YWT Staveley

In August I headed over to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve at Staveley near Ripon. The height of summer meant the main focus of photography would be more insect life than birds etc which have just about finished with the breeding season and have started to disperse and prepare for their migrations.

The weather was lovely and warm which is ideal for the insects especially Dragonflies and Damselflies. There was lots of bugs flying around but also plenty simply basking in the sunshine sitting on flowers or leaves so a keen eye was needed to spot them. One of my hopes was to see a “Banded Demoiselle” which is a stunning damselfly that I had not seen before. Luckily I did manage to spot a few!

Bird life, as expected was slightly scarce. There were the usual water fowl about - ducks, geese, coots etc but small song birds were few and far between. We did get a distant glimpse of a Hobby - a fast little falcon that preys mainly on dragonflies. As we were walking round the site my wife noticed a young Roe Deer looking straight at us through the thick undergrowth. It was not possible to obtain a clear shot but what a moment to just see him!

Another aspect of summer I enjoy photographing is the abundant flowers! One of the fields here was just a carpet of purple! I was trying to single out a flower whilst using a bunch of the same flowers in the foreground to shoot through, giving that lovely depth and bokeh.

Staveley is a nice place to walk around, there are a couple of hides to sit in and watch out over the wetlands and reedbeds which does hold plenty of bird life usually, as mentioned this time of year wasn’t the time for birdlife really. Staveley is fantastic for insects however. We saw plenty of Dragonflies, Damselflies, Butterflies, bees, flies and other strange critters! I saw my first “Lacewing” and that main aim, my first “Banded Demoiselle”. I would certainly recommend a visit here!

Puffin Cruise

Seabird Sunrise