I have had a few visits to Bracken Hall Green recently (see the category: Shipley Glen) and these are from visits on 12 & 13 July 2025. The visit on 12 was with two other members of the Bingley Camera Club wildlife group. It also involved a walk down to Hirst Mill weir on the river. The main motivator for the visits was to get sight of Purple Hairstreak butterflies but I think the view of two Gatekeeper butterflies is one of the better photos, hence it being the header image.
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Purple Hairstreak Butterfly
On the West side of Bracken Hall Green are some large rocks before a drop down into Shipley Glen where Oak trees are growing. Standing on the edge of the rocks then gives you a view towards the tops of the Oak trees which is a good height to look for Purple Hairstreak butterflies that like the upper canopy of the trees.
That was the plan, but the best sightings of the butterflies was on a tree on the green itself. Several were spotted flying around and some settled at not so far off head height, perhaps a third of the way up the tree.
I didn’t see any resting with their wings open unfortunately but these are two on Oak Leaves showing a little of the upper wing colour.
Other Butterflies
I have yet to see results from the 2025 Big Butterfly Count but for me, the dry sunny weather has been good for sightings.
The Small Heath butterfly rarely rests with its wings open. One, with wings closed, was spotted on Bracken Hall Green on Ragwort and stayed still enough for me to take a photo. The other was in Trench Meadow. In the description I have mentioned the grasses that might also be in the photo Cock’s Foot, Dactylis glomerata and red fescue, Festuca rubra or perhaps Common Bent, Agrostis capillaris. A Bradford Botany Group report does list false oat grass, cocks foot, red fescue, and sweet vernal grass as being the predominant grasses.
When out and about I often struggle to tell the difference between Small Heath and Gatekeeper, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown, and Meadow Brown and Ringlet. Small Coppers and Speckled Wood however are easily identified in the places I visit. I am not expecting to see butterflies that they might be confused with.
Birds
The Grey Heron down at the Hirst Mill weir on the River Aire was resting back on its ankles/heels. The joint is called an intertarsal joint because of the bones that it connects.
When out and about I try to remember to look up for raptors. Red Kite are often floating around effortlessly. They tend to be quieter than Buzzards. This Red Kite was above Bracken Hall Green.
The Grey Wagtail was at Crag Hebble Dam at the bottom of Shipley Glen.
Insects & Things
While looking for Purple Hairstreak I spotted this Acorn Weevil, Curculio, quite possibly Curculio venosu. It is a shame I didn’t get to see the front of it, they are weird.
The Cherry Galls, with Common Spangle Galls, and the Oak Apple Gall are also insect related. The Cherry Gall is a result of an egg of the Cynips quercusfolii wasp, the Common Spangle Gall of Neuroterus quercusbaccarum, and the Oak Apple Gall by Biorhiza pallida Cynipidae.
It wasn’t until I got home that I saw the other insects in the photos of the White Tailed Bumblebee and Ladybirds but for me there is not enough visible to be able to identify them. It is surprising how many there can be on 1 plant.
And talking about quantity, that’s 10 or more Face Flies Musca autumnalis on a gate post near Crag Hebble Dam, all facing the same way.
The Southern Hawker dragonfly obligingly flew in front of me while I was looking over the dam of Crag Hebble Dam. As you can see the background was a fair distance and dark. I was waiting for the likes of Grey Wagtails, see above, Kingfisher and perhaps a Little Egret so the dragonfly took my by surprise before flying off to the other side.
Views
I though the view West from Glen Road was interesting in that the clouds looked like hills/mountains in the distance.
The other 2 views are of a Water Lily with a blue damselfly at Crag Hebble Dam and a view of the field below Dobrudden Caravan Park where they were making Hay watched by a few dozen Crows and Jackdaw.
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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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