2 posts tagged “breary marsh”

It was such a great day today that I drove over to Breary Marsh and walked about for an hour just doing nothing in particular. I hadn't really planned to do this beforehand, it was just one of those times where you just start driving and you see where you end up! I did bring my camera with me, so I had a chance to take pictures of anything that looked remotely interesting!

Breary Marsh Nature Reserve is quite near Golden Acre Park just on the outskirts of Leeds and provides some nice public footpaths for hikers to go and walk through trees and around lakes. I also found some rather helpful signs dotted about here and there to tell me where I was, and what I could expect to find in the area.

A popular beauty spot, Breary Marsh has been designated a "Site of Special Scientific Interest". As one of the last remaining areas of "carr" - or waterlogged woodland - it is an important habitat for rare insects, shrubs and mosses. A network of footpaths and bridleways allow visitors to explore the full beauty of this reserve, with boardwalks giving visitors access to the perpetually swampy areas. The drier, upper grounds are especially picturesque in the spring, when blankets of bluebells dominate the scene.

As I was walking along, I spotted a rather furtive-looking grey squirrel that was minding its own business and making its merry way up a tree. Now, I've heard that the way to catch one of these creatures was to stand under the tree and act like a nut! (Just kidding.) I don't think I had much of a chance of sneaking up unnoticed, so I walked slowly up to the tree and attempted to get a few photographs of it before it scampered away. As expected, it was a little camera-shy, and wouldn't look into the camera! I only managed a few pictures before it fled completely. Fortunately, I was able to crop and enlarge some shots to get a closer look at our friend.

There was also a nice body of water that they called Paul's Pond where I happened upon some other walkers feeding the local water fowl. I took the opportunity to snap a few shots while they were all together in one place. The birds, I mean, not the walkers! I managed to get a photograph of a wild goose flying in for its share of the food. I've also put up a slightly modified version of the photo as the new blog banner for a bit of a change!