Out & About …

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

Tag: moorland

  • Bridestones Moor

    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…

  • The Snake Path

    The Snake Path

    What a change from yesterday. Blue skies and autumnal warmth. William Clough and the Ashop valley. William Clough, a notorious climb up to Ashop Head, the route of an ancient path from Hayfield to the Snake Inn. Yesterday’s post featured Ashop Clough, down which the Snake Path descends. On the 29th May 1897, an agreement…

  • The Park, Kildale Moor

    The Park, Kildale Moor

    A view south along the Cleveland Hills on the meteorological first day of Autumn.  Corrugated skies of grey. The heather is just about to change, not many more days when there is a hint of the purple. This moorland was once part of a medieval deer park of the Percys of Kildale. Just out of…

  • The Great North Bog

    The Great North Bog

    Whenever I hear the dull throb of a helicopter I am reminded of the 1970s American T.V. comedy series ‘M.A.S.H.’ I can’t get that theme tune out of my head now. Last Thursday, whilst working with the National Trust in Bransdale, a helicopter had been operating from Bransdale Ridge. It was busy all day ferrying…

  • Scarth Wood Moor – a Neolithic village?

    Scarth Wood Moor – a Neolithic village?

    I’ve run across Scarth Wood Moor near Osmotherley many times in orienteering races but I can’t honestly remember encountering this boulder field. This is not surprising as, looking back at the 2019 map, I see nothing on the orienteering map, any exposed boulders were not considered significant enough to have been mapped. The boulders have…

  • The Butts, Codhill Heights

    The Butts, Codhill Heights

    A modern take on the lines of shooting butts that typically cross the heather moors of North Yorkshire. Butts awaiting their clients while lines of workers chase the grouse over their heads on the Glorious Twelfth. Although they have a bit of a wait; I’ve heard the grouse numbers are down this year. These butts…

  • The bonebreaker of Great Ayton Moor

    The bonebreaker of Great Ayton Moor

    It’s been a botanical sort of week. Bog asphodel, I’ve always thought it a strange name. The bog bit is easy, but asphodel? Sounds very un-English to me. Its use was first documented in the late 14th-century and derives from the Latin ‘asphodelus‘ and the Greek ‘asphodelos‘ meaning the king’s spear. It was “the peculiar…

  • Rudland Rigg

    Rudland Rigg

    I have often wondered what the old medieval roads across the moors were like. The temptation is to imagine they were similar to modern access roads but these have had the benefit of contemporary maintenance techniques with hydrocarbon fuelled machines. I think pot-holes and deep mud would have been the norm. Route were north-south, following…

  • There’s something thrilling about being out in a snow flurry

    There’s something thrilling about being out in a snow flurry

    Although Kirby doesn’t look too happy; but I think she is really. An amble over Carlton and Live Moors. Low cloud, not much to see or photograph. I wish you all the best possible Christmas, under these difficult circumstances.

  • A new sign’s appeared

    A new sign’s appeared

    No Dogs No Bikes This is not a Footpath/Bridleway There is an increase in these signs across the moors. This one has been placed in the last fortnight or so right across a well-used path on Great Ayton Moor leading to Lonsdale Quarry. A blatant attempt by the landowners to intimidate the public to keep…