Bank

I headed over to Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits before taking in some football next door. It was too dull and cool for much bug life but the Sand Martin colony was very busy.

This Goosander family was in the same spot on the River Wharfe. On my first way round they were swimming up river and on my second lap they were up on the bank.

Sadly, I also found a dead Barn Owl at the side of the path. That section of the reserve runs right next to the busy A65 so it has possibly been struck by a vehicle - there wasn’t an obvious mark on it. After crowd sourcing advice on Twitter I was advised to retrieve it for the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme, which receives dead birds of prey for research and monitoring. The unfortunate owl is now triple bagged in my freezer as I await further instructions.

At the football, Ilkley Town Ladies went three down in the first half an hour but came back to win 5-3 against visitors Silsden. One of the Silsden players picked up what seemed a bad injury at the very end;  an ambulance needed to be called and the referee blew for time a few minutes early.