Out and about

I decided to do my daily exercise in Bishops Wood, near Selby. However when I got there all the car parks were full so I decided to go to "goal" instead.

My friend Chris had been here earlier this month.(www. chrisdownesbirds) and he photographed some sand martins.

The sand martins were not landing on the wall today but a house martin paid a visit.

I then walked down the lane that leads to the RSPB reserve.   A swallow was perched on a phone wire.

A view across the main lake.

The metal hide a little further on was open and there was nobody in it so I sat a while.

Not many birds to be seen and none close enough to take a photo of. I then walked along the riverside trail.

 The viewing area was open with a good view across to the village.

Not many birds to be seen but a disturbance in the water drew my attention to what I thought was a diving bird. I was wrong.

Large fish were not far from the edge of the lake. I walked on to the "Big Hole" and then returned to my car in the village.
On my way home I decided to give Bishops Wood another try, and the car parks were fairly empty.
I parked and before I set off to walk, as this was my first visit,  asked a young lady which paths to take and how far it was to walk around. She pointed to a path and said just keep walking and turn left, It is about a mile and a half all the way round, I started walking at 1340 and got back to my cat at 1600, A bit of research indicates that I probably walked about 7KM!
It was a pleasant walk, no hills and paths wide enough to pass people and maintain social distancing. Not that I met that many people, so where the other car owners were.

 On one edge of the wood I came across a small pond.

Yellow flag

One dragonfly on the wing but it did not settle, but lots of tadpoles.

On the island in the middleof the pond I noticed some orchids.

On my way back, or so I thought to the car park, I was walking through a part of the wood where the sun was shining through the tree canopy.
My phone rang and when I amswered it, it was an email from a friend about speckled wood butterflies. As I put my phone away I noticed a speckled wood butterfly!

A little further on I saw more orchids, but these were pink in colour rather than purple.

A pleasant walk but probably best visited in spring when there are less leaves on the trees and I might stand a chance of seeing the blackcaps, willow warblers and chiffchaffs that I heard.