A nice bit of Fewston in the evening.

Last Sunday, Loopus and I met David in the carpark at Fewston reservoir for a walk around it. It was a glorious evening, and for a short while we walked along the banks of the River Washburn. This is usually covered by water, but the level of the reservoir was so low that, in the upper reaches, the old banks of the river that fills the ressy are exposed.

I asked David, "What's your plans for next Saturday evening? I'm in Leeds for a tutorial which finishes at 4."
"Not got anything planned", came the reply, "Curry in Leeds?"
"Do you fancy a walk rather than beer and curry? We can do that stuff when it's dark in the evening."
"Aye, sounds good."

Thus we met again on a Saturday evening, and set off around Fewston. The plan this time was to see if we could include Swinsty too, which is the lower reservoir that Fewston feeds into.

It was another stunning evening, but the rains over the week had raised the level of the ressy to hide the banks we'd walked on the weekend before. Loopus, as usual, was running around daft at the opportunity of smells and new things to see around the reservoir, he was loving it.



What I love about this is getting to go for a wee drive on quiet roads, and seeing wildlife that I wouldn't usually see. Towards the dam the footpath becomes tarmac, and covered with a light carpet of pine needles. I spotted a black slug on the path, with its tail covered in a ball of these needles:

We dropped down to (naughtily) walk down the spillway that leads to Swinsty, and happened across some graffiti! It says "THE LADS..."

The spillway hasn't seen running water for some time, the algae, moss and plants were bone dry.


You can see from the next photo just how late it was, so we made the decision not to walk around Swinsty this time, and save it for the next time.

On the way back we spotted a leopard slug,

and some more waterfowl - the Oyster catchers were having an argument across the expanse of the ressy too.

We returned to the cars, having spent the best part of 2 hours of a lovely evening in a fantastic location. Wonderful.