Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Category: Kildale

  • The Pheasant vs The Lapwing

    The Pheasant vs The Lapwing

    In the early 80s, I worked on the tropical island of Borneo for 18 months. It was on my first run on the moors after I returned that I realised just how quiet they were. In the jungle, there was a constant cacophony of sound, so much you tended to become oblivious to it. Here…

  • Nesting time on the moors again

    Nesting time on the moors again

    They are still burning on the moors. Several people have commented to me that they did not think burning was allowed at this time of the year. Surely it is nesting time? Well yes, burning can still take place, until the 15th April, and yes, it is nesting time. The normal time that burning in…

  • Leven Gorge

    Leven Gorge

    Upstream from Great Ayton and Easby the River Leven is confined by a narrow gorge as it flows through Mill Bank Wood. A few hundred metres downstream from here, where the gorge widens a little, is the site of a bleach and fulling mill that can be dated back to the 14th century. In the…

  • Kildale from Cook's Crags

    Kildale from Cook's Crags

    A rather dull late afternoon dog walk up to Cook’s Crags overlooking Kildale with the nights drawing in. Kildale is quiet vale almost entirely belonging to the Kildale Estate. The Normans referred to it as Childale when the Percys perhaps occupied the motte and bailey castle. But the Scandinavians were here before then. When St.…

  • An heffalump trap?

    An heffalump trap?

    I visited this brick lined shaft on Tuesday but I wasn’t happy with the photos so a return visit today. It was a ventilation shaft for the Coate Moor Ironstone Mine. A furnace would have been at the bottom and the air warmed would rise drawing in fresh air from the main drift entrance. Coate…

  • Park Nab

    Park Nab

    Late evening sunshine. View to Battersby Crag. And a request to include a link to the location. Here goes.

  • Millstone, Park Nab

    This is a bit of a mystery. In Kildale just off the Baysdale road, it’s a lump of sandstone that has obviously been dressed to the shape of a circle, a good two paces in diameter, maybe five foot, and eight inches thick. (I don’t carry a tape measure around with me so only guessing.)…

  • Snowdrops and Aconites

    Snowdrops and Aconites

    Snowdrops have been out for a few weeks. But this is the first time I’ve seen thisĀ other reminder thatĀ spring is just around the corner. In the grounds of Kildale Hall.

  • Sunset over the Cleveland Hills

    Sunset over the Cleveland Hills

    Another covering of snow last night. Tried to drive up to the top of the Baysdale road to gain some height but gave up at the foot of Park Nab. View is towards Battersby.

  • Source of the Leven

    Source of the Leven

    Went searching for the spring marked on the OS map as the Source of the Leven on Warren Moor. This is the highest point water was flowing. Behind me was 50m of bog. The River Leven flows through the villages of Great Ayton, Stokesley and Hutton Rudby before discharging into the Tees just downstream of…