Day One,27th September.
Nearly a full day to ourselves today,saw us visiting Bardon Bridge and walking along the River Wharfe up to the aqueduct on the Bolton Abbey estate first.Some nice birds where seen along this productive stretch of the Wharfe,with us logging a Redhead Goosander,2 Dippers which included a singing male,3 Mandarin Ducks,Kingfisher and a couple of Grey Wags.
Next stop was the lovely little village of Burnsall,with another riverside walk along another section of the River Wharfe,but less productive on the bird front with just a single Goosander seen here,but some very impressive riverine scenery certainly made up for the lack of birds.
A quick visit to the fairly unimpressive Linton Falls,saw a nice record of a Rock Pipit along the river here,not really sure of the status of this species in the Dales,but i thought it was a pretty good record all the same.
Day Two,28th September.
After a lovely brekkie at the B&B we made our way over to the lovely little hamlet of Muker to walk the upper Swaledale valley between here and Keld and back.The valley along here is breathtaking and takes in some impressive water falls in the right conditions at Swinner Gill & Kisdon Force,which thankfully where in full flow today after the previous days rain,what a cracking area.
Not many birds were seen along the valley unfortunately apart from a pair of Common Buzzards and a Red Grouse on the hillside.
After a lovely walk we travelled up towards Tan Hill,taking in the superb Wainwath Force and more lovely views of the River Swale.
After a refreshment stop at Tan Hill,it was onto some proper birding seeing at least 30 Red Grouse and a cracking Short-eared Owl hunting the moorland near Tan Hill,but better was to come.
After reaching Whaw,we saw a single Black Grouse fly across the road,so drove a little further up the road and managed to find at least 8 more birds feeding in a roadside pasture.This included point blank views of 1 male and another male escorting 2 females.What a brilliant encounter and i thankfully managed to get some decent images of the close male.
Day Three,29th September.
What a brilliant couple of days in this beautiful part of the world,but sadly it was time to head on to Newcastle for our concert and night out in the big city.
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| The River Wharfe At Bardon Bridge. |
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| The River Wharfe At Burnsall. |
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| The River Wharfe At Burnsall. |
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| One Of The Locals At Muker. |
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| Swinner Gill & Crackpot Hall In The Distance,Upper Swaledale. |
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| Swinner Gill. |
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| Just Stunning!. |
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| An Old Buck Rabbit. |
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| The River Swale At Keld. |
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| Wainwath Falls Near To Keld. |
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| More Riverside Views At Wainwath Falls. |
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| Red Grouse,Tan Hill. |
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| Male Black Grouse,Whaw,Arkengarthdale. |
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| Male & Female Black Grouse,Whaw,Arkengarthdale. |
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| Male Black Grouse,Whaw,Arkengarthdale. |
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