Wildlife Oasis

Friday, 27th September 2002, West Yorkshire

Rocks | History | Workshop | Links | Home Page

The elder berries become more conspicuous as the leaves yellow and fall. They frame a view of a pond with pastures and a copse of trees beyond. A swan swaggers ponderously down the bank and launches itself into the water.

A drake mallard flies up from the pond, climbing at 45 degrees and hurtles off above us. Wood pigeons fly to and fro.

mute swan

This little wildlife oasis is tucked behind an old mill, now divided into industrial units, at Ossett Spa, West Yorkshire. The M1 motorway runs in front of the copse at the end of the hawthorn-fringed pasture beyond. The copse itself was planted on an embankment when the motorway was constructed in the 1960s.

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@willowisland.co.uk'