Out & About …

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

Category: River Leven

  • The star attraction in Great Ayton’s Waterfall Park

    The star attraction in Great Ayton’s Waterfall Park

    A snatched photo before the lens fogged up. The Leven’s high, few hardy souls about, the paths awash with flowing streams. In Newton Wood, I disturb flocks of wooshats sheltering from the storm. Returning home so wet and battered, I feel I’ve been through the washing machine. Ah, kissed by Ciara. Except, of course, it’s…

  • River Leven and the Hinmers Congregational Chapel

    River Leven and the Hinmers Congregational Chapel

    A few tentative steps down the village. With a heightened sense of awareness of, while not major obstacles, they are nevertheless unwelcome. Slippy rotting leaves, inconsiderate parking blocking half the pavement, dog crap, indeed the mere anxiety of a frisky dog even if on a lead. “He won’t hurt you”. A realisation of the problems…

  • Old Meggison

    Old Meggison

    Kildale Falls, aka Old Meggison. I had spotted the other day that a lot of work had been done by the estate thinning the trees and constructing steps down the steep bank. It has certainly been made a lot brighter and easier access downstream. The track along the gorge still displays “Concessionary Path” signs with…

  • Great Ayton Bridge

    Great Ayton Bridge

    Another drizzly misty morning so came back through the village. Ayton’s bridge over the River Leven was built in 1909 replacing an earlier humpbacked one. There has been a lot of rain overnight and the river is high. But I really wanted to photograph Easby Lane. That’s it, a residential road heading off in the…

  • River Leven, Little Ayton

    River Leven, Little Ayton

    “Sweet vale of Leven! how calm is thy stream, Gliding onwards in beauty like hour’s youngest dream.” Attributed to John Walker Ord by J. Fairfax-Blakeborough in Great Ayton, Stokesley & District, past and present, 1901. The bridge was built sometime in the late 19th-century by The Stockton Forge Makers of Stockton-on-Tees who produced castings and…

  • Mallard ducklings, Low Green

    Mallard ducklings, Low Green

    Winter returned this morning with a smattering over wet snow on the North York Moors, but new life on the River Leven in the village. The first brood of the year, Mallard ducklings I guess, must have been seven or eight of them, independent, parents nowhere to be seen. Open Space Web-Map builder Code

  • Old Meggison

    Old Meggison

    Usually, mornings are my best time of the day. Of late, however, my morning stroll has been in the damp and cold followed by an ever brightening day long after my post lunch torpor and sluggishness has set in. Another revisit today. Old Meggison, a lovely little waterfall on the River Leven in Kildale. It’s…

  • Synchronised swimming

    Synchronised swimming

    Except that one member of the quintet needs a bit more practice. Canada geese are more often associated with larger bodies of water but this flock has taken up residence on the River Leven by the Low Green in the village. And already there are complaints about their droppings on the green. Canada geese are…

  • Marwood School

    Marwood School

    The stone building overlooking the River Leven is Marwood school, opened in 1851. It was endowed by the Rev. George Marwood of Busby Hall to provide Anglian education for the children of Great Ayton. Open Space Web-Map builder Code

  • Grey Wagtail

    Grey Wagtail

    Spotted this little beauty along the River Leven, feeding on insects and invertebrates amongst the gravels. But disappointed to discover it was only a “grey” wagtail. Surely the yellow on its underside would have warranted a better, more expressive name. Scientific name Motacilla cinerea. Open Space Web-Map builder Code