Nature Watch, with RON FREETHY

YORKSHIRE has only two freshwater lakes and these are Semerwater and Malham Tarn.

Semerwater is situated two miles from Bainbridge and can be reached from Settle and Hawes.

I arrived on a cold autumn morning in bright sunshine and watched flocks of Canada and grey geese and I also watched tufted duck diving for food.

The river Bain, said to be the shortest in England, runs two miles from Semerwater to join the River Ure at Bainbridge.

I was told that the water was good dragonfly country and I was not disappointed.

Colourful insects like dragonflies only fly in the summer but they spend the colder months of the year as larvae in the water.

My first dip in the Bain resulted in four dragonfly larvae and I took care in handling them because they can give a painful nip.

They are among the most voracious of all insects and will attack even large fish.

A close look at them will reveal a very powerful set of jaws.

Unlike the adult dragonflies the larvae are dark brown in colour.

This means that they are perfectly camouflaged against the mud and have no need for bright colours.

Adult dragonflies have wonderful vision, each compound eye is made up of up to 25,000 small lenses so their vision is like a jigsaw puzzle. They can defect colour which explains how the sexes are attracted to each other.

Whatever Yorkshire can do Lancashire can also do and I found lots of aquatic life much closer to home.

Brock makes a comeback

WAY back in the 1970s I took part in conducting a survey on the badger population throughout Britain.

Numbers were low and journalists from Lancashire realised that there was a danger that the badger could become extinct in some parts.

Over a number of years efforts were made to identify those who took part in illegal badger baiting with dogs.

A very small number of farmers who did not like badgers shot or poisoned these beautiful animals.

In the last 15 years there has been a spectacular rise in the population of badgers and this is reflected in the number seen lying dead on the road.

The mammal, however, is still increasing its population and many farmers are calling for badgers to be culled.

In my opinion it is too soon for this to be carried out in Lancashire but in other areas further south and west there seems to be a connection between badgers and bovine TB.

More research needs to be done, however, and one of the facts I want explained is do badgers spread the disease to cattle or could it be the other way round?

I would be interested in the view of the readers of the Evening Telegraph.