Trip Reports

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)...

A perfect hot and sunny summer day welcomed members and friends to Farnham Gravel Pit on Sunday 15th July 2018. The day started very early, in fact overnight, as the moth trappers Jill Warwick, Charlie Fletcher and Whitfield Benson set up their equipment to catch the...

Leader: Kevin Walker 14 members met in Pateley Bridge, focusing on botany, in particular ferns. Upper Nidderdale was a known fern hotspot to the Victorians, who dug up specimens for their ferneries, unfortunately causing the decimation and even local eradication of...

13 of us attended at FGP on this fine morning, and spread ourselves out around the lake in the marked areas previously mapped by the organising team, led by Sonia Starbuck. We proceeded to record all the flowering plants possible – fortunately, fresh from our training...

Leader – Kevin Walker This was Kevin Walker’s identification workshop day at Staveley Nature Reserve, teaching us about grasses, sedges and rushes. These are topics which I had previously managed to avoid, by using the lame excuse that my botany book did not include...

Storm Hector blew itself out during the early evening to leave a perfectly calm night for the trip. The wild weather had greatly weakened the midge population which was a bonus for us, but the lack of moths, the food for Nightjars, was a concern. 16 members joined...

Seventeen members met at the Bowlees visitor centre for a botanical field meeting to study the flora of the area. The visitor centre is located in an old Primitive Methodist Chapel. The walk was led by HDNS long time member Richard Campbell who knows the area very...

Leader : Colin Slator Eleven of us braved the early morning icy conditions to enjoy a walk starting at High Batts NR. After a brief visit to the hide on the reserve where we saw a good variety of birds at the well- stocked feeders, we started walking along public...

Leader: Nick Gaunt On a cool, overcast but dry day nine members were shown around High Batts Nature Reserve by Will Rich. Given the time of year, flowering plants weren't particularly memorable, but a few fungi were identified such as Birch Polypore, Candle-snuff ,...

Leader: Andy Woodall, Mid-Yorkshire Fungus Group Our day in Hackfall Woods got off to a promising start, with the morning’s weather being mild and bright. A group of twelve of us set off (one was following) with our fungi books, magnifying glasses and packed lunches...

After a good run through in the minibus, a Merlin was seen flying over a field as we approached Spurn on a bright day with a fresh southerly wind.  A sea-watch first at the Warren produced Arctic Skuas, Gannets, Fulmars, Sandwich and Common Terns and a Brent Goose,...