St Aidan’s was the first RSPB nature reserve my family and I ever visited back in 2019! You can read all about our visit back then here.

So this September we decided to revisit the reserve being the closest one to where we live near Leeds, West Yorkshire. There is also a reserve close by named Fairburn Ings and you can read about our visits to that one in some of my previous posts:

The sun was shining after a very rainy previous day so we grabbed our wellies just in case we had a muddy walk in store for us!

Arriving we were met by the giant crane of some sort – I’m going to be honest I don’t know too much about it.. I think it’s something to do with coal but it’s so big you can’t miss it the moment you park up.

This reserve has no entry fee they just charge £4 for parking which is free with RSPB membership of course. So with our cards on display we ditched the pram, grabbed our dog and toddler and headed for the reserve.

There were no volunteers here today so I popped in to the cafe for a trail map. A quick glance and my toddler immediately spotted the pin board! You might remember from our trip to Lakenheath Fen reserve last month she started her pin collection with the ladybug she chose. So trail map in hand I promised her we’d come back and choose one on the way out.

We’ve walked a few of the trails in previous years but always the longer routes before our daughter, Hilda was born. So today with Hilda walking we decided to go for one of the shorter routes. We settled on Bowers Bimble, a 1.1 miles 20-30 minute circular around Bowers Lake. This is described as mostly flat and a relaxing stroll. We found it to be quite hilly as starting from the car park you head downwards before the trail then it’s a bit of a hill back up too but it was perfectly manageable for little legs!

Before setting off we decided to have our lunch on the picnic tables outside of the visitor centre. Whilst the cafe was small and we didn’t eat inside, it has a lovely outdoor seating area.

The picnic tables look out on to the most beautiful view of the reserve and it’s easy to see why anyone would revisit this place.

It helps that the weather was beautiful but I’ve visited this reserve in various seasons and it is always pretty.

On our way down to the lake we spotted a little injured pigeon. Our dog found the bird but luckily didn’t harm it as it caught us by surprise that it didn’t fly away. We let the staff know and at least the bird was in the best place for recovery!

Besides the little injured pigeon we also saw many many birds which was a definite improvement on our last visits to other reserves.

There were many birds out for us to spot including plenty of geese and a heron that flew overhead at one point!

This circular route is easy to follow. Despite there being minimal signage it wasn’t difficult to find our way around as the path winds around the lake. There are lots of signs along the way describing the various birds and our daughter enjoyed pointing these out.

I love the interesting facts and I think the signs are a great way to engage children whilst educating us all at the same time – Adults included! I’m definitely no bird expert so it helps me to have some fun facts to point out to Hilda as we explore.

The landscape here is really beautiful even along the short trail there is plenty to see.

Whilst we didn’t see any deer (spotted on our first visit here). We did see plenty of birds and had an enjoyable sunny stroll with fetching views to admire.

We wore our wellies because in my last post I mentioned how muddy it was! Despite it pouring down the day before there still wasn’t mud or too many puddles but Hilda still managed to enjoy ‘splash splash’ in the few that were there!

I love how they are running events from St Aidan’s and I hope to be able to join in on one of their wellbeing walks one day! The events were all listed on a board at the front of the reserve.

When we returned to the cafe I kept my promise and let Hilda choose her next pin. Of all the birds to choose from and the wide range of animals she could add to her collection. Can you guess what she went for?

Yes, that is indeed…. An acorn.

Toddlers ey?

~ Visited St Aidan’s in September 2025 ~