Introducing Badock's Wood

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of blogs about Badock's Wood. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the wood and to tell people about its beauty and all that it has to offer. It is purely a personal view. I hope you find the blog interesting but if not, please be patient because there is more to come.
Click on the images to enlarge if you want to see them more clearly.

Badock's Wood is a fascinating place and there are many different facets to it, many not immediately obvious.
There are several tree sculptures  throughout the wood, created by Chainsaw Sculptor Andy O'Neill. This one is at one of the entrances to the woods and there are several others which are well worth a visit. I will show more at a later date.

This scene of course was taken near the Triangle, from the path that leads down to the Westbury Wildlife Park . It was taken in July and it is so calming to be surrounded by the greenery of the wood and to listen to the sound of the water going over the falls. 

 

Many will have seen the grey wagtail up and down the stream. Perhaps easily confused with the yellow wagtail which has more yellow over the back but quite distinctive from the pied wagtail which has no yellow at all. They become more plentiful in the winter when they are joined by birds from overseas but this one is resident and stays all year round. It can be seen at any point on the stream but more often between the Willow Bank entrance and the bridge at the WWP fence.

This dragonfly is a Southern Hawker. It was perched on the wooden platform at the pond near the Doncaster Road entrance. They have been a common sight on warm days in August flying over the meadow and I was fortunate to find this one stationary for a few moments.

 

The green woodpecker can often be heard 'laughing' from the tree tops. This one was pleased to pose for me. I was walking through the meadow in mid-august with some friends and as is often the way I heard it before I saw it.
Earlier in the year the drumming of the Great Spotted Woodpecker could be heard proclaiming it's claim to territory.




Note:
There will be an afternoon of Celebration  at the Northern Gateway, Doncaster Road on Sunday 20th September, 2- 5 pm.
See the Friends of Badock's Wood website for more details  www.fobw.org.uk 

 Comments can be sent to: badockswood@virginmedia.com

mike townsend