Today was planned to be a family day out,with Trace,Kirst,Kev and the dogs and saw us taking part in a walk which Kirst and Kev had completed the previous year,encompassing Levisham and the Hole of Horcum in North Yorkshire.We all arrived in beautiful wall to wall sunshine and a pleasantly warm 20 degrees.This area was unknown to me,but the amount of birds,wildflowers and insects seen on the walk,will certainly see me visiting again,not to mention the stunning scenery.Bird highlights were provided by at least 2 singing male Redstart,1 of which was observed singing in his tree top home,a pair of Dipper seen at their nest site,a singing male Tree Pipit,which was a nice surprise,at least 6 singing male Garden Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher.Insect highlights were provided by several Dor Beetles seen along one of the woodland paths and 2 new species for me,a stunning Carabus nitens,the most colour full Ground beetle i have seen and an equally colour full Blue Bug a new species of Shieldbug for myself.Other insects seen included several Green-veined White's,Orange Tip,Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.Also a couple of day-flying moth species were seen and these included at least 10 Northern Eggar and a couple of Common Heath.One of the features of the early part of the walk was the profusion of wildflowers which was really nice to see and included Early-purple Orchid,Ramsons,Greater Celandine,Dogs Mercury,Greater Stichwort and Wood Sorrel,the Orchids were in excellent numbers and the air was filled with the pungent smell of the Ramsons,very nice!.All in all this was a fantastic area,even though parts of the path are a tad testing for my old bones,i certainly will be visiting again.
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| Early-purple Orchid. |
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| Dor Beetle. |
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| Wood Anemone. |
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| Ground Beetle - Carabus nitens. |
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| Blue Bug. |
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| One of the nosy local lambs. |
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