A beautiful day for a walk, warm with a breeze, as I got to Filey on the train. The high tide stopped me from the pull of walking on the beach, I took the coastal path south towards Primrose Valley. A Kittiwake flies east towards the Brigg as I descend the steps from Crescent Gardens. I record plants and butterflies along the path, on the side of the golf course. A Pied Wagtail family feeds on the golf course. Sandwich terns rattling calls announce them feeding just offshore, together with the howling cries of a young Guillemot begging to its parent. I descent the Primrose Valley ravine, with the luxuriant vegetation including ferns and woodland plants tucked in well sheltered from the elements. I wander up and down the ravine before climbing to the clifftop path. Now the coastal path goes through the holiday park. Just off the car park, I peek onto the cliffs and spot some Marbled Whites, too distant and active for photos. These are soft, boulder clay cliffs like those at Holderness, but the protective effect of Filey Brigg tothe north and Flamborough to the south means they erode much more slowly. They are less vertical, wider, and more irregular cliffs, allowing a diverse vegetation to grow, particularly plants that thrive on bare patches arising from slippages. These slippages have created hollows that also hold water, from small puddles and mires to large ponds. The cliffs hold their own regarding botanical diversity, including some rare species in other areas of South East Yorkshire (VC-61) like Marsh Grass of Parnassus - which I found, just about ready to flower in two patches -, Bloody Cranesbill Marsh Fragrant Orchid, and Saw Wort.
I take my lunch on a lopsided bench overlooking a pond on the descent to the beach. Afterwards, I spend some time trying to work out how to get close to the shore of this pond. Unfortunately, the only accessible shore is too soft and the marginal vegetation too luxuriant. On another side a wall of creeping thisle blocks me. I take some photos of an Emperor dragonfly patrolling and a distant blooming Tubular Water-dropwort, a first for me. Pyramidal and Common Spotted Orchids dot the slope by the pond. The tide has released its grip on the beach, leaving a vast expanse, now taken by groups of people. I descend to the beach at Butcher Haven, pause to admire the distant cliffs of Flamborough, and walk back by the shingle at the top of the beach, with occasional short climbs onto the bottom cliff.
A report from the YNU visit to Primrose Valley in June 2006.