Category: Newton Wood
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The graceful and capricious roe deer
I’ve had many close encounters with roe deer over the years. Many times have I disturbed them on my woodland runs and walks, just catching a glimpse as their bouncing white rumps quickly disappeared through the trees. Occasionally I’ve been lucky to get a closer look when the breeze has been in the right direction…
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The Oak — from shipbuilding to fairies
Newton Wood is a predominately oak woodland below Roseberry Topping. Oak is known as the “King” of trees, with his consort being beech, the “Queen” of the woods. There are two types of oak trees found in Newton Wood: Sessile and Pedunculate. Sessile oak is the more prevalent, with the oldest being located in the…
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“Blackbird singing in the dead of night”
Blackbirds are one of those enchanting creatures that we all seem to have a soft spot for. You can spot these feathered friends in all sorts of habitats, from woodlands to our gardens. Interestingly, blackbirds have been part of our cultural consciousness for centuries – just think of the famous nursery rhyme that dates back…
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Roseberry Mine Tramway
What a difference when the sun comes out. An otherwise dull walk around a regular route of mine taking in Capt. Cook’s Monument and Roseberry, although I avoided the summits as it’s the weekend. And crossing the field at the top of Thief Lane, brilliant sunshine. To my right, Roseberry was still in dark shadow…
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Dry hedging in Newton Wood, two years on
Volunteering with the National Trust in Newton Wood. Two years on the dry hedges built to allow the regrowth of the woodland floor seemed to have done their job, but were looking tied. So the task today was to rejuvenate the hedges, and extend then to discourage visitors from using the erosion gulley. Dry (or…
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Oak sapling in Newton Wood
Or should I say a ‘yack‘ sapling, yack being an 18th-century Yorkshire term for the oak. We also have ‘yackrams‘ for acorns. This is really a follow-on from yesterday’s post about the planting of woodland on bracken covered slopes unsuitable for general agriculture. Newton Wood is a predominately oak woodland but with ash, lime, sycamore,…
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Cockle Scar
I’ve had my eye on this photo for some time, but either the view is dull looking from this way or very contrasty the other with Roseberry silhouetted. It’s taken looking down Cockle Scar, Roseberry’s steep skirt of Staithes Sandstone Formation on its western side. This morning, a sprinkling of overnight snow puts some depth…
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COP26 continues and I am getting more confused about the statistics brandied about
We are told that, as a species, our activities emit 34 gigatonnes of CO² per year which would need around 68 million square kilometres of forest to ‘sequestrate’ — this is about half the planet’s land area, so a bit unrealistic. These numbers are vast. Gigatonnes. I can no more visualise a gigatonne than I…
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Newton Wood Bluebells
Bluebells are supposedly an early flowerer drawing on the energy stored in their bulbs. Three weeks ago they had yet to reach their peak, now they are rapidly losing their brilliance. This year, they seemed a little late. British bluebells, Hyacinthoides nonscripta, are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which means…
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Newton Wood
Woke up to snow this morning. The last kick of winter? By half nine the melt had begun.