St Aidan's Nature Reserve

Lovely visit to RSPB St Aidan's.
Cloudy but warm, and we managed to doge the showers.
The car park was about half full. No toilets or visitor centre open though.
Very easy to keep your distance walking round.

Formerly open cast mining, which ceased in 2002,  and now a nature reserve of 400 hectares, managed by the RSPB, but owned by Leeds City Council.

You will see the giant dragline known as Oddball in my collage.
Brought from the US in 1954 when it was the second-largest such machine in the world.
It moved to St Aidan's in 1988 and was used to mine surface coal from the area. Max speed 0.19 mph!

An abundance of wild flowers, as well as butterflies, and of course the birds.
A very noisy colony of black headded gulls, lots of Greylag Geese with their young, which are now almost fully grown.
Great Crested Grebes, some with their young ones, which still have their humbug stripes on the head and neck. ( see photo )
 We didn't see the black necked grebes, but did spot the young little owl near the dragline. Too far away for a decent photo.
Did see a lot of reed buntings , which I managed to photograph.
All in all a very enjoyable day.
So nice to be able to get out and about now, although not too far from home.