River Dearne
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary, Monday 8th March 1999
SWOLLEN WITH SNOW MELT AND RAIN, the River Dearne has spilt out over its banks in a few places. By the old Woolley Colliery site an acre of marsh acts as a settling lagoon, whether for the run off from the old pit heap or for sewage treatment isn't obvious.
This stretch of the Dearne has a natural look with steep banks on the outside of meanders which, I would think, might attract Kingfishers to nest. Wild Garlic leaves are sprouting on the wet ground beneath the Crack Willows and Alders that overhang the river.
In birches and alders on reclaimed land, now a park, in Darton, we see a flock of twenty Siskins. Then ten Goldfinches follow them and start feeding amongst the Alder catkins.
As it is such soft going alongside the river we return along the road to the east of the M1 motorway. In suburban gardens Sparrowhawk is now the common predator (I saw one patrolling over the rooftops this morning) but, out here in motorway country, the Kestrel is still holding its own.
Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail;'richard@daelnet.co.uk'
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