Knopper Galls from the Andricus quercuscalicis cynipid wasp
- Cherry Gals from the Cynips quercusfolii cynipid wasp
- Silk-Button Spangle Galls from the Neuroterus numismalis cynipid wasp, and
- Common Spangle Galls from the Neuroterus quercusbaccarum cynipid wasp
Followed by photos of a mixture of Galls.
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Not only are the Galls on the Oak trees fascinating but so are the life cycles of the wasps that caused them by laying their eggs on the tree; they alternate with asexual reproduction, all female, followed by sexual reproduction, male and female. The eggs of the different phases are often laid on different parts of the tree or even a different species. The galls produced by the tree when the different larvae hatch can also look different.
Fungi
On these walks along parts of Baildon Bank I was not expecting to see many fungi but there is a lot of leaf litter in parts and various fungi sprouting in it.
I have mentioned it on previous occasions that I get lost in the variety when trying to identify Fungi. It is only when I get home and look at some books that I realise I should have done all sorts of things – smell, break, check how the gills start from the outside, how they join the stem, are they uniform, etc., etc., and etc.
Some of these are puffballs, some have uniform gills the don’t join the stem, some have wavy gills, some have different lengths of gills, some have sponge like gills.
All these things should help me narrow the ID of the fungus but to me it seems that every kind of fungus has every variety of features within it. I will keep going along to guided fungi forays and with a bit of effort I might improve.
Needless to say I have never thought about eating any of the fungi I see when out and about.
Views
From parts of Baildon Bank you can get good views of Baildon, Shipley, Saltaire and Bradford.
The Shipley Market Clock is certainly visible.
The roofs of Saltaire make quite a feature from this angle. And it is noticeable that you are at the same height as the top of Salts Mill chimney.
Lister’s Mill is unmistakeable on the skyline.
Butterflies
Walking along paths in woodland it was not surprising to see Speckled Wood butterflies. On the more open grassy areas there were quite a few Gatekeepers and a few Small Coppers but the nice one to see was the Wall Brown butterfly.
During my visits the sun was quite strong and the butterflies seemed to be making the most of the warm air and only staying still for a second or so. Finding mates was probably quite high on their list of priorities.
Others
The numerous ant’s nests on the bank is what is telling me to keep going back for Green Woodpeckers.
In the past I have seen and heard dozens of Grasshoppers in the area between Thompson Lane and the houses of Baildon Green. The stones around the edge used to have anything up to a dozen basking on them.
Near the junction with Thompson Lane a patch of the grass had been cut around quite large concrete areas that look like drainage, sewerage and water supply.
Instead of guessing I have decided to look it up:-
SV on a cover means Sluice Valve or Stop Valve indicating access to a valve that controls the water supply and WO on a manhole cover stands for Wash Out indicating it covers a washout valve that is used to drain water from the pipe system. The YW is, of course, Yorkshire Water, which means that the earliest date for the YW ones is 1973 when Yorkshire Water Authority was created.
And then there were Pheasants
I was not surprised to see Wood Pigeons and Magpies rummaging around under the trees but I was surprised to see a couple of Pheasant keeping an eye on me. They soon settled down and slowly went on their way in the brambles and long grass.
Tracks
The squiggles show where I wandered when taking the photos. Select a date. The areas covered by the Bradford Pennine Gateway can also be selected and shown.
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