Saturday 28 May 2011

Lincolnshire Ramblings

Not strictly Yorkshire, but this month I went on holiday to Skegness. I decided to stray away from the usual tourist attractions of amusements and the seafront, and went for a little wander instead. I found this walk on the internet, which was very helpful as it described how to get there and how long it might take. The walk is called The Vine, and is popular with local dog walkers and fortunately not popular with tourists as it's a lovely tranquil walk.
The route taken
The start of the walk
Part of the path
There were lots of birds singing: Great Tit, Blue and Long-Tailed Tit, and the song of the Blackbird that automatically makes you (well, me anyway!) break out into a smile.

Singing Blackbird
Here are some more pictures of the walk. It's a great walk, really simple, no mud, perfect for strolling down with your dog. Like I said it's full of birds; I also saw a squirrel on the path, but unfortunately couldn't get a photo as he was a fast little blighter.

Decorative and practical

Benches a-plenty for a sit-down

Striking colour
When I came out onto Drummond Road, I then decided to take a walk back into the centre of Skegness across the beach. I came out into the sand dunes, and I have to say these are one of my favourite habitats.

Sea Buckthorn

Wind turbines

View to the sea
The dunes were full of little birds (I hadn't thought to bring my binoculars) however I was planning to go to Gibraltar Point the next day which takes a walk across these very dunes. There were also, along with the usual gulls, waders on the beach. I'm not sure if the majority of these were Dunlin (I admit to being rubbish at identifying waders; they all look the same to me). These little ones flew across the sea when disturbed with broad white wing stripes and quite stiff wings. I managed to get a poor photo of this one, which the kind people on Wild About Britain identified as being a Sanderling:

Sanderling
Very muddy beach
Starfish
All Starfish were put back in the sea after handling :-) I like to think I was saving their lives (from dessication and the nasty gulls). All in all, a pleasant walk. I'll upload the photos from Gibraltar Point as soon as I can.

Thursday 26 May 2011

Bempton Cliffs RSPB Nature Reserve

On the 11th of this month, I took a journey up to Bempton Cliffs. After hearing about the Puffins that you can see there, I wanted to see some for myself. Also I have never seen Gannets and Fulmars before, so hopefully this would be my lucky day.

First things first; check the RSPB website and book myself onto a Puffin Patrol. Hopefully this way I am guaranteed to see at least one. Then to buy my train ticket for the long journey; woo it's a distance of 140 miles there and back, and all in one day!  Early start at 4am for me, then. Never mind the wildlife is always worth it, it starts on the train from Rotherham Central to Hull, a Roe Deer bounding away from the tracks into a nearby field. Many Shelduck sitting in a field as I fly by on the train. Change at Hull; what a dreary station! Never mind, now it's onto the Scarborough train en route to Bempton, and all before 9am! I get there for just a few minutes after nine, then I have a decent walk up through the village and up Cliff Lane towards the reserve. Quite a nice walk, and the sun is shining. Skylark in the air above me and Yellowhammer and Goldfinch singing in the hedgerows. I get to the reserve about a quarter to ten, and there's time to sit at the bird feeding station before the visitor centre opens at ten.

Bird Feeding Station

Greenfinch

Tree Sparrow - lots of these about, nice to see!
 This was a really pleasant area; when you got tired of cliff faces and eau de Gannet, it's nice that you can retreat and see some more familiar birds. It's also a nice place to eat your sandwiches. Birds seen here include Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Tree Sparrow, Linnet, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting (have I missed any?). Anyway, the visitor centre's ready for opening, so I'll go grab myself a leaflet and see where the best places are to go.

Fist viewpoint is the Grandstand, and wow what a view! Not even looking at the photos on the website prepares you for the sheer cliff faces covered with birds from top to bottom. Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Gannets and the occasional Puffin. I also saw a pair of Fulmar, which made my day. Didn't manage to get a photo of them unfortunately. Here are a few of the photos I did manage to get:

View of the cliffs

View from the path, Pink Campion in the foreground
And some of the birds:

Razorbills

Gannets

Puffin!

Razorbill

Kittiwake
The first things that hit you when you get to the cliff top are the noise, the smells and the sight of hundreds if not thousands of birds wheeling below and swimming on the waves. I'd say the Kittiwakes are the noisiest of them all with their almost constant cry of kitti-week kitti-week. The neighbours don't seem to mind about the noise though:



It's such an amazing experience, and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. Here are a few more pictures from the day:

I cropped this one hence the blurriness, however I think it's quite a sweet picture

Some of the Gannets on thier nests

Closer view of the Gannet

Kittiwake eyeing me up
The Puffin Patrol was great too; the staff were really friendly and more than willing to share their knowledge about the cliffs and the seabirds. Got my first chance to look through a telescope too, may have to invest in one in the future, for now though my binoculars are more than adequate.

A last walk through the field up to the Visitor Centre before my train home is due, and I spied a Reed Bunting.

It IS a Reed Bunting, take my word for it! lol

Monday 2 May 2011

Sunday Stroll to Silverwood

Went for a change this Sunday. Instead of going to the Peak District, I stuck close to home and went to my local nature reserve instead. The plan was to find the pond that has been created on the site of what used to be Silverwood Colliery, however that didn't go to plan. The pond proved to be more difficult to find than I had anticipated, however I still had a good time on what was a lovely day in the countryside on my doorstep.

The route I took
The colliery was a lot bigger than I thought, and when I came out of the woodland ride there were considerable acres of newly-planted trees in front of me. Looking at this map, it's unreal to see how close I was to the pond. I was really keen to go there as pictures of it look lovely; however I still had a lovely walk around the area.

The following three pictures were all taken from the start of the countryside; commonly known as the Rusty Bump for reasons unknown. You can see how lovely the countryside is, and all this is quite literally on my doorstep!

Top of the Rusty Bump

Trees leading into Listerdale Woods

Farmland towards Dalton Magna
Setting off down the Rusty Bump, I get onto a path at the bottom of a field. Looking up you can see the houses in the village of Dalton Parva. Bet they get lovely views!

Dalton Parva. Look at that lovely blue sky!
Walking along this footpath brings me out onto Far Dalton Lane, a meandering country lane that leads, I believe, up to to Dalton Magna and Woodlaithes. I cross this and wander up Mousehole Lane, what a delightful name. There is a gorgeous clear stream trickling by here, and with some investigation I discovered.....
Little fishes! Possibly sticklebacks?
Sorry about the quality of the photo, with the wind blowing the water and the fishes darting everywhere they were quite hard to photograph!

This is the stream in all it's glory....Nothing amazing but quite picturesque I think.

Wooden bridge makes a nice little resting point



I then walked through another field, no crops this time, I think this one is left entirely to the wildlife. Past this field the trees start to crowd in, becoming first a wooded path then a small wood, including a fair amount of bluebells.

Looking across the stream to the bluebell woods
A pond on the woodland ride
Bridge across some quite boggy ground!
Trees on a slope
Not very good with plant ID, but thought it was pretty nonetheless
For such a delightful Sunday morning, there were only a small handful of people I saw enjoying this hidden gem. I only wish I had the pleasure of a dog to walk and enjoy this with. I do miss my dog Poppy:

Poppy enjoying her annual holiday
Onwards through Silverwood brings you to the newly planted trees. Not sure exactly how long these have been growing, but I believe they were planted some time around when Woodlaithes Village was created.
Trees of the future
Fenced off for protection, however it seems the local Yoofs have already started taking the fences to pieces
Some gorse, I do believe?
I then went back around and into the woods to eat my packed lunch. On the way I startled a pheasant; not sure who was more surprised, me or him!

These bluebells made my lunch all the more special
Close up of some bluebells
Heading back up the Rusty Bump, I found this little fellow on an oak tree.

Caterpillar
All in all a great walk, willing to do it again sometime soon and I will find that pond next time!