Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog

Sunday, 26 July 2026

Alstonefield - Milldale - Dovedale Circular, Saturday 25th July 2026

A chance to get out with Mrs R today on her day off, saw us heading for the white peak in Staffordshire, to carry out a circular walk starting from the picturesque little village of Alstonefield down to Milldale and then up to the caves at Doveholes and Ilam Rock and then back along Halldale to Alstonefield.

The walk is a really nice one, but does take in some steep sections so bear that in mind.

We managed to see some nice birds on the walk which included 6 Raven and 2 lovely Red Kite overhead, plus 3 Mandarins and a couple of Grey Wagtails along the River Dove.

If you like limestone scenery, then this is a walk for you and the added bonus of the caves at Doveholes and Ilam Rock add some extra interest.

With regards to refreshments, Frank's Cafe Hut is a must with superb cakes and drinks and was open when we arrived.

The following are my favourite photos from our day.

Picturesque Alstonefield

St.Peter's Church, Alstonefield.

Looking Across The Fields To Milldale.

Milldale

Ravens Tor, Milldale

The Caves At Doveholes, Dovedale

Ilam Rock, Dovedale

Mrs R, Ilam Rock Bridge

Halldale

Looking Back Across The Fields Towards St.Peter's Church At Alstonefield

Bempton Cliffs RSPB Return, Sunday 19th July 2026.

Another chance to visit this superb seabird city today in pretty rough conditions which certainly were not forecast, saw me enjoying another great day mainly photographing Gannets again.

I concentrated my efforts again taking pics with my Swarovski ATX 85, Swarovski Phone Adapter & Google Pixel 10 Pro. I'm pretty pleased with the results to be honest, as phonescoping results just get better and better providing you have the patience.

The below photos are my personal favourites from the day, with a couple of videos also attached.

Just Stunning Birds.

Nice To Get Some Photos Of This Relatively Close Fulmar.

love Watching The Gannets Do This Sky Pointing Display.

Amazing Scenery Here Also.

A Wing Stretching Chick.

Friday, 17 July 2026

DST Leconfield, Sunday 12th July 2026

The chance to get out today in some decent weather, saw me heading over to the Army School of Transport and meeting up with Tim and others to carry out part of the weekends bioblitz.

The forecast was spot on, if not a bit too windy, but at least it cooled us down a bit in the strong sunshine.

Some really nice insects were found during the visit which included a new species of Hoverfly for myself and the site, which i found while searching some excellent habitat.

Riponnensia splendens has only been recorded on 3 occasions in East Yorkshire according to the NBN Atlas records, so was a pleasing find.

Other species of Hovers included Eristalinus sepulchralis, Eristalis intricaria, Horticola, Arbustorum, Tenax and Nemorum and Myathropa florea amongst hundreds of Episyrphus balteatus.

A nice Soldier Fly was found in the from of Oxycera rara, but i only managed a record shot unfortunately.

Now we are progressing into the later part of summer, Orthoptera are making an appearance as insects become adult and are far easier to find and ID. So it was really nice to find a female Speckled Bush Cricket basking on a Field Maple leaf. This is the first time i have seen this lovely species in Yorkshire. Other species recorded, included Roesel's-bush Cricket which took a liking to me and bit me on my hand and a profusion of Field Grasshoppers.

Lepidoptera featured heavily in the days sightings, with Marbled White being the star, but several Holly Blues were really nice to see in amongst the commoner species.

Bird wise it was fairly quiet, with Marsh Harrier & Kingfisher being the highlights.

The following are some of my favourite photos from the day.