The wild garlic and bluebells have withered but their disappearance simply paves the way for a more diverse array of colourful and vibrant plant life. As the bloom of flora picks up pace in Burley so does the wildlife and there’s so much of both out there right now.
In my Heat Wave Hits Whafedale post a couple of weeks ago, I expressed my suspicions that there were a family of dippers (the bird species that is, not folks looking to cool off by immersing themselves knee high in water) around the weir but had not actually seen clear evidence to confirm this theory. I later got a comment from local wildlife photographer Richard Greenwood. He confirmed that he had seen a young family of dippers there. Taking his advice I headed to the weir a little earlier than usual. Sure enough, I immediately came across several dippers including a juvenile hunting (with limited success) and begging for food from a parent.
Since then I have also caught sight (albeit for less than a second) of a kingfisher on several occasions. Hopefully at some point I’ll get a longer encounter! Here’s the photos from the week…
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