Strid Woods

It was a glorious evening when I got in from work yesterday so I grabbed my binoculars and went down to Barden Bridge for a walk in the Strid Woods I think I've mentioned the walk from Barden up to the Cavendish Pavilion and back before. It's regarded widely as one of the best short birdwatching walks in the Yorkshire Dales and rightly so

Not long after setting off I saw a pair of common sandpiper (I'd already seen oystercatcher and heard chiff chaff) and before I got to the Pavilion I'd heard (but not seen) greater spotted woodpecker drumming and green woodpecker yaffling. I was lucky to see several dippers and a heron too, along with some very cute mallard ducklings

After checking the time at the wooden bridge by the Pavillion I realised I had to get a move on to beat the impending darkness so I dashed back as fast as I could. I think I was a week or so early for the main species I was hoping to see (pied flycatcher, wood warbler and redstart) but time in the Woods is never wasted and I'd had a very pleasant couple of hours walk