Saturday 19 June 2010

Dalby Forest

This year we were given an annual pass for Dalby Forest. I had only driven through it once before and have been pleasantly surprised by the variation in walks, trees and wildlife that it has to offer. Our first visit this year was on a cold and grey day but we did manage to see a Roe deer and enjoyed a very peaceful walk. This time the weather was much nicer as an overcast morning gave way to a sunny late afternoon. 

After a Fish and Chip lunch in Pickering we drove towards the east entrance to the forest. The refreshing scent of pine trees entered the car as we approached. We parked and chose to do two of the waymarked routes.



Herb Robert

Making our way down a steep slope we reached the track in the bottom of the valley - there were some Common Spotted orchids starting to flower
 


Cuckoo flower

In a meadow area we saw these grasshoppers 



near a stream the Yellow iris were flowering

A rather colourful caterpillar (if you know what species this is please let me know)


Leaving the beck we climbed back up and followed a forest trail to a view point


By now most of the country had rushed home to watch England play and we more or less had the forest to ourselves. We stopped by a lake and were met in the car park by this Pied wagtail.


Approaching the lake a family of Canada geese swam towards us. The goslings had got to the "scruffy stage" 

Further out in the lake were pairs of Tufted ducks



Ragged-robin was growing near the lake

A quick walk around the lake and we left the forest. We still have plenty more to explore so we will be back soon.

Tuesday 1 June 2010

First Cygnets

Hoping to see some cygnets we made a trip to a stretch of the canal where we had seen nesting Mute swans. Our trip was a success as we saw 3 cygnets. 





As they could not reach the food at the bottom of the canal their parents were bring the weed up to the surface.









Our cygnet mission accomplished we moved on and saw this Wall Brown butterfly

A Reed warbler

and Chaffinch


The cygnets were not the only youngsters and we saw this juvenile Starling