Out & About …

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

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 is unique in that since it was left to the National Trust in 1943 it has not been intensively managed1‘National Trust Acquisition’ (1943) Times, 08 Apr, 6, available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/CS101792904/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=80c2bdec [accessed 06 Oct 2021].. Other moors are either burnt frequently for grouse or too heavily grazed.

It’s important therefore that the condition of the moor is maintained allowing a good diversity of dwarf shrubs to grow, including old heather with collapsing canopy and natural dwarf shrub regeneration in the gaps.

If left birch would takeover the moor. The aim is for a tree cover of no more than 5%2BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION NATIONAL TRUST • ESTATES DEPARTMENT BRIDESTONES MOOR. North Yorkshire 1999 Survey Incorporating 1987 Survey..

Somewhere on this moor is buried a time capsule containing up to 100 items from shoe polish to theatre tickets, teabags and, a newspaper3Alston, H. (1995) ‘Children’, Times, 07 Jan, 2[S], available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/IF0502107355/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=06319943 [accessed 06 Oct 2021]..

It was buried by the National Trust in 1995 to mark their centenary. I guess the actual burial site would have been closer to the stones themselves.

Also included in the capsule is a plaque made from a fallen oak tree on the moor which has been inscribed with a list of key events during that first 100 years of the Trust’s existence: the first powered flight, the two world wars, the Kennedy assassination, and England’s 1966 Word Cup victory4Mead, Harry. “A Prospect of the North York Moors”. Page 211. The Hutton Press Ltd., 2000. ISBN 1 902709 10 1..

  • 1
    ‘National Trust Acquisition’ (1943) Times, 08 Apr, 6, available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/CS101792904/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=80c2bdec [accessed 06 Oct 2021].
  • 2
    BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION NATIONAL TRUST • ESTATES DEPARTMENT BRIDESTONES MOOR. North Yorkshire 1999 Survey Incorporating 1987 Survey.
  • 3
    Alston, H. (1995) ‘Children’, Times, 07 Jan, 2[S], available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/IF0502107355/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=06319943 [accessed 06 Oct 2021].
  • 4
    Mead, Harry. “A Prospect of the North York Moors”. Page 211. The Hutton Press Ltd., 2000. ISBN 1 902709 10 1.

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