One word comes to mind when summing up February, wet! Unfortunately, weather like this is becoming a more frequent occurrence at this time of year.
In the UK, we have been experiencing 9% more rainfall over winter since the 1980s due to climate change. According to UK Met Office data, the period October 2023-March 2024 was the wettest winter on record, although this year is certainly giving it a run for its money.
It made sense then to start this month’s article down by the river. A good access spot to the river Aire in South Leeds is via Old Mill Lane next to the modern residential apartments at Knostrop Quay (otherwise known as Knowsthorpe) just the other side of Low Road from Hunslet. The river level was high, and I was struck by the sheer volume of water from all the concentrated rainfall from the surrounding area, flowing through the heart of the city. It was another humbling reminder of the powerful force of nature.
This section of the river runs alongside the Aire & Calder Navigation. The quay creates a sheltered and calm section of river that allows for reedbeds to form, creating a more varied habitat for the local wildlife. Here you can find a duck feeding station set up by the Feed Ducks Initiative, an organisation aiming to reduce the harmful practice of bread feeding for wildlife and overfeeding which can pollute the water. The feeding station offers good quality bird feed as an alternative, with 10% of profits going back into local environmental projects. Aside from the usual mallards, Canada geese, coots and moorhens, you can also frequently see tufted ducks and goosanders.
There is also a pair of mute swans who have made their home at the tip of the island between the two footbridges. These elegant birds can live between 20-30 years, and a pair typically remain together for life. Male mute swans are called cobs and females, pens.
If you linger a few minutes near the reedbeds at the quay then you might hear a strange rapid high-pitched trill, which sounds almost alien-like. This is the call of a little grebe. They are hard to spot amongst the reeds, as they are small and regularly dive under the water, but their distinct call gives them away and will become more frequent as we move into spring as mating season begins.
Indeed, using your ears, remaining quiet and still, is probably the most effective approach to discovering what wildlife is around you. Because birds are often hidden in dense foliage, tree canopies, or camouflage themselves, sound is often the first, and sometimes only, way to detect them. In an age where many of us are blocking out the noise of the outside world with headphones in our ears, we are becoming less attuned to our surroundings and increasingly unaware of the natural world in our midst. Once you start to take notice, there is a surprising variety of calls and birdsong, even in a built-up urban environment. It can be challenging however to differentiate between each species of bird this way. A brilliant tool that I frequently rely on to help with this is the Merlin app which you can download on your phone for free and it will pick out the call from the birds around you and identify them.
Knostrop Quay is an ideal starting point to join the section of the Trans-Pennine trail out towards Knostrop Weir and Thwaite’s Mills or to go in the other direction and walk the riverside footpath towards Royal Armories and the city centre.
Whatever direction you choose to go in, keep your eyes peeled for herons and cormorants along the banks of the river and, if you are really lucky, you might just glimpse a blue flash of a kingfisher flying low over the water. The presence of these birds are encouraging signs that fish, such as perch, pike, bream and trout are returning to the river and that efforts by organisations such as the Aire Rivers Trust to improve water quality and the installation of fish passes at weirs along key sections of the Aire in Leeds are proving successful.
So, whilst I am longing for dryer, brighter days to come, I remain grateful that the recent wet weather has helped sustain our river and the wildlife that is reliant on it. The river has played a huge role in the history of South Leeds and has often been abused and exploited for short term wealth, industrial gain, and a means to discard our sewage. However we are living in different times, and whilst there is still a way to go, I am excited about the rewilding of the Aire and the possibility that local residents living nearby, in and around the South Leeds section of the river, could in future see the return of otters to these waters and witness the spectacle of the annual salmon migration heading towards their spawning grounds in the Dales.
This post was written by Duncan Wells who lives in Beeston with his family. He has a keen interest in wildlife and volunteers for the RSPB.
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Such a shame you did not walk towards leeds dock and reported on all the wildlife using the sectioned off part of fearns island. Too late now because it’s been destroyed and cut down to the ground to make more room for sunbathing and bar b q’s. Years and years of wildlife and somebody said even beavers and our nature hating powers that be decide it does not fit in with the high flying residents lifestyle. One councillor even described it as unkept. Mmmmmn. Well yes. That might just be the idea. It’s nature as nature intended. OR IT WAS