Potteric Carr Nature Reserve

As I live so close to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's flagship nature reserve, it would only be bad manners not to visit. So on Monday I packed my sandwiches, binoculars and camera and set off early to catch the X78 bus. The reserve is three bus rides away from my house, and having never been before I was slightly nervous about getting off at the wrong bus stop, or not being able to find the entrance. My fears were unfounded however, and I managed to find the reception, pay the £3 entrance fee (for non-YWT-members) and have a quick introduction to the reserve. I was told there were 7 miles of paths around the reserve, well I tried my best at walking around as much of it as I could. Here is the route I took:

Map of my route, borrowed from the Potteric Carr website

As you can see I walked round most of the reserve. I started on the Green Route from the visitor centre, then walked round to the Yellow Route which led onto the Red Route where I visited all the hides by going to Piper Marsh hide first then doubling back on myself to go round the remainder of the path.

The picture below was taken from the beginning of the Green Route, not entirely sure which habitat it is, whether to call it a reedbed or a marsh.

View from the Green Route

 The next photos were taken from the Loversall Pool hide.

Pheasant

Panorama of Loversall Pool

Coming out of the hide, there was a strip of grass to the right of the path with a sign asking visitors to keep off as orchids were currently growing there. I tried to get a decent picture of one from the path:

Common Spotted Orchid

Maybe not the rarest of flowers, but I think it's the first time I've seen an orchid in the wild. I then went into the Willow Pool hide and saw the following birds:

Family of ducks

Another Pheasant

Birds at the feeding station

Quite a few Reed Buntings about

Also saw a flash of electric blue zipping from one side of the pool to the other; hopefully that's not the only appearance that the kingfisher was putting in today, however it's the only glimpse I got. Never mind, there's still plenty of other birds to see and photograph. I carried on around the Green Route path until I got to Old Eaa hide. 

View from Old Eaa hide

Black-Headed Gull

Nothing much to see here other than a large flock of Black-Headed Gulls. I stay and chill for a bit, then decide to continue along the Yellow Route. I get the feeling that this is a less frequented route as it only has one hide and takes you along the top edge of the reserve. Getting onto the path requires you to cross some railway lines and yes I'm that sad that I actually took a picture of the railway crossing :-S

Level crossing

Anyway across the lines on the Yellow Route brings you to Childer's hide. I don't really think there was anything of much interest here apart from any rare trains that may pass by whilst you're birdwatching.

Trainspotting at Childer's hide

The lake was a bit far away for my binoculars to be of much use if anything appeared; I think this hide was one where you would whip out your telescope if you have one (unfortunately I don't). Anyway walking along the Yellow route takes you through some heavenly woodland where the only sounds were the birds, the leaves swishing in the wind, and the passing trains. LOL. Nevertheless I still stumbled upon a family of Great Spotted Woodpeckers (no pictures though, they were too quick for me). Here's some mushrooms and railcarts I found whilst wandering through the woods:

Jelly Ear Fungus

Couldn't resist taking a photo

Then it's round onto the Red Route, the last one I'm visiting today, but it's quite a walk nevertheless. I walked round to the Piper Marsh hide in the hope of seeing a Roe Deer, as I've heard that these are sometimes spotted here.

Piper Marsh

But no such luck for me today, so I doubled back to visit the rest of the hides on the path. On the West Scrape, there were three Avocets as well as Mute Swans and Canada Geese and their goslings (and a lot of goose poo on the path!) Walking back towards the Green Route and the visitor centre, I stumbled upon a young rabbit who graciously posed for a photo or two.

Avocet on the West Scrape

Young rabbit

I couldn't resist going back into the Willow Pool hide to see if the Kingfisher has rematerialized (for a longer period), unfortunately not but I got these shots instead.

There were two Jays hanging round the feeders

Don't know about a bird feeding station, more like a squirrel feeding station! There were four of these critters on the feeders at one point

I think the reserve will definitely be worth another visit in the winter, when the lakes are filled with birds. And I will be visiting the cafe then too!