It can sometimes seem like a bit of a cop-out to go for a walk at Bolton Abbey: ridiculously busy on sunny Bank Holidays, expensive to park, and can feel a bit commercial with large plastic rabbits at Easter and large plastic elves in December.

But just a hop and a skip from home it is a great choice for a couple of hours walk and we always come home with a smile our faces. With all the rain it is a dream to walk on paths rather than squelch in muddy fields.

My first Nature Notes in January 2023 were about the ice pancakes on the river there and more recently I was delighted to spot this pair of mandarin duck sitting on a tree trunk above the public footpath, most visitors oblivious until they saw me with camera out!

They nest in trees and have been common on the river there for some years. The males are an exotic sight but the beautiful under appreciated female is worth a closer look.

Kingfisher and heron are common on the river with it’s islands and tributaries where they can be safer from humans and dogs.

High up on both sides of the river are shelters to rest and scatter seed for the birds…we’re not the only visitors who come prepared as within seconds blackbird, chaffinch, tits, robin , nuthatch and squirrels appear. They are very trusting darting within a foot or so of you and easy to photograph.

There is always a chance of less common birds: like an angry green woodpecker mobbing a apparently unperturbed tawny owl trying to pretend all this fuss was nothing to do with him. Or a redstart going into her nest with food followed by my first sight of a spotted flycatcher and a treecreeper darting into it’s nest beneath the bark of a tree.

A large otter sliding down the bank into the river was anther first and deer too are common wandering in and out of the shadows between the trees, amazingly well camouflaged for such large animals.

The other main interest for naturalists is ,of course, the botany. Last week the ground began to be carpeted with ramsons, which Ian wrote about recently. And I won’t even start on the trees….the bark, the shapes, the colours, the light and majesty.

That will all be there for another walk in the local woods on another special day.