The second of two Field Trips today was a repeat of a five mile circular which a few of us did back in October. We timed the re-visit to enjoy the bluebells, other woodland flora and spring bird activity.
This was very much a casual outing and a chance to catch up with friends, looking and listening as we ambled through the woods.
The first section through Heaton Woods has a large patch of Butterbur with both flowers and leaves showing, reminding us that in the autumn the leaves we perforated with holes following a violent hail storm. The Lesser Celandine has almost finished flowering, but the Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage formed a bright patch and an opportunity to compare it to the Alternate-leaved species seen by some last week.
The Wood Anemones are still flowering strongly on the north-facing slope, and there were patches of Wood Sorrel too. After a short distance we crossed the beck, where John spotted a Sparrowhawk flying through the trees, and zigzagged up into my favourite patch of bluebells. We paused briefly to look at the impact of Himalayam Balsam on the native woodland flora, but stopped short of a full on effort to pull out the offending seedlings.
Crossing the beck once again, we continued through to exit the woods onto Shay Lane, currently closed to car traffic.
Before entering Cliffe Woods, we looked at some bracket fungi, which John later identified as Southern Bracket.
The bluebells were flowering here, but unlike this time last year, the Greater Stitchwort is still some way from forming a spectacle of white and purple. Over the stepping stones, under the fallen tree, up the steep bank - we followed the drumming of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, but couldn't set eyes on it.
A bit of road walking took us to Stoney Ridge and around to our lunch spot looking over Cottlingley, and what looked like rain in the valley. Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Willow Warbler were singing here. We felt a few drops of rain, but by the time we had walked up through Nab Wood to High Bank and through into Northcliffe, we were enjoying the sun.
On the meadow area we spotted Field Woodrush, Cuckoo Flower and a couple of grasses coming into flower - Sweet Vernal grass, and Meadow Foxtail.
We spotted small holes in the sandy woodland pathways, where solitary bees had excavated nesting chambers. There is an established flock of Ring-necked Parakeets resident in Northcliffe. They normally announce themselves with a screeching fly-over, but today we were able to have good views of one perching.
We saw a few bees and butterflies despite the overcast morning; Orange Tips, Small Tortoiseshell and there was a very smart Speckled Wood as we concluded our circular route.
You can see a few photos here
Julia