Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: The North Yorkshire Moors,Sunday 5th

Thursday 9 April 2015

The North Yorkshire Moors,Sunday 5th - Monday 6th April 2015.

A last spare of the moment idea had Trace and myself booking ourselves into a lovely B&B at the famous village of Goathland and we spent the next two days exploring some of the lovely local areas,this is what we saw.
Day one....and after arriving at the B&B we decided to walk down to Mallayan Spout and then on to Beck Hole and back to Goathland.The walk down the side of the Mallayan Spout Hotel was a bit hairy in places due to the recent rain and subsequent mud,but when you reach the river it is well worth the effort,with some impressive upland river scenery.
The Mallayan Spout Waterfall is the highest in the National Park,but still isn't the most impressive we have seen,but as i said the walk along here is stunning.
Bird wise it wasn't too bad and we saw and heard 4 Chiffchaff,5 Grey Wagtail,4 Nuthatch and 2 singing male Marsh Tit,the latter being a personal fave.
I also managed to see my first Butterflies of the year today and they included 2 Comma and a single Peacock and there was also plenty of wildflowers on show with Primroses and Lesser Celandines featuring.A drink at the very quaint Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole before the return walk back to Goathland was a very welcome one.
Day Two....After a huge breakfast we had pre-planned to walk from Ravenscar to Robin Hoods Bay,sadly the forecasted fog which had been promised was present in the outward leg of the walk up to Robin Hoods Bay,but on the return leg it thankfully began to lift and we could appreciate the beautiful coastline along here.The walk is a bit up and down in places but has some really nice views.It was interesting to see that this part of the Yorkshire coastline is also eroding at a pretty fast rate as well as the areas further south.
Bird sightings along the walk included a steady northerly passage of both Meadow Pipits and Alba Wags,at least 7 Chiffchaff,4 Goldcrest,4 Grey Wagtail and the highlights at Ravenscar a 2nd cal yr. Peregrine and a Green Woodpecker.A few mammals were also seen with a Grey Seal just off the beach at Ravenscar and a Buck Roe Deer here as well.
So after a lovely couple of days away again we travelled home with slightly sore legs,but happy we had visited this stunning part of Yorkshire again.