Home

Orchid walk turns up more surprises…

Yesterday I took other members of the Low Moor & Oakenshaw conservation Group to look at the Bee Orchids at the Dealburn Road Woodland site at Low Moor.  The walk started off really well one the rain stop and secondly Clare our chairperson showed me a plant which she had seen earlier and thought it was another Orchid..She was right another lovely Southern Marsh Orchid!.

When we got to the Bee Orchid site my heart fell as the Orchids appeared to have completed their life cycle and had gone… But I did manage to find a well eaten and somewhat bedraggled specimen that was still in flower… so relief as the group enjoyed this excellent Orchid.

20160701_192636_1

Members of the group at the Bee Orchid site ( Southern Marsh Orchid in the background)

But as I looked away from the original site BINGO… I found a further 2 plants but these were in excellent condition..giving a total of 8 Bee Orchids found at the site.

But the good news didn’t stop there…As we walked away from the area Clare shouted Iv’e found another Marsh Orchid..

20160701_193928_1

however, a closer look revealed it to be a Common Spotted Orchid a new plant for the site..

So it was a good enjoyable walk with plenty to see and Oh! Clare received a new name ‘ The Orchid Finder’…

The good news just keeps coming…

Following the discovery of the Bee Orchids I thought I had just about calmed down…but there was more good news for our local area with 5 Southern Marsh Orchids appearing at Toad holes Beck at the usual site left of the footpath going towards the bridge.

IMG_1596_1

The I found a stunning Emperor dragonfly at Raw Nook Nr followed by 3 new Moths pushing the total recorded to 240.

A Red Kite was seen by Phil near the Chain Bar roundabout

The first Small Copper and Meadow Browns butterflies were recorded at Raw Nook Nr.

And just to cap off an exciting few days I have to share with you a moment of panic I had.  Just at the point when I found the Bee Orchids I was on my hands and knees when a ‘ wader ‘ flew low overhead..thankfully it was calling… an excellent Black tailed Godwit…

 

I’ve been ‘Buzzing’ all day…

Today I went to a site in Low Moor to look at a Southern Marsh Orchid found by Joan Dobson of the Bradford Urban Wildlife group.

20160620_093356_1_1

But as I was taking some photographs of the Orchid a nearby plant caught my eye as it gently swayed in the breeze. Strange I thought…it looks a bit like a member of the Orchid family…in fact it looks like a ‘ BEE ORCHID’…  But there was more good news as I looked around I found a further 5 plants!

This is excellent news of the Low Moor area.

20160620_094628_1_2 20160620_094648_1

Uncommon moth found in Low Moor…

I took a walk onto the Dealburn Road Woodland site in Low Moor today and just as I was leaving the site a daytime flying moth caught my eye as it rested on a leaf. I first thought good it’s a Bramble Shoot moth but on closer inspection it wasn’t so I took some photos and headed home.20160521_120918

I quickly realised that in fact it was a Grapholita lunulana!!   Yorkshire moths describe the moth as ‘ Status Rare and Local resident ‘..so what a find and lets hope it becomes a resident at the site.

An explosion of White-Lipped Land Snails…

Over the last few days I have noticed a large amount of snails mainly at Toad Holes Beck.

20160518_080932_1

White-Lipped Land Snail

After doing a bit of research I identified the snails to be White-Lipped Land Snails and they come in various colours ranging from above to light green.

A common Whitethroat passed through Raw Nook Nr on 19/5/16 and the male Goldcrest is still singing from the same location at Toad Holes Beck.

Local Patch challenge results…

I conducted my local patch challenge on the 11th of May.  My aim was to get 45+ species. But I only managed 42 species.  There were no real surprises and new migrants in apart from 4 Swifts, no Common or Lesser Whitethroat or Sedge Warblers were seen.

Birds I expected to get but failed were Sparrow Hawk and Coat Tit

The male Goldcrest was located again at Toad holes Beck again in full song which is encouraging and a pair of Linnet are possibly nesting in our area.

I really enjoyed the day and have since contacted Shaun Radcliffe of the Bradford Ornithological Group to suggest a more structured event next year with a wider audience getting involved so what this space…

 

Chinese visitors think our site is very Měilì…

This morning I set off hoping to see maybe a new migrant that had come in overnight or before dawn but sadly I didn’t.  But what I saw was very strange!.  At the top of Raw Nook Nr I saw 3 Chinese all with cameras and note books..  On my approach I said hello and commented ‘ What a lovely morning it was ‘ I was greeted with gather strange looks and quickly realised that the strangers spoke very little english.  I smiled and off I went.  After about an hour I caught up with the party again. I believe that they were on holiday from China and were stopping at a local hotel had an interest in wildlife and were visiting the reserve.20160512_074725_1

I then showed them some photos of the wildlife I had taken as I had seen then photographing wild flowers.

IMG_0971_1

One of the photos, a Buff-tip moth found last night at Caldene Fields.

The gentleman above became very excited and called his college’s over.  Whilst I had not a clue what they were saying they were all excited by the photo’s of the local wildlife.  The gentlemen then appeared to say internet, internet..and point to the ground. I think!  they may have looked up the general area and found our site on the internet and made a visit.

I must admit,  I felt proud and if that is the case it’s brilliant to think that lovely people from the other side of the world have enjoyed the area… just like we the locals do..

 

 

 

 

 

error: Content is protected !!