Rainbow Birds And The Beautiful Dales....Tuesday August 4th - Friday August 7th 2015.

Trace and myself had booked three nights away in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park staying near to Hawkswick Cote,only a stones throw away from Grassington and this is what we saw on our travels through this stunning area.

Day 1.
An early start saw us heading up the A1 and then across to Lower Gelt near Brampton in Cumbria to pay the breeding Bee Eaters a visit at their Quarryside nest site.
 On arrival the weather wasn't great to be fair with cloud and showers,but i did manage to see 2 male Bee-Eaters taking food into the nest,which was a real privilege to see.There are unbelievably two pairs nesting here,with an additional male helping out at each site,an occurrence which happens frequently with Bee Eaters.
 So after i had enjoyed some nice views of these 'Rainbow Birds' we then made our way towards the B&B enjoying some lovely scenery along the way.
 We then visited both Grassington and the lovely little village of Kettlewell,were a juvenile Dipper and a couple of Grey Wagtail were enjoyed on the river there,a great start to the holiday.

Day 2.
 I was up bright and early again this morning as i explored the lovely valley and scenery near to the B&B before breakfast,with the highlights going to one of my fave birds...Ravens.I managed to see at least five as they 'Cronked' their way along the nearby hillside,they are just great to see!.
 While eating breakfast we were even treated to a wildlife show,with Great-spotted Woodpecker,Nuthatches and a Short-tailed field Vole visiting the feeders.
 Today we visited several sites which included Reeth,Arkengarthdale,Tan Hill Inn and Keld,with more cracking scenery and a few nice birds thrown in too which included Spotted Flycatcher,Dipper and Grey Wagtail.Along the River Swale at Keld,we also enjoyed some stunning views of 7 Common Hawker as they caught prey and patrolled along the river there.To end the day a hunting Barn Owl returning to its nest site was lovely to see also.

Day 3.
 After another brilliant brekkie,we had planned to spend all day at Malham and we walked and visited Janet's Foss,Gordale Scar,Malham Tarn and Malham Cove.The scenery around here was just amazing and the wildlife was pretty good too,with more nice sightings including 3 Raven,9 Wheatear,SpottedFlycatcher,Green Woodpecker and at least 20 Dark-green Fritillary,the latter were great to see.
 On the journey back to the B&B,a quick stop above Arnecliffe saw another 2 Raven being seen and another juvenile Wheatear.

Day 4.
 Sadly it was time to travel home,but first we visited the little village of Arnecliffe which brought to a close another lovely visit to this brilliant part of the world.

Red Grouse,Arkengarthdale.

Limestone Pavement,Malham Cove.

Ing Scar,Malham.

Dark-green Fritillary,Ing Scar.

Ing Scar,Malham.

Malham Cove.

Malham Cove.

Malham Cove.

Dales Scenery at Malham.

Littondale near Arnecliffe.

Dales scenery near Arnecliffe.