Dalesman October 2011

September 29, 2011
fungi fruiting bodies on dead wood in Dalby Forest

fungi on dead wood

For Dalesman this month, I’ve had the privilege of meeting some very knowledgeable wildlife experts: David Hodgson, who has spent hours lying in the cold, wet dark , studying wildlife in caves, and Brian Walker, a retired forest ranger.

I spent a fascinating morning with Brian, now retired and enjoying spending his time on nature study and conservation.  His many years with the Forestry Commission have given him a deep knowledge, and conversation ranged over the lifestyles of fungi, the sustainable production of timber, conservation and climate change.

Fungi are neither plant nor animal, but something else.  Unlike plants, they cannot make energy from the sunshine, but must feed like animals.  But unlike animals, they cannot move, and they reproduce by spreading spores.  The toadstools and mushrooms we see carry the spores, which grow into new individuals.

Sometimes fungi live in partnership with a plant.  In these cases, said Brian, “None are destroying or weakening each other, but they’re interdependent.”

Other fungi are involved in decay, but this is a vital part of recycling nutrients back into the soil, so that new plants – and trees – can grow.

Many fungi are poisonous because fungi produce complex substances different to other plants or animals.  However, like the rainforest and the coral reef, this makes them a rich hunting ground for new chemicals that can have medicinal uses.

For instance, penicillin came from a type of fungus, and, said Brian, “There’s a fungus that makes people sick if they eat it and drink alcohol.  From that, they’ve developed a medicine for alcoholics.”

When working for the Forestry Commission, Brian worked closely with many other groups to promote conservation and biodiversity.  He commented that the expertise within the Forestry Commission meant that the forests were managed to the best known practice, for economic and sustainable timber production, for conservation, and to provide access for people to enjoy the forests.

He saw this practice as vital as the climate changes.  He stressed that conserving biodiversity means giving space to everything, not just species that we might find attractive.  For instance, he commented, “People dislike birds of prey because they eat the birds that come to their bird tables.”

He added, “The idea that there’s a unique British environment that can preserved can’t be done.  Dalby used to be a rabbit warren, now it’s a forest.  Things will change, and we must allow adaptation.  For instance, buzzards are moving south, and the honey buzzard is moving north.  We’re into change, it’s inevitable.”

However, he was upbeat, and thought that forests can accept change, and in fact, that change is a vital part of the life of the forest.   He commented that as areas are felled to harvest timber, particular species move into these areas.  He said, “There’s a bird called the great grey shrank, that comes in winter.  It might, with climate change, nest in Britain.  It loves the areas we fell, because it sits in the treetops, but forages in the open areas.  If we didn’t clear fell areas, there wouldn’t be these parts of the forest for them.”

The progression of natural change means that plants grow in clear felled areas, gradually filling them again.  But as new areas are harvested for timber, new clear areas are formed.

It’s all part of maintaining the biodiversity that Brian sees as key to protecting all species.

Read all about it in Dalesman

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Dalesman May 2011

April 26, 2011

Dalesman for May 2011 features two enjoyable, but very different visits.

Holgate Mill was  a surreal sight: an eighteenth century windmill in the middle of a street of comfortable twentieth century semi-detached family homes.

Bob Anderton beside the huge cogs that harness the wind to drive the grindstones

Bob Anderton beside the machinery of Holgate Windmill

When it was built, Holgate was the height of wind technology.  It boasted a fantail, a vane mounted to the rear of the mill that automatically aligned the mill to face the wind.

Previously, windmills had been mounted on a  post sunk in the ground.  When the wind direction changed, the miller had to rotate the entire building, millstones and all, to face the wind again – a hard, heavy job.

Older mills had four sails, usually made of canvas like the sails of a ship.  Holgate had five sails for maximum efficiency.  The sails were also fitted with shutters, like venetian blinds.  In low winds, the shutters were closed to catch as much wind as possible.  In high winds, the shutters were opened up to allow some wind to pass through, and avoid damage to the sails.

Despite being the height of technology when it was built, when electricity became easily available, the miller preferred to use an electric motor, rather than rely on the vagaries of the wind.  Even today, after restoring the wind powered machinery, the preservation society will run one grindstone on wind power, and the other with an electric motor, so that they can work when the wind doesn’t blow.

One of the joys of eighteenth-century engineering is that, unlike modern electronics,  it’s all big and visible.  Inside the mill,  giant cogs and shafts transmit the power from the rotating sails to the grindstones.  Most of the gears are cast iron, still strong and serviceable after over 200 years.  But many of the hoppers, vats and beams are wood, and years of damp and insects have destroyed these.  However, these have been built anew: the members of Holgate Mill Preservation Society have achieved a great deal in ten years.

Bob attributes this success to a skilled team, generous funders, and their strategy.  Rather than try to do all the work themselves, they went to a professional millwright, Tom Davies, and applied for grants to fund the work.

Visitors to the mill need to be fit and agile, as access to all four floors is by ladder.  As you progress up the tower, the rooms become progressively smaller, and right up in the cap, the room is dominated by a huge toothed wheel, attached the sails.  When the wind turns that wheel, it would be easy for the unwary to get caught in the machinery.  The picture above shows Bob Anderton, the chairman of the preservation society,  next to the great gear that is turned by the sails.

Bob hopes that soon the mill will be grinding corn, selling flour – and even possibly adding a bakery.

He says, “We want to grind flour and sell it for people to use.”  As the mill is currently in use as a mini-community hall, the addition of food can only mean even more visitors to this very unusual windmill.

For further information, see www.holgatewindmill.org or Telephone Bob  Anderton on 01904 795851

Holgate Mill was once cutting edge technology.  By contrast, Hackfall was always meant to evoke the past, created as a romantic ruin.

PAUL MOSLEY, THE WOODLAND OFFICER, ENJOYS A WALK AT HACKFALL

HACKFALL IS A SEMI NATURAL WOODLAND WITH ROMANTIC RUINS DESIGNED BY WILLIAM AISLABIE

Hackfall was originally woodland that would have been used for timber.  In fact, said Paul Mosley, Hackfall’s officer, “It’s believed that the Aislabies originally bought Hackfall for the timber, and for a tufa quarry, which they used to clad several buildings at Studley Royal.”

The Aislabies who bought Hackfall were famous for their landscape design around Fountains Abbey, now a World Heritage Site.  But their landscape at Hackfall, where they built  romantic ‘ruin’ eye-catchers in the forest, is less well-known.

But in its day, it was famous.  Turner painted it, and Victorian tourist guides advertised carriages from Ripon Station to Hackfall.   But, after years as a Victorian pleasure ground, the timber was all felled in the 1930s.

It chanced that the land was then bought by someone who went against the advice at the time, which was to replant with fast-growing, commercial conifers.  Instead, the new owner bided his time, and let nature take its course.

It has resulted in Hackfall now being classed as the relatively rare ‘semi natural ancient woodland.’  The semi-natural bit is because, says Paul – that lucky man whose job it is to know Hackfall intimately – “Most woodland has always been managed, and at Hackfall there’s evidence of limekilns, charcoal burning, and sawmills all in the wood.  But the seedbank, and the wildlife, such as invertebrates, are still there.”

“And there’s lots of wildlife.  We had a moth expert who trapped 158 species in one evening.”

Hackfall is made even more interesting by the series of follies built by the Aislabies.  They act as ‘eyecatchers’ and ‘surprises’ to draw walkers around the wood.

Hackfall is also full of falling water, with so many becks, trickles and cascades, it’s quite difficult to tell what’s natural and what’s man-made.  Which, of course, was the Aislabies’ intention: to enhance the natural landscape to make it more beautiful, and more interesting.   Nearly three hundred years later, it’s clear that they knew what they were doing.

Hackfall is beguiling at any time of year – I recommend a visit.

See www.woodlandtrust.org.uk and www.hackfall.org.uk for more, and information on how to get there, where to park, etc

News since the article went to print: Paul Mosley says that Hackfall has won

the Nostra Europa Award for its  Conservation / Restoration.

See: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/our-woods/hackfall/Pages/EuropaNostraAward.aspx?wood=5462

Or: http://www.europanostra.org/projects/50/

He adds that the restoration was achieved thanks to funding from The  Heritage Lottery Fund, The Hackfall Trust,  the Woodland Trust and volunteers,  the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Yorventure and the North Yorkshire Aggregates Grant Scheme.

To read my articles in full, in print only, buy Dalesman Magazine, www.dalesman.co.uk

MOWBRAY CASTLE, AN EYECATCHER BUILT BY THE AISLABIES

MOWBRAY CASTLE, ONE OF THE MANY EYECATCHERS EVOKING THE PAST GLORIES AT HACKFALL

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Dalesman April 2011

March 24, 2011

Dalesman April 2011 – Mulgrave Woods

A VIEW OF THE MULGRAVE ESTATE

LANDSCAPING BY HUMPHRY REPTON AT MULGRAVE

As a tree lover myself, it was a pleasure to meet Jim Mortlock, head forester for the Mulgrave Estate, near Whitby.

It was clear that Jim took real pleasure and pride in the woods he cares for, and, as he took me round the estate, I could see why.

He works to a plan laid out by Humphry Repton some three centuries ago – but this is the time scale a forester has to think in.  Standing in open parkland by the estate office, Jim pointed out how the swathes of woodland that he is still planting contribute to Repton’s landscape vision.

And, as he pointed out the views, it was clear that Repton’s vision was coming to fruition.  There were stands of trees across the treetops, cradling the green vale of pasture and parkland.  Here, large specimen trees were things of beauty in their own right.

Across the fields were breathtaking views of the sea and cliffs at Sandsend.

And the well-managed woods, said Jim, were full of wildlife.  He showed me trees that he’s kept for woodpeckers to nest in.  He likes to see the deer, which are a small, managed population that don’t damage his trees.

As for the flowers, after years of being shaded out, Jim says that thinning out firewood has rejuvenated them, producing carpets of primroses and bluebells in spring.

The policy of mixing decidous and evergreen trees showed its visual benefits when I visited, as dark evergreens provided a foil to the brilliant autumn colours of the hardwoods.

The estate has recently invested in state of the art machinery to cut logs for firewood.  Income from these logs has paid for new access tracks into the woods, which are available for public access on selected days.

To buy firewood, or to visit the woods, see http://mulgrave-estate.co.uk/index.php/land-use/access/

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DALESMAN MARCH 2011 YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ UNION

February 24, 2011
NOSTERFIELD NATURE RESERVE LOWLAND WETLAND HABITAT

NOSTERFIELD NATURE RESERVE IS SCULPTED TO PROVIDE LOTS OF WATER MARGINS

It was a pleasure to meet two members of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, who were full of fascinating information.

Jill Warwick explained how her husband was involved in creating Nosterfield Nature Reserve from a disused quarry:  “When Nosterfield Reserve was set up in 1996, there were two target species: shoveler duck, and redshank.  They were both recorded breeding within a year – because we did our research before we set it up.  As a gravel pit, it was a square lake, and we had the land profiled to create islands, and a variety of depths of water.  In 2009, we had a second lake excavated, to make more water edge, which attracts wading birds.”

“Even when it was a working quarry, it was a top place for birdwatching.  Now it’s managed as lowland wetland grassland – a rare habitat.  It’s rare due to the drainage for agricultural improvements after the second World War.  We tried to get to more self-suffieient in food, and marginal land was improved.  It was understandable at the time, but it led to a decline in natural habitats.”

Living nearby, Jill often nips down to do a spot of birdwatching, but she is also expert in identifying moths.   She said, “For a long time, moths weren’t much recorded.  I had a book dating from 1910.  Then in 2004, a new book came out with photos of moths in their natural resting postiions, rather than pinned.  It led to an explosion of moth recording – it fuels interest when you can actually identify things.”

“Now there’s active moth trapping throughout the county, and we’ve mapped the distribution of moths far better than it used to be- the mapping lists are rising each year,” she said.

The Union exists to share knowledge, and Jill said, “There are regular field meetings, held all over the County.  On field trips, people with experience show less experienced members how to identify things.  It’s a gathering of knowledgeable people and those wanting to know more – and visitors are welcome.  For instance, we trapped moths at Keld, and local people came to see what we were doing.”

Fellow member Craig Thomas – who also edits the annual bird report, detailing sightings of all birds seen in the county, details some of the changes he’s noticed.: “Red list species are deemed to be in danger, either due to low numbers or rapidly declining.  A lot of these are farmland related.  Also woodland species are declining, despite the increase in tree planting.  It’s thought to be due to lack of management – there’s more tree cover, but less quality woodland.  Perversely, it can mean chopping trees down to let new ones grow, to create an understorey.”

Craig said, “Some species have increased over the last 30 years.  The succession of mild winters (excepting the last one) and targeting species such as Barn owl has increased numbers.  But the growing list of species on the red list is, sadly, tipping the balance into the negative.”

Some of the biggest changes, said Craig, are seen in sea and migratory birds.  A survey of birds on Bempton cliffs, said Craig, “Gave an indication of what’s happening in the north Sea.  It’s extremely important, as climate change seems to be affecting distribution of the food chain in the North Sea and Atlantic faster than in any other habitat.  Birds such as kittiwakes, that feed on sand eels, are declinging, while birds such as guillemots, that feed at a depth, are doing well at Bempton”

“Herring gulls are declining quicker than any other species on the cliffs,.  It’s thought to be due to the decline in the fishing industry, and the declining discards from boats.”

A reduction in birds wintering in Africa,said Craig, “Is thought to be largely due to climate change, and deforestation in Africa.  Also, Asian and Siberian birds are breeding further west.  Young birds that normally winter in South East Asia are going into reverse migration – migrating in the opposite direction, and coming to North West Europe.“

“The reason is unknown, but they turn up in autumn on the East winds, and birders hit the East Coast, looking for them.”

Yorkshire is so large that, to aid the studying and recording of all the wildlife, the  YNU divides Yorkshire into 5 ‘sub-counties’, each with its own data recorders.  This organisation has enabled the Union to collect years’ worth of information on Yorkshire’s wildlife.  Jill comments, “A lot of European countries are envious of the huge volunteer network we have in the UK.  Down through the last 150 to 200 years, there has been a wealth of volunteers going out birding.”

Therefore, it seems apt that the YNU will celebrate its 150th anniversary with a conference entitled ‘The ever-changing flora and fauna of Yorkshire’.

To learn more about, or join the Yorshire Naturalists’ Union, see http://www.ynu.org.uk/about

Read the full article in Dalesman Magazine, http://www.dalesman.co.uk/

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Dalesman January 2011 – Myton Grange

January 25, 2011

Myton stud farm

BRICK CHIMNEY AT MYTON GRANGE STUD FARM

BRICK CHIMNEY AT MYTON GRANGE STUD FARM

Brothers Nick and Nigel Ramsden restored a Victorian Stud farm, with help from Natural England.  The brothers’ involvement with Natural England came about as a consequence of the closure of the British Sugar factory in York, back in 2007.  They lost the sugar beet trade that was begun by their grandfather, 80 years ago.

They searched for other options, and liked the idea of Environmental Stewardship – grants for developing wildlife and conservation friendly measures.

On their arable fields, the brothers set aside field margins up to 6m wide.  Over the whole farm, explains Nick, this amounted to taking about 30 acres out of production.  The margins are good, he says, for English Partridge which nest there, and Barn Owls that feed there.

Natural England also wanted to increase numbers of Corn Bunting, a ‘red list’ bird that was discovered living on the farm.  This small brown bird now has 5 acres devoted to pleasing it.  Nick says, “We grow 5 acres of spring barley with no herbicides, pesticides or fertisilisers, then leave it unharvested through the winter.”  He explains that this is because corn buntings nesting in such fields tend to be late nesters, and are therefore often damaged by harvesting.  Nick says, “By leaving the barley unharvested, the nests are safe, and the birds get feed through the winter.  Also, not using pesticides allows insects for the chicks to feed on.”

Leaving off the pesticides and fertilisers, says Nick, results in the field producing only around a quarter of the barley that would grow with the pesticides and fertiliser.  It also gets weedy – “but the weeds are good for wildlife.”

As well as the wildlife, Natural England was interested in heritage, and, says Nick, “When they built Easingwold bypass, they found a big Iron Age settlement that goes through one of our fields.”  To prevent damage to the remains of the roundhouses, the brothers stopped ploughing the field, and put it to permanent pasture.

The brothers’ farms, Home Farm and Myton Grange, were built with bricks that were shipped by barge up the river from York.  Nick says, “They built a railway from the river to bring the bricks up to the site.”  Nick notes that horses, not steam engines, hauled the bricks on the railway.  He says, “There was a steam engine at Home Farm, but it was a stationary one, with pulleys and belts to transfer power to machinery.”  Machines would have included turnip cutters, feed mills, and threshing machines.

Nick’s Grange Farm House is next to the stud stables, and he says, “My house was built in 1868, then they built Home Farm and the Stud Farm in 1870.”

The stud farm buildings have been restored using as much as possible of the original fabric, and traditional materials such as lime mortar and copper nails.  Nick says that a condiiton of grant assistance is that the buildings must be used for their historical purpose.  He is therefore hoping to find someone to use them, perhaps for livery or horse training.

At one corner of the stable yard stands the water tower.  Nick says, “In the 1870s, the Estate put up the water tower, which supplied the village, vicarage and school as well as the farm.  Spring water was intercepted before it went into the river, filtered through a sand filter, then pumped into the tower by steam engine.  There’s lots of historical interest because it was an early water supply.”

“It’s been out of use for 30 years, but we’ve relined it and it’s sound.”

Nick is hoping to develop a renewable energy pump to refill the tower and use it once more.

Nick is happy to host educational visits, by appointment only.  Contact him at 07976 751463

Read the full article, in print only, in Dalesman Magazine

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Dalesman for September 2010

August 26, 2010

The new Dalesmans are out, and this month, there are three features from me.  There’s a restored dewpond in the North York Moors, a fruit-growing co-operative in Husthwaite, and a visit to ‘graduates’ of the North York Moors National Park’s apprenticeship scheme.

In the midst of so much media angst about youth unemployment, it was a joy to meet youngsters who were doing well.  Back in 2002, the North York Moors National Park set up an apprenticeship scheme in environment and conservation work.  The scheme was massively oversubscribed, and those fortunate to get onto the scheme were all very keen.

So it was a pleasure to get back in touch, and find them all doing well, and happy in their work.  They were glad they did the apprenticeship that helped them to achieve their ambition of working outdoors in the countryside.

Nicky Saffer worked for a large forestry company, working on big contracts.  His work involves practical steps to improve our environment, planting trees and managing forests.

Other youngsters, among them Mark Aconley, had set up their own business.  Mark, and colleague Peter Hinchliffe, were filling the local need to repair dry stone walls – part of the landscape for hundreds of years, but now in need of a little attention.

Mark noted that spending all day heaving around tons of stone is a job for a fit young man – but he already had plans to develop his business, so that he could continue into his later years.

It’s not just the apprentices who were happy.  Steve Young, who has trained all the apprentices, enjoys working with the youngsters.  The first intake being all male, but there have been girls since.  Steve says, “The only people we can’t take are those with a degree, because we can’t get funding for them.  It’s very disappointing, as we’ve had very keen people with all the academic knowledge, but no practical knowledge.”

Richard Gunton, head of Park Services, was delighted by the apprenticeships, which have run every year since 2002.

He explains how, previous to the scheme, there was ‘leakage’ of young people – when they left school, they left the area, because there were no opportunities for them.

Now, says Richard, “12% of our full time work is done by apprentices, and it’s nice in the organisation to have young people working with us.  They’re brilliant: they’ve all worked hard, passed their exams, done very well, and gone on to full time employment.  The effort some of them put in puts a lot of us older folk to shame.”

“It’s been good for the Park, good for the young people, and good for the community.  Because the apprenticeship is so good, we’ve set up another team – the northern team.  They’re funded by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.  It’s a specific pot of money to tackle youth unemployment – but they’re a lovely team.”

The Park’s other apprenticeships are open to all applicants, and Richard says, “We’ve also set up a business administration apprenticeship.  And we worked with local farmers to help set up their hill farming apprenticeship.  We don’t employ those apprentices – the farmers do.

“There are always lots of applicants for the apprenticeships – anyone interested should telephone Ian Nicholls on 01439 770657”

“The most important part is that young people have enjoyed it, and they’ve got what they need out of it.  It’s been an absolute joy.”

Contact Mark Aconley, landscape contractor, on acorn150982@hotmail.com, Tel 07898 788843

Mark Aconley, who completed an apprenticeship with the North York Moors National Park

Mark Aconley, one time apprentice, now runs his own contracting business

North York Moors National Park http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

The National Park also helped Ann Strang to organise the repair of a historic dewpond on her father’s farm as part of an Environmental Stewardship scheme.

Dewponds are more usually found in chalk areas, such as the Yorkshire Wolds or the South Downs.  There, legends abound that they were first built by Neolithic man.

Such legends are, so far, unproven.  Since English Nature found that 80% of dewponds on the Wolds had disappeared since the 1950s, any Neolithic ponds must have been maintained and repaired for millennia.

A greater mystery of dewponds is how they fill.  There are anecdotes of dewponds on high ground remaining full during droughts when spring fed lowland ponds run dry.

This mystery remains unsolved, with dew, rain, fog and mist all being considered to be the source of water.

Ann restored her dewpond in order to attract wildlife to the farm.  The pond, reconstructed according to its archaeological record, is lined with gritstone, which would have protected the clay liner from the feet of watering animals.  Derelict dewponds lose their water due to damage to the clay lining, often from the roots of plants.

Ann has seen deer and rabbits drinking at the pond, but so far, she has seen no amphibians, although these have colonised other dewponds.  I visited in the first spring after the pond was built, and could see countless diving beetles, flatworms, and mosquito larvae.  There were also plenty of pond skaters.  With a food supply like that, I’m sure it will be only a matter of time before animals wishing to eat these bugs turn up.

Natural England has supported Ann’s conservation measures, and when I visited, workers were setting insect traps, to discover what insects that had colonised her farm.  They were surveying many different habitats, in order to discover what conditions favoured the different species groups.

As insects generally are at the bottom of the food chain, their discoveries will help us to understand the complexities of farming for both food and wildlife.

Links.

Ann Strang is part of Natural England’s Education Access Scheme.  Appointments can be made for visits to participating farms: see http://cwr.naturalengland.org.uk/Default.aspx?Module=EducationalSiteDetails&Site=5541

To learn more about dewponds, visit http://dewponds.co.uk/index.htm

Ann Strang beside the restored dewpond

Ann Strang beside the restored dewpond

Meanwhile, at Husthwaite, they will be preparing to harvest their fruit.  When I visited, back in April, Cameron Smith was anxiously surveying the 514 fruit trees that his group had planted last autumn, to see how many had survived the winter.

He was particularly worried about the 200-odd trees in the newly established village orchard, as they had severe rabbit damage.  “We put spiral tree guards to protect the trees,” he explained, “But we had a foot of snow, and this took the rabbits to the top of the tree guard.”  Many of the trees had been severely nibbled by hungry rabbits, and if the bark was ‘ringed’ – eaten all the way round the tree, it kills the tree.

As well as the orchard group, Cameron is a member of the history society that initiated the interest in the orchards.

Cameron was particularly excited about finding some whale bones.  He said that sometime between 1753 and 1833, some whale jaw-bones were given to the village, in recognition of the fruit supplied to whaling boats.  “People thought it was just a story – but we found the whalebones,” he told me.  “They had them as an arch across the Malton road.”

He described how Husthwaite, a village of enterprising smallholders, grew in prosperity on its fruit trade.  He said, “Husthwaite even had a sort of early industrial park: a dozen barns and buildings with trades associated with the work round here, such as agricultural engineering.  It became a hub for the surrounding villages, with a shop, pub and so on.”

The history society surveyed householders to identify old varieties of fruit in their gardens, and to record anecdotes from those who could recall Husthwaite’s commercial fruit business.

“In 1941,” he said, “There were 32 orchards, 19 attached to cottages in the village, and 10 on farms.”

“In 1948, a storm knocked all the pears down, but a man from Co Durham came and bought them all, to make jam.  He made several return journeys, because he couldn’t fit them all on his wagon – and he paid over £300 for them.

Cameron is full of enthusiasm for his fruit, describing old varieties of Yorkshire apples that he is grafting, in order to preserve stocks for the future.  He is working with Brogdale, the national centre for fruit.  He says, “There are only two known mature trees of the Wass Apple, so we’re grafting that like mad.  Brogdale have accepted that now.  And we’ve found another in Crayke, known locally as Lady Long.  That’s being investigated to see if it’s unique.  The fruit looks similar to Wass, but it’s different: Wass is a late cooker, while Lady Long is a dessert apple.”

House in Husthwaite with remnants of ancient orchards in the garden

A house in Husthwaite with historic fruit trees in the garden

To see the latest on Husthwaite’s fruit, see their website at www.orchardsofhusthwaite.co.uk

To learn more about the national fruit collection’s work to preserve genetic resources for the future, see www.brogdale.org

To read more about all these people, buy Dalesman Magazine, www.dalesman.co.uk

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The Man of Fossils

June 28, 2010

Dalesman this month features an interview with Mike Windle, of the North East Yorkshire Geology Trust

I spent a fascinating morning with Mike in Hovingham, where he showed me a beautiful collection of fossilised corals, all collected, he said, in fields in the area.  They had been cleaned up, and showed the structure of the corals beautifully.  He said, “These are proof that this part of Yorkshire was once a coral reef.”

He then produced a fossilised whelk shell – looking like a stone, but recongnisably a whelk.  He said they were easy to find on the ground in the area, and described how, over millions of years, the area of the Howardian Hills had alternately been a deeper sea – full of corals – then a shallower sea, filling with sand from a tropical soil.  These had then become compressed to produce alternating layers of limestone and sandstone under the ground.

The sandy soil, he said, had lots of iron in it, which gave it a golden colour, with streaks of red.

He added that the tropical corals had grown because, due to movements in the earth’s crust, North Yorkshire at that time had been roughly where North Africa is now.

He adds, “Charles Darwin studied a rock from here called Coral Rag.  He worked out from the limited number of species in it that here was at the edge of the ecology for that, because similar rocks from Europe have many more species.”

Geology, said Mike, is about looking for reasons for why things happened.  He said, “It’s a great detective trail – and anyone can do it.  All you need to do is concentrate on basic logic and common sense.”

He took me for a walk around Slingsby village, showing me fossils in the walls of houses.  Then we went to Wath Quarry, where he and the supervisor, Les Fenwick, chatted happily about the different rocks that Les had seen in his 18 years of working the quarry.

Mike made it clear how people have always exploited geology, explaining how Roman roads followed a line of better drained soil across the Vale of Pickering, how water flowed through the rocks and emerged as springs, and how villages were sited to take advantage of the best agricultural land.

He was enthusiastic about going into schools and teaching children about geology – and also about leading walks and talks.  He believes that people can enjoy country walks even more, when they understand the forces that created the landscapes they see.

He also had an interesting view of the future.  He said: “In future, I think we’ll mine landfill sites for the raw materials – we’ll have the technology.  In fact, it’s already happening.  They reckon that there’s more gold in landfill, because of old computers, than there is in natural gold mines in this country.”

Mike would like to make it easier for poeple to get involved in geology.  The Trust does rock and fossil roadshows, dino days, school events, and guided walks.  He said: “Our motto is ‘protect and share’.”

NORTH EAST YORKSHIRE GEOLOGY TRUST MIKE WINDLE WITH FOSSILS

MIKE WINDLE WITH A SELECTION OF FOSSILS

To find an event, see Mike’s website at www.neyorksgeologytrust.com – and read the full article in Dalesman Magazine, July 2010 issue, out now.

www.dalesman.co.uk

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Hitchcock was right

May 20, 2010

The sun came out the other day, so I thought I’d eat my lunch in the garden – and a robin tried to mug me for it!

As I ate my sandwich, the robin hovered in front of my face.  I honestly thought he was going to attack me.

I held out, and didn’t give him anything.  I’m happy to give the birds my crumbs, but I don’t want to reward aggressive behaviour.

Maybe Hitchcock was right: the birds will turn on us…..?

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Dandelions

May 15, 2010

Dandelions are in a flush of bloom, their carpets of gold lining the roads.

They turn their faces to the sun, and bring the sun down to earth.  If they were difficult to grow, we’d prize them in our gardens.  As it is, dandelions are remarkably adaptable, managing to survive in places as variable as  cracks in the roadside,to lush watermeadows.

I decided to photograph them, to preserve their brilliant gold colour.

It was lovely to be out in the early morning sunshine, filled with the music of birdsong, capturing the sunshine in my lens.

Maybe I’ll get my picture blown up to poster size, to brighten the winter.

dandelion flowers

Sunshine on earth: dandelion flowers

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Cuckoo

April 30, 2010

Yesterday, I heard the cuckoo for the first time this year.  It was a warm day, so I opened the window – and heard the cuckoo!

Every year, I hear the cuckoo somewhere near the river, but I’ve never managed to see it.  I took a walk down there, and there were so many different bird songs, it was hard to distinguish them.

I saw a flock of  ‘small brown’ birds.  It was hard to see their markings, silhouetted against the sun.  But they definitely weren’t sparrows.

I walked along, trying to distinguish the different songs: crows – that’s easy, so is the cuckoo, and the doves, and the croak of a pheasant in the copse.

But the song birds: thrushes, robins, tits, warblers, linnets, blackbirds – it’s so hard to tell them all apart.

Back at home, I think there are more birds living on my house than there are people in it.  There’s a flock of sparrows nesting under the roof tiles.  Then under the eaves, there are housemartins.  A blackbird is nesting on the ivy near the study window.

In the morning, the dawn chorus is deafening: spring certainly isn’t silent in Appleton Wiske!

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