Here's some pictures of the litter that was collected at Dove Stone on Sunday -  ten bin bags full in the space of a morning from just one part of Dove Stone.

As well as two tents we picked up glass bottles, plastic bottles, beer cans, drinks cartons, straws, crisp packets, nappies, cigarette packs and on and on...A big thank you to Claire and Karl for picking all this rubbish up. Good work but sad and pretty outrageous…

Last Sunday saw our long-standing and valued volunteer John leading a group of 14 on his ‘Peregrines and Butterflies’ guided walk – thanks John! As well as having a good turn-out, the weather was glorious and the ever-popular butterflies were there for all to see - Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper, Large Skipper and Small Tortoiseshell all caught and seen up-close (then let go of course!).

A quick update with some recent sightings at Dove Stone over the last couple of days starting up at Binn Green with regular views of Great Spotted Woodpecker on the peanut feeder and some very vocal juvenile Greenfinches. Around this area and the woods regulars to be seen include Goldfinch, Coal, Great and Blue Tit, Wren and Mistle Thrush, include some juvies.

      Little Ringed Plover

Elsewhere, over Dove Stone res we…

It's been a busy time at Dove Stone lately - flowers blooming, bees buzzing, Peregrine chicks fledging.....what?!? Yes, almost before we knew it, the resident Peregrine pair had defied the late snow, laid and hatched 3 eggs, and the chicks fledged Monday before last!

We had some views of the chicks as they grew from fluffy grey blobs to fully feathered fledglings, and now we're seeing them even more as they start…

Great weather for butterflies at the moment with Orange Tip, Green Veined White, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Small Skipper all seen on the wing recently at Dove Stone.

                                                           male Orange Tip on Herb Robert

We have some quite large nettle beds in various places around Dove Stone. Common Nettle ( Urtica dioica ) not only supports butterflies such as Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock but it also supports…

Last week saw the launch of the State of Nature report. As you may have heard the report states that whilst there have been some success stories, 60% of the species studied for the report have declined, and 31% of those have declined strongly. For more info on the report take a look here http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/346325-sixty-per-cent-of-uk-species-in-decline-groundbreaking-study-finds

The launch event began with a…

It's been a while since I last blogged, with news of Common Redstart at Dove Stone, being the last update to the Dove Stone reserve 2013 Bird List.  Saturday saw my first sighting of Swfits at Dove Stone for this year with one flying over Dove Stone reservoir,  and on Sunday there were several flying around Dove Stone rocks,  seen from Ashway Gap so this brings our reserve total to 65.  Obviously Swifts have been in the…

On Sunday we had our first record for this year of Common Redstart, that's a new one for the 2013 Dove Stone Birdlist, which brings our species total up to 63 for this year. There were also some very good views of the Peregrines at the weekend.

No signs of Redstart this morning but I did see a Ring Ouzel. Towards the moor tops or over the higher areas of Dove Stone this morning there's been Skylark, Wheatear…

Here's the latest from Dove Stone.  Good additions to our reserve 2013 birdlist with Mealy Redpoll (59) being seen earlier in the week up at Binn Green.  In terms of id,  Mealy Redpoll are larger and paler than Lesser Redpoll.  Today we've had Whinchat (60) in the Chew Road/Chew Brook area.  Whinchat is actually part of the thrush family;  here's a link to some info on Turididae  http://www.bto.org/about-birds/birdfacts…

Sightings of Willow Warbler and Swallow at Dove Stone today, bringing our Dove Stone Birdlist for 2013 up to 58. Last year's Swallow's arrived a full week earlier, on April 12th. Up at Binn Green today I saw a female Brambling, quite late really.  Last year we had a record of Brambling at the beginning of April.  Surprisingly,  we've not got a record of Brambling on our reserve list yet for this year so that brings…

Latest sightings from Dove Stone.  On Saturday there was a Common Tern flying over Yeoman Hey ( one of the ide features for Common Tern is a black tip on the bill; though not particularly distinct in this photo ) from the direction of Greenfield Brook towards Dove Stone reservoir.  Great to see, it will have been just passing through.  Not quite a reserve first, this brings our Dove Stone 2013 Birdlist up to 55.On a general note…

Moss was one of the first plants on the Earth,  having evolved from adapted algae,  along with liverworts and lichen. So, it's official, moss is cool ! If you've never stopped to take a closer look at mosses (Bryophyta), at first glance they might not seem that interesting.  Take another look.  They're really fascinating and beautiful.  And they're good environmental indicators; mosses don't like polluted environments…

A quick update with what's been around at Dove Stone today.  First reports of Chiffchaff calling heard from Ashway Gap today and within minutes,  the first sighting of both a male and a female Wheatear in the fields adjacent to Ashway Gap.  Also new for the Dove Stone 2013 reserve list is Red Legged Partridge,  bringing our total up to 54. Also from Ashway Gap today there have been good views of the Peregrines.  Round at…

Time for an update with the latest sightings at Dove Stone.  Starting up at Binn Green,  on and around the feeders there's plenty to see with regular sightings of Treecreepers,  Great Spotted Woodpecker,  Dunnock,  Siskin,  plenty of Blackbirds and Chaffinches, Greenfinch and Coal, Blue and Great Tit and less often Lesser Redpoll.  From the viewing platform at Binn Green you can look out across to Dove Stone rocks and from…

Time for a Dove Stone update.  Just to recap on how the Dove Stone 2013 birdlist is going,  Oystercatcher was our last addition to our list posted on the blog at the beginning of March,  which have continued to stay around on the main Dove Stone res.  Black Headed Gulls are in good numbers too and there was a Cormorant seen earlier in the week flying low over the res. Since then we've had sightings of two Goosander on Dove…

The big draw at the moment are the number of Siskins at Binn Green on both the feeders and on the Larches,  where they're feeding on the cones.  And the sound of such a large number of Siskins is great to hear.  So how many are there up at Bnn Green ?  On the bird ringing session two weeks ago we ringed 87 Siskins, so every Siskin we see without a ring is obviously giving us an idea of the total number at any one time.  There…

An update on the weekend at Dove Stone.  Exciting news of 60+ Waxwings,  roosting in one of the plantations past Chew Brook. It's been an influx year for Waxwings and there's been quite a few reports of them in the local area ( Uppermill,  Greenfield, Springhead ) but these are the first sightings this year from Dove Stone.  In the next few weeks it's likely that these birds will be returning to their Scandinavian…

A quick update with recent sightings both this week and last. 

Dove Stone reservoir usually has a good amount of Black Headed Gulls,  and this week there have easily been 100+ on the res at any one time.  Always worth a scan for something more unusual in the mix of Black Headed Gulls though !  On the main res and today were a group of around 8 Pochards,  which is a new sighting for the Dove Stone Bird List,  bringing it up to…

Well, we’re gearing up for the Date With Nature - Peregrine Watch season, with excitement mounting over whether our Peregrines will breed successfully this year! Signs are promising so far with the pair seen on Sunday January 27^th displaying some courtship behaviour over Dove Stone reservoir. As you may know, in the previous two seasons the male Peregrine was a juvenile and although he was seen doing all the right…

The Isle of Sky road is open but Binn Green car park isn't ! So just a quick heads-up that if you're coming to this part of Dove Stone today that there are a limited number of parking places in the layby adjacent to Binn Green.  It's looking beautiful out there with bright sun and blue skies,  so the snow melt will probably be fairly fast.  Cue dramatic water levels on Chew Brook ! More soon...

Pretty wild at Dove Stone today with a strong,  freezing wind blowing the snow across,  particularly when walking along the main reservoir wall and between Dove Stone reservoir and Yeoman Hey.  Accessbility-wise,  not too bad getting into the main car park earlier today but we have had another snow fall since then and it's snowing as I write so the situation might be different in the morning. Advice for Binn Green car park is to…

Lots of activity today on the feeders at Binn Green which was incredibly noisy with some big groups of Siskin and Goldfinch.  Also a good number of Greenfinch around with plenty of Coal, Blue and Great tit as well.  Also at Binn Green today we've had sightings of two Treecreepers, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush. Update on elsewhere around the reserve coming up later this week. 

Also just a quick mention of the…

The brooks are really full since yesterday's snow melt and the Dove Stone is visible on the horizon once more !  A quick update of sightings this weekend.  Starting with Binn Green, lots of activity on the feeders with Lesser Redpoll, Coal, Blue and Great Tit and Siskin.  Also around Binn Green sightings of Wren, Bullfinch and Treecreeper.  Seems to be a bit quiet on the Sparrowhawk front,  which until recently was being seen…

A quick update from Dove Stone with recent sightings.  Starting up at Binn Green the feeding station has had good numbers of Siskins.  As well as our regular Coal, Blue and Great Tit and Goldfinches there has been Lesser Redpoll.   Also around at Binn Green look out for Great Spotted Woodpeckers as well as Treecreeper.  Looking over to Alderman's Brow there have been recent sightings of Raven ( also heard cronking from…

Time for a volunteer update on the conservation work that's been happening around Dove Stone over the last few weeks:

'We've been doing some meadow improvement on the east bank of Dove Stone reservoir, below the footpath. Historically this meadow has been grazed by sheep and as a result there is high fertility but low biodiversity due to grass out-competing other species which would otherwise grow there. The…