Paul Marfell

June 22, 2021June 22, 2021

Saturday at Rodley Nature Reserve

Even though the enclosed hides at Rodley Nature Reserve are shut it is still worth a walk around the place. I went there with my camera (and phone for Ingress uniques) on Saturday. If you click on an image you are usually presented with a better quality view of it.

Netherfield Road Car Park Clock from Parkinson’s Park

Before heading there I had my first walk around Parkinson’s Park in Guiseley. It was quiet in terms of wildlife but I might head back there in a week or two when I would expect to see more butterflies. On the way back to Netherfield Car Park from Parkinson’s Park I spotted the owl on the edge of a house roof. I don’t know if it is a disguised video camera or there to scare away other birds and rodents or purely decorative.

Man made Sand Martin nest site at Rodley Nature Reserve

The Nest Bank of the Lagoon is being used by Sand Martins again. Quite a few of them could be seen swooping about and chasing each other. The island of the Lagoon had a couple of Herons standing on it looking a bit like old men.

Buzzard being chased by a Crow above Rodley Nature Reserve

A little further round the walk, near the Wet Grassland I heard a Buzzard and looked up to see one being hounded by a Crow. The two of them circled around for a couple of minutes with the Crow diving in to to make the Buzzard think that it could do better elsewhere. It then drifted off up river and started circling above another field.

Female Blue Tailed Damselfly (?) at Rodley Nature Reserve

There were many Damselflies around. I am not the best at ID but I think I have photos of Blue Tailed, Common Blue, and Azure. The path edges and grassed areas, all being grown to suit wildlife, were worth keeping an eye on.

Near the Scrub Woodland, in the top of a tree, a bird was signing. Its song was quite distinctive and I knew I had heard it before, but it wasn’t until a while later that I was round the other side of the tree and managed to spot the Reed Bunting singing. I later saw one collecting insects in its beak.

Before going back to the carpark I went out onto the bridge and watched three ducks creating quite a fuss. The female was being chased by male which frequently tried to cover it. The other male that had yet to develop its full colour seemed to be trying to protect the female and fight the other off. At one time the female was almost completely submerged with one male on top of the other with both on top of the female.

During my visit I had heard several Chiffchaff but they were all out of sight at the top of trees. It wasn’t until I had got back to the car park that I managed to spot one.

June 17, 2021June 17, 2021

Uniques along the river

Yet another venture out looking for local Ingress uniques where I took my camera with me.

The photos from this walk were all taken on the River Aire near the Bradford Amateur Rowing Club. In between some of them we had a walk up river to Dowley Gap and a walk through Hirst Wood but I have put them all together.

We noticed a lot of Damselflies with the Banded Demoiselle being the most conspicuous, with several of them mating. In several places cuts in the river bank were teeming with small fish (fingerlings?). I don’t know the variety. And in one space, after trying to spot where a small fish had gone I finally focused on really tiny Fry – about half the size of a match-stick. The Heron on the river bank would have no problem filling its stomach with fish.

I took the photo of the Crow because it just seemed to be posing for us.

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021

Photos from Sunday at the canal and river

I went out on Sunday again combining photography, walking and Ingress. Click on an image to see it at a better quality.

Swans on Leeds Liverpool Canal at Cygnet Way

Just near the Beer Plaque in Ingress (on Saltaire Brewery) along the Leeds Liverpool Canal at Cygnet Way were some Cygnets. It’s nice to see them nesting along there. The Cob was keen to see off any of the Gosling chicks if they wandered too close. Along the sloping gardens of the houses of Cygnet Way were dozens of Canada Geese – nice in small doses but I bet they can get a bit noisy at times. The Goslings look as though they have full/bulging crops.

Some of the access to view the weir at Baildon Bridge has now been fenced off by the small businesses there. The only access is by the side of the bed shop. I heard a Peep, peep of a Kingfisher but didn’t see it but a Heron, Mallard and Black Headed Gull were on the weir. I couldn’t get a better view of the rubbish to see what name was on the bag.

June 13, 2021June 13, 2021

Denso Marston Nature Reserve & Buck Wood

On Saturday I took my camera (and phone to play Ingress) down to Denso Marston Nature Reserve.

As expected there were lots of Azure Damselflies near the pond and Moorhens on it. Several Chiff Chaff could be heard and I heard, then saw, a Kingfisher flying low along the river. I didn’t spend long there because I was really out to play Ingress and the italics below indicate locations in the game, many of which were first time visits for me.

After Denso I crossed the river using Baildon & Idle Bridge AD 1889 and turned left into Buck Wood. I stayed on the path near the canal. I know midday is not the best of times for bird spotting but it was quieter than I expected. I then turned up one of the main paths in Buck Wood to visit Latin Stone Carving, carved Stone Rabbit, Stone Squirrel, Stone Carving, Carved Stone, Buck Wood Stone spiral, Buck Wood Archaeological Site, Thackley open air school site, School stone carving, Woodland vent shaft, Thackley Entrance to Thackley Skills Park, Buck Wood trail, Deer carving on rock, Buck wood information board, and Ventilation shaft. Then on to Park Road for the Community hall foundation stone and back round and down Thackley Road for Friends of Buckwood Information Board and another Ventilation shaft and across the canal and river back into Baildon.

Speckled Wood Butterfly on the Buck Wood Noticeboard Ainsbury Ave

When I came out of Buck Wood onto Ainsbury Ave a Speckled Wood settled on the notice board. For a while I had been hearing a chain saw and at the bottom of Thackley Road I finally got to see what was happening. This link to Google Streetview shows the tree, if this is being viewed much later than 2021 Google may have been round again so change the time back before 2021.

The long distance views from near the canal were clear so I decided to try again for the photo of Emley Moor transmitters but the heat haze meant the view was not as good as I had hoped. I then plugged the car into the charger at Aireborough Leisure Centre in Guiseley and wandered around turning a few Ingress portals from green to blue. I then headed home with more miles in the battery than when I set out. Unfortunately free charging is set to end in September.

June 10, 2021June 10, 2021

Some May/June photos from our garden (2021)

I have yet to make some sense of the thousands of small video files form the nest box camera in our garden. Hopefully I will be able to put something together but the shear number of them makes it rather difficult. In the meantime here are a few other photos of somethings that have gone on in the garden.

We have a small obelisk in the front garden that last year was used for Sweet Peas to grow on. The twine and wire is still on it and this year it looks as though Goldfinch are trying to get some of the twine to use in their nests. Last year I saw them getting blades of grass, this year it will take them a few visits to get enough twine for a nest.

We often have Dunnocks in the garden and over the last week or two it has looked as though we have had at least one pair. These photos show that either one of them has been dragged through the bushes by a cat or it is a newly fledged bird.

Our nest box with the internal camera is still visible, it has not yet been hidden by the Clematis. The parents were busy feeding the young. The caterpillars seem to be much more nutritious compared to the spiders we saw in previous weeks. The chicks are growing fast and the parents are taking away, or eating, the obligatory faecal sack.

The video files that we had seen recently start to show that the chicks were hopping up towards the entrance so I had a look through an upstairs window. This shows that we do not have long to wait for their fledging. More photos from the inside of the nest are to follow.

I hope this works for people over the internet. This video was taken from our back garden with the camera in the shade of the chimney. It is looking West just before 5:00pm on 30 March. I often see seeds floating past, but the numbers in this video are just amazing. I have looked on a few occasions since and seen nothing like these numbers.

June 9, 2021June 9, 2021

A few photos from Tuesday (8th June 2021)

I haven’t taken my camera out much this year nor have I been on to Baildon Moor much this year. Tuesday seemed like a good day to have a wander.

Mating Large Red Damselflies in our garden

During the morning I had my camera to hand in the garden and spotted several Large Red Damselflies, some of them mating. Earlier in the year I had seen rather bright Orange Tip butterflies. I followed this female Orange Tip as it flew around lots of flower heads hoping that it would settle. Several times it looked as though it was about to but this was the only time it settled during several trips through the garden.

During the afternoon we went for a pleasant walk on Baildon Moor. We could hear several Curlew and spotted a few in the fields. In previous years I have seen twenty or so Lapwing take to the air to scare off predators. Today we saw about eight mobbing a Crow that was being quite persistent in its attempts to pick something up from the ground – probably a Lapwing chick.

There were quite a few Meadow Pipits around and we spent a while scanning the sky for Skylark. We could hear them but it can take a while to spot the tiny dot in the sky as it sings away. I was pleased to see the Linnet, at first I thought it was a young Meadow Pipit or Skylark feeding on the fairway but closer inspection showed it to be a Linnet. Of the numerous people we saw with dogs I think only two of them had them on leads. No wonder there were several Skylark in the air, they were being scared off the fairways by dogs.

Towards the end of our walk we heard several emergency sirens and saw a few flashing blue lights. An Air Ambulance flew in and landed over towards Bracken Hall Green. A little later we saw several vehicles and the helicopter leave so we were a little surprised to see ambulances, fire tenders and unmarked vehicles with tucked away blue lights still on Glen Road. On Facebook I later read that someone had been sitting on rocks, lost their balance and fell off.