Health Walks:
Missing the Tuesday Health Walks? How about trying this circular walk of about an hour and a half?
Dunnington and Holtby via Noddle Hill and Holtby Wood
You’ll maybe recognize a lot of the sights you see, but try to pick out something new or unexpected. And enjoy the colour, the smell and the shape of the different species of tree in Holtby Wood.
Here’s a brief description of the route:
Start at the Cross Keys pub, walk into Peter Croft, immediately turn left up Garden Flats Lane and right to the signposted path over Noddle Hill.
Enjoy the views, and continue into the lay-by, where a right turn takes you onto the A166, then after 300m into Holtby Wood through the farm gate on the left.
Enjoy the trees, then descend to Back Lane, where a right turn will take you to a path on the left going behind the village, and marked Yorvik Way.
At the end of this path turn right back up Holtby Main St, then left up Panman Lane, over the A166 to Eastfield Lane, which will take you back to your home or parked car.
Our Wildlife Community – Young Garden Birds
Our first fledglings of the year have visited our garden: we’ve seen one collared dove, three blackbirds, two house sparrows and one starling so far. Here is a photo of our young collared dove. It was a really friendly one. It used to sunbathe while watching us gardening. Recently, we thought it had gone away because its parent had been chasing it off. However, our neighbour next door told us that it had flown into one of their windows. We took it in a cardboard box to Battleflatts Vets in Stamford Bridge. A few days later, Mum phoned for an update and heard that, sadly, it had a dislocated shoulder and had to be put to sleep.
In the past we have occasionally had a bird fly into a window of our house. Most often it seems to be the juveniles who mistakenly think they can fly through. Over the past couple of years we have changed the way we do things to reduce the risk. Firstly, our hanging feeders are either attached to our house or a good distance away. Secondly, we have put ‘window alerts’ on the larger panes of glass – the RSPB has a range of decorative stickers on offer at the time of writing (https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/bird-safety-hygiene/). Thirdly, we now have window feeders (held on by suckers, similar to these at the RSPB https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/window-feeders/) which are easier to clean than most bird tables and potentially safer from cats (and perhaps, if placed with a spacious flight path for safe exit and without a perpendicular window alongside, they might reduce the risk of collision by drawing attention to the window).
The RSPB has advice on birds and windows (https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/birdwatching/bird-behaviour/birds-and-windows/) and on injured and baby birds (https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/injured-and-baby-birds/). For baby birds, it is important to remember that although they might look abandoned that’s rarely the case and, unless the youngster is in immediate danger (e.g. vehicles, cat), the best thing to do is to give it some space and watch/listen for contact with a parent.
Alex & Mum
Our villages - positive actions for our environment
As you have walked around your village as part of your permitted daily exercise during lockdown, what activities have noticed that are beneficial for the environment?
Many changes which have been made over the years are bad for the environment, such as: replacing of front gardens with stone or gravel; making lawns plastic; cutting down native trees and shrubs deemed to be a nuisance; close cropping of publicly-accessible grass in churchyards and on greens; spraying around trees; and cutting into the base of hedges. All these actions deprive bees and other insects of chances to get pollen, thus reducing their numbers, with the knock-on effect of reducing numbers of birds and other animals.
Charities such as Plantlife promote reduced cutting of grass to help wildflowers survive. This is an approach adopted by increasing numbers of councils. You may have noticed some of your fellow village residents observing 'No Mow May' and leaving their lawns to grow up, and Holy Trinity Church in Stockton has proactively adopted a much reduced mowing schedule, but this is still a minority approach. If anything, verges have seemed to be cut more assiduously than ever, despite the lockdown, while Parish Councils have ensured that other green areas have continued to be cut regularly. Many farmers are no longer leaving broad headlands around crops, while some landowners cut broad swathes along our country lanes thus damaging much needed habitat for bees, butterflies, moths and voles. Do our roadsides need to become lifeless lawns?
Wildlife may be holding on in pockets like Hassacarr Nature Reserve and Holtby Wood, but we need to do more to stem the massive loss of insects, birds and mammals across the parishes. We understand that some people may wish to preserve the neat and tidy appearance our villages, but this does nothing to ensure a sustainable future.
Instead of killing them, let’s celebrate our wildflowers, bees and butterflies!
Dunnington Conservation Group
Germander Speedwell
Special branches
Marcia McKey of York gives us a view of a nameless tree which made a big impression on her as a child
Trees keep secrets
The tree outside my bedroom window knew me better than anyone. It was an ugly thing; skinny trunked and small leaved, its branches reaching in a thin spear up to the sky so that in its bare days, it looked like a bashed trident. As a tree without purpose, either edible or aesthetic, it was not loved by my ever-practical parents. But the tree was protected; too old to cut down. Its roots were woven, half under our garden, half under the path that ran alongside. The path was known locally as “the Trod”, as it had been the route medieval monks took between the old village church and their lodgings. Despite its modern-day purpose, as a sheltered hangout ideal for making illicit teenage mistakes, the Trod and the tree always held a certain ancient mysticism for me. Laid in bed at night, as the shadowy bulk of the tree was tousled by the wind, I imagined it as my own best friend, watching over me as I slept. In the dark, I whispered my wishes to it, hanging the most important on the highest branches, and burying my more embarrassing desires close to the trunk, out of sight.