Tom Kirby 1949

Home , Ainthorpe, Bransdale, Kirkbymoorside, Lastingham, Roseberry Topping, Scrayingham

VOICE OF THE MOORS

NYMA – PROTECTING THE NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS THE MAGAZINE OF ISSUE 136 THE NORTH YORKSHIRE SUMMER 2019 MOORS ASSOCIATION (NYMA) £2.75 CONTENTS CHAIRMAN’S 3 Chairman’s Report to the Trustees 2019 REPORT TO 4 National Trails 50 YEARS OF THE CLEVELAND WAY THE TRUSTEES 6 Botany ORCHIDS 7 President's Piece THE FUTURE IS 2019 A STATE OF MIND 8 Tribute TOM KIRBY 1949 – 2019 INTRODUCTION 9 Ornithology YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT This year has been a busy time for NYMA and includes follow- up work on the History Tree Project after the launch of The 10 Horse Riding RIDING THE MOORS History Tree book at last year’s AGM. We have responded to 12 Community Events APPLE PRESSING planning applications, attended numerous meetings and 12 Poem MUSING ON MOLES continued to work on other projects. We have committed 13 Walks HERE’S TO YOU MRS ROBINSON ourselves to hosting the 2020 National Park Societies annual 14 Tourism UNIVERSITY FIELD TRIP REVIEW conference to be held next October at Cober Hill, Cloughton 14 Conservation Award BUCKTHORN FOR near Scarborough. We have responded to the consultation on BRIMSTONES – 2019 CONSERVATION the Review of National Parks (Glover Review) and in AWARD WINNER September, attended a round-table meeting in Helmsley with 15 Skylarks / Crossword 83 the chairman Julian Glover. We have also worked on a response to the consultation on the draft Local Plan to cover 16 NYMA News / NYMA Walks the period 2016-2035 and due to be submitted to the planning Cover photo: Cleveland Way, Hasty Bank © Mike Kipling-NYMNPA inspectorate in June. NYMA has organised its biennial Conservation Award made jointly with the National Park.

FINANCES At the end of the financial year in March 2019 our financial NYMA MEMBERSHIP position is sound with an end of year balance of £55,628.33. Annual membership: Our main expenditure is Voice production and Secretary fees • Individual £18 and expenses. Our main income is from members’ • Joint £25 (living at same address) subscriptions and we received £2,900 in donations. In 2018 we Annual digital membership: received a bequest of £2,500 from the estate of Allan Patmore • Individual £10 to be allocated to a specific project yet to be arranged. • Joint £14 (living at the same address) MEETINGS 10 Year membership: Over the past year we have held four Council meetings in • Individual £120 Kirkbymoorside. We also attended three Campaign for • Joint £150 (living at same address) National Parks (CNP) meetings, giving us the opportunity to Life membership: meet with other representatives from the twelve National • Individual £300 Park Societies and with representatives from CNP. We would like to record a word of thanks to Ruth Bradshaw, Policy and • Joint £400 (living at same address) Research Manager for CNP, who has been helpful in Business membership: contributing to the consultation on the Local Plan and other • Small businesses (up to 10 employees): £30 planning matters. We also attended the 2018 National Parks • Large businesses (more than 10 employees): £100 Societies annual conference held in the Dartmoor National For membership queries or if you wish to join our Park. Meetings have been held with the Friends of the Dales e-newsletter list, please contact Membership Secretary: and Friends of the Peak District in connection with a link-up Carolyn Moore on 01287 669648 or e-mail: to the School of Tourism at Leeds Beckett University. This is [email protected] a new initiative to find out more about young people’s interest in national parks. We also continue to keep in touch with the North York Moors Green Lanes Alliance on issues

Voice of the Moors Editor concerned with off-roaders who create so much damage to Sharon Artley green lanes and make difficulties for other users. Please email articles/letters/photos to: [email protected] – 01287 660470 MEMBERSHIP Design Basement Press – 01947 897945 Total membership in April 2019 was 423 showing a small www.basementpress.com decline of 4 members since last June. There has been a good Printed on paper made from sustainable and traceable raw material sources. take-up of the 10-year membership option introduced at the Articles appearing in Voice of the Moors convey the authors’ personal views, beginning of 2018. We have a growing number of business beliefs and opinions and are not necessarily those of the North Yorkshire Moors Association. memberships and these now total six. We have reviewed the

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 2 postage costs of Voice to overseas members. In the case of overseas life members, a greater proportion of their fee is taken up by postage and we are in financial deficit. A new digital subscription, with a rate of £10, has been introduced for individual membership and a proportionate rate of £14.00 for joint annual membership.

2019 CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION Our Constitution requires us to report on the activities of the Association including those for public benefit and you will see from what follows that this is very much part of what we have done over the last twelve months.

VOICE OF THE MOORS Our quarterly magazine continues to be a vitally important connection with our members. The high quality of content and design is maintained through the efforts of the editor Sharon Artley and Pascal Thivillon of Basement Press who prepares the magazine for printing. We are grateful to the many contributors to the magazine, especially those who provide articles for each issue. Thanks must also go to the team who ensure that the magazine reaches our members in a timely way. This issue carries a tribute (page 8) to Tom Kirby who sadly died earlier this year. He provided such informative and readable articles on mycology.

GUIDED WALKS The programme of guided walks has continued over the last year with eleven varied walks led by our regular walks team: Beryl Turner, Colin and Heather Mather, Wendy Smith, Kath Mair and Albert Elliot. They have clocked up a collective total of over 60 miles. An additional “Town Walk” has been introduced, the first of these being a walk round Kirkbymoorside. Park Wood biodiversity plot tree planting PARK WOOD BIODIVERSITY PROJECT This long-term project has continued with some fencing k c

maintenance and additional tree planting in late April. We sculpture known as ‘The Seated Man’ erected on Brown Hill i w d a

have to thank Botton Forester Alan Ayers for generously between Danby Dale and Westerdale has now been removed. h C

providing trees and stakes from the Botton Tree Nursery. o We objected to the siting of this sculpture on Brown Hill when T

Tree planting is now almost complete, but we will be seeking the planning application was made two years ago, considering o t o h some Alder Buckthorn for planting in the autumn to provide it not to be a suitable location. It was subsequently approved P a habitat for the brimstone butterfly. by the National Park Planning Committee for a limited period of five years. The popularity of the sculpture, generated partly MOORSBUS through social media, led to unexpectedly large numbers of This year marks the end of ring-fenced funding that we have people visiting the site and resulting in considerable damage provided for supporting this project. The funding came from to this protected area of moorland and so a decision was a bequest from the estate of the late Charles Laughton of made to remove it after only two years. York. NYMA will continue to offer support for the Moorsbus in other ways. We are pleased to report that the County Council has imposed a permanent Transport Regulation Order (TRO) on WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA Kirby Bank which includes the “Kirby Bank Trod”. This bans NYMA now has a new domain name: nyma.org.uk and all motorised vehicles from using this track and will help to thanks to Janet we have now got a lively and up-to-date preserve an ancient public way from the damage caused by website. Cal and Janet have also set up a new Facebook page off-road vehicles. In 2018 NYMA added its voice to the Wild about the Moors which it is hoped will provide a forum consultation which started the process leading to the ban. for campaigning as well as highlighting NYMA activity. PUBLICATIONS PLANNING MATTERS Sales of The History Tree book continue with over 600 copies We have continued to monitor the developments at the Sirius now sold. NYMA is acting as publisher for two new books shortly Minerals mine head site at the former Doves Nest Farm and to appear on bookshelves. These are: Wildflowers of Westerdale also at the tunnel access site at Lockwood Beck. Further by Carol May Wilson and Wheelsheds of North Yorkshire by David modifications to the original planning application have been Hartley and Joan Hartley, edited by Robin Cook. agreed with the National Park. The large painted bronze TOM CHADWICK

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 3 NATIONAL TRAILS 50 YEARS OF THE CLEVELAND WAY A P N M Y N - y e k n e l B

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Summer walkers on Cleveland Way near Roseberry Topping h P

F THE SIXTEEN NATIONAL TRAILS in England and The ascent from Clay Bank to the summit of Urra Moor, at Wales, the Cleveland Way is the best! But then, I 454 metres the highest point on the moors, is the last long O climb for a while, the rest of the walk being a gentle would say that, wouldn’t I! However, I think I can justify my claim. For a start, several of the National Trails downward slope towards Kildale. The distant peak of don’t follow coastline, although a few do start or finish by Roseberry Topping draws you on while you may contemplate the sea. And which other National Trail offers such a wide when and why the numerous standing stones you pass were range of habitats and such diverse scenery as the Cleveland erected. Crossing the old Rosedale mineral railway track bed Way? Moorland and forest, woodland and farmland, rocky may also bring thoughts of the tough conditions in which shore and sandy beach, dales and escarpments, sea cliffs the early navvies worked. and headlands, the list goes on. And in addition to the Leaving Kildale and passing under the line of the Esk Valley natural features, the Way passes historic sites dating from Railway, the path climbs gently towards the prominent stone the Stone Age to the present, including the magnificent obelisk erected in memory of Captain James Cook. Cook Rievaulx Abbey, dominant Scarborough Castle, and the spent much of his boyhood within sight of Roseberry subtler evidence of Iron Age forts and Stone Age fields. Then Topping. Through coniferous forest and mixed woodland and there is our very capricious weather! Let’s take a quick trip overlooking the ancient market town of Guisborough, the along ten sections of this glorious 109 mile walk. Way now heads eastwards towards the coast. A pleasant Leaving the imposing ruins of the castle in the very centre of stroll down Saltburn Valley brings you to the sea and a the attractive market town of Helmsley, the Way climbs gently dramatic change of scenery. westward before dropping into a series of valleys which Keep the sea on your left and you can’t get lost! Like the sky, dissect the limestone of the Hambleton Hills. The route finally the sea is forever changing and will now add a new emerges onto the plateau at the aptly named village of Cold dimension to your walk. Appropriately, we are still in Kirby before arriving at Sutton Bank. The two highlights of this Cleveland, ‘cliff land’, as we stroll out along the North section of the walk are surely the glorious ruins of Rievaulx Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast. From sea level at Abbey and the amazing view as you suddenly emerge from Skinningrove, the Way gradually rises towards the highest the forest on the very edge of Sutton Bank. cliffs on the east coast of England at Boulby. Like the From here to Osmotherley is an airy walk along the northern escarpment, these cliffs have seen huge changes escarpment edge at around 200 metres above the western as a result of the extensive quarrying and mining activities of plain. A gradual change from limestone to sandstone yesteryear. introduces you to your first experience of heather moorland Leaving behind the attractive old fishing village of Staithes, which stretches eastwards for some forty miles to the North the path now climbs from the shore and once on the cliff top Sea. On a clear day the views in all directions are stupendous follows a near level route via the impressively named Port and in August the acres of purple heather have to be seen to Mulgrave (don’t expect too much!) and the cliff top be believed, not to mention the honeyed scent! settlement of Kettleness, most of which fell into the sea 190 Prepare for some stiff climbing on the third section of the years ago. Approaching Sandsend, the path suddenly Way! The Cleveland Hills form a vast dissected plateau along descends via a steep staircase onto the trackbed of the old the western and northern area of the North Yorkshire Moors. Whitby to Saltburn railway which closed in 1958. Winding You have no sooner scaled one hill when you are heading for through the site of a huge old alum works you finally arrive the next. The views, will however, offer compensation, where the ‘sand ends’, extending north to Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Durham Subject to the state of the tide you may walk along the County and west to the Northern Pennines. Today it is difficult beach to Whitby, which deserves more than a passing look. to appreciate that a couple of centuries ago, this escarpment The town is steeped in history and is dominated on the East was riddled with working jet mines and huge alum quarries. Cliff by the gaunt ruins of Whitby Abbey and on the West

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 4 A A P P N N M M Y Y N N - - g g n n i i l l p p i i K K

e e k k i i M M

o o t t o o h h P View of Robin Hood’s Bay from Ravenscar Lake Gormire from Cleveland Way north of Sutton Bank P

Cliff by the prominent statue of James Cook. An airy cliff top walk will bring you to that jewel in the crown of the Yorkshire

A coast, Robin Hood’s Bay. P N M Y

N Following the wide sweep of the bay with its great curving - n o t n Jurassic scaurs, the Way climbs to Ravenscar, the last high e D k r a point on the walk, from which there is a steady descent M

o towards Scarborough. Ravenscar, ‘the town that never was’, t o h Bluebells near Roseberry Topping P sits atop a 200-metre-high cliff, perhaps one reason why development never took off? Quite a contrast to Scarborough,

A Saltburn P

N ‘the queen of watering places’, to give it its old sobriquet. M Y N - s

a From Scarborough to Filey is one of my favourite stretches of l o h c i

N coastline. Away from the moors and the high cliffs, you e k i M

follow a more gentle and greener coastline, to terminate in © o t o the long eastern pointing finger of Filey Brigg, the end of the h P Cleveland Way and the beginning of the Wolds Way, but that’s another story! Fifty years is half a lifetime and there have been many changes along the Way since Alan Falconer first proposed the route in the late 1960s. Walking has increased in popularity and today it is estimated that around 350,000 people walk at least a part of the Way every year, with several thousand completing the whole route. Wear and tear on the peatlands of the Cleveland Hills led to the establishment of the Cleveland Way Project in 1989 and the paving of several miles of the route with sandstone slabs from old mills in West Yorkshire. Along the coast, erosion has taken its toll with sections of the route frequently being moved back to accommodate the path. This was particularly challenging when the Holbeck Hall Hotel at Scarborough fell into the sea in 1993! Today, volunteers play a big role in managing the Way with sections of the route being adopted by families, youth groups and clubs. They check their section three times a year, carry our small works and report any problems. National Park Volunteers and Park Apprentices also play a major role working with a full time Ranger. Many Group of walkers near Wainstones things may have changed over the last fifty years but the Cleveland Way remains a walk for all seasons and is still the premier long distance walk in the country. But then, I would s e

g say that, wouldn’t I! a m I r o

b ALAN STANIFORTH E

ENTION orchids and most people immediately visualise the showy tropical orchids that are ever M available in supermarkets and garden centres rather than our native ones. They may be quite disappointed by these; smaller, less spectacular and with only a brief and often hidden flowering period. But their life styles are fascinating and, if conditions permit, they can offer a short eye-catching display. We have about fifty native species, belonging to the family Orchidaceae, just less than half are, or have been, found on our moors, many are rare and most sadly declining in Dactylorhiza fuchsii Dactylorhiza maculata frequency. In evolutionary terms it is a fairly recent family adapting to insect pollinators available, and frequently hybridising. They are perennial, monocotyledons with single, erect, unbranched stems supporting a flowering spike, with simple parallel veined leaves in basal rosettes which may continue sporadically up the stems. The flowers have three sepals and three petals, the inner lateral ones forming a ‘lip’, above which the single stamen supports the two pollen sacs. These lips vary tremendously in shape and size, in extreme cases resembling the insects attracted for pollination, the bee and fly orchids, or other fanciful shapes that give them their common names. Epipactis helleborine Orchis mascula We now know that nearly all plants benefit from having an association with fungal mychorrhiza in the soil, but orchids

spotted orchid ( Dactylorhiza maculata ), a little less common A M

are entirely dependent on these, each with a specific fungus. Y N on acid heaths and moors. Other pink/purple orchids that d n

This limits the habitats where they can survive as, even if a

may be encountered are the fragrant, the northern marsh e k pollination is successful, their prolific minute wind borne y S

and the pyramidal. n a N

seeds have no food reserves and need that fungal ©

Of the green/yellow flowering species, the easily overlooked s o association immediately to germinate and growth to t o h maturity may take several years. However, once fully grown, common twayblade ( Neottia ovata ) is often found in woods P they are fairly robust, carrying huge food reserves in their and on grass verges, with its two large, oval basal leaves and tubers and roots so they can survive in poor soils and even green flowers with forked lip, and the broad leaved over years when conditions prevent flowering. Most flower helleborine ( Epipactis helleborine ) in shady woods and banks early in the summer before other vegetation becomes too with long spikes of greenish pink flowers. dense and only spend a brief period above ground. They The tuberous roots of many orchids contain a mucilaginous prefer stable habitats, woods, bogs, cliffs and old meadows, starch like substance, with sugar and nutrients that has from modern farming practices being detrimental but they do ancient times been used to make a drink called Salep (from seem able to recolonise the poor soils left on old industrial the Arabic Sahlets), with spices, honey and milk, a highly sites, waste tips, power stations and motorway verges, for nutritious herbal tonic, soothing and strengthening. This example around the Teesmouth area. was drunk in the popular Salep houses, particularly as, due Although 21/22 species have been recorded on the North to the shape of the two round underground tubers of many Yorkshire Moors, many are rare and confined to a few species, by sympathetic magic it was reputed to be an individuals in specific areas, but half a dozen are more likely to aphrodisiac as well! Only when coffee arrived in this country be encountered, some with purple flowering spikes and some did these venues become our coffee houses. Due to the with yellow/green ones and I will concentrate on these. concentrated nutrients, the tubers were also carried on long sea voyages. Only the twayblade had other uses, being The first to flower is the early purple orchid ( Orchis mascula ), recommended as wound healing and for irritable bowels. from April in ancient woodland, cliffs and hedge banks on more acid soils. It has a dark purple lax flowering spike and Needless to say, all orchids are too scarce for us to consider usually darkly blotched leaves. The common spotted orchid uprooting them for use nowadays! I have only described a (Dactylorhiza fuchsii ), follows with a pale pink, more compact few of the commoner orchids and suggest if you find any head and spotted leaves, on verges, meadows and marshes others you consult a good flower guide for identification. on non- acid soils and the similar light pink heath ANNE PRESS

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 6 PRESIDENT'S PIECE THE FUTURE IS A STATE OF MIND

…AND, WHAT A MESS IT COULD BE! it is a frightening fact that ‘food comes first … morals and My head is spinning with chaos, sound-bites, threats, everything else somewhat later’ … and to add another drop promises, losses, uncertainty. British Steel collapses, it has just of doom and gloom, it is also said that: ‘we are only three been announced (no idea what the position will be when you meals away from anarchy’, not forgetting that we already read this). I contemplate those forests across the Park planted import a large proportion of the food we need. in response to a desperate strategic need at the end of The Unfortunately, on entering the EU, when support payments Great War, pondering whether there might just be a lesson, were linked to production, they encouraged wholesale once learned a very hard way, writ large across the landscape. clearance of rough places and many intimate details of the In such turmoil, where will the quality of the environment sit landscape were lost to provide more space to grow crops and in the collective mind of society? What we think now, sets increase returns. Rejigged to support the holding rather than the scene for that, which others will inherit or have to deal the production and with the addition of welcome with in the years ahead. environmental payments, the financial support regime turned this around, sustained holdings and supported But, why have we heard so very little about the environment important work for the environment on farms. This enabled in the debate over our future relationship with Europe? proper management of economically unviable but ‘Getting our country back’, which I never thought I’d actually ecologically priceless places to be maintained, and yes, loved lost, tells me absolutely nothing about what we will do when with pride by those responsible for looking after them. it ‘returns’. There is a drive to trade globally. At the same time, imperatives for the future of the planet point in exactly Now what is to happen? We are told that present farm support will be maintained for a few more years then scaled- the opposite direction - that we should be aiming for down. A new scheme has been promised - details yet to be something rather closer to home. It seems a very strange seen - tailored to providing environmental benefits and and contradictory mind-set to have. public good. On the face of it that sounds fine. But if there And: how far will politicians compromise the hard-fought-for are to be new and beneficial ways for farm support to be principles of environmental protection and food standards in financed, perhaps capped or tapered to favour the smaller the headlong dash to woo trade and encourage building farming enterprises, can society make a plea that they are projects? not onerous or too demanding of the farmer and that those Even today, with regulations to protect our finest places, it is owning and working the land can be rewarded in relation to an uphill struggle to constrain inappropriate development, as what they already have, as well as for the new things they we know only too well in the Moors. Moreover, I am told can create or accommodate. transposition of rules into UK law, if not carefully handled, As to society’s collective state of mind ... I’d say it should be could water-down the Habitats Regulations, which can stop ‘troubled to get things right’. For the person who thinks it activity harmful to internationally protected wildlife sites, important to do the ‘right thing’ in their private life, however including most of the moors, from going ahead. small that gesture might be, later that day might be the But, getting down to fundamentals, what worries me most Chief Executive of a multi-national company, or somewhere for the countryside is the future for our farmers, on whom on the scale in between, and attach the same concern for not only food supplies depend but also the means to try to the environment and the future of the planet as a priority in s r

maintain and rebuild the fabric of the natural world on a whatever decision they are about to take; the Future is our i a t s r national scale. state of mind … now. It is the ultimate cliché, but we are all a C

n a I in this together. What do we think? A lot depends on it. ©

Farm support and environmental payments have been an s o t o essential part of helping to keep food prices low. Importantly, IAN CARSTAIRS h P

Boundary marker Forestry Commission forest edge Meadow Pipit

VOICE OF THE MOORS – WINTER 2018 7 TRIBUTE TOM KIRBY 1949 – 2019 t t o i

l colleagues from the Eskuleles band sang songs that Tom l E e n i knew well. Tony O’Donnell, a talented violinist and friend l u a P from Castleton, completed the service music with a moving © o t o rendition of The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams. h P However, the weather on the day was not so kind, being bitterly cold with a low-lying dense fog (roke) hanging in the valley frustratingly obscuring the fine views of the dale for those attending the service. Tom would certainly have made some humorous and pithy quip about the conditions of the day and the vagaries of the English weather ... Tom Kirby and his wife Annie moved to Ainthorpe, Danby, just three or so years ago after living for over forty years in the Sedgefield area. However, Tom immediately involved himself in the local community becoming an enthusiastic and active Esk Valley resident and a valued friend and colleague to many. He joined the Castleton Men’s Shed group and the Eskuleles, a band of local musicians and singers who give concerts in the area and raise considerable funds for charities and other worthy causes. This was right up Tom’s street. In his own inimitable way, he took up the ukelele with gusto putting in many hours of concentrated practice (to which Annie will attest). He soon became proficient on the instrument going on to give entertaining SSUE 125 of Voice of the Moors (Autumn 2016) and accomplished solo renditions of some of his favourite contained the first of Tom Kirby’s fascinating articles on songs such as Frankie & Johnny and Blueberry Hill as part of I the Eskuleles entertainment evenings: a born performer. fungi. Tom was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable amateur mycologist. In fact, it was said by those who know Tom was a talented and generous guy, an excellent cook that he was ‘quite an expert’. He was an active member of (nicknamed by his friends the Naked Chef because of his the North Eastern Fungus Study Group. Perfectly penchant for wearing little else but shorts and a large wrap- complimenting his mycology expertise, was his ability to round apron when cooking). He ably displayed this culinary write in a humorous and entertaining style while still having skill and kindness by cooking and serving – on two occasions gravitas when needed. Tom contributed a further nine and at his behest - breakfasts at his Ainthorpe home for the excellent instalments on fungi for Voice readers, his last entire twenty or so members of the Castleton Men’s Shed. piece appearing in issue 134 (Winter 2018). He also led lively Annie discreetly ‘slipped away’ during these raucous men’s ‘fungal forays’ for NYMA members (and any other interested breakfast banquets: a wise woman indeed. Tom’s dishes of groups) impressing everyone with his in-depth smoked fish kedgeree and haddock cooked with oats were understanding of his subject and his knack of readily delicious. Tom loved food. His irrepressible love of life was identifying and quoting both the common names and the infectious and his enthusiasm for cooking, socialising and more esoteric Latin nomenclature of the specimens of fungi merrymaking (along with the love of a shared tot or two of he uncovered, as well as giving the pertinent botanic details his favourite tipple, Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey...) was and any relevant folklore. legendary as was his kind hospitality and friendliness. He At the start of 2019 Tom fell ill, eventually requiring prolonged delighted in sharing a good joke or story; a raconteur who could enthral listeners with his ‘riveting’ tales. hospitalisation. Despite his excellent care and medical treatment, Tom lost his brave battle with cancer and, sadly, Tom was a non-conventional individualist, a big man in both died at the end of March. He was seventy. Tom was a caring stature and personality; a loveable extrovert and a larger- environmentalist and at his request the funeral service took than-life character. He also had his share of eccentricities place at the green field burial site along Westerdale Side at the (like swimming at midnight in the cold River Esk, for heart of the North York Moors National Park. A huge throng instance!), but his offbeat and zany exploits served only to gathered there on Monday 8 April to celebrate Tom’s life and endear him all the more to those who came to know the say farewell to their good friend and colleague. The many man. A kind, supportive and unforgettable character who will upbeat and often humorous eulogies and anecdotes fondly be greatly missed. delivered during the service said it all. A small ensemble of AINSLEY

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 8 ORNITHOLOGY YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

M SURE you’ve noticed that birds’ beaks vary in Goldfinches shape and size and realise that in most cases the y e

I’ otherwise remain undiscovered. Blackbirds have a fruit-eaters’ l they have evolved to cope with their respective t r A

diets: but have you ever stopped to wonder how beaks work? bill with a slightly hooked tip for plucking fruit and a broad n o r a h S Many garden birds are seed eaters and have strong beaks base that allows them to swallow things whole, but obviously ©

o t

capable of cracking husks to get at their kernels. are happy to eat worms and many other similar comestibles. o h P But look more closely at these (primarily) seed eaters; Surprisingly the shape of a bird’s beak may change over competition for food means that some sort of specialisation time. A great tit’s bill can change shape depending on what is needed to make the most of each type of seed. Take food is available. Adults eat seeds during the winter but finches: they have strong jaw muscles and modified beaks switch to caterpillars in the spring. Subtle changes occur in with two grooves inside where they can lodge seeds and their bills, which become longer and narrower during spring, then use their tongues to rotate them as the mandibles do allowing them to feed more easily on invertebrates. the crushing and dehusking. If you decide to avoid the mass But when you look closer still, there are other specialisations of husks left underneath a feeder containing whole to be found. sunflower seeds and so put out sunflower hearts, you may Chaffinches and bramblings usually feed on the ground then wonder why you are still left with a load of skins. This is looking for places where disturbed soil has brought seeds to the finches rotating the seeds in their beaks and using their the surface, with the chaffinch having a slightly smaller bill tongues to deskin them, so making them more digestible. suitable for smaller seeds. Beaks are made up of two halves or mandibles, the outer Greenfinches prefer elm, yew and hawthorn, and have large layer of which consists of keratin (like our hair) and which, robust beaks to cope with these larger seeds. Goldfinches similarly, continues to grow and is worn down by everyday too are specialists. They prefer very small seeds, favouring use. The upper mandible contains the nostrils at the base of dandelions, thistles and teasel, their fine, pointed bills the bill and both mandibles have cutting edges. The jaw allowing them to access the small seed heads. muscles are attached to the skull and act as a lever on the Bullfinches prefer to peel the skin and pulpy flesh off their lower mandible, allowing the bird to open and close its beak seeds, with short bills designed for the task. – the upper mandible does not move in most birds. Despite all this specialisation, finches will happily catch insects. ‘Soft-billed’ birds generally can’t crack open hard seeds, with Some species, such as chaffinch and goldfinch, will eat insects species like wren and starling having narrow bills to probe for during the breeding season, and the majority of finch young are insects. Starlings do have an extra feature to their beaks; their fed on easily digestible and highly nutritious invertebrates. It’s jaw muscles are extremely strong allowing them to open their here that the debate of whether to feed during the breeding beaks within the soil, uncovering insect larvae that might season comes to the forefront. Chicks need a high protein diet to develop as rapidly as possible, with their parents bringing Greenfinch them plenty of insects, but if there is a shortage, whether due to excessive use of pesticides and herbicides or our ever more extreme weather, what happens? If things get really tough, they will feed their young on seeds, and here I suggest supplementary foods are better than nothing, but otherwise there is a danger of parents taking seeds for the young whose rate of growth could be reduced as a result. But do remember that birds don’t often read bird books and so don’t always do as they are told! Particularly on garden feeders, lots of birds will go for what is there, though if you put out mixed seed as I do you will see that there the various species do have their preferences. O T B / m Beak size and shape can be useful aids to identifying a h n e k juveniles too, so next time you have some finches in your a P l l i J garden, get out your binoculars and have a closer look. © o t o h

P MIKE GRAY (BTO GARDEN BIRDWATCH AMBASSADOR)

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 9 Photo © Matthew Chapman M l i d r e t p c R w r t a R b d C R h o s w T p a t s t h O c o p m t W p a m A A R

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e 9 using relatively quiet lanes in order to create some fantastic were designed for human and equine feet and not for the riding circuits. The growth of activity tourism means there traction of chunky crossply tyres. are benefits on all sides: we help to support pubs and tea- rooms in out-of-the-way places by stopping for a drink (and THE VIEW FROM A HORSE’S BACK hopefully cake!) while our horses create a picturesque sight as they help themselves to a snack of nearby grass. I have some fantastic memories of riding in the Moors. The experience of standing by the shore of Lake Gormire in a In general, there are few conflicts between equestrians and group of gently steaming horses, with sunlight slanting other countryside users. We politely share the same tracks through the golden autumn leaves, will remain with me for and pass the time of day – and riders are always delighted to ever. Then there’s cantering up the grassy valley of find hikers reaching a gate at the same moment as we do Whisperdales in Broxa Forest, or riding along the coastal since they will often open and close it, saving us the road towards Robin Hood’s Bay with swathes of heather on challenge of grappling with difficult fastenings or spring- either side, and the blue sea ahead fringed by the red roofs loaded hinges. The National Park Authority is normally of the village and the cliffs beyond. In Farndale during spring, responsive to requests to sort out difficult sections, perhaps my horse seemed to appreciate the daffodils as much as I by installing culvert pipes and resurfacing eroded tracks, but did. And once, on a solo ride from Hutton-le-Hole to greater consultation with horse-riders is sometimes needed: Fangdale Beck, crossing Farndale and Bransdale into for instance, a section of the Cleveland Way east of Bilsdale, I turned her loose to graze in the remote Roseberry Topping has been paved with rough stone slabs – churchyard of St. Nicholas at Cockayne, while I sat at a even though it is a bridleway - which horses struggle to cope welcome picnic bench gazing along the dale and sipping with. Cyclists whizzing silently up behind horses can cause coffee provided in the chapel for passing travellers. them to shy until they get used to this phenomenon (why, oh why, don’t cyclists just call out to say hello?). Off-road In short, there is no finer view than the North York Moors motorised vehicles are more of a thorn in our flesh, as many landscape framed by a pair of shapely brown ears. of the ancient roads classified as ‘Byways Open to All Traffic’ JANET COCHRANE

Riders and Rievaulx Abbey Riders in Rosedale n a m p a h C n i b o R

Refreshments at Gillamoor Riding at Hole of Horcum r r o o l l l l e e M M

l l e e M M

o o t t o VOICE OF THE MOORS – SPRING 2019 o h h 11 P P COMMUNITY EVENTS APPLE PRESSING s a i food waste and in eating locally grown their trainees the process and press l E s r e food, a local community group in the apples from their own orchard. i P

© North York Moors has planned a project o The project will also work with Esk Valley t o h to bring communities together to make a P Community Rail Partnership to collect great use of apples which would apples from the Esk Valley via the various otherwise go to waste. Moor Sustainable stations along the line. These will then be Community Interest Company has been taken to Beyond Boundaries in awarded a grant of £4,912 by the Commondale for pressing. Anyone with National Lottery Community Fund to run surplus apples could leave them in a community apple pressing project this designated areas at the stations on autumn. The project will buy apple certain dates and members of Beyond crushers and presses and run community Boundaries will collect them and turn apple pressing days in several villages in them into juice for local consumption. the northern part of the North York Moors Apple trees in our area have done very including Great Ayton, Commondale and well over the last few years, so we hope Lythe. The apple juicing days will be for a good apple harvest in 2019 and lots enjoyable community events where of lovely, locally produced apple juice to ANY PEOPLE will have people can bring buckets of apples from be consumed in our community. For noticed how well apple trees trees in their garden and go away with more details or to contact us to get M lovely fresh juice – a fun activity for all the involved see www.moorsustainable. have been doing recently, and anyone with a reasonable sized apple tree family. org.uk , or look out for our leaflets, in their garden will know that it can be Beyond Boundaries which runs from a posters, in local press and in social media quite hard to use, give away or store all small farm in Commondale, and o ffers from August onwards. Also see the Esk the apples. Turning apples into juice is a fully inclusive training, activities, sports Valley Railway website: good way of using surplus apples and a and courses, will take part in the project. http://www.eskvalleyrailway.co.uk/ great way to use a local food resource. They will run several apple pressing days events/index.html With the current interest in preventing for members of the community, teach CLARE CHURLEY

POEM MUSING ON MOLES

Note from the editor: Tom Kirby (see tribute on page 8) sent this poem to Voice some time ago, but up until now, like the mole, it has lain hidden. It seemed a very appropriate and fitting moment to include it in this edition. I hope you will enjoy Tom’s inimitable writing style, his use of language and wonderfully wry humour. We will miss your articles, Tom. 0

How secretly the mole scrapes by in sodden earth and root. . 3

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Each slug a wad of calories, a push a pull, a shovelled foot. l A

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His blind unmeasured consequence marked by muddy mound a h S -

where proclamations of advance lay surfaced, scattered round. n o i t u b

No concept, sight or knowing plan drives fur and feet afar; i r t t A

yet fanning out, with purpose clear, s n o

the shallow tunnels spread each year. m m o C In lawn and pitch and garden beds, e v i t a

under drives and through yew hedge, e r into cold frames, greenhouse soil, C relentlessly the critters toil. Up above, in sighted world, walks hound and Mole Man, gloved and grassed. Below in scentless, senseless soil, the velvet digger, Buried in his own dug grave, a bloodied cane still holds him fast. ‘til he’s passed, Another mole will find him, soon, and skirt around to seek is still and silent; lest one scrape should prick dog’s ears repast. and give away Who knows which mole produced this hill, this February mound. his hidden hold beneath the roots, so guile may let him They come and come and come again, erupting through the live the day. ground; Down through the dark a stab of cane; and shallow tunnels spread each year. another, nearer. Blood and pain, In lawn and pitch and garden beds, death’s portentous company, under drives and through yew hedge, is on him, but to wriggle free into cold frames, greenhouse soil… is more than pink spades can achieve. I hate them. For sins in soil, there’s no reprieve. TECTAK2017

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 12 WALKS HERE’S TO YOU MRS ROBINSON

OCAL HERO ’ does not quite work for Maureen Robinson. Local heroine more likely, as she is from ‘L the generation who do not bridle at the term. On her father’s side she is distantly related to the astronaut John Glenn, which helps explain her wanderlust. Remarkably, she has compiled and published 1400 walks, most of which have appeared in the Scarborough News in the period 1992-2018. For 52 weeks a year, every year, without missing once, mostly

accompanied by her husband Michael, her hyperactive terrier avid following of fans, many of whom would turn up on p o h s i B Tigga and, in latter years, her neighbour Martin Bishop, weekly walks, also organised by Maureen. n i t r Maureen has delivered. All but three of the routes are circular, a M One thousand walks on, problems were all too frequently ©

usually 5 or so miles, so they are accessible to most, and all o t

appearing: free-roaming bulls, footpaths ploughed over, o h within a 25 mile radius of Scarborough, thus covering the misleading signs, barbed wire across stiles and paths, broken P southern and eastern Moors, the Coast and northern Wolds. bridges and lack of maintenance in unfrequented places all Maureen has also self-published at least 40 books or cut down the options. So earlier walks were revisited, booklets, all of which are now lodged at Scarborough Public revised, and updated, but most were still completely new, for Library in the care of Angela Kale. To show me these, instance, just farther afield: Hornsea and Fraisthorpe in the Maureen borrowed her own work, lodged for posterity in the south and Staithes and Sandsend to the north. Reference Room. All the proceeds from the sales over the Maureen doesn’t have a favourite walk, she says all were a years have gone to charities including the Bridlington’s tonic and any one of them could never fail to revive, however MONECCA appeal, the RNLI, Woodland Trust, St Catherine’s dark the day. The ones that spring first to mind are Hospice, the British Heart Foundation and several more. She Castlebeck Wood, Sinnington daffodils; the Old Wife’s Way has no idea how much has been raised. None of the books near the Hole of Horcum, Harwood Dale; Farndale; Cropton; can be found in local bookshops because most asked for a Appleton-le-Moors; Kirkham Abbey and Howsham Mill, third or more from the cover price. In her words, Maureen is especially before it was refurbished when it was an eerie, ‘quite thrifty’, so that the wider public and charities have mysterious place. As for views, she loves Whisperdales benefitted most from her efforts. reached via the hundred-yard-long ford in Lowdales, Sutton Originally from Rotherham and coming to Scarborough via Bank over Lake Gormire, Ravenscar towards Robin Hood’s Knaresborough and Irton, Maureen started writing botanical Bay and Scarborough South Bay from the Cleveland Way. ‘letters’ for the Scarborough News. These drew on her Inevitably there were many adventures: held captive by a botanical and zoological studies at Ripon Training College. goat at Scrayingham Church; coming across a rare blue The first was on feverfew and its properties in reducing tassel hyacinth; cut-off by the tide at Cayton Bay and headaches and fevers. This prompted such a response from escaping via the Coastguard Station wall; fleeing a bull on a readers that she ended up cycling to places like Cayton delivering specimens. The botanical letters eventually led to Hunmanby-Muston walk; losing Tigga the terrier for three a request from the editor to write about walks. She was hours in Harwood Dale. But most of all the delight in being hesitant about accepting, especially because it involved greeted by strangers and spontaneously thanked for visiting unfamiliar areas, spending hours poring over introducing them to wonderful places that they would never Ordnance Survey maps to trace routes, writing notes at the have otherwise seen. same time as controlling the dog, and, particularly, Amongst her favourite publications are ‘Amazing Race’, a transport, where Michael filled the breach. self-compiled booklet which traces a journey along the The first published walk was from Cloughton Village to Gypsey Race, a watercourse which appears and disappears in Hayburn Wyke along the Cleveland Way and returning via its journey over the Wolds, terminating at Bridlington the dismantled Scarborough to Whitby railway line, now Harbour; ‘Following the Derwent’, another end-to-end river Route 1 on the national cycling network. The editor accepted journey; and ‘Countryside Companion to the Yorkshire it with the comment that it was ‘too flowery’, meaning too Coast’. Just three of 4000 pieces over 40 years. much botany. That fixed, the next thousand prompted an ADRIAN LEAMAN

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 13 TOURISM UNIVERSITY FIELD TRIP REVIEW s t r Kirkbymoorside Environment Group and than half a mile away. With George e b o R

l Bill Breakell from Moorsbus. They spoke Thompson, we discussed the need for e a h c a about their respective organisations and a managing the moorland, mitigating R

o number of initiatives, including the Repair t seasonality in tourism and promoting o h P Café (where small electrical items are ‘localness’. Lastly, we visited the moors repaired by volunteers), ‘Give or Take’ themselves to see how George and his Days (where unwanted household items team manage the land and the grouse. are exchanged), the MoorsBus service It provided a wonderful day out and and other local initiatives. We went away RECENTLY visited the North York illustrated very clearly some of our study inspired, talking about how we could Moors on a field trip for my MSc in topics such as ‘over-tourism’ and I implement them in our own towns and Responsible Tourism Management villages. seasonality and showed how communities (at Leeds Beckett University). Having are working to preserve their cultural Next came the Blacksmith’s Arms in visited the area many times myself, I was identity, promote the environment, and Lastingham, where we met the landlord looking forward to showing it to others, protect and enhance local amenities. It Peter Trafford and George Thompson, particularly my fellow-students from the was fascinating to see how these issues Head Keeper of the Spaunton Estate. We can be addressed in a practical setting. All sunnier climes of Greece, Italy and were privileged to be offered taster dishes Croatia. by Peter Trafford. These were fantastic this while enjoying good food, good We started in Kirkbymoorside where we examples of local produce and low food company and good weather! met June Emerson from the miles, originating from the moors less RACHAEL ROBERTS

CONSERVATION AWARD BUCKTHORN FOR BRIMSTONES – 2019 CONSERVATION AWARD WINNER s g

HE NYMA COUNCIL is delighted twigs were used as butchers’ spikes and n i w n

that the winner of this year’s skewers. e e r G

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T r NYMA Conservation Award is the Both brimstones and buckthorn are at r e B

t Whitby Naturalists’ Club for their t the northern end of their range in north- a M

‘Buckthorn for Brimstones’ initiative. The

east Yorkshire, but since warming due to o t o h award is co-funded with the North York climate change is encouraging the P Moors National Park and recognises migration of some species northwards, in outstanding conservation work. early 2019 the Whitby Naturalists’ Club Buckthorn is the only food-plant of the began a programme of planting Common Brimstone ( Gonepteryx rhamni ). buckthorn in order to extend the habitat In its larval stage, these attractive yellow and range of the brimstone. butterflies will travel miles in spring to lay The project began with members of their eggs on its leaf-buds. The Whitby Naturalists planting over 120 also preferred by other butterflies and caterpillars munch on the young leaves, buckthorn trees in their gardens in moths, while the flowers attract taking about a month to pupate and Whitby and surrounding areas. Funding hoverflies and bees in the summer and emerging as beautiful, finely-veined from the charity Butterfly Conservation birds feed on the berries in autumn, so butterflies. There is speculation that their paid for a further 175 trees in public the programme is encouraging a wide bright yellow colouring accounts for the spaces, creating links to brimstone diversity of animal life. Another feature of ‘butter’ in ‘butterflies’! breeding sites along corridors such as the the scheme has been community participation, including members of Alder buckthorn ( Frangula alnus ) is native Cinder Track between Whitby and Whitby Naturalists, school-children and to Yorkshire, and the Whitby Naturalists’ Ravenscar, the North York Moors Railway National Park volunteers. Club has begun planting it along from Grosmont to Goathland, and the Esk ‘conservation corridors’. Despite its name, Valley from Whitby to Commondale. Sightings of the brimstones are being the buckthorn is not an alder and has no NYMA’s Conservation Award of £500 will monitored, so if you spot them in the thorns! However, it is often found near fund a bulk purchase of buckthorn whips area, please send your record to alder in woodland, preferring damp for planting over the winter, adding further [email protected]. places and peaty soils, and in the past its brimstone larval food sites. Buckthorn is JANET COCHRANE

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 14 SKYLARKS

Hello younger readers. Join the dots on the picture below to reveal a creature that visits the moors in spring and summer.

Can you find this creature anywhere else in the magazine? Do you know what it’s called?

We enjoy including your pictures, stories and news, please keep sending them to [email protected]

CROSSWORD 85 BY AMANUENSIS

1 23 456 ACROSS 1 & 4 One could be tickled to catch this? (5,5) 7 8910 Takes a colourful run down the mountain (5) 11 & 18 10 11 down A down to earth man? Most definitely! (7,5) 12 They can’t get away although they’d like to (8) 13 Loop goes around the pond (4) 15 Axes the French take north east for hydrocarbon (6) 12 13 17 List appears when target goes into oven (6)

14 19 Principal curved structure (4) 20 Sustenance for those in high places? ((8)

15 16 17 23 Brown man may go off on one of these? (7) 24 Out of a bottle, perhaps (5) 18 25 A cereal fruit of the forest (5) 26 Hear cooking method coming from Scottish hills (5) 19 20 21 DOWN 22 2 Complains bitterly about small marsh birds (5) 3 Bellicose make-up? (8) 23 24 5 Bread made on a drum (4) 6 Fabulous animal (7) 7 They can knock you out – permanently! (11)

25 26 8 Shabby towel for young bird of prey (5) 9 Alloy consumed five hundred combined (11) 14 Thickens ice-cream, doubly so perhaps? (4-4) Take the letters from the coloured squares on the grid and 16 Using few words the French take on specific shape (7) rearrange to solve the anagram. 21 Single loss of a pound causes slight burn (5) Clue: Old spanner found by runner at Westerdale (6’1, 4, 6) 22 Look intently at the nobleman (4)

’ Answers on back cover

VOICE OF THE MOORS – SUMMER 2019 15

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. s u B r e l b m a R s r o o M e h t f o s r o s n o p S – A M Y N

k u . g r o . a m y n . w w w

S N O I T A R E N E G E R U T U F D N A T N E S E R P R O F

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r o t a n i d r o o C s k l a

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y r a t e r c e S p i h s r e b m e M 1&4 brown trout; 10 skier; 11&18 down William

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y r a t e r c e S n o i t a i c o s s

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m o c . t e n r e t n i t b @ 1 1 e c r a e p . n a i r b – e c r a e P n a i r

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s r e b m e M l i c n u o

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n a m r i a h C HUNTER'S STEE BRIDGE

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