Blog

It was a bright, clear, very cold day when we went to Potteric Carr, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve just south of Doncaster. Nestled in the elbow of the M18 and the A6182 and skirted to the north by the North East Coast railway line the reserve shows little sign of the site's industrial past as a railway spaghetti junction, apart from the working railway line passing through it and the Post Office depot at the north west corner. I'd not been here before but now, looking at the map, realise I have seen it countless times from the train and will look out with keener interest when leaving Doncaster station in future.

We set off from the Visitor Centre along the Dragonfly Trail, heading for the Wetland Walk. Beside the path was a hazel tree with huge, luminous yellow-green catkins and the tiny, magenta, spidery female hazel flowers, just gorgeous. 

What did we see at St Aidan’s today? Well, as we set off from the visitor centre to explore the route around the reedbeds, we weren’t particularly hopeful of seeing anything. The thick fog had no intention of lifting and was going to challenge our views, as well as the comfort of our fingers. 

All was quiet as we walked down to the lower areas of the reserve, the Canada Geese gathered high on the pasture giving us our first view of birds. The next on the list was a small flock of Moorhens busily feeding on the wet grassland. We watched male and female Stonechats perching on the fence posts, and saw the rest of the flock as they took flight when the geese were spooked and took to the air, creating quite a noise. There were thrushes in the hedge rows. We positively identified Fieldfare, but couldn’t be sure if there were Redwing amongst them.  

You are probably thinking the above date is incorrect as it is not a Tuesday!  The visit was intended to be on the 15th but it had to be rearranged at short notice due to the awful weather forecast for that day and the forecasters were not wrong. The next two days were also very poor as was the Saturday so we were fortunate to have one dry day that week.

Our group of four were well looked after by Jack Ogg and his gardening team. An invitation to take refreshments in their office was not of course turned down.  After discussions with the team about the gardens and the maintenance regime we proceeded to look for fungi in the meadow which lies below the large car park.  We were joined by Amy, one of the trainees & by Jack himself.

We enjoyed our second outing in the minibus following the recent Covid restrictions this Tuesday. Twelve participants (including Carol a friend of Margaret) met up with Stuart around 11am at the arboretum. We enjoyed a leisurely day out exploring the grounds of this 100-acre arboretum developed since 1895 by the Ropner family. Also enjoying the beauty and vibrant colours of the trees, shrubs and fungi in autumn. Please view their beauty in the Gallery. 

The ground was covered with a carpet of golden red and yellow leaves many having fallen within the last week which was a wet one. The wet conditions had produced a variety of fungi of interest to John. Species seen included honey fungus, clouded funnel, tawney funnel, wrinkled club, yellow club, false chanterelle, scarlet waxcap, slimy waxcap, shaggy parasol, possibly white dome caps and candle snuff. 

This day last year we took the train and were braving the wild north-westerlies on Morecambe Bay. Today was quite different, we were back in the minibus for the first time in two and a half years, and we enjoyed a pleasant autumn day, overcast but warm.  

Blacktoft Sands lies along the Ouse, and consists of a string of hides with flat easy paths connecting them. The first comments we made as we headed along the hedgerow to the Ousefleet hide, was the abundance and size of the haws on the Hawthorn. A feast in waiting. 

It was a fine, still morning as 7 of us met in the Brook Street car park to start another of the Ilkley Tree Trails.  These trails are accompanied by a wonderfully illustrated and informative leaflet produced by Sue and Neil Stevens with funding given by the Ilkley BID for the printing.  We were also delighted to have Janet joining us for a short while as she is now living nearby.  Our first tree of interest was the broad-leaved cockspur thorn whose fearsome thorns provide an excellent defence.  In the same area the Norway maple looked magnificent having room to spread and show off what will, in a few short weeks, be spectacular autumn colour.  Alice drew our attention to the horizontal coloured bands on the bark of a Japanese flowering cherry, these being sometimes referred to as 'tiger stripes'.  A common lime nearby was full of fruit but it was noted that the flowers produce nectar and pollen for insects and aphids are particularly attracted to limes producing honeydew that may d

A good group of 12 met Peter and Barbara Murphy at the main gates of the reserve at 10 30am. Peter and Barbara had put themselves out to accommodate our group today and we were very grateful to them. Peter gave us a short introduction which included informing us of the planned for nearby housing development and the closure of the reserve since the beginning of the year (reopened in June on Sundays).  Access is currently along the canal tow path as the swing bridge is in the process of being dismantled to be rebuilt. Progress has been extremely slow, and Peter was fearful that it would be a considerable time before the reserve could be fully reopened. Furthermore there is concern that the trees adjacent to the river and building site could be removed threatening the bird and animal life of the river. Kingfishers and goosander are frequently seen also a family of otters. A kingfisher was soon spotted by Sue from the bridge. 

A group of 6 enjoyed a pleasant day out in warm but cloudy conditions visiting a variety of habitats in the local Leeds area. A thunderstorm was anticipated but didn't transpire.

Our first port of call was a small "nature reserve" adjacent to the Parkway Hotel. We noticed a familiar but unusual tree at the entrance also seen on a visit to the nearby Hollies. This was later identified as Persian ironwood. Our comments were that the "nature reserve" was more like a jungle as we battled our way through the brambles and undergrowth .Nevertheless several significant flowers were seen including Purple Loosestrife and  Common Fleabane.

This outing was originally planned for the 16th July but sadly we were stymied by the record breaking heatwave & we agreed it would have been unwise to proceed so it was rescheduled for the nearest date when we were all next available. The delay of 3 weeks unfortunately meant that the orchid display that I had seen at the end of June had totally disappeared!

Even so there was still an impressive number of flowering plants; Yellow & Purple Loosestrife, Field Scabious, Narrow-leaved Water-plantain, White flowered Musk Mallow, Club Rush, Yellow Water Lilies, Evening Primrose & masses of Teasels. Common Blue damselflies & Brown Hawkers were on the wing as were Small Tortoiseshells, Small White & Green-veined White butterflies, Meadow Browns & Common Carpet Moth.

Swifts & Sand Martins were screeching overhead. Whilst we looking at the river a Kingfisher flew up & down the river so we all got at least one decent view!

An initial few drops of rain gave way to a fine day as 5 of us ventured onto the boardwalk at Malham.  So much to see and record, senses can become quite overwhelmed initially.  Sadly marsh cinquefoil had just gone over which was a shame but the mass of marsh valerian was wonderful and the smell of meadowsweet was delightful.  John spotted a pregnant common lizard on the side of the walkway obviously attempting to warm up.  Numerous butterflies were on the wing, these being mainly ringlet and green-veined whites.  A sedge warbler was spotted by Stuart on a nearby tree and reed buntings were also seen.  The variety of sedges on the site is amazing and Alice was in her element as she attempted to name them all.  John pointed out the lunar hornet moths which had been attracted to the pheromones he had bought with him.  Other moths seen were silver-ground carpet, clouded border, common carpet and pearl-band grass veneer.