Day 52 - Another Nature Ramble at Nosterfield

Hi all today's Day 52 and I went to one of my favourite nature reserves today. This reserve is Nosterfield. It is run by the Lower Ure Conservation Trust or LUCT. It's a fabulous place and has so much wildlife you can't see it all in one trip. I was sent a link to this video yesterday made by the conservation trust which shows exactly how much there is:

2014 Nosterfield Highlights

My last post from the reserve didn't have many photos so I thought I'd make up for it today to try and show why I like it so much. So here are some pictures and facts about some of the things I saw, some of which I will cover in more detail in future, others I covered already & I've put links to my posts:


Buzzard:

Buzzards are now the most common of the UK birds of prey. They live in most of the UK all year round. Western Ireland doesn't have many.

Curlew:

Curlews are Europe's largest wading bird at 55cm long with a 90cm wingspan. Males weigh about 770g but females usually weigh 1kg! Even though they are a wading bird they are also commonly found in moorland, I often see them on the North Yorkshire Moors.



Carrion Crow:

The Carrion Crow is one of the most smart birds on the planet. Some scientists have proclaimed that they are as clever as a seven year old child. Click here to see an article by the Daily Mail. Also Carrion Crows have an enormous understanding of water displacement.






Grey Heron:

Herons are unmistakable as they are one of the biggest fishing birds as you can see from the picture to the right. They also have some vibrant colours like their grey body and yellow legs and beak.




Lapwings:

Lapwings have many nicknames like the 'peewit' or the one I find quite interesting, the 'hornpie'. The name 'peewit' originates from the noise they make which is a (you guessed it) a 'peewit' like sound.

They are also know as the Green Plover :-)

Lichens:

Lichens are not actually one thing. They are a combination between a fungus and an algae. I read somewhere that this makes them a challenge for taxonomist as it's extremely hard for people to name them as they are two different things.



These are just a few things that we saw today. There will be another blog on Nosterfield in the future so you will know what else there is at this amazing reserve. If you want to know some more things about Nosterfield then have a look at these two links:

My Nature Ramble at Nosterfield - This Blog

LUCT.org - Nosterfield

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.