Lister Park
On Friday I went to Cartwright Hall to look at the way they display photos. Unfortunately they no longer suspend frames from a picture rail so that part was not successful. I did take my camera.
Please tap on an image to see it in better quality with the others in its gallery.
Their section of No Mow May grass is impressive in the purple flower content. Another impressive thing is the number of geese, their evidence liberally litters the paths around the lake.
Denso Marston NR
I then stopped off at Denso Marston Nature Reserve.
I should really do a better job of getting a photo of the leaf miners. There are a lot of leaves affected by them but turning the leaf to the sun with one hand and trying to hold the camera and take the shot with the other is not giving me the results I should be able to get. There’s lots of Rowan berries ripening and lots of Damselflies ovipositing. The open Water Lily flowers were impressive. But as usual the highlight of a visit to DMNR is to hear and see Kingfisher. I was lucky with this one. It was only there for a second or so.
Potter’s Pits
The next day I went along to Potter’s Pits (I’m still not convinced that is the proper name for it) between Shipley Station and Bradford Beck.
The first thing I noticed after going under the railway arch was that Bradford Beck looked polluted. It was not brown and cloudy like it might be after heavy rainfall but blue/grey and cloudy from domestic kitchens. Just a few yards further on, where you go past trees a Song Thrush showed itself nicely. Several Robins and Wrens could also be heard. But managed to keep tree trunks or branches between us.
In June and July on previous years I had seen Marbled White butterflies there, but not this time. There were quite a few Ringlet butterflies though. Further over near the station fence I could see several large white butterflies. A lone Comma also flitted around and stopped long enough for me to get a photo.
I tried to take a reasonable sample of insect photos. Various Bees, different kinds of Mirid Bugs, Crickets, Grasshoppers, Leafhoppers.
In several areas it looked as though we are in for a bumper crop of Blackberries in a few days time.
I spent some time looking at the stems of Ragwort and other plats, looking for caterpillars. The only one I found has the shape and colour of a Sawfly larvae, but it has the wrong number of legs according to t’internet. If its eyes are at the bottom of the photo, and that is where its proper legs seem to be then it was going up the stem backwards.
I had another look at Bradford Beck on the way out between the line to Saltaire and the line to Frizinghall and heard a Grey Wagtail so I looked around a little and there it was on one of the rocks in the Beck.
Shipley Station Butterfly Meadow
Before getting back to the car I had a look around the Shipley Station Butterfly Meadow. At the top corner I noticed a small brass plaque in memory of Susan Stead. I didn’t get close to the plaque to read anything other than her name because I didn’t want to disturb the plants around it. She was an active member of the Bradford Urban Wildlife Group and, I believe, Yorkshire Butterfly Conservation group. I met her a few times including during a successful search for Green Hairstreak butterflies on Baildon Moor.
I spent sometime looking for Common Blue Buterflies but didn’t see any. Ringlet butterflies were flitting around amongst the various Bumblebees on lots of Knapweed, St Johns Wort and Birdsfoot Trefoil.
I was pleased to see a 6 Spot Burnet Moth flitting around. I have yet to see Cinnabar Moth caterpillars this year on the Ragwort so it was great to see the Burnet Moth.
DMNR again
On the way home I stopped off at Denso Marston Nature Reserve.
The birthday balloon is slowly losing its air. I assume it will be released by the twig that currently has it trapped so it can float away and decompose over the next few years.
The highlight of this visit though was spotting a Grey Heron on the decking at the pond edge. It was on the far side of the pond info board so I could get down low and get a photo of it under the board. It wondered along the decking and at one time got down low. If I got down like that I would be kneeling but I think for a bird these are actually its Ankle.
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