Category: Bridestones
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One of the few areas of natural moorland on the North York Moors
There are very few areas of relict semi-natural moorland to be found on the North York Moors which has not been extensively managed solely to maximise the grouse population. The National Trust’s Bridestones Moor is one such area and, visually, is currently at its best with the ling coming into bloom. Although the vegetation is […]
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Low Bride Stones
150 million years ago, as the Jurassic seas advanced and retreated, rocks of differing densities were laid down on the sea bed with a hard gritstone laying over softer sandstones. The sandstone under the weathered more easily resulting in these fascinating tors. A myth that is often quoted is of a petrified bridal party that […]
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Low Staindale
A delightful former farm-house situated in Staindale in the parish of Lockton. The farmstead is shown on the Thomas Jefferies map of 1775 and it is believed the farmhouse certainly dates from that time with later alterations and extensions. The house itself is Grade II listed but two of the outbuildings are also of historical […]
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Bridestones Moor
A day spent cutting self sown, mainly birch saplings from the Bridestones heather moorland under a glorious blue sky. A day also for twitchering in which murmuring fieldfare, perhaps getting impatient, itching to leave for the summer, and a skylark, first of the year. If left the birch would gradually begin to dominate. Bridestones Moor […]
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When is a moss not a moss?
The answer of course is when it’s a lichen. Now I’m going to stick my neck out and say this is Cladonia portentosa. Folks commonly refer to it as Reindeer Moss but that name strictly relates to Cladonia rangiferina which is uncommon and found high in the mountains of Scotland and Wales. As the name […]
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Rainbow, rainbow,
Brack an gang hame …The dark clouds to the north east have been ominous all day. Kept at bay by the bitterly cold nor-westerlies. There’s always something striking about a rainbow. They are always in the opposite direction to the sun and a ‘Rainbow in the morning gives fair warning’ indicates rain in the west and generally heading your […]
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Grime Moor
On rather dull overcast day with the National Trust on their Bridestones property. Quite a windy day and, for a fleeting moment, the sun came out. To the west of the small secluded valley Dovedale Griff, which was once known locally as the ‘Doodle‘, is what remains of Grime Moor. The effect of the ploughing […]
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Bridestones Moor
Bridestones Moor has been managed for nature since 1943 when the National Trust was bequeathed the 165 acre estate including the small farm of Low Staindale. The Times reported that “this is a wild and beautiful region, the haunt of curlew and grouse, with lovely stretches of heather, attracting many visitors for its own sake […]
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A tale of two trods
They say that sheep will blindly follow the sheep in front. It’s part of their gregarious instinct. Yet will they follow the exact same route day after day? For surely this sheep-trod has taken many weeks to develope. And if they do, then they must have a terrific terrain memory. It be wrong to […]
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The prehistoric linear boundary at Bridestones
Working on the prehistoric linear boundary at Bridestones Moor for the National Trust today and this morning I got drenched. My 20-year-old waterproofs let me down. It rained so heavy we sat it out at one point in the pickup. But the good news is the new fencing is now finished. It has taken three […]