Spring is on the launchpad and ready to go at the next hint of warmth. It’s already quite dry but on the damp beck-sides there are Marsh Marigolds out-golding the adjacent saxifrage.
We’ve been a bit slack on the invertebrate front but these Ichneumon wasps mating on the dry stone wall at Tong Park are amazing. An alien-like parasite looking a bit out of place in Bradford in March! I’m amazed to find that there are over 2500 UK species of Ichneumonids.
…so I’m certainly not qualified to identify these with any confidence. However, geographically and seasonally this seems potentially compatible with Ophion scutellaris:
https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/ophion-scutellaris
On the gritty matter of litter, pollution and other things-to-be-done, the area east of the viaduct looms large.
It’s difficult to know what to do with this lot. It certainly looks awful. On the other hand, some of the wildlife evidently doesn’t give a damn about living amid 200 years-worth of glass, plastic and goodness-only-knows what else. And it would be a major project to clean up. This conundrum is a theme of post-industrial landscapes.
Friends of Gill Beck Valley 