After Trace and myself had stayed in Leeds the previous evening and as the forecast was pretty good,we decided to drive the short journey over to the Bolton Abbey Estate and visit the superb Stridd Woods and River Wharfe.We paid our entrance fee for the day,got the gear together and just as we left the car we were greeted by a singing male Redstart and Garden Warbler,a nice welcome.We then began our walk around this beautiful part of the Dales National Park,crossing over the wooden bridge at Cavendish Pavillion and on to the woodland pathway.The first thing that impressed me was how many Bluebells were on show,the whole woodland on both banks of the river being carpeted with them,what a stunning sight.Another favourite,Ramsons filled the air with that subtle garlicky smell.Several nice plants can be found here and we recorded Dog's Mercury,Woodruff,Greater Celandine,Dog Violet,Greater Stichwort and the lovely lemon flavoured Wood Sorrel.As we continued on the walk,we began to see our first and hoped for Pied Flycatcher's,with one male being particularly showy as he sang close to his chosen nest box.These really are a beautiful bird and we managed an impressive 14 singing males and only 1 female.Also in good numbers were Redstart with 7 singing males another cracking woodland speciality here.As we left the woodland to walk towards Bardon Bridge i managed to find a roosting male Orange Tip,a little beauty.At the bridge itself a single female Goosander was watched fishing and an adult and juvvie Dipper gave great views as the female fed the youngster.The remainder of the walk saw us seeing 4 drake and 1 female Mandarin,including 2 males sat up in the canopy,a comical sight to see for a duck,but of course this is their natural habitat in the wild in Asia and a further 2 Dipper along the river near to the impressive Stridd.We eventually made it back to Cavendish Pavilion and enjoyed some very welcome lunch,by now the area being packed with day visitors,i'm glad we came early.And so we travelled back home to Linolnshire after enjoying another cracking visit to this beautiful part of the world.
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| Some Of The Lovely Bluebells. |
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| Drake Mandarin In His Treetop Home. |
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| Male Pied Flycatcher. |
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| Singing Male Pied Flycatcher. |
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| Roosting Male Orange Tip. |
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| Wood Anemone. |
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| Dippers,Bardon Bridge. |
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| Bardon Bridge. |
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