Post 463 - Spring Sensations at Nosterfield Nature Reserve

A carpet of Dogs Mercury and Bluebells

Hey everyone, today's post is 463 and today as it was such a nice clear mild day we went for a walk around Nosterfield, our local nature reserve, something we haven't done in a while. Whenever we go to Nosterfield we also take a walk around one of the three henges that are adjacent to the reserve, one of them is just over the road from the reserve. But anyway, we started by parking up in the car viewing area to see what was on the main lake. There was actually quite a lot around.

Dandelions

For starters, there were the Rabbits that are usually there just seemingly enjoying themselves, but then there were all the birds around, starting with the Lapwings doing their lovely displaying in the air, making their wonderful almost otherworldly calls. The odd Oystercatcher flew over too, shouting shrilly in the sky. The Shovellers were feeding in the water, next to Teal, Canada Geese, Black Headed Gulls and then there was the cacophony of the other birds in the water and in the air, it made a lovely atmosphere.

Ramsons, or Wild Garlic

We parked up in the main car park and then walked on up the reserve and it was quite quiet until we got to the dipping pond, where we always stop to have a look at what's in there, and this time, there was quite a lot of algae, but some bags of barley straw have been added to try to stop it spreading. But the main thing that was in the pond were all the tadpoles! These are the first tadpoles I have seen this year, which is unusual as I usually see them this early at my local forest, but I haven't yet.


Opposite of the dipping pond is another pool and this had a lovely Great Crested Grebe on it, along with a few Tufted Ducks, Mallards and a Moorhen.

Probably my favourite Beetle - Bloody Nosed Beetle

As we moved on further we saw a lot of small flies on two of the fence posts, these two posts were covered with them, but all the others didn't have any on them, which was kind of strange as we couldn't see any difference in the posts. So if anybody has any suggestions as to why this was, feel free to tell me! But anyway, on the most crowded post, there was something we were quite surprised to see this early in the year, but it was a lovely surprise - a Bloody Nosed Beetle! I had just been discussing with Mum & Dad when we thought we'd be seeing them here, as we couldn't remember when they emerged, just before my Mum spotted this one! They aren't an uncommon Beetle in the South but as far as I know Nosterfield is the only place in North Yorkshire you can find then so I always enjoy seeing them.

Red Campion

When we had finished photographing this we went round to the henge and we were treated to a carpet of thousands and thousands Dog's Mercury plants coating the floor, with Blue Bells and Ramsons in between them all. It was a wonderful sight that stayed with us all the way round, travelling up and down the dips in the ground and over the mounds, something that I have never seen in such big quantities.

Fern unfurling

Seeing all of the flowers in the wood I was watching out for more on the way back to the car. There really is a lot of colour now starting to emerge. I saw Cowslips, Forget-me-nots, Coltsfoot, Dandelion, Blackthorn, Wild Strawberry and many more as well as a very tiny green flowered plant that I don't know.


When I'm at Nosterfield I usually focus on the birds and the insects so it was really nice to see so many flowers and focus on those for a change. Anyway, it was a lovely walk, and an amazing reminder that Spring is now out in full force.

Not sure what this is, some of the tiniest
flowers I've seen!

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.