Tuesday 5th June, A Bolton Abbey wander

Not a great weather forecast again today, more low pressure means grey skies and the chance of rain. We decided on a short walk by the river Wharfe at Bolton Abbey, there is usually a good chance of some bird sightings there and we added on the option of another short walk on Silsden Moor if the weather held.

First sighting of the day was sand martins, lots of them, and the low light left me unable to get any satisfactory shots:-( A dipper further down river was more obliging, obviously gathering food for nestlings and we were very careful not to disturb its progress back to the nearby nest.

These were taken at 1/80th of a second, a thoroughly unsatisfactory speed for wildlife shots, pushing the ISO up had little effect so bad was the light.

Turning at the aquaduct we headed back up river.

There were not many smaller birds around in the wooded section on this side which is quite unusual, my eye was drawn to a small amount of movement in the undergrowth...close inspection revealed a lovely specimen of common toad.

We were content to enjoy a pleasant stroll through the wood, an aroma of wild garlic and woodland flowers was strong but lovely!

A commotion from the water's edge alerted us to the presence of a common sandpiper, beautiful little birds and this one was uttering loud distress calls. Whether it was a lost partner or chicks we could not work out, it was however loud and incessant!

A few spots of rain fell as we neared the car, despite a lengthy wait while we had coffee and sandwiches the prospects were not good, further walking plans were shelved until another hopefully brighter day:-)