As I often do on a weekend I went out with my camera half thinking I might go somewhere different but after a drive over Baildon Moor and seeing that the long distance views were a bit hazy I went down to the river and Denso Marston Nature Reserve.
It looks as though they are preparing for the work to start on the Buck Lane development right next to Denso Marston. Bradford Council are going to build an access road down onto the fields with the intention that small industrial units and a hotel are built. The has been a lot of opposition to these plans – notably from a local group that formed and called itself BRAiD – Baildon Residents Against Indescrimaate Development.
As usual you can click on the images to see higher resolution ones on Flickr apart from the 1st two which are posted on flickr as lowish res ones.
However down on the reserve I was watched by a Robin as I went looking for Dippers, no luck, but I did see several Grey Wagtails. It was about this time last year that a Black Bellied Dipper was spotted along the river and it caused quite a sensation. I walked along the river to just past the railway bridge but still no Dippers. However I do think that Charlestown Cemetery need to have more care with the work they do there. It looks as though some tree work has been done and the cuttings are being thrown beyond the bottom hedge and are now starting to fall onto the path along the river. In the North East corner of the cemetery stones from the walls have been used to build steps and a path down to the path along the river. I wonder why?
However I did see one of the frequent river users, a female Goosander, but as usual, it caught sight of me before I saw it. This is a common view I have of those birds.
I decided to walk to the Idle Footbridge at the end of Buck Lane to look for Dippers amongst the rocks there but as I got to the gate at the end of the reserve this is what I spotted…
I stopped as soon as I saw it and it jumped away a bit but then came back towards me. It passed very close. As you can see I am almost looking down on it.
If I was still using my Canon 1000D the noise would have scared it away. As it is the Canon 7D is a lot quieter and though it looked at me a couple of times it carried on as normal.
However when some people came down the path from the road. It went up beyond the hedge that runs parallel with the river so I walked along by the river and saw it come down through the hedge; where it ate a few leaves and startled a Magpie.
A woman walked along the river from the footbridge without frightening the deer and we were able to have a chat about deer in Baildon. A family then came along the same way but the deer didn’t hang around for them to pass. It ran up the hill and disappeared into the dip beyond the hedge and was not seen again.
On the way back home I was starting to wonder what the deer will do once all that land is either Tarmac or industrial units. In one respect that makes me think the development shouldn’t happen but then if Bradford Council and/or the owners get their act together the lower part of the land, near the river, could be managed properly and enhance wild-life in the area.
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