A Day on the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey

18th September 2022

A few days in Yorkshire so what better way to spend the day than having a walk by the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey. I was hoping to see some Goosanders and possibly a Dipper or two, but wasn't expecting a Lesser Black-backed Gull eating an American Signal Crayfish.

I was even less expecting to see a Kingfisher. In Hertfordshire most of the rivers are slow flowing and therefore attractive to Kingfishers as they can sit in a tree and stare down at the water looking for fish. However the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey is fairly fast even when the water is low and a raging torrent after heavy rain. However, it still managed to fish a few times.

Mandarin Ducks are quite common along this stretch of the river and today at least 12 birds were present. This is a female.

The males had now come out of eclipse plumage and looking fine in their breeding plumage.

There are normally good numbers of Goosander, but today there was just a single female which luckily was happy to pose on a rock mid-river.

But the stars as always were the Dippers which can be very challenging as they spend much of their time with their heads under water and sometimes completely submerged.

Time for a stretch.

I had always assumed that Dippers fed mostly on aquatic invertebrates but this bird suddenly popped up with what looks like a Bullhead. How good is that?

Well, Bolton Abbey never disappoints and I look forward to coming back next year.