Butterflies at Potter’s Pits, Shipley. 28 June 2026.

These are the photos from Potter’s Pits though I have yet to have any confirmation that it is actually called that, and I can’t even remember where I got that name from. The 1908 OS map has the words Water Pits Mill over the area but I think that refers to a building on the other side of Bradford Beck, between the Beck and Bradford Canal. The Mill and Canal are no longer there. An earlier map shows a Corn Mill between the Beck and Canal. It also shows Shipley Station as further down Valley Road where the new Rail workshop is being built.

Two paths through the area are being created. This will include a path to the small footbridge over Bradford Beck and a fence so people don’t fall into the beck. The path through to the Valley Road bridge has laid with stone chips. I assume this is to make nature more accessible.

I was pleased to see several Holly Blue butterflies, Celastrina argiolus though they tended to keep out of the way in the taller bushes.

Lots of Ringlet and Meadow Brown butterflies were around. They became aware of me walking along the paths before I saw them. The Ringlets tended to stay flitting about in the long grass except when a pair would quickly rise up together, separate and quickly sink into the grass again. The Meadow Browns would rise up quite close to me and fly away before dropping into the grasses. I did manage to get a few photos and the colouring of the underwings of the Meadow Brown made me realise why I had difficulty seeing them first.

I was also pleased to see both Large and Small Skippers but the surprise was the Hummingbird hawk-moth, Macroglossum stellatarum, flying along the Cleavers at the edge of the path apparently laying eggs.

Walking along one of the grassy paths I saw something move along a blade of grass. At first I thought it was just dry grass but something made me look again – it was a female Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) carrying her egg sac.

I assume I have seen it before but it had not registered, from there you can see the old Windhill Wesleyan Methodist Burial Ground off Crag Road. Perhaps in the past I had assumed it was Windhill Cemetery but that is further up the hill. It was used between 1835 and 1918 and had a Chapel next to it.

The route from Potter’s Pits to Shipley Station, which are next to each other, involved a walk along the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Several Sand Martin are still nesting in the wall of what used to be the cinema at Fox corner, but an interesting spot were the remains of a Signal Crayfish on the grass by the canal. Evidence that the Otters are doing a good job in that respect.

The youngsters of one of the Canada Goose families were starting to show the black and white colouring through.

The sides of the towpath have been a good place to see Cinnabar Moth caterpillars striping Ragwort. Unfortunately for them the grass along the canal from near the Dock Lane swing bridge towards Baildon has been cut short so nothing is growing. Fortunately there is still some Ragwort growing near Gallows Bridge and on the land that is for sale next to the Lock Keeper’s Cottage on Dock Lane.

I eventually got to Shipley Station Butterfly Meadow where, again, Meadow Brown and Ringlet butterflies were flying around. I had seen Burnet Moths on Bird’s Foot Trfoil in Potter’s Pits but they seemed to be a lot more of them at the station. I think there are both 5 Sopt and 6 Spot Burnet Moths. I am going to say that I have photos of both. There is a possibility that there may be a narrow bodied one.

My reckoning is that if the spot towards the rear is near the outside edge of the wing then it is a 5 Spot Burnet Moth and if the rear spot is towards the middle then it is a 6 Spot Burnet Moth. Given that the spots can seem to merge and the count can therefore be difficult I would love for someone to tell me exactly what I need to look at.