Category: North York Moors
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Paddy Waddell’s Railway
Paddy Waddell’s Railway was never built. A pipedream project beset with problems from the outset, politics and competition from other railway companies. The official name would have been The Cleveland Extension Mineral Railway and link the ironstone mines at Glaisdale with the North East Railway at Skelton. The embankment and cutting on the left were…
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Kirby Bank Trod
The medieval pannierway built for the monks of Rievaulx Abbey. I thought this trod is now the subject of a Traffic Prohibition Order making use by off-road vehicles illegal but on my return, I spotted a group of 5 motorbikers climbing the bank, too far away to see any number plates. Took a shot or two but not…
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Green Hairstreak
I almost disregarded it. Fluttering by too fast to chance a photograph. And with dull brown colouring on its top side wings, I thought it was a small moth. It was only when it landed and closed its wings that their vivid green undersides were displayed. A Green Hairstreak butterfly, beautiful. Normally liking to feed…
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Dry stone wall curiosity
Bransdale, the heart of the North York Moors, and a discovery of a peculiar arrangement of dry stone walling. I am on top of a double wall. To my left, a 5′ drop, to my right about a 10′. Not a particularly steep natural slope but the gap between the walls, about 4′ at the…
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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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Peacock on a Bluebell
After a few false starts, finally a vernal freshness to the morning. The bluebells are out in Newton woods but a week or so off their best. The more astute of you may have noticed an increase in the posting of telephoto photos. My new toy. Normal service will be resumed when the novelty wears…
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Wheatear
The flashing of white gave it away. My first Wheatear of the year, newly arrived from its warmer African wintering climes. It flitted ahead, alighting on the stone wall, teasing me into thinking I might get just a bit closer before it became bored and took to feeding on the insects in the muck sprayed…
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Cringley End
The modern Ordnance Survey map names the nab at the northern tip of the western end of Kirby Bank as Cringle End but I much prefer the Victorian name Cringley End. I notice too that Kirby Bank is referred to as Kirkby just like the village. I think I favour that too. Just to the…
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Stork House, Bransdale
Glorious sunshine in Bransdale. Across the dale, the ruinous Stork House soaks up the warmth. This must be perhaps the most desirable site for development on the North York Moors. Of course, being a National Trust property it can not be sold and renovation would be very expensive. The Trust acquired the Bransdale property in…
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Easby Moor
Easby Moor and Captain Cook’s Monument viewed from Aireyholme lane. Ayton Banks Farm is in the foreground. The crags on the left are the disused sandstone quarry on Cockshaw Hill. Open Space Web-Map builder Code