This time going to Oats Royd I went along the bottom via the fields, which was much quicker and allowed me to walk alongside the river. When I entered the reserve the first thing I saw was a scorpion fly, an insect that has long eluded my camera, and has also been tricky to track down
-Scorpion Fly
The reserve was full of insects again, the first bird I saw being a wren singing from the top of a conifer tree
-Wren
At the first pond I also found a large flock of willow warblers, possibly a family group as some of the birds looked quite young
-Willow warbler
The other ponds were full of damselflies of common blue, large red and common blue tailed. I also found the exuvia of a dragonfly, but there was no dragonfly to go with it and since there has been no rain to knock them off it could well have been there for a good month
-Large red damselfly
-Common Blue damselfly
-Blue tailed damselfly
At the first pond I also spotted a newt resting on a crisp packet. There were also loads more on the bottom of the pond but I couldn't get a better photo to identify them with, but I think they are Palmate newts judging by the lack of spots
-Palmate newt
At the far point nearest to the industrial estate there were loads of damselflies, a greater concentration than anywhere else on the reserve. It is probably the most damselflies I have ever seen in one place
-Common Blue Damselflies
On the heath next to the last pool I flushed a small heath butterfly, which was really nice though it was reluctant to sit with its wings open for a photo, so this modest effort is the best I could do
-Small Heath Butterfly
And on the way back I also spotted a lovely male orange tip feeding, which will add to my limited photo library of this species
-Orange tip
And keeping with the butterfly theme there was also a lovely small copper resting on the path
-Small copper
And last but by no means least I spotted this lovely greenish weevil of some description on the fens near the central pool which added to the long list of species seen today
-Greenish weevil of some description
