These are the last photos I have taken in 2025. However this will not be my last post with photos from 2025. One of these days I will get around to reviewing the photos from a trip to Bempton Cliffs and posting some of them. These are from a visit to the river and Denso Marston Nature Reserve on 31 December 2025.
The header image is of a Kingfisher I spotted just up river from the green Buck Lane footbridge.
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Along the River Aire
The first bird spotted on this visit to Denso Marston Nature Reserve was a Kestrel in one of the trees around the wild flower meadow/scrape.
While getting strapped in to my camera kit Jeremy had stopped to talk, telling me that not much was around. But he did mention that a Kingfisher seemed to be spending some time down towards the green bridge and liked to be around a couple of Mallard. So one of the first things I did was head down the path to the bridge – and there she was. Initially quite difficult to spot because of their size and being on the other side of the river in the branches. It dived in a couple of times and caught fish and then flew up river – see header image.
A Grey Heron was on the pond and it wasn’t bothered by people walking by.
In addition to wildlife I was also looking out for Fungi and I did spot dark strands of Rhizomorph, probably from Armillaria, Honey Fungus that was visible where the bark on a Willow had been broken off.
I went further up river, to behind the Acorn Park buildings, to look for the car in the river. I intend to post a selection of photos of that area of the river showing the variation in the height of the river. When the river is high, though still not close to flooding the wheel is hidden under water.
On the way back to the reserve there are a few places where the Brambles are quite thick , and in there I was lucky enough to spot a couple of Goldcrest flitting up and down. They are tiny and never stop so I was lucky to get a photo that is recognisable as a Goldcrest. One slight concern is that I didn’t hear them, and I haven’t for a year now. Perhaps the next sound to go will be Long Tailed Tits.
I headed back towards the bridge, where I took a photo of the Turkeytail on the fallen tree at the other end of the bridge, and then headed home.
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