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Mandarin Duck found!

Photo By Malcolm Lawes Mann Dam Recorder

In my last post I talked about the male Mandarin Duck that was found at the pond off Mill Carr Hill Road, Oakenshaw on the 29/9. I searched for the duck the following morning but it had left and my suspicions were it was on migration and moving south.

Well on 10/10 I received a report from Malcolm Lawes Wildlife recorder at nearby Mann Dam in Cleckheaton which is S/E of the Oakenshaw site that a male Mandarin duck was present at the site on 10/10.

This is ‘probably’ the same bird that was found on the 29/9….and what an excellent photo of this stunning duck!

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Mandarin Duck & hardy souls!

Received an email from Chris Reay at Oakenshaw who on Sunday 29/9 found a drake Mandarin Duck at the large pond off Mill Carr Hill Road, Oakenshaw.

I went to the pond today but there was no sign of the duck, which may have left the area.

The Mandarin Duck is a native of Asia. Many have escaped from captivity and it is now become naturalized in the UK during the 20th century and is now found across England and parts of Scotland and Wales.

This morning in the pouring rain I took some hardly, but very keen souls for a nature walk around Raw Nook LNR.

Despite the conditions we found some fungi species, mainly Fly Agaric and a really interesting fly leaf mine.

The only birds on view in the rain were a moving flock of Long Tailed tits.

The main thing was, which we all agreed was we were outdoor, we were happy and enjoying nature…but in the rain..ha

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A special visitor passes through…

On Sunday the 29/9/24 around noon I saw from a distance what I thought was a white dog at the pond at Raw Nook LNR. A closer look with my binoculars revealed a Little Egret.

My only other sightings of this once rare species are of birds flying over the site on migration with the last been on 7/10/22.

So it was so nice to have a migrant bird feeding up at our site whilst on it’s migration. I watched the bird for about 5 minutes before it flew off S but it could have been feeding for a lot longer than that.

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Moth night at Raw Nook LNR

I accept moths may not be everyone’s cup of tea but…they are an excellent indicator of a healthy environment and biodiversity.

Red Underwing feeding at the sugaring tree

Therefore the more moth species at a site the more evidence you have if you ever needed to fight to save a site.

So myself and my son-law took the moth trap to Raw Nook LNR as well as a very sugary solution which is mixed with red wine etc to paste on various trees and catching net.

We stayed till about 1.30 am and whilst not finding any uncommon species or any new species for our whole recording area I identified 37 species of which 12 were new species for the reserve. These additional 12 new species brings the total for the site to 166.

The total of moth species recorded for our area of Caldene fields, Raw Nook LNR and Toad Holes Beck is 471 species

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Bradford Urban Wildlife Group’s visit to Raw Nook LNR

On Saturday 27/7/24 I gave a guided walk around Raw Nook LNR to members of the Bradford Urban Wildlife Group.

These member hadn’t been to the reserve before so it was nice to explained about the site and how it became a local nature reserve in 2008.

We started in the meadow area looking at various plants as well as Ringlets and Meadow brown butterflies which were out in reasonable numbers

Whilst explaining about the meadow area I noticed a group of caterpillars on a Silver Birch leaf which I was unfamiliar with.

The caterpillars turned out to be from the Buff-tip moth.

Excellent news in that it was a site first and a breeding record too…

Thankfully the weather was warm and sunny which brought out a reasonable selection of butterflies. A total of 9 species were recorded with good numbers of Gatekeeper newly emerged.

We then made our way to the sandy path at the top of the reserve where I wanted to show the group the Ashy mining bees. Sadly none where found but some smaller holes in the ground were seen.

Eagle eyed Harry, one of the group spotted a tiny wasp/bee coming out of one of these holes and quickly took a photo!. Both myself and Harry have tried to ID the wasp without success so I have sent his photo to IRecords for an expert to look at it.

In the meantime I took some photo’s of another different digger wasp which was nearby.

This turned out to be an Ornate tailed digger wasp Cerceris rybyensis which is a new species for the reserve.

So all in all it was an excellent day with some lovely people and to top it all 2 new records for the reserve!

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Maintaining the Lowland heath…

Saturday was our workday at Raw Nook LNR. Our task was to clear the Rosebay Willowherb and Bramble from the lowland heath habitat.

Even though we cleared the area last year it was becoming choked so it had to be cleared.

The day was very humid making the work even harder but after a few hours it was cleared.

Clare and Richard were both very eagle eyed as Clare found a moth a Dusky Footman which is a new species for the reserve as I have only recorded it at Caldene fields but never at Raw Nook LNR.

Then Richard spotted a movement in the heather which turned out to be a lovely common Toad…

You would think we had been working in TOAD holes Beck!

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Red Kite and other sightings

Behind with my sightings recently due to work at home.

However, I had an excellent sighting of a Red Kite first seen over East Bierley cricket pitch on the 7/7 and the following day, probable the same bird circled Caldene fields before moving off north.

I found some interesting species in Raw Nook LNR on the 9/7 with a single Eyebright Euphrasia officinalis plant found in the meadow which is a site first.

In fact the meadow has a wide range of wildflowers at the moment including masses of Meadow Cranesbill and Musk Mallow.

Sadly only two butterflies species were seen which included the Ringlet and Meadow Brown

Also present is the now regular stunning Dark Mullein Plants Verbascum nigrum which is also in the meadow near to the young Aspen trees

Dark Mullein Plants Verbascum nigrum

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Not Just One Bee BUT…

As regular readers will know my blog is about wildlife at Low Moor & Oakenshaw.

However, today I make an acceptation. Clare our chairperson for our conservation group was taking her dog for a walk in a field near to Abb Scott Lane when she came across a ‘ Once in a lifetime sighting!’ A large swarm of (probably) European Honey Bees which were attached to a fallen log. Clare stated they were there for 2 days before they left!

Coincidently I spoke to a bee keeper the other day who told me that swarming involves the queen and a percentage of the colony leaving the original hive, usually due to outgrowing their current space, to establish a new home elsewhere. It’s a great risk to the colony, however, doing so is a sign that they are healthy, well populated and have access to good amounts of nectar and pollen.

I’m sure it will be a sight Clare will never forget!

Last week I did a baseline bio-diversity survey for Natural England relating to the new land owed by Tiffin Sandwiches.

I took 2 Pheromone moth Lures down to the site to see if two uncommon moths were at the site the Red-tipped Clearwing & Lunar Hornet moth.

I was in for a bit of a surprise as both moths species were attracted to the lures.

Three male Red-Tipped clearwings (left) and two Lunar Hornet moths, which illustrates that both species ‘Maybe’ breeding at the site which is great news!

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Nuthatches appear again!

This morning I heard and saw a pair of Nuthatches at Caldene fields.

This is probably the pair that visited our area last year. Both birds flew off low to the N.

Raw Nook LNR and Toad Holes Beck has not the right breeding habitat but I wonder about nearby Odsal Wood which is a broadleaf woodland with old mature trees and just the right habitat.

If anyone has any Nuthatch sightings in our area please let me know. Thank you

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Spreading the joy with Tiffin Sandwiches

Today I had a meeting at Tiffin Sandwiches LTD Low Moor who have just bought the large pond and surrounding area adjacent to their premises and Toad Holes Beck a LWS (Local Wildlife Site)

Following the meeting I have nothing but praise for this forward thinking sustainable company.

I can confirm the land will be used only for nature in fact the company want to increase the bio-diversity even further with an additional planting scheme which I will be helping them with. They also want to work along side our conservation group the Low Moor & Oakenshaw Conservation Group which looks after TH Beck and Raw Nook LNR which is great news.

There was even further good news as the Bradford borne company want to embrace the local community as the site will eventually be open to the public with additional paths and litter/dog poo bins.

I have also put the company in touch with Bradford council’s bio-diversity officer and Natural England for their additional guidance and expert advice.

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