My first visit to Cleaving Coombe, a dry, steep sided valley typical of the Yorkshire Wolds. It is private and grazed by cattle, but it is unimproved grassland and its biodiversity surprised me greatly. The valley is open access land, accessible via a gate at the head of the valley. There are wonderful views over the Vale of York. A herd of young cattle grazed the land, and they appear quite nervous, running from one side to the other. We kept together to avoid further stress, and left them behind. Marbled Whites were soon in evidence, nectaring from Great Knapweed (top shot) and both Field and Small Scabious. Fairy Flax and Salad Burnet were past flowering, as was Cowslip, but we managed to find a single Pyramidal Orchid. There were so many grasshoppers, three species, Common Green, Common Field and Meadow Grasshopper, the latter very plentiful. I checked a few clumps of longer grass protected by small hawthorns and found a Roesel's Bush-crickets and a large female nymph of Long-winged Conehead. On the flat bottom of the valley the grass was longer and I found another two Roesel's, one of them long-winged.
Not many birds about, but some exciting ones. We heard a Marsh Tit calling from the woods, a Yellowhammer was singing from the hawthorns atop the valley, and a family of Stonechats.
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