Kingfishers and Polypores

Another visit to Shipley Glen and Crag Hebble Dam. Male and female Kingfisher and large Birch polypore. And a walk down through Trench Meadows.

Crag Hebble Dam

On this visit to Crag Hebble Dam there were no hoards of runners and cyclists so I was able to spend some time watching and waiting.

The header image shows a Kingfisher on a higher perch watching for food in the water. They eat various small things but I only saw them with small fish – minnows. When I was watching the female Kingfisher at the far side of the Dam I kept hearing a Kingfisher call. At first I thought it was the bird I was watching but then another call made me look over my shoulder, and there on the rocks near the pool was another Kingfisher. It took me a second or two to find it so I wondered if it was the same bird that I had been watching. I looked back to the tree branch and the female was still there. The male then called again and the two of them flew down Loadpit Beck towards the river.

Polypores

Even though it was raining I decided to walk down through Trench Meadows to the river at Hirst Mill. I didn’t spot anything in Trench Meadow other than the cattle that help manage it as an SSSI but just before I got to the gate to it I did spot a leaning Birch tree with some rather large examples of Birch polypore bracket fungus.

A temporary fence has been put up along the river bank with signs warning people that the rocks of the weir are slippery when wet. Peering through the fence I did spot a Dipper on the other side of the river and a couple of ducks paddling amongst the rocks.

Walking back up to Shipley Glen I did spot a Grey Heron in Trench Meadow. It walked into Loadpit Beck where presumably it can find food. Using my binoculars to focus beyond the surface reflections I had been able to see fish in Crag Hebble Dam but I have yet to see fish in the Beck itself.