Denso & High Royds, 11 & 12 Mar.

On Saturday I went down to Denso Marston Nature Reserve to see if anything interesting was there. And on Sunday I went along to High Royds Pond to look for Snipe that someone told me about on my walk around DMNR on Saturday.

DMNR

As has often been the case recently, as I got to the gate to the reserve a Cormorant flew off up river. I was hopeful that it, or another one would come back down. There were a few Mallard and Goosander around the rocks on the other side of the river and a little further up river a pair of Gadwall Ducks. Not something that I have seen before on that stretch of the river. There were quite a few Moorhen and a pair of Mandarin Ducks. One of the male Goosander looked as though he had been slicking his head feathers down in a pattern. At the Spider Club feeding station lots of Dunnock were feeding on the ground with a couple of Bullfinch looking for food in the hanging tray. At that time the Coast Guard Helicopter flew over.

I then met up with another frequent visitor to the reserve and we walked down river to the footbridge at Buck Lane. He said he would show me where he had seen Water Rail before. While walking down I was too slow for the Little Egret that flew past. I did manage to at least get it in the frame but through lots of branches. At least it is recognisable as a Little Egret from its yellow feet. Just before we got to the bridge we spotted a Dipper on one of the rocks. It was not behaving like a Dipper. It was upright, not dipping, and stayed on the rock while we walked past.

When we got to the far side of the bridge we saw movement but it quickly disappeared. A Goldcrest flitted about the trees in front of us and managed to get it in the frame and focused once. You can at least see the stripe on its head.

A couple of minutes later a Water Rail showed itself and walked amongst the branches, leaves and rubbish. I guess old sheets, shirts and other fabrics fold over and collect mud and stuff in the folds. Insects and worms will then inhabit the folds. We could see the Water Rail picking and turning the rubbish and eating what it found. It was turning things out of the way in the same way Blackbirds do with leaves.

I then walked back up river to the reserve, and there was a Cormorant. As I watched it dived, dove, went under water a few times and travelled quite a distance before surfacing. At the pond several Canada Geese were looking as though they were going to be staying there for the night. From the path near the feeding station I spotted movement that I first thought was a Moorhen, there are several on the pond and they are probably going to be nesting there. Dogs on leads please. With my binoculars I could see that it was a Water Rail. I watched it walk along the edge of the pond and took a couple of photos. It then went behind the reeds. Assuming it would continue along the edge I walked to the wooden footbridge and waited. A few minutes later the Water Rail came out from behind the reeds and I got a photo before I headed for home.

High Royds Pond

On Sunday, which was also a Second Sunday in the game of Ingress, I went along to High Royds Pond hoping to see Snipe.

There were the usual culprits, Moorhen, Mandarin Ducks, Mallard, Crows, Jackdaw and Black Headed Gulls. The Robin was very friendly, it came right up to me feeding as it was going. On my first walk around the pond I spotted a Water Rail on the edge disappear into the reeds and then a few seconds later another do the same. I did spot a couple of birds fly in quickly showing a flash of white and also heard faint chip-er noises. Snipe? Now I think back I reckon the birds flying in looked more like Redshank than Snipe. On my second walk round the pond I spotted tell tale colouring on one of the little “islands”. It didn’t move and was difficult to get the camera focused on but looking at it now that is definitely an open eye of a Snipe behind the grass. As I continued walking round the Snipe was hidden by the grass on the left of the photo. I did hope to get a different angle on it but the grass curved round and protected it. On the third walk round it had moved on.

I then headed off to Otley to do a quick six missions in Ingress for the Second Sunday.