Nature Walks during Lock Down pt1.

There's not a lot I can add to what we know, or rather don't know about the Coronavirus pandemic except maybe to say that for some of us, me included, this forced retreat into our respective bubbles has restored our enjoyment of the simpler things in life - for all those fond of saying 'stop the world, I want to get off', now is your time!

Oh and one other thing, surely I can't be the only one that mutters an inward groan every time the phrase 'we are living in unprecendented times' is spewed out? Its word pollution. Why not 'unheard of ', unique, un-rivalled or 'without parallel' to mix it up a bit?

Back to nature, benefiting a bit now that we've temporarily stopped using our machines so much, and I sense that millions of people are 'seeing' more, maybe because there's not much else to do; I'm no different, I find myself observing more and savouring the sights and sounds of the daily exercise routine. Never straying far (not allowed😣) from my new house in Pocklington I've been busy discovering previously unexplored sites around and about the Yorkshire Wolds.

Millington Wood, 13/03/20

Pre-lockdown days (remember them?) a couple of my mates dropped by to wish me well in the house and we popped into Millington Wood. A gem of a place, I remember quite vividly running recklessly down the steep slopes with my kids many years ago. An altogether more sedate experience this time around but still, we did it from top to bottom and were rewarded by flock of 30 or so Bramblings downed by a brief squally shower and some magnificent views of local raptors.

Looking on, Rob and Mark, Millington Wood, 13/03/20

Red Kite, Millington Patures, 13/03/20

Common Buzzard, Millington Patures, 13/03/20

Earlier in the month I visited Brayton Barff, a local woodland near Selby that I'd heard some good things about. It was ok, few too many dog walkers for my liking and nothing out of the ordinary in terms of birdlife, but I was impressed by some of the ancient trees there and being the highest point around for many a mile the view from the top was equally impressive.

Thorpe Willoughby from the top of Brayton Barff

Veteran oak tree, Brayton Barff, 06/03/20

Robin, Brayton Barff. 06/03/20

Selby cathedral from Brayton Barff, 06/03/20

Drax power station from Brayton Barff, 06/03/20

Barlow Common, 06/03/20

In the shadow of Drax power station, nearby YWT nature reserve Barlow Common is always worth a pop in and even though I found little else but the scenery to photograph the late afternoon sun was shining and there was not a soul to be seen, just the way I like it!

Again, not many interesting birds - Green & Great Spotted Woodpecker, Teal and a flock of Fieldfares passing through the highlights.

Barlow Common, 06/03/20

Barlow Common, 06/03/20

Barlow Common, 06/03/20

Barlow Common, 06/03/20

Drax power station from Barlow Common

Arnecliff Wood, 20/03/20

Another place I've wanted to visit for ages but never got around to it is Arnecliff & Park Hole Woods, a SSSI site near Glaisdale and it was certainly worth the trip. A proper ancient woodland and one that I'll be itching to revisit when all this is over. It was just fit to burst into life when I was there mid March with the first Chiffchaffs singing away and I can only dream about how it might look now!

Wild Daffodils, Arnecliff Wood, 20/03/20

Arnecliff Wood, 20/03/20

Valley side & railway bridge, Arnecliffe Wood, 20/03/20

I saw a daytime flying largish bat, possibly a Noctule, fluttering around in a sheltered glade and as I climbed along the edge of the ravine a big dark shape descended into the valley below, bigger than a pheasant, I have no idea what it was but immediately wondered if it might be one of the famed Eagle Owls that are rumoured to breed somewhere in the North Yorks moors. I'll almost certainly never know.

3 Willow Tits, Nuthatch, Curlew plus a Dipper and a Grey Wagtail on the River Esk were my other memorable sightings on the day.

Park Hole Wood and Glaisdale Side

Dipper, River Esk, Glaisdale, 20/03/20

And then we had 'lock down' and my rovings limited to within a few miles of Pocklington but I haven't felt particularly restricted, I have the Yorkshire Wolds and several other good sites within cycling or a short drive away and I've made full use of my daily exercise!

Newborn Lambs, Nunburnholme Wold, 26/03/20

One such stroll, near Nunburnholme brought me my first decent pics of Chiffchaff along with some very photogenic new born lambs.

Chiffchaff, Nunburnholme Wold, 26/03/20

Bratt Wood, Warter and Londesborough are all within striking distance from Pocklington and of course the Pocklington Canal is an easy and often productive walk. I've seen the usual but always welcome spring flowers emerge and bloom, Brown Hares, Curlews bubbling away and hopefully looking to breed, and of course the weather has been splendid, the light perfect and the skies clear and blue - all good for wildlife and of course taking photographs ...

Curlews, Pocklington Canal, 24/03/20

Wood Anemones, Bratt Wood, 28/03/20

Weir at Londesborough, 26/03/20

Pocklington Canal, Bielby Arm, 27/03/20

Primroses, Bratt Wood, 28/03/20

Dog Violets, Bratt Wood, 28/03/20

Marsh Marigolds, dew pond, Burnby Wold, 27/03/20

This was a surprise find and a first for me in the Wolds, Redshank, 2 of them on a flooded area just outside of Warter.

Redshank, Warter, 26/03/20

Yellowhammer, outskirts of Pocklington, 28/03/20

Wheldrake Ings is now officially closed to the public but shortly beforehand I popped in there looking for Sand Martins. I didn't see any, in fact the place still felt quite wintery with lots of Wigeon, Teal and Pintail still around. Best birds by far were a big flock of Black Tailed Godwits out of the back of Swantail Hide. They pass through here every year and used to breed, maybe the odd pair still do, but I've never seen as many as this here. I counted 117! I'm reasonably confident and hopeful that nature reserves like Wheldrake will be among the first places to re-open - mid summer? Here's hoping.

Black Tailed Godwits, Wheldrake Ings, 25/03/20

Pintail, Wheldrake Ings, 25/03/20

And that my friends is that for now, I've been on so many solitary walks and taken so many pictures over the past few weeks I couldn't fit them all in to one - part 2 of lock down Stay safe everyone😄💚

Yorkshire grasslands & meadows, butterflies & wild flowers.

Well more than halfway through what has been a personally testing year, a year like no other to be honest but not something I'm not going to dwell upon here, its just not very interesting and anyway I'm well on the road back to my old self with every intention of getting back on the saddle and planning another foreign road trip later in the year.😃😃

Nature's tale meanwhile continues to unravel and since July is a relatively quiet time of the year for birding I've been spending a fair amount of time seeking out some Yorkshire meadows to wander about in - a great way to while away the hours and plot my road to recovery!

Fordon chalk bank, a SSSI site on the northern fringes of the Yorkshire wolds is more grassland than meadow but the site has some of the most impressive strips of 'created' meadow running alongside farmed crop fields I've seen. Much wider than the 10m or so I regularly see in my part of the wolds and packed full of wild flowers and butterflies.

Marbled White on Clover, Fordon, 16/07/19

Small Skipper, Fordon, 16/07/19

Ringlet, Fordon, 16/07/19

Fordon bank grasslands

I hung around this peaceful valley all afternoon and was rewarded with some pretty decent 'golden hour' shots as the shadows lengthened and the sun dipped lower in the sky.

Grassland at Fordon, 16/07/19

Small Heath, Fordon, 16/07/19

Lady's Bedstraw, Fordon, 16/07/19

Clustered Bellflower, Fordon, 16/07/19

Fordon bank grasslands

Dark Green Fritillary on Betony, Haugh & Gundale Slacks, 12/07/19

Ablaze with floral colour and teeming with butterflies, the curiously named Haugh and Gundale Slacks (another SSSI site) near Pickering was another meadow / grassland visited in July, this time with good mate Rob. Easily the largest number of Dark Green Fritillaries I've ever seen in Yorkshire(50+), Marbled Whites and several other butterfly species.

Dark Green Fritillary on Betony, Haugh & Gundale Slacks, 12/07/19

Dark Green Fritillary on Scabious, Haugh & Gundale Slacks, 12/07/19

Marbled White on Scabious, Haugh & Gundale Slacks, 12/07/19

Dropwort, Haugh & Gundale Slacks, 12/07/19

St John's Wort, Haugh & Gundale Slacks, 12/07/19

Further north and west but still in Yorkshire, a couple of days in the Dales was an opportunity to visit a very different type of meadow. Scattered within the North Peninnes and Yorkshire Dales area there are many fine examples of traditionally farmed meadows termed Northern Hay Meadows. Lying predominantly on upland slopes these species rich grasslands are one of the scarcest habitats in the UK. We chose to visit a series of these delightful meadows that lie adjacent to the upper reaches of the River Wharfe nr Yockenthwaite in Langstrothdale - rough camped there too😃⛺

Hay meadow, Yockenthwaite, 24/07/19

Betony flowers, Yockenthwaite, 24/07/19

Hay meadows are steeped in tradition, entirely man made they are grazed in the autumn and winter months then 'shut off' until late July/ August when they are cut to make hay. The richest hay meadows can contain 30 plant species per sq metre.

More info - Northern Hay Meadows

More Info - Yockenthwaite meadows

Strolling beside the hay meadows

River Wharfe

The source of the River Wharfe is formed by the joining of the Oughtershaw Beck and Green Field Beck, very close to here and where we rough camped. The river is 65 miles long, making it the 21st longest river in the UK, and empties into the Rive Ouse near Cawood

Not a great deal of bird action in the Dales, as expected for July, with several sightings of Spotted Flycatchers, a couple of return passage Ringed Plovers on Grimwith Reservoir, 2 Northern Wheatears at the same location and a handful of migrating Sand Martins beating south in the aftermath of a summer storm.

Ringed Plover, Grimwith Reservoir, 24/07/19

Sedge Warbler, Spital Beck, Fangfoss, 02/0719

Apart from seeking out of meadows and grasslands I've been getting back to doing my normal thing - visiting local sites, doing the business for YWT at Askham Bog, keeping my mum on the straight and narrow after dad's death and of course getting back to my caravan and local patch at Fangfoss. Speaking of which I got a new bird for here last month, surprised its taken so long, but a pair of Sedge Warblers taking food into bush alongside the Spital Beck was a most welcome sight!

Common Swift, Pocklington Canal, 02/07/19

And it only seems like yesterday when we were all bemoaning the lateness and paucity of Swifts, Swallows & House Martins this year, and now they're all on their way back it seems, Swifts have already departed from my neck of the woods!

I heard it was a severe weather system over Iberia in early spring that severely affected tens of thousands of returning Swifts and Hirundines. Been a poor breeding season for them all I suspect.



At some point in the last few months as new and different plants bloom week by week, I realised that I'd been making an identification mistake for years! Told more than one visitor to Askham Bog over the years and probably on this blog that this - (Marsh Valerian) is Fine Leaved Water Dropwort, a much scarcer plant.

Marsh Valerian, Pocklington Canal, 02/07/19

 ....silly me, I'd have said it with such comviction too! This year at Askham Bog a proliferation of A water based plant I couldn't quite place appeared along one of the dykes and .... you guessed it, turned out to be Fine Leaved Water Dropwort!

Fine Leaved Water Dropwort, Askham Bog, 14/07/19

Clustered Bellflower, Fordon, 16/07/19

Love the pure and delicate white flowers on that Water Dropwort but its a totally different plant to Marsh Valerian - what an idiot! Talking about delicate here's another shot of one of the Clustered Bellflowers at Fordon and a few more images from round about my locale in July into early August.

Brown Hare, Fangfoss Pk, 21/07/19

Meadowsweet, Pocklington Canal, 02/07/19

Common Cransbill, Fangfoss Pk, 11/07/19

Pocklington Canal (Gardham Lock),

Sedge Warbler, Pocklington Canal, 05/08/19

Been warm wet and muggy in Yorkshire for ages, yet another symptom no doubt of the climate change that surely no sane person can deny is upon us with force. Not gonna dwell on that either (check it out here or even more starkly here should you still need an eye opener) -