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Not Crested and definitely Little, this modest grebe is still good to see down at Gallows Hill and other ponds and lakes around Otley. Even better would be to hear its breeding call, which has been likened to a horse whinnying. Like its fancy Great Crested cousins, the Little Grebe is great at swimming and diving, but not so good at walking, due to its legs being set far back (to aid water movement). It also excels at hiding in vegetation at the water’s edge, and when leaving

Another important source of early nectar for our sleepy pollinators are these fabulous yellow stars appearing along damp woodland paths and tracks, as well as stream banks and ditches. Their usefulness doesn’t end with insects, in the past leaves were used to prevent scurvy, thanks to their high vitamin C content. It has another common name, "pilewort” because it has also been used to treat haemorrhoids. This was based not on science but on the fact the the knobbly tubers wer

It’s a great time of year for bee watching! As there are so few flowers out, staking out a sunny patch with a few blooms will guarantee you some brilliant bees! That’s exactly what I did and one of the biggest visitors to my sunny patch was this lemon yellow striped bumble. Like other social insects, the queen emerges from hibernation early in the spring and starts the colony over again by laying a few eggs that hatch as workers; these workers tend the young and nest. Compare

“Great” is right – the head and neck feathers look positively extravagant, so much so that the bird was almost hunted to extinction in the UK in the 19th century, when the feathers adorned women’s hats and even underwear. The young birds look striking, too, if rather mis-matched with their black and white stripes, and you’d have to be quite the cynic to not enjoy the sight of them hitching a ride on their parents’ backs. However one of the best sights in UK ornithology is the

Vibrant pops of colour are appearing all over Otley, they are joyful to see on the grey days before spring. Whilst not being a native plant, with such a massive loss of our own native wildflowers, they provide much needed source of nectar and pollen for pollinating insects just emerging from hibernation. Crocuses come in a wide and appealing range of colours, from a distinctive mauve to pale yellow or white, all of them enjoy a sunny position and well drained soil. So enjoy t

One of the absolute joys of early spring is catching sight of a fluttering, lemon yellow butterfly. Amazingly the word ‘butter-fly’ is thought to have derived from "butter-coloured fly,” because of the yellowness of the male brimstone butterfly's wings! The brimstone is a long lived butterfly, they live for up to a year after hatching into their adult form. After sleeping through the winter, the adults wake up and travel to find a mate, that’s why now is such a great time to

The East of Otley Action group have been out and hand painted signs have started to pop up all over the East of Otley, to celebrate and...

On grey winter days when most plants are not at their best, the deep red bark of the Dogwood bush provides some welcome colour. The name is thought to derive from the old use of their slender but very hard stems as sharp tools and weapons such as skewers (once called dags or dogs) and arrows. The wood was once used for crucifixes, and is now used in the heads of some golf clubs. The tannin-rich bark was traditionally used as a substitute for quinine. An even older (and better

To celebrate National Nest Box Week (February 14 - 21), we decided to revisit our Pledge champions and reward all their efforts for...

“What’s that?!” It was an understandable question as a large black bird emerged from the swollen waters of the Wharfe, barely ten yards away from us. I’d barely finished explaining that it was a Cormorant before it dived again, and we scanned back and forth to see where it was going to emerge. Cathy then remembered that she had seen people in China using Cormorants to catch fish from their boats. Whilst this is a spectacle yet to be seen in LS21, they can still make for quite

A brilliant and almost fluorescent yellow-green extra-terrestrial growth caught my eye. It is a moss-like lichen that clings to the bark and wood of living and dead trees throughout the world, from sea level to the woodland edge. Historically wolf lichen was incorrectly known as wolf moss and it was dried and ground into powder, before being sprinkled on meat to poison wolves and foxes. Lichens grow extremely slowly, increasing imperceptible amounts in a year—only about four

Together with Otley2030, Otley Community Land Trust, Wharfedale Naturalists, Cambridge estate residents and others are working to raise...