Month: June 2021
-
Meadow Buttercups
Buttercup is another of those words excluded from the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary. They are giving a fine display this year. Whole fields are painted yellow yet in neighbouring fields there are none. It’s almost as if they’re a crop. These are, I believe, Meadow buttercups (Ranunculus acris). These are an indicator…
-
Holly Tree Wall
That holly tree must be at least 35 years old. I remember it being there when I climbed a route on this face on Park Nab. The large flat field left of centre is a former cricket pitch. The Kildale Cricket Club was founded in 1902, and this field was offered to the club by…
-
… Plato, they say, could stick it awayHalf a crate of whisky every day …
A colourful contrast to the heather moorland, still largely in its drab winter colours. But the Rhododendron shouldn’t be there, it’s an archaeophyte, and generally considered to be invasive, offering very little to the local ecology. It’s a bit of a mystery how it’s managed to be growing here on Hutton Moor. I don’t think…
-
Spawood and Spa Ironstone Mines
At Slapewath near Guisborough, there were two ironstone mines operating in the late 19th-century within one hundred metres of each other. To the south of Alumwork Beck (the Guisborough side) was Spawood, and to north (the Skelton side) the Spa mine. They were operated by different companies and worked different royalties, but apart from their…
-
Kirby Trod
A swathe of bluebells parallel to the trod on Kirby Bank. I once read that the presence of bluebells on open ground is evidence that trees once provided the shade bluebells thrive on. Shade that in a week or so will be provided by the bracken. Perhaps a hedge once aligned this ancient trod from…
-
The “Roseberry Stag”, a local exponent of pedestrianism
The “Roseberry Stag” was the nom de guerre assumed by Thomas Glasper of Stokesley. He was a “Ped”, an exponent of competitive walking or pedestrianism. He seemed to have had a short lived career. In April 1848, he ran against “T. Kitching of Yarm over 120 yards, for £5 a side … at the Nelson…
-
THE debauchee rewarded or, A Warning to Young Men
A sleepy view of Great Ayton village from Easby Moor before the crowds arrived. I came across this little gem the other day: THE debauchee rewarded or, A Warning to Young Men. Also, How he met Her while out a Shooting, in a Path Way leading thro’ a Grove, attempted to Ravish her, she was…
-
Bransdale Mill
Volunteering with the National Trust in Bransdale, planting 350 wildflower ‘plugs’. I must qualify that: I didn’t do all that number alone, it was a collective effort. But an opportunity to post another photo of the mill, from the rear, the north aspect clearly showing the water race funnel into the building where the water…
-
The Cleveland Hills from below Park Nab
An interesting day spent helping on an archaeological dig searching for the long lost chapel of St. Hilda in Kildale. Watch this space. A dearth of photographic opportunities though. This is the Cleveland Hills from below Park Nab. The farm is Low Farm. The hedgerow this side of the rape field, Dundale Beck, forms the…
-
Yow and Gimmer
A wary pose for this yow and her gimmer lamb. She looks quite healthy, a bit clarty perhaps around the rear end. A clarty arse, clogged with urine and faecal matter, can be actually quite a problem for the sheep farmer. It can provide a breeding ground for maggots, a condition known as flystrike. Treatment…