Bird song at Woodlesford Lock The varied habitats at Woodlesford Lock give us the opportunity to look for birds on the river, canal, woodland and surrounding scrub. Look for common tern, kingfisher, goosander, sand martin and common sandpiper and listen for sedge warbler, blackcap, whitethroat, willow warbler and chiffchaff. Transport Transport
Continue readingBird song and bluebells walk Middleton Woods is one of the most beautiful bluebell woodlands in Yorkshire and a fantastic place to listen and learn bird song. We’ll start by checking out the River Wharfe for grey wagtail, dipper, kingfisher, sand martins and common sandpiper before heading into the woodland
Continue readingFriday birdwatching club: bird song at St Aidan’s After optional breakfast from 9am at Rivers Meet Cafe we’ll enter St Aidan’s from Methley which will get us onto the reedbeds via the fastest route. Our walk will give us the chance to listen to the songs of resident birds and spring
Continue readingRing ouzels and reservoirs Explore the Yorkshire Dales countryside for the mountain blackbird, better known as ring ouzel, and look for breeding golden plover, redshank, oystercatcher, lapwing and curlew. Depending on the weather and the viewing ability at high altitude, we may visit Marfield Wetlands near Masham. Price: £55 per person including
Continue readingBird song at Rodley Nature Reserve On this special private visit we’ll have Rodley Nature Reserve to ourselves. We’ll be focusing on resident and migrant bird song and looking for kingfisher, sand martin, swallow, oystercatcher and water rail on the lagoons. Will barn owl and little owl show themselves for us
Continue readingBird song at Meanwood Park Meanwood Park will be full of the sounds of bird song by late April. Listen for stock dove, nuthatch, treecreeper, blackcap, willow warbler and chiffchaff and look for great spotted woodpecker, grey wagtail and kingfisher. We’ll also visit Tetley Fields to look for common whitethroat. Don’t
Continue readingStart Birding is at Otley Green Fair Come and visit my stall at the Otley Green Fair and win a place on a group birdwatching trip in my free prize draw. If anyone who knows me is coming along then I’ll be needing a cake monitor! Advice for beginners about
Continue readingYWT Potteric Carr This is the first time Start Birding has visited Potteric Carr in the early spring. We’ll spend the day identifying birds by their songs and calls and looking and listening for spring migrants such as chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap and garden warbler. With luck we’ll see bittern,
Continue readingBird song at Adel Dam Nature Reserve Adel Dam is an excellent place to listen to spring bird song. We will identify the songs of resident birds and early spring migrants. This evening walk will take us through Golden Acre Park to the nature reserve where we’ll look for kingfisher
Continue readingBird song at Ardsley Reservoir An early spring visit to Ardsley Reservoir this time and, weather permitting, the woodland, fields, scrub and hedgerows will be alive with bird song from resident and migrant birds. On our last visit we also found a wheatear travelling northwards. Anything is possible at this
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