Last interglacial coast trail. Stage 4: Scorborough to Hutton Cranswick

Although the sky is overcast and the weather forecast threatens light showers, I get the 8:31 bus to Scorborough. It’s strange to think that Scorborough had its own beach in the last Interglacial. Now, the little village with a long history sits by a lovely beck and has an impressive church and parkland. I take a walk around the village before starting the stage proper. Scorborough Beck passes under the Driffield Road via a three arch brick bridge. There seem to be many water vole burrows, but they could be old, I see no other signs of activity. The Rooks are in full swing from their nests on large Oaks on Scorborough Park. A Great Spotted Woodpecker drums.

Scorborough Beck.

Scorborough Beck.

Two views of Scorborough Park.

Time to start walking the route. The first stage involves crossing a couple of arable fields. I check with my binoculars to aim for the yellow arrow of the public right of way, as the paths are not well trodden and there are no footprints across the crop. Skylarks sing and a pair of Red-legged Partridges run away in the distance.

Red-legged Partridges.

The route follows the Minster Way until Cawkeld Sinks. The following fields are very low-lying, with rushy springs, and very wet. Some impressive willows lay spread on the field boundary. I get distracted and end up on the wrong side of Bryan Mills Beck. It’s quite shallow and narrow and I briefly consider taking my shoes off and just crossing it, but I end up turning round and crossing the plank bridge. Ahead, by the beck, a nervous Grey Wagtail watches me.

Rushy, wet fields with willows.

The sprawling willow.

Grey Wagtail.

At Lockington, I walk by St Mary’s church, flanked with some large yews, and follow through the village, cross a bridge over Brian Mills and as I walk along Front street, I’m delighted with its several fords (at least three!). I leave the village, and the valley of Brian Mills Beck on a quiet lane, Pit Lane with a noticeably uphill.

St Mary's Church, Lockington.

Brian Mills Beck from the bridge.

One of Lockington fords.

The route is now almost due north, by arable fields and plantations. Three Buzzards soar over Southbelt Plantation, Skylarks chase on the fields, a Yellowhammer sings from the hedge. I soon get to Kilnwick, and its beck, Kilnwick beck, which is upstream of Watton Beck valley. 

All Saints Church, Kilnwick.

Rook.

It is a broad, quite wooded valley with several streams and springs, crisscrossed with public rights of way. A bit higher up I come across Cawkeld Sinks, a lake with an island in very boggy terrain, it's a pocket of blissful wilderness. Even though today’s walk aim is to re imagine Brown Bears in the last interglacial, this area looks instead set to introduce beavers: the lake vegetation is overgrown, with poplars laden with mistletoe, and willows, and island and fallen trees (top shot). Gadwall, Little Grebes and Moorhen are in the lake. 

Kilnwick Beck.

Gadwall.

Poplars with mistletoe.

Wood on the ground.

A boggy spring at Cawkeld Sinks.

Red Kites.

On a plantation nearby two Red Kites sit atop a spruce. The trees growing in Cawkeld chalk pit, and the wooded boggy area I just walked across make me think that it is mostly chalk pits and springs that are wooded in the midst of intensively arable land in the area: the former because the top soil was removed and there is uneven ground, which is no good for arable, therefore the vegetation has naturally colonised, the latter as they are surrounded by boggy terrain, no good for arable and too small for pasture.

I leave the Minster Way now, aiming for Hutton Cranswick. It starts to drizzle, and I’m around an hour away from Hutton Cranswick so I press on, walking by Burn Butts Farm and the evocatively named Bustard’s Nest Farm and Little Bustard Farm. As I get to Hutton Cranswick, I watch a pair of Lapwing on a field.

An extensive arable field near Bustard Nest Farm.

There used to be Great Bustards in the Wolds, maybe even in the grounds of this farm, which had the same name in the 1st edition of the OS map in 1852.

Little Bustard Farm.

Lapwing.

I get my lunch at Cranswick Farm shop. Afterwards, as I make time for the 15:04 bus, I walk to the Cranswick village pond, which will be the start of the next walk.

The village pond at Hutton Cranswick green.

There has been a lot of water in today's walk: bogs, becks, lakes and ponds. In the interglacial, the warmer climate allowed European Pond Turtle to colonise England. We can only imagine the diversity of dragonflies that would be present during this time.
Plenty of fresh molehills, rabbits from the bus and roe deer prints make the mammal count of the day.

My Brown Bear sketch.

Brown Bear

Brown Bears, Ursus arctos, the same species that inhabited England during the Ipswichian. Unfortunately there are few securely dated fossils. These include some from Barrington, Cambridge, and Cefn Caves in North Wales. A young bear jaw was reportedly found at Sewerby buried cliff, but the specimen is now lost, and that is the only East Yorkshire fossil from the Ipswichian I’ve been able to find references to. The Brown Bear needs little description, it is a large omnivore, and in the last interglacial it would have roamed across all lowland habitats, not just restricted to mountains as it is now. The Brown Bear has the broadest diet of any bear, and tends to exploit abundant, easy to find prey in an opportunistic way. It would have moved onto rivers to catch salmon during migration, it would have been at ease in woodland, to feed on acorns, beech mast and root around the woodland floor for grubs or nests, or wandered along the coast to take advantage of clams, crabs or carrion on the shoreline. Young deer or other mammals could have been predated opportunistically.

A Brown Bear skull from Creswell Crags.

Where can I see them?

Brown Bears survived in glacial times and recolonised England very quickly after the last glacial maximum suggesting that they might have persisted in southern England. It is unlikely that they made it in a wild state beyond Roman times in the UK, although captive individuals were imported for bear-baiting until medieval times. In mainland Europe, Brown Bears populations managed to persist in mountainous areas of South and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia and since the 60s, populations have increased due to better protection and reintroductions. There is no evidence that Cave Bears, a different species, lived in the UK during the Ipswichian, but today's Brown bears have a little Cave Bear ancestry in their genomes.

Walk details. Distance: 12 km. Bus 121 to Scorborough, at 8:31. bus back from Hutton Cranswick (8 min past the hour). Some muddy paths, country lanes and arable fields. The maximum height is 42 m near Burn Butts farm, the minimum 8 m.

More information
Barnett, R. 2019. The Missing Lynx: The Past and Future of Britain’s Lost Mammals. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

Barlow, A. et al. 2018. Partial genomic survival of cave bears in living brown bears. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 1563–1570 (2018).