A white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus)

The weather was good and not too hot, so I decided to go for a walk along a bank of the river Frome at the bottom of our valley. I parked in the Waitrose car park, which straddles the line of a very old footpath that crossed from one side of the steep Golden Valley to the opposite hillside at Rodborough.The path leads down some steps to a pedestrian crossing over the quite recent road bypass and then down to the canal, and on to the river flowing under Capel’s Mill railway viaduct. The mill is long gone, but there are some huge stones acting as a weir, which mark the point at which the water wheel harnessed the energy beside which a wooden footbridge takes the path across the river. It is a favourite place for walkers, and was made into a nature reserve about thirty years ago when the bypass was created.

In more recent years Fromebanks Nature Reserve has been careful managed to allow a structured footpath to run on the edge of the river fro about three hundred yards through this very wooded stretch, which is about three hundred yards from the edge of the town centre. Long tern blip friends of mine will have seen me posting pictures of kingfishers which nest on the opposite steep bank, as well as white-throated dippers that always nest in the vicinity. Today I wondered whether I’d see either of these bird speices.

I’d read reports that a pair of kingfishers had been spotted in the reserve in the last few days, but as it happens I didn’t see them. I walked from the viaduct toward the town and spotted large fallen trees one of which was a massive beech that came down in the last couple of months. The shade is very deep in this part of the valley, so the fallen tree carved out a large empty hole in the canopy allowing the sunlight to shine down on the riverside. 

At one point I came across a gap in the tall vegetation beside the water and gingerly peered around it. I’m glad did as I saw a dipper in the water moving about slowly between stones, twigs and the bank as it dipped its head under the water searching a=for and finding food. I was able to raise my camera and take a few shots. It wandered foo a few yards and disappeared up the bank. I waited and some minute Slater it re-appeared. I think it realised I was there but wasn’t scared off. Although there weren’t many walkers today as it is the holiday season, it must be used to people’s presence swell as dogs. Otters are sighted on this stretch too.

I had another glimpse of a dipper about fifty years downstream where I watched it feeding more avidly and nearly submerging itself. I thought of posting that sort of image but felt it is better to see the whole bird in situ. In this picture it has just pulled its head from under the water, and had a dribble of water dangling from its beak but sadly it wasn’t quite in focus.