Category: North York Moors
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Newton Moor
Back home on my home moors and I’m saddened to find the remains of a campfire on Newton Moor which is at the remotest part of the National Trust’s Roseberry Topping property. What makes it even more depressing is that the wooden post to which this sign was fixed has been used for fuel.
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Caolas Beag
One of the most memorable sights on the west coast of Scotland is the sunsets. This is from Big Sand near Gairloch across the Caolas Beag, the narrows or straits between Longa Island on the left and the mainland. Although the distance is about one kilometre Caolas Beag translates as small narrows.
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Tea on the Topping
All set up with the kettle on the boil and plenty of cakes for the annual Tea on the Topping fundraising event by the rangers of the National Trust. A bit windy so the summit was abandoned in favour of the relative shelter of the folly.
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Cairnholy Chambered Cairn
One of a pair, 6,000 to 4,000 years old, near Gatehouse of Fleet on the Solway coast. Although very robbed out an excavation was carried out in 1949 when a stone axe of Jadeite was found, a rock originating in the Alps.
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An heffalump trap?
I visited this brick lined shaft on Tuesday but I wasn’t happy with the photos so a return visit today. It was a ventilation shaft for the Coate Moor Ironstone Mine. A furnace would have been at the bottom and the air warmed would rise drawing in fresh air from the main drift entrance. Coate…
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Roseberry and fireweed
Rosebay willowherb or fireweed as it commonly known because it’s the first plant to grow after a fire. Also called bombweed for the same reason in the craters left by the blitz. Its downy seeds are carried along in the slipstream of railways and cars. Fireweed is common throughout the northern hemisphere. It’s eaten in North…
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Cute and cuddly alpacas
At least I think they are alpacas. Could be llamas. Back on the North Yorkshire Moors and these two were quite curious of me as I ran down the lane in Lounsdale. Alpacas have been bred for centuries in the Andes of South America for their wool and meat. I have never seen alpaca meat for sale in the…
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Ringlet Butterflies
I came across this amorous couple this morning on Roseberry Common. Butterflies are usually so flighty they’re difficult to photograph but so engrossed were these I could get within an inch with my little camera set on macro. They’re Ringlets apparently, quite common.
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Bell Heather
One of three types of heather found in the UK, the others being Cross Leaved Heather and the very common Ling. Bell Heather, or Erica cinerea to give it its Latin name, flowers much earlier than Ling and a much richer colour. It favours drier conditions like cling to this sandstone crag in and old quarry on Great…
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Sunshine and Grey Skies
An ugly scar across the heather moor of Carlton Moor, the yellow sandstone of the track accentuated by the threatening skies. The track is typical of estate roads all over the North York Moors providing easy access for the shooting parties. This track though was probably built by the glider station which used to operate on Carlton…