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Monday 18 March 2019

St Aidan's RSPB reserve


I discovered that there is a fairly new RSPB reserve, St Aidan's, just to the south-east of Leeds so, one recent, bright day, I went there to explore. It was formerly an open-cast coal mine but in 1988 a breach to the bank of the adjacent River Aire caused catastrophic flooding, resulting in the formation of a large lake. Mining operations were completed and eventually the whole site was converted into a wetland, and transferred into the ownership of Leeds City Council. It is now a 990 acre country park and since 2017 has been leased to and managed by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).

The habitat includes reedbed, wetland, meadows and woodland and there are miles of paths and bridleways criss-crossing the site. I was there for almost four hours and only saw a fraction of it. It was a lovely, warm, spring-like day and right in the middle of the schools' half-term so there were quite a lot of visitors. People chatting, with children and dogs running about meant there were few birds brave enough to be seen clearly. You need to be up and about early to make the most of the birding opportunities, I think. It was, nevertheless, a most pleasant place to explore.





6 comments:

  1. I'm glad its been made a wetland, hopefully lots of birds and animals have made their home there, surprised that dogs are allowed there though.

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  2. Certainly during the nesting season dogs should not be allowed in a bird sanctuary. Preferably not at all!

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  3. There is a quiet charm to wetlands that rewards close inspection.

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  4. What a nice big wetlands...I wonder if more trees will appear as the land becomes more natural in habitat.
    Perhaps not, being so wet.

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  5. It is funny how an industrial area can become a nature sanctuary! A good story.

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