YWT Globe Flower Wood - 10 August 2013

Near Malham in the corner of a field lies the tiny flower-filled Globe Flower Wood. From Malham village head north keeping Malham Cove on your right. After a couple of miles bear left at a junction and then the site is just before the next right turn to Arncliffe, adjacent to a cattle grid. We parked on the road side just south of the site towards Malham. Too late in the year for Globe Flowers, the small site which is viewed over the dry stone wall is stuffed with stacks of wild flowers, including Meadowsweet, Great Burnet and Water Avens. The Trust keeps the Willows and Sycamores from spreading too much and this little gem shows what could be commonplace in the Dales if the whole place was farmed differently. Visit in July for the Globe Flowers. A delightful little spot. 

YWT Grass Wood - 10 August 2013

The majestic Grass Wood lies just north of Grassington village on the Coniston Road. It is easy to find by following the road north out of the village and there are a couple of small car parks next to the road. August is a quiet time in the woods as birds have all but finished nesting and there is little in the way of song. We explored the trails enjoying the plants including Great Burnet growing in the clearings on the limestone terraces. Higher up, occasional gaps in the canopy revealed great views across the Dales to the west. 

YWT Brockadale - 2 August 2013

Brockadale is a stunning mosaic of limestone grassland, woodland and river habitats along the Went Valley near Pontefract. It is a bit of a tricky place to find for the first time, despite lying so close to the A1, it actually goes under the motorway! Heading south down the A1, take the Wentbridge turn. Follow the slip road round and then turn right at the T junction towards Kirk Smeaton. Once in the village, turn left on to Main Street, head past the Shoulder of Mutton pub and turn left at the next T junction in Little Smeaton. Follow the road round then turn left once again at the next T junction on to New Road. The road rises up the hill. look for Ley's Lane (unmarked) on the left. Follow this lane for about 1/2 mile and you will see the car park on the left at the end. When you leave, you can turn left on to New Road, follow this to a T junction that takes you into Darrington, where you can rejoin the A1 northbound at the next junction up from Wentbridge.

Anyway, Brockadale! It was a little cooler today than yesterday, but still in the high 20s, so very warm! Butterflies abounded with Meadow Browns, Small Skippers and Common Blues all common. In the floodmeadow across the bridge, the thistles were covered in Peacocks and Large Whites, about 100 of each! It took us a while to see any Marbled Whites, but we found them on the east facing slope beyond the footbridge, near the obvious pylon. Several were here and another was seen in the big meadow before the bridge on the way back. We also saw a couple of Brimstones, Commas and a Gatekeeper, but no sign of any Dark Green Fritillaries. Banded Demoiselles and Common Darters were by the river and a Kingfisher flew past calling. In the woods, Nuthatches and a Green Woodpecker were making a racket while the kids enjoyed playing pooh sticks off the footbridge.

Brockadale was covered in wild flowers, with hundreds of stems of beautiful Clustered Bellflowers being the highlight. These purple flowers added to the purples and lilacs of Devil's-bit, Small and Field Scabious and the abundant Black Knapweed, all of which provided a feast for stacks of bumblebees and butterflies. A lovely site and one well worth a visit. YWT is running an appeal to secure a small piece of land to connect two parts of the reserve. If you would like to make a donation, no matter how big or small, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/bigger-brockadale

Fen Bog revisited - 7th July 2013

A lovely walk at Fen Bog YWT on Sunday, highlights being:

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - c30
Large Heath - c20
Common Blue - c10

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and Large Heath (bottom)

Keeled Skimmer - 1 male
Golden-ringed Dragonfly - 1 male
Common Darter - lots
Large Red Damselfly - 1

Keeled Skimmer

Whinchat - 1 male plus another family with fledged young
Redpoll sp - lots flying about
Curlew
Willow Warbler
Meadow Pipit
Reed Bunting

Whinchat on a bench

Lots of plants! Highlights:
Heath Spotted Orchid
Cranberry
Arctic Starflower
Bog Asphodel
Butterwort
Heath Milkwort
Marsh Cinquefoil
Autumn Hawkbit
Bladder Sedge
Deer Grass
Hare's-tail Cotton Grass
Common Cotton Grass
Marsh Violet
Bog Myrtle
Crested Dog's-tail
Round-leaved Sundew

Arctic Starflower (Chickweed Wintergreen)

YWT Ashberry - 30 June 2013

The last day of the first half of the year and we headed north of York to Ashberry, near Rievaulx. I have heard much about this place from a variety of people including colleagues and family friends. The reserve is not well marked as yet, though this should change soon.

 Taking the left turn signed Scawton and Old Byland from the Helmsley to Stokesley road, you drop down through the woods and shortly after the quaint little humpback bridge, hang a right. The road bends round to the left after crossing another stream and then up a hill. After c200 metres there is a narrow layby on the left and this provides parking close to a wooden gate which is the main access to the site. If you carry on a little further you will see a marked bridleway and another pull in. This is where we parked, having missed the main entrance! The bridleway seems heavily used by horses and was consequently quite muddy.

From the main entrance you can follow a track along the valley parallel to the stream. The last meadow seems to be the most interesting and this is where we found patches of stunning globeflowers, marsh hawk's-beard and a few bird's-eye primroses.

The place was a botanists heaven and was covered in common spotted orchids and twayblades. Many plants went unidentified with a whole range of sedges and rushes present. The place was full of insects, with large numbers of chimney sweeper moths present and it seemed that there had been a large hatch of common blue damselflies. Not many butterflies noted though orange-tip and meadow browns seen. Blackcaps, chiffchaffs and chaffinches sang from the woods, which we didn't really explore as the meadows and stream were so lovely they took all our time. We had a little explore of the stream looking for white-clawed crayfish but we couldn't find any. There were some minnows present and the banks were lined with water mint and flowering common butterwort.

An absolutely stunning place, with lovely scenery and spectacular plants.

YWT Wharram Quarry - 16 June 2013

Number 30 on our list of YWT nature reserves visited this year is the delightful Wharram Quarry, just south of Wharram-le-Street, between Malton and Wetwang on the Yorkshire Wolds. I first visited this site late last summer, when the quarry floor was purple with Autumn Gentians. Today, the site was lush and green, with yellows of Bird's-foot Trefoil, various yellow composites including my favourite (possibly because it is one of the few I can confidently identify!) the delightfully pale lemon yellow Mouse-ear Hawkweed. When the warm sunshine came out, the short sward came alive with peach-orange Small Heath butterflies, plus the azure of Common Blues and the dappled brown and white Dingy Skippers. This latter species was very approachable, particularly when the sun went in and allowed me to get some reasonable photos with my smartphone - see below. Up close this species is really exquisite and surely has been unfairly named! I had a good scan of the cliffs to look for Red Hemp-nettle but couldn't see any. We noticed a few spikes of Yorkshire or Thistle Broomrape just coming up, next to the basal leaves of some large Woolly Thistles. On the northern side, we checked out some collosal Meadow Ant nests, each one of which displayed its own mini-habitat on top. One clump had a fine display of Wild Thyme on its northern face (I would have expected it on the southern face to be honest) and another a crest of Germander (?) Speedwell. Purple Milk Vetch was growing on the more open chalky areas and Whitethroats were singing from the scrub at the top of the quarry faces. A great site and well worth a visit on the way to the coast from York.

Common Blue

Dingy Skipper

Small Heath

YWT Sherburn Willows - 15 June 2013

Following our brief visit to Bolton Percy Station, we headed west to Tadcaster and then south to Sherburn-in-Elmet. Heading straight through the town, we turned right down New Lane and past the High School on the right. You can park at the end opposite the entrance to a business and at the head of a track by a metal barrier. We followed the track down through the Oilseed Rape fields to a gate, which we went through and turned immediately left along the path. From here you can see the kissing gate and sign at the entrance to the nature reserve. And what a stunning place! The track winds up along the limestone slope with lovely views to the west, over rolling countryside. The grassland was frosted white with thousands of blooming Ox-eye Daisies. Among these were large patches of yellow Bird's-foot Trefoil and here and there the first Common Spotted Orchids poking through. We headed along the ridge and then dropped down the valley side into the marshy area alongside Mill Dike. The area was very dry though presumably gets very boggy. Lots of Yellow Flag were flowering here and a Whitethroat was zipping around feeding young. A bird shot into the bushes at the far end which I was sure was a Turtle Dove, but given their scarcity in Yorkshire these days, I couldn't be certain. After a walk round the path that has been cut in a snaking track through the marsh, we headed up the hill and back along the ridge. On the way back we came across a nice little patch of Sainfoin near the small quarried area. A lovely spot and I would like to revisit a little later to see the orchids in all their glory.