Trip Reports

As has been usual at Christmas over recent years, Colin Slator led a Christmas walk.  This year, our feast wasn’t in a local hostelry due to Covid, but we did indeed enjoy a feast of finches. Acting on information received, we set off down the track of the Ripon...

This was a field trip with a difference. Most of us had never viewed a herbarium before, I think some people had not even heard of such a thing! We were lucky that a museum not impossibly far away has such an excellent collection of historical dried flowers – there...

12 would-be mycologists assembled for the now-traditional fungus field trip with Andy Woodall. Welcome to new members Pamela Crawford and Nabil Abbas! Swinsty Woods are mixed coniferous, with plenty of Larch, Birch and some Beech – all good for fungi. The reasonably...

Eight members attended at 09.00 hrs on a mild day with a westerly breeze blowing off shore. The sea was very calm becoming a little choppy as high tide approached. Later in the day it became sunny and warm. We started on Marine Drive to check the rocks before the high...

Five members attended on a very warm sunny day starting at the Nature Reserve car park at 09.30. A good selection of waders were present viewed from the screen. 2 Greenshank, 4 Ruff, 5 Golden Plover, 1 Dunlin, 2 Snipe, 2 Redshank, 5 Ringed Plover, 1 Black-tailed...

A group of 14 HDNS members met for a morning visit to Farnham Gravel Pit. This was the first chance for a couple of members to visit FGP and we were looking forward to walking around the South Lake with them. Details of FGP can be found on the Farnham Gravel Pit...

Who knew there are so many wonderful and special trees in our very own Valley Gardens? I didn’t - just me then? - I must have walked through the gardens a million times and never really looked up!  Too busy trying to identify the lovely flowers and plants in...

In total a plant list of 117 species was collated by Kerry Morrison, Hazel Mitford and Richard Campbell, with contributions from the other five members of the group, as it was a lovely walk through diverse habitats.  Beaver Dyke Reservoirs are two small supply...

On a warm, sunny afternoon a dozen HDNS members set off to explore Quarry Moor Nature Reserve at Ripon.  This visit was certainly proof that we do not need to travel far from home to find special places.  The site contains grassland, scrub, woodland and...

9 members visited the site, which in addition to the shallow reservoir itself, is surrounded by planted birch/Scots pine woodland giving dappled shade. The site was unusually quiet as the hot weather had raised the water temperature, reducing oxygen levels and...

High Batts is situated on the banks of the River Ure and comprises 32 acres of mixed woodland with some open clearings.   One of the volunteers at the reserve, Pandora, kindly offered to show us around.   Her extensive knowledge was a real...

It was not a particularly auspicious start to the morning as we assembled in Harlow Carr Gardens’ car park in the drizzle. Despite being nearly the end of May, the 12 intrepid members were bundled up to the eyes in double trousers, thick jackets, woolly hats, mittens...

Aubert Ings is a traditionally managed unimproved hay meadow with flora typical of neutral grassland. The underlying rock is southern magnesian limestone, with overlying alluvial deposits from the adjacent River Nidd. The meadow is surrounded by earth banks to reduce...

It was a perfect morning as we arrived at Hartlepool Headland lighthouse, which provides a good vantage point. The sea was fairly calm with little wind. Common Scoters were on the move, several packs were flying over the sea, while Common Guillemots and Eider Ducks...

After months of Covid uncertainty, this was a much-anticipated trip. It was pleasantly warm and the12 of us were feeling optimistic as we met up with our leader, David Barlow, the Vice-County recorder, whose knowledge of South Gare is phenomenal.  The first of...

The HDNS members who met at Roundhay Park were so fortunate to have 2 very knowledgeable leaders for the morning’s guided tree walk, Alan Hunton and John Killingbeck. They had planned 2 different walks and each group had a session with each of these enthusiastic...

There was a sense of excitement at the start of our event due to the fact that we had been locked down for the previous three months and this was our first HDNS outing of the year. At last we were out of doors, meeting others and going to find new plants (hopefully)....

A workshop concentrating on mosses was organised in response to requests by society members who had negligible skills with this taxonomic group. The full day workshop was led by Nick Gaunt and 8 members attended. A range of microscopes was provided to aid...

This was the ninth year of the New Year Plant Hunt organised by the BSBI, in which almost 1,500 volunteers took part in a national search for flowers in the middle of winter. The idea is to build up a picture of how our wild or naturalised plants are responding to...

True to tradition, our Christmas winter walk this year was led by Colin Slator. Ten of us travelled initially by car from Ripon along hitherto unexplored back roads, stopping here and there to scan the expansive vistas. Snippets of history and geology coloured the...

Nine HDNS members braved the UCI road closures to drive successfully to Swinsty Reservoir for the Harrogate Autumn Fungi Show. What’s more, we all managed to arrive at the correct car park, where we met three members from the Mid Yorkshire Fungus Group, led by Andy...

Leader: June Atkinson This popular venue attracted 14 members and it was a perfect day for the visit. After stopping at The Bluebell car park to pick up a Wheatear and some Sandwich Terns over the sea, reports of a White Rumped Sandpiper made YWT Kilnsea Wetlands the...

August is a busy month for holidays, so just 9 members gathered to spend Yorkshire Day ‘botanizing at Brockadale’. Brockadale is a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve in West Yorkshire. It lies 10 miles north of Doncaster, just east of the A1, between the villages...

Just a week after National Meadows Day a lovely warm day greeted 13 members at Farnham Gravel Pit for a botanical field trip. We were fortunate to have Kevin Walker, Head of Science for BSBI with us again to guide us around the fine details of the different species...

It was hard to believe that Meadows Day 2019 was upon us, when last year’s seemed only a short while ago. We celebrated the occasion with some guided walks on bees, dragonflies and botany and it was a real pleasure to see some new members visiting the reserve, and...

Leader: Dave Barlow, County Recorder for VC 62, NE Yorkshire South Gare is an area of reclaimed land and breakwater on the south side of the River Tees near Redcar. The extensive area is made from vast quantities of basic slag generated over a hundred years ago from...

11 of us assembled at the Bowlees Visitor Centre, it was especially good to see Liz our brand-new member on such an adventurous first outing! The weather was not very propitious on this Tuesday morning, it was nearly raining and the forecast was poor. To add insult to...

17 members took part. We were fortunate that this meeting was led by renowned botanist, Alastair Fitter, Professor of Biology of the University of York and Chair of the Management Committee of this Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve since 1974. Several of the group had...

Leader: Dr Kevin Walker The programme for the visit to Cow Myers promised Globeflower, orchids, Butterwort and Herb Paris. It delivered on all those – and much more. Fourteen HDNS members including Kevin Walker our leader, assembled at the Lindrick Livery stables,...

As we travelled south, we left the dismal wet morning behind to arrive at Fairburn where it was bright and dry. From the centre car park, Reed and Sedge Warblers were singing in the reed beds and Whitethroat was seen. Many Swifts were circling overhead; Blackcap and...

The 10 participants of the Spring Wildlife Field Trip were well wrapped up as they assembled under a cherry tree with Nick Gaunt, the Leader. This tree alone, which you would pass without a second glance, provided us with some 15 minutes of exploration – it was...

We arrived at Hartlepool Headland as the tide was going out, parking in an area where the rocks were exposed. The usual Turnstones were in good numbers and the wader everyone hopes to see, a Purple Sandpiper, was quickly found; they have been more numerous this winter...

It is now becoming something of a tradition or pattern that I organise some birding (other biological orders are usually hidden away at this time of year) on some date in December, within the Society's area and with some eatery nearby. And so it was that on the 11th...

Leader: Andy Woodall Our annual fungus foray began at the Woodland Trust car park on Ripley Road with some fine, bright autumn weather. At this spot the gorge comprises broadleaf woodland in a lovely steep-sided valley and there certainly was no shortage of fungi...

Leader: Nick Gaunt Ten members met at the car park near Manchester Hole in Upper Nidderdale. Starting in the car park and using the fascinating limestone landscape and lime-loving flora of the area, Nick demonstrated some of the essential features of mosses and...

Leader: June Atkinson Sea-watching began at 9.15 a.m., as soon as we arrived at Hartlepool Headland: high tide was at 8.15 a.m., which brought the seabirds closer to us. Razorbills, Common Guillemots and three Red-throated Divers were soon found. There was a...

Our day started with Colin Newlands giving us a brief history of this quarry. Colin is Natural England’s Senior Reserve Manager for the Ingleborough NNR, and we were delighted that he had offered to lead us for the day. In 2000 English Nature (now Natural England)...