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Another warm day in this hottest of years found us yet again at this interesting reserve in the very south of Bradford. It is sited on what was railway land. Before the railways it was lowland heath, remnants of which still remain. The remainder of the site is woodland, mainly birch but many other species as well, such as oak, hazel & rowan.
Six adults & three boys aged between six & ten were given a tour by the local site expert Martyn Priestley. He has done this for our group on many occasions over the years.
The boys were very soon finding small frogs & grasshoppers so were constantly entertained by this activity. Plants we were seeing in flower incl. Mullein, Mallow, Scabious, Red Bartsia & Knapweed. Goatsbeard & Yellow Rattle had gone over into seed. Birdlife was quiet but we did get to see a Buzzard, one Grey Wagtail & Martyn heard a Bullfinch. A tiny toadlet & a couple of fast moving mammals were spotted by the lads.
A few dragonflies (Brown & Migrant Hawkers) were seen even though the solitary small pond was less than half its normal size. We did much better with the lepidoptera however with ten species of butterfly & three species of moth: Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Painted Lady, Comma, Gatekeeper, Small Whites & singleton Holly Blue, Common Blue (fem) & much to Martyn’s delight the sites first ‘Wall’ in seventeen years ! Moths = Shaded Broad-bar, Silver Y, a very worn Cloaked Minor & Cinnabar caterpillars. Other insects identified were Froghoppers, Cinnamon Bug, Field & Meadow Grasshoppers.
We sat on the parched grass for lunch, at the far end of the site, at the foot of a knapweed & Bramble hillside. We saw a herd of horses at the top of the hill and plenty of evidence that they often came down from there! The sun had come out in the last hour & the temperature lifted to the high twenties in the more open areas.
We departed at 14:00, four went for the 268 Bradford bus & the others in their cars.
Many thanks to Martyn for giving us his time
John Gavaghan