Category: Little Ayton
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Himalayan balsam on the banks of the Leven
The clump of pink flowers on the far bank is Himalayan balsam, a notorious invasive plant, the scourge of conservationists and environmentalists. The plant was particularly rampant on this stretch of the river about six years ago and they did have a blitz to eradicate it but it has returned. There are more clumps further…
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The Leven at Little Ayton
A tranquil feel to the River Leven this morning down by Holme’s Bridge. And warm too. I was reminded of the halcyon days of early lockdown. The Leven, named after the Celtic water-nymph, ‘Leuan‘. A surprising number of rivers have names deriving from Celtic; surviving in spite of the influence of the Saxons and Scandinavians,…
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Ox-bow pond near Holmes Bridge
It is perhaps too early to say that Cleveland got off relatively lightly last night from Storm Dennis, as the run-off takes several hours to flow down off the moors to affect river levels. At Little Ayton, the River Leven is high enough to flood a normally dried up ox-bow pond. This is part of…
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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…
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Woodpigeons
A pair of woodpigeons engaged in their nuptial courtship blissfully unaware of the current fury among the farming and shooting communities over whether they can be legally shot. According to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, there are over 5 million breeding pairs of woodpigeon in the UK, a population increase of 134% between…
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Gribdale Gate
I have never really understood where Gribdale is. The oldest Ordnance Survey map marks Gribdale Gate as the col between Little Ayton and Great Ayton Moors. There is a Gribdale Plantation but apart from that, there is no other mention of the name, and there is no resemblance of a dale on the Great Ayton…
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Small Tortoiseshell on a thistle
A pretty little butterfly, generally widespread but in decline in recent years, particularly in the south. The underside of the wings are more sombre and when closed look like dried leaves concealing them from the eyes of predatory birds. Small tortoiseshells hibernate through the winter in sheds, wood piles and hollow trees. This tortoiseshell was…
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Easby Moor
It’s that mellow time of the year with every other field growing rapeseed. Used for animal feeds, vegetable oil and biodiesel. Easby Moor in the distance with Captain Cook’s monument. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Capt. Cook’s Monument and Cockshaw Hill
Late evening view of Captain Cook’s Monument, in this 250th year since Cook set out on his first voyage. Beneath the monument the commercial plantation of Little Ayton Moor, and below that, Cockshaw Hil,l with its disused sandstone quarry. Across the lush green fields, the line of the whinstone intrusion of the Cleveland Dyke can…
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Spring lambs
Rain, rain and more rain. So as it’s that time of the year I just had to resort to a photo cliché. Along the lane up from Fletcher’s Farm, Little Ayton. Open Space Web-Map builder Code