11th March 2012, Shipley Glen.

Another lovely sun filled day here in West Yorkshire and after some gardening duties to prepare for the coming year we had a short walk this afternoon.

Shipley is further down Airedale, beyond Keighley and Bingley and it joins almost seamlessly to Saltaire and Bradford as the river flows on its eastward journey. Shipley Glen has a rich history, a tramway operates to lift the weary traveller from the valley floor, opened in 1895 and subject to technological and beaurocratic changes through the years, more details can be found at:-

http://www.glentramway.co.uk/

A fairgound operated for many years too, after a long week in the textile mills for which the area is famous there must have been much relaxation in kicking off the clogs and packing a picnic to be shared here. A deep woodlined gorge with a clear tinkling stream in the bottom and paths in every direction is hard to beat.

As is often the case in woodland we heard far more birds than we saw but no matter, this is a new place for us and it takes time to get to know different locations. Eventually our eyes and ears began to synchronise, a nuthatch interacting with another and singing quite loudly was spotted and stayed obligingly still for a while.

Wandering on through the woods the distinctive song of a robin was to be heard, not in the most convenient spot for a photograph and I was quite pleased with the result.

A sparrowhawk flew swiftly across our path, hardly a surprise as the woods were full of small songbirds!

If you walk in woodland and are not a bird enthusiast you may occasionally spot movement on a tree trunk only to find when you look more closely that there was nothing there...that is likely to be a treecreeper. In the first shot here it can be seen fairly clearly, in the second one I thought I had missed it until I examined the photograph more closely on the computer.

Heading back to the car we decided to come here again, perhaps when it is a bit less busy as its proximity to the urban conurbations made Sunday afternoon very popular. A lovely thrush perched in a tree near our parking spot was a fine end to the photographs for the day...and after a long walk yesterday and gardening today the walk was just about right...short!