aLL UPDATES

The European honey bee, now found worldwide, is known for its delicious honey and painful sting. While painful, most stings are harmless unless an individual has an allergy. The distinctive dark brown and bright yellow bands on the bee's body warn predators of its venomous sting, deterring attacks on the hive and the bees, food and wax contained within. There are over 20,000 species of bees in the world! The most common is the European honey bee, largely because they are one

Although the one I saw this morning was flapping quite high over Otley, I usually find their visits to my garden quite exhilarating. Not then the hunting methods of most of our local birds of prey - the soaring of the buzzard or the hovering of the kestrel – the sparrow-hawk dashes at low-level, dipping into the gardens to take small birds by surprise. Females are up to 25% bigger than the males, which is one of the biggest differences in any bird species, and this is reflect

Not only are bees crucial to the world’s ecosystems, but they are very sophisticated creatures indeed. They have even learned how to “score goals” – well, roll a ball to a target in return for food (see first link below). Red-tailed Bumblebees are able to create a great deal of heat using their flight muscles, and they do this to incubate their brood and regulate the nest temperature generally. As well as eating nectar and pollen, the worker-bees will sometimes try to eat the

Eagle-eyed observers may have spotted that we made a slight mistake yesterday – the “Common Lizard” in the video was in fact a Smooth Newt. We were in two minds, and although our criteria were correct, we chose the wrong option. The velvety skin and spotty belly point to it being a newt, and whilst they are to be found in gardens, it’s still exciting to see them (and so close to the centre of town). Wildlife can be difficult to distinguish – I sometimes struggle with the way

These gregarious birds used to be much more common, and I miss the daily sight of huge flocks returning from a day’s foraging in the surrounding countryside to roost in the warmth of city-centre Bradford, for example. Murmurations of Starlings are one of nature’s most spectacular sights: thousands of birds flocking effortlessly, with smaller flocks blending together and creating swirling, complex patterns in the sky. At a distance, a Starling looks black, but the closer you g

To look at, the flowers lack the immaculate symmetry of many – they’re a bit of a mess – but oh, the smell…. The strong, sweet fragrance intensifies as the day goes on, peaking in the evening, when it attracts moths. Pollinators love them, and a range of wildlife eats the berries (we shouldn’t!). There are roughly 180 different species of this twining climber, and around Otley it can be seen in gardens and growing wild. I think I’m right in saying that it is an indicator spec

Otley resident Emma Dunnett spotted one of these caterpillars in her garden, and my first reaction was “Wow”. They are positively spectacular, looking like something a child might design on a computer – they just don’t look real. As well as the exotic appearance of the caterpillar, and a great name, there is also an astonishing difference between the appearance of the male and the female adults. The male looks like your average moth, with orangey brown wings and a couple of “

I associate their distinctive clacking with visits to ancient buildings and ruins, but these sociable birds also contribute to the soundscape here in Otley. They like to nest in chimney pots – one of their many alternative names is Chimney Sweep Bird - and one once fell down into the open fireplace in our bedroom. An ancient Greek saying suggests “The swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent” ie the wise will speak after the foolish have become quiet. Despite this, they a

For the last couple of days I have headed down to Gallows Hill in the evening and first thing in the morning to catch sight of bats foraging over the ponds and experience the undisturbed wildlife before the dogs arrive. Whilst walking past the nettle beds I disturbed some Small Tortoiseshells, they flutter ahead just a few feet and settle again in my path, meaning they have to get up and move again in a few minutes when I pass them again. The Big Butterfly Count starts again

Like the bramble flowers, spear (also known as bull or common) thistles are at their most brilliant right now and are a welcome pop of colour among the many shades of green. Spear thistles can grow to be 1 to 1.5 metres and prefer to be in full sun, you might spot them sprouting in the middle of paddocks or fields, as well as along the sides of the road. Whilst walking around Gallows Hill, I was frequently interrupted by visitors to their purple, fluffy flower heads. Many of

Whilst many of our other common birds breeding efforts are restricted to the Spring, the wood pigeon breeds in Otley 10 months out of 12! Breeding from February to November and taking a little Christmas and New Year break. It is fairly easy to spot these large birds at it, as I did today at Wharfemeadows park. The male starts to display with his familiar drawn out 5 syllable coo, then performs a display flight, fluttering around the female and if she is suitably impressed, sh

Whilst out exploring our town, as well as looking up to spot passing birds, I am also looking down to spot passing invertebrates, in fact I am often looking anyway but where I am walking! In the long grass and patches of wild flowers, little ruby red specks catch my eye. They are our most familiar ladybird, the 7-spot. They are occasionally yellow but always have 7 black spots, with 3 on each wing case and 1 at the back sitting across the two wings. Amazingly the 7-spot ladyb

After lunch, I had planned to go out for a walk but the rain decided to return. I took a look out of my living room window to see who was around and perched in the laurel outside, a few feet away was a magnificent male bullfinch, waiting out the rain just like me. Bullfinches are quiet birds, quieter than our other local finches and they like to hide. Their short stubby beaks are perfectly adapted for feeding on buds, which they are very enthusiastic about, particular favouri

Walking up the Chevin today, I couldn’t walk more than a few feet without being distracted by the amount of insect activity around the white and pink flowers of bramble. Its flowers provide much needed nectar and pollen now that the spring blooms have faded. So many of our pollinators rely on bramble now, including bumblebees, honey bees, hoverflies, wasps, butterflies, moths, flies and lacewings. Cunning spiders often spin webs in and around bramble to catch some of the boun

The birds have gone quiet, this is not because lockdown is easing and we’re scaring them all away! After all the raucous calls and songs of spring, many of our songbird’s chicks have fledged their nests now. So it’s time for a change of strategy, the adults lead the juveniles to forage and fatten up under the cover of thick hedges and undergrowth. Accompanied by their weaker juveniles, it wouldn’t be a good idea to draw attention to themselves, so to prevent predators finding

During the short spell of dry weather today, my walk was interrupted with a crunch underfoot. Looking down the path ahead of me, I discovered a crowd of more than twenty Garden snails. Snails love dampness, so after all of this rain, they suddenly seem to be everywhere along with their slug cousins. Amongst our wildlife in Otley, they are hard to love, especially if you happen to be a gardener as well as a wildlife lover. They are an important part however of our natural ecos

Sadly the marmalade fly didn’t get its name for being the equivalent of Paddington Bear! It is because of its lovely marmalade colour. It is one of the few hoverflies in the UK with an English name (rather than only being referred to as its Latin name). This is because it is a very common hoverfly, that can easily be seen in gardens, parks and sunny woodlands. As adults, they feed on nectar from wild plants such as tansy, ragwort and cow parsley. They are really useful friend

Most of this year’s young will be fledging now, so there will be more Buzzards around Otley now than any other time of the year. The young will eventually be pushed out of their parent’s territory and have to find their own. It is thought that the buzzard is now our commonest bird of prey, pushing the kestrel into second place. Buzzards are monogamous and once paired will mate for life. A male attracts a mate, or impresses his existing one by performing spectacular aerial dis