Bog-trotting. 2. Fylingdales and Harwood Dale

Almost a year to the day, I'm back at Fylingdales, on the North Yorks Moors NP, this time with Sarah, for a Bog Bush-cricket recce. We even take the same circular walk. Fylingdales moor is very extensive and scattered records of Bog Bush-crickets are found over a large area, so by necessity we can't survey the whole area. No Bog Bush-crickets at the car park. Instead, a frog and a small heath have to do. We do catch up with the first one soon enough on the wet heath at the left hand side of the main track down to the Jugger Howe. There is plenty of cross-leaved heath and purple moorgrass, with wet boggy patches.

Common Frog

A curious lamb briefly straying away from mum.

This lizard came up to me as I was looking for bush-crickets.

One of the first Bog Bush-crickets. It jumped to my phone, and before I could do anything about it, it was onto the heath again.

The view towards the east from the path.

Cross-leaved Heath.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Thyme.

We start descending the valley to Jugger Howe beck. On the bare path, we come across several Green Tiger Beetles. We find more Bog Bush-crickets on the lush heath by the side of the beck. After a quick lunch, it's time to follow the path by the beck to complete the circular walk.

Green Tiger Beetle.

Bog Bush-cricket.

The Jugger Howe valley

And another Bog Bush-cricket nymph. They were really plentiful.

A very pregnant lizard on the boardwalk.

A Bog Bush-cricket on Bracken.

Bog Cinquefoil and Golden-ringed Dragongfly. 

Small Heath.

A small bog by the beck.

Keeled Skimmer, by a flush by the boardwalk.

It is less humid at the top as we return to the car for our next stop, Harewook Dale, just a short drive away. This is a conifer plantation, but a recent bush-cricket record on the side of the track by a clear-felled area prompted us to visit.

There are ditches by the track, with some cross-leaved heath and purple moorgrass, but we see no bush-crickets.

A dark pool which held several species of dragonfly and damselfly.

Emperor Dragonfly.

Four spotted chaser

Large Red Damselfly in copula.

Sphagnum moss

Large skipper.

 

Bog-trotting. 1. Fen Bog and Tranmire Bog

It has taken me a while to write this but this is the first instalment of a series on Yorkshire bogs, which we are visiting to recce for an upcoming Bog Bush-cricket acoustic survey. Fen Bog and Tranmire Bog are small sites near each other, so we decided to start with them. Fen Bog is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and YWT nature reserve on Newtondale, a glacial valley where the Yorkshire Moors Railway runs from Pickering to Whitby. We walk along the wet footpath on the east of the valley, recording the diverse flora of the site, mostly species new to me, typical of wet heath, bog and mire habitats, and we keep our eyes open for bush-cricket nymphs. Siskins and Lesser Redpolls fly over calling and sing from the birches. We see no Bog Bush-crickets on site, despite the habitat looking spot on for them. We'll see what the acoustic survey reveals.

Latticed Heath moth.

Small Heath.

There are 18 m of peat stored under the wet valley bottom, still growing thanks to sphagnum moss.

Sphagnum inundatum, well saturated, one of the several species in the bog. Sphagnum mosses grow when wet, absorbing and fixing carbon dioxide from the air into their tissues. Due to the acidic conditions in the bog, dead tissues under the growing mosses don't decompose, rather accumulate, compact and eventually becomes peat stored under the bog. Maintaining bogs and mires wet, removing any artificial drainage and stopping peat extractions is crucial for the recovery of active bogs and for reducing atmospheric CO2.

Common Spotted Orchid.

Common Lousewort.

Bog Pondweed.

On the wetter flushes by the path, the reddish rosettes of Round-leaved Sundew.

There are large areas of Bog Myrtle on the valley bottom.

A Large Red Damselfly near the beck.

Lesser Redpoll singing.

Yellowhammer at the car park.

After lunch at a very well located bench overlooking the valley, and having seen the steam train across Fen Bog, it is time for the second site of the day, Tranmire Bog, a small bog right next to the Wheeldale Roman road as it crosses Wheeldale beck. To drive there we have to take a long detour via Goathlandbut as a bonus, we find a Grouse pair and a chick just by the side of the road. I take some photos from the car, these are a lifer for me!

Male Red Grouse.

Tranmire Bog is known for its dragonflies, with Golden-ringed Dragonfly in Rutmoor Bec, and Keeled Skimmer, Black Darter and Common Hawker present. It is located within the North Yorks Moor National Park. A Bog Bush-cricket record of an adult female in 2017 prompted us to visit this site, my first visit.

A General view of Tranmire Bog area.

Rutmoor Beck.

The small but stunning Tranmire bog, the bog covered on Bog Bean, with a drift of Cotton grass in the distance.

Green Tiger Beetle.

Bean Bog.

Adder shed skin. We find several pieces of skin across the side of the bog.

Sphagnum moss.

 More information

YWT site for Fen Bog.

Special Area of Conservation designation. JNCC site.

Yorkshire Dragonfly Group Tranmire bog site.