Author: Fhithich
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A whiter shade of grey
I’ve been stalking this squirrel all week. It’s far more timid than other grey squirrels which I suppose has helped it to survive. I took this during a ten minute stand off. I lost patience first and tried to get closer, then ignominiously slipped down a bank. This is the third time I’ve seen a…
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St Germain’s Church Tower
When St. Germain’s church was demolished in the 1950s the Saxon tower was left standing as an essential navigation aid for boats sailing up and down the coast. Nowadays of course, with the advent of GPS, such landmarks are no longer required. The church had been rebuilt in 1821 when the spire was added to…
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Crosscliffe Beck
A dreich day with a mantle of mist over the trees that persisted all day. Separating the great expanses of Forestry Commission planting of Dalby and Langdale, Crosscliff Beck rises near Blakey Topping eventually flowing into the River Derwent. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Nuthatch
You will probably hear this little bird before you see it. It’s very vocal, singing a variety of loud songs with lots of different whistle-sounding notes. It’s the nuthatch, nut jobber, nut cracker, nut pecker or wood cracker. All referring to its habit of lodging nuts in crevices in the bark of trees to crack…
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Fly Agaric
A damp stroll this morning. Most toadstools I come across are usually past their sell-by date. Dirty, forlorn, and partially eaten by insects. This one seems pristine and the classic toadstool as drawn in children’s books; the Fly Agaric or Amanita muscaria, poisonous twice over. One poison is muscarine, causing nausea and vomiting eventually leading…
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Scaling Dam
What came first the reservoir or the dam? I have always thought Scaling Dam was named after the village of Scaling when the reservoir was commissioned in 1958. But browsing the Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1856 I noticed a hamlet by the name of Scalingdam comprising the sandstone buildings standing along the north side…
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Cod Beck Reservoir
A chilly circumnavigation of Cod Beck reservoir. Above the sky is blue with just a hint of cirrus but down in the valley, the Greylags on their watery roost have yet to feel the warmth of the morning sun. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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“When The Boat Comes In”
Come here, my little Jacky Now I’ve smoked my backey Let’s have a bit crackey Till the boat comes in Dance to thy daddy, sing to thy mammy, Dance to thy daddy, to thy mammy sing; Thou shalt have a fishy on a little dishy, Thou shalt have a fishy when the boat comes in.…
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Hob Hole
A popular picnic spot since at least the Edwardian times. The very name ‘hob‘, perhaps a shortening of hobgoblin, evokes an image of a remote place, an abode of mischievous elves that prey on weary travellers. The ford, where the Kildale to Westerdale Road crosses Baysdale Beck is accessed by a hair-raising descent followed by…
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Great Ayton and the Kindertransport
80 years ago today Jewish, Quaker and other Christian leaders met with Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister, to appeal to him to offer help to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. This was just five days after Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass, the anti-Jewish riots in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia when synagogues, shops and…