This Blog covers nature sightings and related news in the Calderdale area.
It includes all groups - Plants, animals and fungi with links to specialist sites.
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Wednesday 6 May 2015

Meadow Pipit's nest yesterday, and Golden-scaled Male Fern.


We were looking for nests and reptiles at Wainstalls but flushed a Meadow Pipit by chance, though we had been looking at its mate, watching us from a rock in the middle-distance.

The camera focused on the front of the nest, rather than the eggs, which I didn't notice at the time, as I only spend a few seconds at a nest where I have flushed the bird.  Then it's best to walk away in full view, so the bird sees you going away. It doesn't differentiate between a human and a grazing animal.
Never risk flushing birds in cold, showery weather.

We also recorded a Woodpigeon's nest nearby with two eggs visible from ground level, and watched a Willow Warbler carrying nest material around in an aimless way.

The data will go in with my other BTO Nest Record Cards. (British Trust for Ornithology.)


The pipit's nest is just above the centre in this picture, in a spot where it would be unlikely to be stepped on. (Tucked into a little bank, well hidden by long grass.)




Golden-scaled Male Fern, ( Dryopteris affinis group)
There is a magnificent colony of these on some wet rocks beside the road just before the Cat in'th' Well Pub at Wainstalls. Many of the ferns are at their most spectacular as they are unfurling like this in Spring.


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