Thanks to roving guide and photographer Mark Day for these fantastic wildlife shots and write-up...
As the seasons change and spring slowly turns to summer, so the sights and sounds move on at Coombes Valley.
Wild flowers are now abundant around the reserve and butterflies are fluttering around the meadows enjoying the warmth of the late spring sunshine.
I spent time photographing the life on the reserve again this weekend (on the dry day, not the wet one!) and thought I'd share some more of them with you.
So, down at the dipping pond on Saturday morning I saw these two beauties, firstly a Large Red Damselfly and secondly a male Wide Bodied Chaser. Damselflies and Dragonflies always amaze me and to me it really is a sign of impending summer when they start to whizz around. Hopefully, the fact that I'm completing the build of a pond at home will bring some of their relatives to our garden in the future. That really would make all that digging worthwhile. I might even include pictures here of how the pond develops to hopefully encourage others to do the same.
Anyway, I digress.
A lot of our nesting and migrant birds have now successfully fledged their young. This does mean that you're now a lot less likely to see pied flycatchers around the place now, but look and listen closely and you might still catch a glimpse in the treetops. Personally, I didn't see them this Saturday but several visitors did, proving they are around if you look hard enough.
What you are more likely to see and hear are fledgling birds still spending time following their parents around begging for food. You might also catch sight of their parents bringing food to them.
Down by the cottage in Clough Meadow I captured this lovely shot of a garden warbler collecting caterpillars to feed youngsters that weren't far away.
Also, have a look at this shot of a swallow perched on the wire that runs across to the main information centre. Its parents were doing flypast food drops for it and its sibling while they both sat their open mouthed screaming for food.
As Rhian has pointed out in her recent blog entries, you really don't need to go far from the visitor centre to see plenty of variety.
Just a few metres from the car park is a bench overlooking the feeders and the nearest meadow. So come along and sit with nature for a short while. Its a great way to de-stress, so pack some sandwiches and come along and spend your lunch hour with us!