There was certainly some fun going on at the Woodlands cricket club on Sunday. Sarah from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust was busy with the children making name badges from leaves, wooden bracelets and whistles out of Elder.
Then in the afternoon myself and Sarah took a party of adults and children on a nature walk around Toad Holes Beck and Raw Nook nr.
That Shieldbug must be a…yes it’s a Red-legged Shieldbug
That Jelly Ear fungus…yes it just feels like jelly!
Then a Comma butterfly posed for photographs and even landed on some of the children’s hands at Toad Holes Beck. Moving on the Raw Nook nr and we were busy finding and identifying fungi well some of them anyway. But the pond beckoned and Sarah brought her pond dipping equipment and the children loved it…and so did the adults too.
Other news, I am helping a young lad called Freddie to gain a Duke of Edinburgh Award. He is learning about bird identification and wildfowl survey work in our area. His skills in bird identification must be working as he informed me that he had seen what he thought were 3 Gadwall at a pond in Oakenshaw. OK I thought….but his description fit Gadwall (an uncommon duck in our area) anyway on Sunday we visited the ponds in our area to carry out the survey work and there they were GADWALL at Toad Holes Beck…which must have moved up from the Oakenshaw pond. So well done Freddie…
Today at Caldene Fields watch point I recorded another excellent movement of 4,296 Redwings moving S and 3,343 Wood Pigeon also on their way south.
