On Wednesday I drove over the comparatively new bridge on the canal at Rodley to go to Rodley Nature Reserve. Last time I was there I was able to drive over the bridge to get there but by the time I was leaving the bridge was broken so I had to drive out north round the edges of the farmer’s field to Horsforth.
Above are the bird photos from the visit. I know they have “Little” in their name but when you see them on their own Little Egrets look like a decent sized bird; and then I saw it next to a Grey Heron, perhaps they are Little. Several times while I was there a very fine rain drifted across the reserve – the photo of the flying Little Egret might be “noisy” but most of the speckles in the photo are raindrops and not noise.
The male Pheasant looks as though it is bowing its head to the female, “I am not worthy”, but it is just feeding.
Other “nice to see” birds were the Little Grebe and juvenile Great Crested Grebe.
Whirlygig Beetles were living up to their name. Five of them were arranged in a circle and every few seconds they would chase each other around the circle like a….
I’m going to make a guess at the Damselfly being a Common Blue Damselfly. It looks as though it has a little mushroom shaped patch on segment two, just below the wing base.
Quite a few Gatekeeper Butterflies were flitting around the edges of Tim’s Field.
I should have made a note of the list of things sown in Tim’s field, or taken a photo of the noticeboard. That might have helped my in identifying the plants I spotted. I have done my best in adding a caption to each but that doesn’t mean it is correct. Misinformation creeps in everywhere. 🙂
From one of the hides, the Duck Marsh Hide I think, a Fox came wandering down the path towards us. It then headed back up the path. The others left the hide and I spent some time watching the Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe and others. The Fox came back down the path and I could see it right in front of the hide but very much hidden by grass. It was about to cross an open patch when loud running footsteps were heard on the wooden walkway to the hide and in best Fisherman style I missed the perfect shot.
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