A train trip to Beverley and walk to the Westwood and Burton Bushes

 

It has been a while since I've visited Burton Bushes. It is the easiest ancient woodland to reach by public transport, just a short train ride away to Beverley. This is a pocket of ancient woodland, 13 ha, on the NW corner of Beverley Westwood Pastures on the foothills of the Yorkshire Wolds. It is a misty, cool morning and the mist actually becomes a disorientating fog in the afternoon. From the station, I walk to and around the Minster, three Stock Doves sat atop the roof, the Jackdaws and Feral Pigeons flushed, but no sign of Peregrines. I admire the monumental beech on a corner of the Minster.

A view from the south yard.

After, I walk west and pop in the Treasure House garden. A Goldcrest is singing from the conifers. I take the green lane by Beverley Minster primary school, and emerge at the Westwood. A Skylark flies away from a pool on the pastures, Rooks feed on the grass.

The mist view towards the Burton Bushes.

Rafts of Redwings fly off from the hawthorns. I think that I should have packed a snack, but then I find a Wild Apple on a hedge, rescue a couple of fallen apples from the brambles underneath and pop them in my backpack.

Redwing.

A magnificent Hawthorn.

Oak

I eat my foraged elevenses by a bench at the entrance of Burton Bushes, is very sharp!

More Redwings are inside the Burton Bushes, gorging on the Holly berries.

I have to stop several times to try and capture in photos the autumnal beauty of this woodland with its magnificent Oak trees and carpet of russet leaves. There are some clear paths, but secondary paths are often blocked by fallen branches, and it is exhilarating to get lost amongst the vegetation. I come to a clearing where several Great Tits and Coal tits are feeding, and I hear Nuthatches. A Great Spotted Woodpecker is also feeding high on the canopy. The light is not great, but it is a great wood to explore.

Candlesnuff Fungus.

Nuthatch.

Holly laden with berries.

A visit to Beverley Minster

I heard the pair of local Peregrines at Beverley had bred on the box placed on the SW tower at the Minster and I took an early train to visit them. As I approached the Minster, the bells tolled 8 o'clock and I could already hear the Peregrines calling. 

Rooks and Jackdaws breed on or around the Minster, even Woodpigeons find it irresistible. One pair were nest building, while another was sitting on a nest on a ledge. I don't remember having seen Woodpigeons nesting on buildings before

A Woodpigeon nest with a view

Jackdaw on nest.

Rook.

And then I spotted the Peregrines. The pair, sitting on separate gargoyles of the same tower, overlooking the nest box. They camouflage perfectly when sitting on gargoyles.

Swifts circled high above, chasing each other. The Peregrine sat sunning itself, lazily watching the bluebottles and the Swifts flying about.

At some point it took flight and started gaining height almost effortlessly, soaring higher over the Minster.

View from the field.

I walk around the Minster. I scan the nest box but I can't see inside, until two little heads come closer to the front and I can see the two chicks or 'eyasses', watching the world outside their nest.

A  head poking out.

Head and tail.

Both young on the right hand side.

The bell tolls 9am. I take a walk around the town. At Beverley Market square, I spot one of the Peregrines soaring. 

Loving the photo-bombing Swifts today.

I remember about the Chough on a coat of arms, and I find it, with a pair of Collared doves, which have chosen it as a nest site.

I check on the Peregrines again at the Minster and have some better views of the chichs. The bell tolls 11 and it's time to get my train back.

The Minster Ravens. II.

So it appears there is still a Raven in Beverley Minster. It has been there for 500 years, carved in Oak. I'm quite keen to see it, as I can't find a single photo online. Today, a sunny, mild day, I visit the Mister again when taking the kids and an exchange Spanish student to see Beverley. I ask a welcoming lady about Ravens in the Misericords as soon as we get inside. These are old leaning ‘benches’ with carved non-religious reliefs in their underside. One of the 68 misericords in the Minster is supposed to have a raven carved on a stump, facing a dove, and I’m keen to see it. The lady takes us to the misericords and explains their purpose, but can't tell us where the carved raven is. We look around, there are lots of animals and many birds and fantastic beasts on the seats. The lady is keen to help, and after a few minutes, returns holding a folder with photos and notes on each of the 68 misericords, which my daughter starts to go through like a detective! My son starts looking at each misericord as I speak to the lady and after a minute or so he calls ‘the raven is here!’. We go to him and there it is, on its stump, a quite nice portrait of a raven, made over 500 years ago on oak, facing a dove. The lady doesn’t know about the ravens, but she is keen to talk about the Peregrine falcons that have returned to the Minster and she points at the tall western towers, where the Peregrines have nested in recent years.

The Raven of Beverley Minster.

We walk around the Minster and then step outside to admire the building. Jackdaws are nesting, looking for sticks on the ground, and taking them to little corners. The pose for us on the stone carved statues.

Only a statue can remain that stone-faced with two jackdaws on its head.

More Information

Misericords of Beverley Minster. pdf. where I found the mention of the Raven carving on tree stump.

The Minster Ravens. I.

The bells are ringing and their all-enveloping song provide the soundtrack for the trip to Beverley. It is a sunny, but cold and windy, afternoon as I approach the Minster. I intently look to the southwest tower, scanning the window ledges. It is an awesome feeling to visit the Minster while knowing that a pair of Ravens had their eerie there, long ago. Nelson (1907) in his book, Birds of Yorkshire, gives some tantalising details on the pair of ravens nesting on Beverley Minster until 1840. As it was often the case at the time, the adults were left well alone, but the young were taken every year. Apparently a mason called Gray would take the young from the nest with a borrowed fishing net. I was puzzled by the line “the young were distributed to the hostelries in the town” as I assumed to be cooked. But, no, they were not for eating! A few days later, reading the following excerpt from the Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalist Union (1898), I understood what the nestlings, obviously taken alive with the fishing nets, were for:

Many years ago the Raven used to breed in the Mausoleum at Castle Howard, but has now disappeared from there. This nesting place supplied familiar living specimens to the hostelries at various places along the old York and Scarborough turnpike road.

It appears that obtaining nestlings and trading them alive to be kept as pets was a profitable undertaking, so this together with relentless direct persecution by game keepers and egg collecting may have contributed to the demise of Ravens as breeding birds across England in the XIX century.

***

I enter the Minster. An old man welcomes visitors and hands leaflets. I ask him if it is possible to climb the towers. He informs me there are roof tours, but a visit to the tower may be arranged. I need to speak to little Flint, I just missed him, he is in charge of the bells. Indeed, I notice that the bells have stopped ringing.

I step outside and walk around the Minster. No ravens, but their smaller relatives abound. A small flock of Jackdaws are calling from the large trees on the yard. A few fly over the roof, against the wind. There is also a pair of Crows on Hall Garth. Beverley is a green town even now, surrounded on the west and east sides by large commons still used for grazing cows and horses, I can see why a pair of ravens would like to settle here. I need to arrange that trip to the towers to have a look at Beverley from a Raven's perspective.

The South West tower, presumably the one holding the nest on a ledge by a window.

The west towers.

Highgate, maybe ravens once fed on these cobbled stones.

A pair of carrion crows poses in front of the south west tower.

Carrion Crow with the minster as background.

Jackdaw, one of 11 settled on trees.

More Information

Nelson. 1907. Birds of Yorskhire. Full text available at Biodiverity Heritage Library.