Author Archives: Roger Gaynor

Sunshine and showers at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Roger Gaynor

Today, braving the cold wintery showers with occasional sunshine, a walk around the lakes and woodland at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was rewarded with some wonderful wildlife sightings, including two stoats at first oblivious to my presence whilst chasing each … Continue reading →

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Mating mallard at Nostell Priory

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

At the last indoor meeting Richard and Barbara mentioned they had recently watched the courting and mating behaviour of mallard ducks, including them bobbing  their heads up and down.  We wondered if this was normal for this time of year.  … Continue reading →

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A spooky sign of autumn

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

The changing and breathtaking colours of some of our magnificent trees, together with flocks of visiting birds on their long migration journeys, and a bounty of fruits and seeds for them to feed on are proof that autumn has arrived. … Continue reading →

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Easter sightings

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

Local walks over the Easter break have revealed some of the usual suspects. No real surprises, but it is just nice to see familiar species and some at more or less the time we might expect to see them.  However, … Continue reading →

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March bluebells at Nostell Priory

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

Images of some spectacularly early bluebells in flower, together with flowering dog’s mercury, and a feeding small tortoiseshell butterfly taken on 17 March at the Nostell Priory estate woodlands help to show how some of our wildlife are responding to … Continue reading →

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Wildlife sightings from Nostell Priory

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

Pauline’s report on 16 February of the area’s first flowering colt’s-foot of the year encouraged a visit to a good spot for this plant on my regular walks around the Nostell Priory estate.  I saw the first flowers here much … Continue reading →

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Wild weather

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

The recent wildly unpredictable weather may be a dampener on wildlife watching, but sometimes it can provide its own natural spectacle.  During the morning of 29 January looking across the garden the sky suddenly start to darken, but for a … Continue reading →

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The weekend’s snow in Wrenthorpe

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

My last report of finding wildflowers on 4th January this year all seems even more remarkable now following the recent snow.  I attach a photo of our Wrenthorpe garden taken yesterday 17 January 2016.  It reminded me of a similar … Continue reading →

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Early flowering plants

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Roger Gaynor

Despite the recent gloomy, wet and windy weather there are surprisingly some wildflowers to be found, including red campion and dandelion.  On the 4 January in between the showers I found two plants of bush vetch (Vicia sepium) in full … Continue reading →

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Butterflies at Stanley Ferry Flash

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Roger Gaynor

Encouraged by the good spell of weather over the Easter Bank Holiday period I had a walk around Stanley Ferry Flash on 9 April 2015.  There were good numbers of peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies and several brimstone butterflies.  These … Continue reading →

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