30 Days Wild - Day 18: Making tracks

No surveys planned today (we had a dusk bat survey in North Yorkshire last night) so a bit of paperwork in the morning then another afternoon ride along the Trans-pennine trail from Penistone. A bit breezy for most of the wildlife but a refreshing ride nonetheless. It was all worth it for a bargain cup of tea and a hobnob at Julie's Cafe. I also took the opportunity to leave my old bike in the Cycle Penistone workshop for a service and cable change, I think it's earned it after almost 17 years of relatively trouble free riding! Its a community interest company too, so I get my bike fixed and contribute to a good cause while I'm at it, good work.

On the way home I spent some time envying the variety and sheer number of birds visiting the in-law's bird feeder - only a couple of miles from ours but it's like another world. A constant stream of chaffinches, goldfinches, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, blackbird, dunnock, housesparrow, robins, bullfinches and plenty of others. The standout bird today was this juvenile great-spotted woodpecker (you can tell by the red crown and dull plumage) followed a few minutes later by an adult:

 Spotted this bug on the tomatoes as I was watering the garden this evening - think its probably a type of hoverfly? Hopefully it'll predate some of the greenfly while its around!