A Trip to the Yorkshire Dales from Suffolk - Part 1

Last week my wife and I headed to the Yorkshire Dales and stayed near Skipton for a week of walking and wildlife watching.

On our first day we were heading into  Skipton and saw some House Martins coming down to a muddy puddle (not many about in this dry weather) on the edge of town collecting nesting material. Luckily there was somewhere safe to stop and observe and even more lucky I spotted this Little Ringed Plover amongst them, sadly it flew off before my wife got a proper look at it.

Also amongst the House Martins were some Swallows.

On through Skipton to Grassington and down by Linton Bridge a family of Grey Wagtails.

The main lure of this part of the Wharf for us is seeing Dippers.

Our first time in this area in Spring and we quickly found our Dipper feeding a youngster.

Walking down the Wharfe towards Hebden, a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull

In a small pond near the river by the footpath, a Redshank.

Some Mallard ducklings, one slightly different to the others.

Then a very active group of Goosanders, an adult female and six youngsters.

Synchronised swimming.

There were regular sightings of Common Sandpipers.

A very brief glimpse of a Treecreeper.

More Common Sandpipers.

There were lots of Sand Martins skimming the water for flies and taking their catch to their nests in the river bank.

Another encounter with the Goosander family.

Resting Sand Martins.

Unusual framing for a Lapwing.

On the path back to Linton some Song Thrushes.

Grisly end for a snail.

Youngster watching to see how it's done.

That was the end of our first day of six days out and about, but don't worry this post won't run to six parts.  A very high percentage of my photos were taken in the first two days walking along the Wharf and before any editing or deleting I had between 3000 and 4000 shots, a lot of time has been spent getting things down to manageable proportions.

Best Wishes,

Trevor