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The South Humberside Heritage TrailTwo areas could not have been more different. Last week we were ambling around the limestone grassland and woodland of Brockadale. This week we were walking on the South Humberside Heritage Trail, a linear footpath following the banks of the mighty Humber Estuary and in sight of its magnificent bridge. We made good time on the motorway and met up with new friends Angela and Stuart in the Ness Farm car park of the Far Ings National Nature Reserve.They are both enthusiastic amateur botanists living in the area who met Alice and Margaret on their recent recce. They were helpful and informative companions. Small White We set off from Ness Farm at our usual slow pace. Angela pointed to a stream that had been alive with water voles in past years. The party was greeted by an overwhelming number and range of butterflies, the count was 10 (how reassuring as they are regarded as an indicator of the health of the environment). They were enjoying the nectar of the plants. Peacocks seemed to have a penchant for Teasel whereas the Small Whites, Gatekeepers, Comma and Peacock were seen dancing around a large patch of Marsh Thistle. Brown Hawker Dragonflies and Blue Tailed Damselflies were seen on the ponds and paths. John reported that he had seen 6 moths including Yellow Shell, Shaded Broad Bar, Silver Y, Udea lutealis, Dingy Footman and Nettle Tap. Looking Over The Bridge Our party took equal delight in the special flowers of the area. 138 were recorded in flower. The wetland, field margins, path, reed beds and chalk grassland gave us a varied mix of flowers.The wetland plants included Fool's Watercress, Celery-leaved Buttercup, Water Crowfoot and Water Speedwell. The field margins offered Common Poppy, Wild Mignonette and the pretty Field Bindweed. On the paths were found White Bryony and Prickly Lettuce. On the chalk grassland we found Marjoram, Lemon Balm, Ploughman's Spikenard, Eyebright and Fairy Flax, while in the reed beds were Common Reed, Sea Aster and Bindweed. Many of the flowers were in seed and shrubs and trees laden with fruit. The bird count numbered 20 . Again a variety of birds were seen but in small numbers. Common Terns, Tufted ducks, Small CopperGreat Crested Grebes and Greylag Geese were seen on the lakes; Goldfinch and Swallows on the field margins; Reed Bunting and Reed Warbler in the reeds; Lapwing, Curlew and Shelduck on the shoreline. However the highlight was a sighting of a Marsh Harrier. It was observed gliding slowly across a lake before descending into the tree canopy by Margaret on returning to Far Ings. The weather was ideal, warm but cool in places, sunny with a gentle breeze. It remained so throughout the day and for our journey home. A good day out for the 15 of us who enjoyed today's outing. A magnificent job was performed by Stuart in steering the old minibus, rattle and all and returning us to the Unitarian Church car park safely. Thanks to all those who contributed to our day out.

Margaret

Single File

The full minibus was forced to make an emergency stop at Pontefract Hospital en route – the emergency was that we had missed the toilet stop planned for Morrisons and our intrepid driver, Sue, thought this sufficient reason to divert into the hospital for a comfort break. Butterflies Mud-PuddlingWe all wondered whether this stop was appropriate, but as Sue’s in the nursing business we assumed that she knew what she was doing! Duly relieved we continued on our way and soon arrived at our destination. Brockadale in late July means lots and lots of clustered bellflowers together with hosts of other species, and being on the Magnesian limestone, lots of special plants of calcareous soil.

And butterflies – clouds of them throughout the day with 13 different species recorded,exactly the same number of bird species seen on a poor bird day. The butterfly stars were marbled white and dark green fritillary, Commabut commas and peacocks displayed themselves beautifully and we witnessed an activity not seen before by any of our group; mud-puddling. This entails a group of up to a dozen butterflies (small white and green-veined white together in this case) gleaning minerals from the earth whilst huddled together – a remarkable sight. Another highlight of a lovely day was Joan’s sighting of two plants which she hadn’t seen before. These were wild liquorice and wild clary. It’s not often that Joan adds to her lifetime list; full marks to Alice for the discoveries. Joan recorded 168 plants in flower or fruit, including sweet-tasting strawberry and raspberry; amongst the plant highlights were black horehound, small teasel, small scabious and possibly common calamint, but as this doesn’t appear on the Banded Demoisellespecies list for the site the jury’s out on that one!

Maddy disturbed a fox and Marilyn, that renowned spotter of amphibians, found a lizard near the banks of the river Went where banded demoiselles and an occasional dragonfly played. So we wandered happily through the meadows and woodlands of the 58 hectares of the reserve until it was time to head back, too soon, to the minibus to be conveyed back to Bradford comfortably and directly by Sue. Thanks to Eric for organising yet another successful trip – brilliant Brockadale.

Stuart

Umbrellas Up

The day started with a clap of thunder and a torrential downpour of rain. One member divulged that she thought the trip might be cancelled. Cancelled, no way, we don't cancel except in the most extreme circumstances! Our journey was completed in fine conditions but concious of a possible downpour later, following lunch, we walked hastily through Dalby Forest to Ellerburn Bank. Although the orchids - Common Spotted, Fly and Bee orchid were well past their best the limestone sward was outstandingly beautiful. Lady's Bedstraw, Field Scabious, Dropwort, Marjoram, Knapweed, Thyme, Eyebright, Wild Strawberry, Common Rock Rose, Salad Burnet provided a wonderful palate of colours. There were some special plants- Woolly Thistle, Saw-wort, Carline Thistle, Centaury, Wild Mignonette to name but a few.

Marbled White On Field ScabiousAlthough cloudy but nevertheless warm we were delighted to see a full array of butterflies more especially the super active black and white Marbled White butterfly. There were plenty of Ringlets, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper and Small Heath butterflies. Common Blue, Green Veined White, Red Admiral and Dark Green Fritillary butterflies were also spotted. The moths identified by John were Six-spot Burnet moth, Silver Y, Shaded Broad-bar, Barred Straw, Diamond-back Moth, Agapeta zoegana, Agriphila straminella, Ypsolopha parenthesella, Eucosma cana and Eucosma hohenwartiana.Dark Green Fritillary

Bird species included House Martins,Swift, Swallow, Common Gull, Black-headed Gulls, Whitethroat, Blackcap, a flock of Linnets, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Carrion crow, Blackbird, Wood pigeons, Dunnock and Red Kite. Sue picked up a defaecating frog (correction a frog that weed on her); a Slow-worm was uncovered but no Adders.

The slower walk back to the minibus allowed Alice and Joan time to identify flowers and ferns of the acid woodland. We had escaped the showers and proceeded to enjoy our visit to the impressive eco-friendly visitors centre. Our meal at the Black Bull at Escrick was enjoyable and we returned to Bradford in good time. A long day out but with some good memories.

Margaret

The mini bus was full by the time it had picked up at The Branch Pub, Shipley; Cottingley, Bingley and Grayling On LimestoneKeighley. Sue was the outward-bound driver. She arrowed her way across country between the village of Whittington and Gaitbarrows, having already learned the route through her innovative usage of Googlemaps, thereby wisely avoiding Carnforth; though not an appalling stench from a farmer's field that permeated the entire vehicle for several minutes.

Joan was disconcerted by the unusual route until it was pointed out that Sue had travelled the route the night before in her 'flight simulator'! 

It was another 'Scorchio' day, the hottest July since 2006 and looking like it might stay like this for sometime.

There was of course the customary toilet stop at Kirby Lonsdale. Permits for the site had been obtained and we were thus entitled to park in the small parking area, which fortunately was deserted as it would have been very awkward trying to park on the narrow roadside.

Dark Red HelleborineThe group set off slowly, on the Limestone Trail, and because there is so much botanical interest got slower and slower! Fortunately, there was plenty of shade for those faster members to shelter from the heat, whilst awaiting the arrival of the botanists. This is not a place to wander off on your own as it is full of mazy paths. A person could get easily lost.

We were soon ready for lunch and we all sat down on the nearest shaded rocks. We were delighted to find that we had chosen a spot where Dark Red Helleborines (the sites' speciality plant) were plentiful. Several Broad Leaved H's were also seen but these were not yet in flower. In total 125 plant/grasses and sedges were counted.  Alice who had always wanted to see Dropwort was granted her wish. However, by the end of the day she had probably received a 'Dropwort Overdose'.

Butterflies were all around and species seen in order of abundance were: Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Large Skipper, Dark Green/High Brown Fritillaries, Northern Brown Argus, Grayling, Whites and a single Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. The large fritillaries rarely settled for more than a few seconds and then soared quickly away. The only underwings seen were of Dark Green so we were not able to say that we had seen any High Browns.

Brown and Common Hawkers were wizzing over our heads and there were many damselflys: Common Blue, Blue-tailed and Large Red.  Birds however, were virtually non-existent. Not therefore a place for birders to visit.

Virginia, a BEES volunteer from Espana, enthusiastically managed some rather decent photos of a NBA butterfly on her tiny mobile phone.

Small Skipper

Lagoon

White Letter Hairstreak On Bramble

Stuart

Anthony Gormley FigureEn route to today's destination, we stopped off at Chain Bar to pick up Stuart and Gillian. At this point Phillip started to complain of feeling unwell and it was decided that it was inadvisable for him to continue so he and Janet were taken back to the Unitarian Church. This along with a little problem with finding the route meant that we arrived late for our rendezvous with our guide, Pat Lockwood. Yellow-tail Moth CaterpillarPat was very understanding and she was a fantastic guide even in increasingly inclement weather conditions. We started our exploration of the Sefton Coast at Crosby beach where numerous Anthony Gormley cast iron figures are scattered. We ventured into the Hightown dunes and meadow area to examine the flora - butterflies were not flying in the cold and overcast conditions. There was a lot of rubble and bricks on the beach, much of which was bricks from bomb damaged buildings in world war 2. Botanical highlights included Duke of Argyll's Tea Plant and the rare Isle of Man Cabbage.Isle Of Man Cabbage 104 plants in flower/ferns were seen. As we wandered through the sand dunes we came across a Drinker Moth caterpillar and then a Grass Eggar caterpillar and then we found a shrub that was heaving with Yellow-tail moth caterpillars. Close by we also spotted a couple of Yellow Shell moths.

It stayed dry until after lunch but light rain in the afternoon turned heavier and heavier so we didn't see all that we had hoped to see but we were very grateful to Pat for helping us make the best of a soggy, cold day. 

22 birds were seen including curlew, linnets, reed bunting, greenshank and black-tailed godwits. 

Sue

The MossesA full mini-bus driven by Stuart headed to this Natural England site in Southern Cumbria. As is the norm for these outings the sky was lovely; a mix of high clouds, blue skies and a cool gentle breeze.

On arrival we met Rob Pettley-Jones the site manager for this and several other sites including Gaitbarrows NNR. He had run a moth trap the night before and he had kindly waited for our arrival with a colourful selection of the best macro moths. This included; Poplar Hawk-moth, Iron Prominent, Common White Wave, Pale Tussock, Mottled Beauty, Ingrailed Clay, Flame Shoulder, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Map-winged Swift, Angle Shades, Coronet, Buff Ermine, Beautiful Golden Y, True Lover's Knot, Green Carpet and Peppered Moth, The favourite was initially Green Arches until he later produced Lesser Swallow Prominent and then the jury was split! So thanks must go to Margaret who had arranged this.

Green ArchesWe had our lunch sitting on logs and various items of equipment, close to the manager's office. I then came across an interesting carpet moth that Rob was able to ID as Devon. A melanic Common Lutestring moth was also present, presumably both escapees from the evening's catch. After that we began the 0.7 mile 'Bog Trail' which was mostly on a superb boardwalk. From here we were able to spot Four-spotted Chaser dragonflies, Large Red and blue damsels, a female Brimstone (Alder and Purging Buckthorn were seen on site) and several Large Heath butterflies around the Cotton grass. Unfortunately none of the party was able to see the latter at close quarters and yours truly therefore failed to get any photos of the elusive creatures!

Cotton Grass

Holidays and the degree of difficulty of today’s walk kept the attendance in single figures but those who did attend enjoyed a rewarding trek over moorland and woodland around Ogden Water which was led by Alice and Brian.  We headed north west out of the car park following the line of the impressive clough (unnamed on the OS map) which leads onto Ovenden moor.  Here we were treated to a wonderful display of cotton grass (mainly hare’s tail, but with patches of common)  which covered large parts of the moor. Meeting On The MoorsWe lunched on the moor listening to the songs of skylark, meadow pipit and curlew and the flapping of the windmills on the nearby Ogden wind farm whilst enjoying the extensive views and the sight of a kestrel hunting.  We continued on the moor before heading back  along the edge of woodland and then through the woods back to Ogden Water.  Alice’s developing interest in lichens has given the group a new dimension and she was able to point out the match-like Cladonia floerkeana with its showy scarlet spore-producing bodies.  Dryad's SaddleOnce in the woods we found swathes and swathes of pink purslane which give a spectacular display at this time of year.  There were few species on the wing, both bird and butterfly counts being low but Joan managed to record 111 plants in flower and 9 ferns.  Whilst recceing the walk, Alice and Brian had encountered both visitor centre and toilets closed due to the lack of volunteers (actually open on the day!) and so had made arrangements for us to be accomodated at the delightful Boggart Bridge Tea Rooms where the party was treated to tea and cakes by a generous benefactor, Martin.  A lovely day out in fine weather – thanks to Alice, Brian and of course, Martin.

Stuart

The Visitor Centre

Lapwing Chick

Coot Chicks

Margaret

Going Through the Meadow

Speckled Yellow Moth

Green Hairstreak Butterfly

Bugle

Margaret