Spent the afternoon driving to Leeds for a meeting tomorrow morning. Stopped off in Littondale for a break and enjoyed great views of a male Yellow Wagtail preening on a fence post. A female and juvenile were present in the same field and up to three other males were in the surrounding area. Other birds included lots of Pied Wagtail broods, one brood of Grey Wagtails, three Buzzards, three Spotted Flycatchers, a Common Sandpiper, around 20 Oystercatchers (including 12 in a flock together), a Curlew and a distant Raven.

Went for a walk above Barden Bridge in the early evening and almost immediately found a female Mandarin with five ducklings. I had forgotten how unobtrusive the females are - almost indistinguishabele (at a distance) from female Mallards. Closer views revealed the white eye stripe, a feature also present in the ducklings.

The photos above show the Yellow Wagtail field (with Halton Gill in the distance) and the stretch of the Wharfe where the Mandarins were (with a Sand Martin colony in the exposed bank in the background).