loxley valley – Sheffield Wildlife

Burnets

Here’s a couple of shots of six-spot burnet moths, that I found on the verge outside the house. They were on or near bird’s-foot trefoil, which is the main foodplant of the larvae, so I’m presuming these are quite recently emerged.

The other night I had a quick walk in the Loxley Valley, the reason I haven’t updated too much recently is that I’m not seeing too much interesting in the July lull! The best I could muster was a kestrel, a couple of great spotted woodpecker, and a couple of hares in a field off Loxley Road. Here’s a couple of pics just to prove I am still getting out and about!

Hare

Mallard in eclipse

Juvenile coot

Deer on the patch

Sorry it’s taken me so long to post this, I just wanted to post these online a bit to check my ID…

I had a bit of a yomp round the patch on Sunday, and extended the usual walk through Beacon Wood. The recent downpours had left the paths very muddy, despite the fact it was a sunny day, and I came across these prints which I’m going to ID (unless someone tells me otherwise) as roe deer. A new mammal for the patch!

(I’m not actually sure how I managed such ropey pictures of things that weren’t moving!)

Elsewhere a gorgeous kingfisher was reflecting the sunshine at Old Wheel Dam, grey wagtails and dippers were near both Olive Dam and the Fisheries, and several garden warblers were singing.

Patch update 11/02/09

I was a bit annoyed this morning, I had a day off work and a driving test booked, which was cancelled due to ice. So instead I had a nice leisurely walk around the patch, and I’m very glad I did as I got a couple of year ticks and had some good photographic opportunities.

The first highlights were a couple of jays on Black Lane, the first of at least six I saw over the course of the morning, and I finally managed to pin down a couple of photos of them.

A half iced-up Old Wheel Dam has the usual collection of mallards (c40) and Canada geese (c60), plus a drake teal and three lapwings in the adjacent fields.

At this point the heavens opened and it started sleeting heavily, but while I was sheltering in the woods I got good views of a treecreeper on the trees nearby, and a single lesser redpoll sheltered in one of the derelict factory buildings nearby. (The treecreeper shots were taken in the same place on the way back).

I trudged on in the sleet, which finally eased off when I got to Stacey Bank. In that area I got the first year tick of the day (and indeed the month!) in the form of this rather showy grey wagtail.

A bit further up I finally got the chance to take some semi-decent shots of a dipper, as I managed to sneak up on one that was preening by the riverbank. Its colour rings were showing well, and this is one of the same individuals I reported seeing at this stretch of river in July.

I watched the dipper bobbing about and diving into the water for a bit, and then walked back, getting a grey heron and some more jays at the Fisheries. Near to Olive Dam I caught sight of a medium-sized brown bird with broad wings disappearing silently into the trees and realised I’d finally made contact with the year’s first tawny owl!

One of the best walks I’ve had in the Loxley Valley for a very long time, and a wintry post like this wouldn’t be complete without a pic of one of these…

Patch update 07/02/09

Finally had a snowy look on patch – highlights were:

Dipper and 22 x jackdaw at Stacey Bank
56 x Canada goose and 70 x mallard at Old Wheel Dam (sadly nothing more interesting!)
Great spotted woodpecker calling at the Hepworth Site
A flock of 200+ jackdaw over Low Matlock Lane
A bullfinch calling on Black Lane
11 x redwing in the trees on the path opposite the house.

A few pics…

Dipper

Stacey Lane in the snow

A icy Olive Dam

Bits and bobs

Not a lot to say at the moment, I haven’t had any wildlife-spotting opportunities this last few days, despite trudging through the snow an lunch hours to see if anything could be found sheltering from the cold in the parks. I keep meaning to take my camera to work and forgetting it – the lake in Crookes Valley Park is not only completely frozen over today, but also covered in snow!

I had a walk on patch over the weekend (pre-snow), and it was a pleasant walk but didn’t really turn up much, which is why I didn’t rush to blog about it – a dipper at Stacey Bank, 6 x tufted duck on Old Wheel Dam and a bullfinch on Black Lane being the only highlights at all. The local tawny owls continue to taunt me and my new-found “seen-only” year list rule, by spending the evenings hooting in the woods opposite the house, and sometimes up the garden, but refusing to show themselves…

One quick note – the Sheffield Bird Study Group website has been relaunched with a new design and some great new features, including a very up to date sightings page that as good as updates itself, some great site guides for locations such as Wharncliffe, Ulley, Padley Gorge and Blackburn Meadows, and a photo gallery. Well worth a look!

More tawnies

Last night I got home at around 12:30 from a few pints in town, to hear a tawny owl “kee-ick!”ing up the garden either actually in our garden or the one behind. Another was replying some way off. I loitered for a few minutes but didn’t get a glimpse of one.

At around 5am I was woken again by the same noise outside the bedroom window, followed by the alarm calls of suddenly awakened wrens and robins. I blearily wandered to the window and saw the culprit sat on the telegraph pole opposite, in exactly the same position as the one a couple of weeks ago. Worth an early morning wake up call for!

Patch update (06/07/08)

Today I braved the rain and went for a quick walk on my patch – there was only really one big shower, and I actually managed to walk for most of it in one of the few sunny spells of the day!

Very few bird highlights – 4 x drake tufted duck and 1 x baby coot at Old Wheel Dam; 2 x dipper, 1 x grey wagtail and 3 x bullfinch (including a juvenile) at the Fisheries. Most of the male mallards are well into the eclipse (below).

And a couple of insects:

Speckled Wood

Hoverfly (if anyone knows species let me know!)

Patch update 21/06/08

A nasty, drizzly day, and certainly not the sort you want when you have a new camera to try out!

I did manage some time without showers this morning, though, and I’m glad I got out, because I finally after 13 months of beating the same routes, got my first patch kingfisher! It was darting down the river near the Fisheries.

Not much else to report – a dipper and two grey wagtails on the river near the Hepworth site and a drake tufted duck at Old Wheel Dam were the only real notables.

Below are a few shots I took today, between showers. I apologise in advance for the attempt at a dipper shot, it was very poor light!

A terrible shot of a dipper near the Hepworth site

Mallard with ducklings at Loxley Fisheries

Macros

A few shots taken with the macro setting of the FZ18 – if any of my flower identifications are wrong please let me know!

More pictures

As promised, some more pictures from the FZ18. It’s amazing how well it works on ridiculously high zooms, even handheld, albeit with a loss in quality.