Daffodils,
Lapwings and more...  |
Hutton le Hole is a picturesque village in the heart of the North Yorks
Moors National Park. The area surrounding the village is known as
Farndale and its moor offers excellent wildlife opportunities. | Moorland adventure.
Photo c/o Dave Phillips. |
Farndale is the starting
point for a journey to see a great spring spectacle - the Grouse season.
In
spring Farndale Moor is a great place for bird watching - it's a riot of display
of calls and mating behaviour especially where the moor land meets the farmland.
Grouse season  One
of Farndale's important springtime residents is the Grouse.
Farndale has
managed to keep a healthy Grouse population, and a spin-off for nature watchers
is that other moorland birds benefit. Many birds nest on the edge of the
moor and farmland during the spring because it provides safety and cover. LAPWING
FACT FILE | Also known
as a Green Plover, Peewit, Pee-wee, Chewit and Tieve's Nacket.
Makes
a 'pee-wit' sound, hence its nickname.
White face with
black markings.
Strong fliers with the ability to reach
speeds of over 40mph during migration.
Tends to stay
in large flocks with other birds to minimise risk of attack from predators such
as Sparrowhawks and Peregrines.
Roosts in the centre
of big fields or on coastal mudflats with good visibility to detect predators.
Mainly
eats insects, earthworms, spiders and other small invertebrates. |
The fields are also close to land which is not intensively farmed, rich in food.
It's also an area with a high water table so the birds don't have to work
to hard to find worms, insects and other nutrients. Amongst the species
which live on the moor are Meadow Pipits, Golden Plover, Curlew and Lapwing. In
the spring Lapwings put on a fantastic, eye-catching display with courtship rituals
that resemble a well-choreographed ballet. This medium sized birds looks
black and white from a distance, but the upper parts of its wing are actually
a beautiful, iridescent bottle green mixed with bronze and purple. The Lapwing's
most distinctive feature is its beautiful crest - watch for its loud, 'tumbling'
display flights.
Daffodil dale  Low
Mill at the southern end of Farndale is one of the most beautiful dales in the
whole of Yorkshire.
When the most recent Ice Age was coming to an end,
three glaciers which had converged on these hills melted and carved great slices
in the landscape, resulting in the landscape we see today. One of nature's
phenomenon takes place here every spring - a huge carpet of yellow Daffodils,
an unparalleled sight anywhere in the UK. The area is so good for daffodils
because of its damp landscape with open woods near the river, together with farmland
that hasn't been intensively managed. No fertiliser has been used here
so the grass has not been encouraged to grow out-compete the flowers. These
wild Daffodils are different to the domestic type seen in ordinary gardens - these
are much smaller and more delicate. They're sometimes called Lent Lilies
and they've been growing in this dale for hundreds if not thousands of years. When
these flowers have bloomed, the farmers let their stock in to graze and deadhead
the flowers which strengthens the bulb for the following year. Farndale
is also a good place to spot other plant species including March Marigold. Photo
credits Photographs courtesy of Natural
England. | 
