Holderness: Hollym, Holmpton, Patrington

A mild day, mostly overcast, with a couple of showers in the morning. I take the 75 bus to Hollym Cross Roads, and from there I walk along North Leys road. This is a quiet road, single track road around the village. Redwings' alarm calls come from the hedges as they fly off, there are also plenty of Blackbirds and Robins about. Rooks call from the trees. I have a short walk along the main road to Holmpton, and then I take the Public Right of Way along the Runnel and walk along the coastal path to Holmpton.

Many Blackbirds about today.

And also, but much shyer, Redwings.

Pied Wagtail.

A derelict bridge, across a ditch, Nevils Bridge, has been replaced by a culvert.

A new bridge over The Runnel, presumably added during the improvements to the coastal path. I don't think there was a bridge here, you just had to cross The Runnel.

Reed Bunting at The Runnel.

Looking North towards Withernsea.

A flock of Teal flying south.

The rain starts as I walk along the Runnel, lumps of clay from the field edge sticking to my shoes. The top photo shows what is left of a pill box, a single wall just at the edge of the cliff. As I get close to Holmpton, I need to cross a ditch. This is a section of the newly opened King Charles III coastal footpath, but the only way across is a wooden board, which is wet with the rain, so I decide not to risk it and walk along the field edge to the village instead. A female Stonechat feeds on the edge of the ditch. I walk around the village, visit the churchyard and take a footpath behind the Hall. The highlights in the village are a small group of Tree Sparrows and a male Stonechat by Seaside Road.

The board.

Tree Sparrow.

Male Stonechat.

St Nicholas, Holmpton.

Rook.

Some of the outbuildings of Holmpton Hall, one of them with a dovecote.

Given the rain and the mud, I opt by taking Patrington Road instead of a footpath. It is not too busy and there is plenty of interest. Meadow Pipits, Reed Buntings, a Mediterranean Gull and a sprinkle of Yellowhammers.

Meadow Pipit.

Mediterranean Gull.

Roe Deer.

Roe Deer.

Sparrowhawk.

Whalebone Corner. There is no information on this whale arch, sitting on a tight bend on the road by a public footpath.

Yellowhammer.

The Old Police Station at Patrington.

I have my lunch in Patrington at Cakey Bakey Yum Yum before catching my bus back home.

Holderness: Weel, Tickton and Hull Bridge

Today's walk takes me across a corner of Holderness just East of the river Hull near Beverley. This is a low lying almost flat area of Carrs and the walk meanders along Weel Carr, North Carr and Tickton Carr. There are some pastures, but the walk is mostly along large arable fields mostly edged by hedgerows and ditches. There are several plantations that give the walk some landscape interest. It is drizzling when I leave my bus at Beverley Swinemoor Lane. I walk by Grovehill Road and cross the narrow Weel Bridge. I take the grassy bank along the river, which gives a broader view, although my socks are quickly soaking wet. A Cetti sings and Reed Buntings call. A Kestrel is perched on a rooftop. I walk past a line of boats along the industrial area, many derelict or half sunk. Six Snipe fly over towards the fields. Three Curlew on the grassy fields of Hoggart House farm, with two doe Roe Deer watching a buck in the distance make for a good top shot. Skylarks chirp overhead,

Grovehill boats.

Kestrel.

Curlew.

Several Cormorants rest on telegraph poles by the hamlet of Weel. There are flocks of Redwings feeding on hawthorns, the first I see this year.

Cormorants.

The river Hull from its banks.

Redwing.

The fields North of Weel.

Rabbit near Corporation Farm.

Golden Plovers over.

Reed Bunting.

At Corporation farm I hear some tree sparrows in a hedge, but they won't show. I also think I hear a Raven, and watch a corvid with a large bill over, through my bins, too late to take a photo. Are there Raven's around here? The Golden plovers are a big surprise. About 180 are feeding spread on Tickton Carrs, with the start-stop gait of Lapwings.

Yellowhammer.

Roe Deer.

Golden Plover.

Pink-footed Geese. A flock of around 300 flew south.

Reed Bunting.

I make my way to Tickton and walk along the main street to Hull Bridge. It's just over half an hour walk to the centre of Beverley, where I go to have my lunch and take the bus home.

Goldfinches.

St Paul's Tickton.

Moorhen.

Holderness: around the Lambwath valley

A breezy, but mild day with sunny spells. I take bus 24 to Skirlaugh. After leaving the bus, I cross the road and take Church lane.  The walk today takes me around the middle section of the Lambwath valley, at the site of the medieval Lambwath Mere. We have met the Lambwath Stream in this Holderness series before, in the Skirlaugh to Wawne and the Skirlaugh to Hornsea walks. The Jackdaws and Rooks calls put the background sound around the pretty St Augustine's Church. I walk around the church. There are signs for a woodland walk and also educating the public about the efforts to grow a meadow amongst the old headstones. The Lambwath Stream runs just by the church, although it is barely running. Its banks are lined with mature trees and bushes. After leaving the church, I follow the lane and then take a public right of way on the edge of the village. Soon, I rejoin the stream, although it is hidden in its deep banks. There are some large ashes lining its course. 

Skirlaugh's St Augustine's church.

Woodpigeon at Skirlaugh Church.

A Grey Squirrel looks down from its tree. They don't appear to be common in Holderness.

A pair of Rooks was checking the nest.

The Lamwath Stream by the Church.

Red Admiral.

The public footpath goes up the side of the gentle valley along a copse and then on the southern flank of the Rise estate. The path follows Wood End Farm track and then I continue on the road towards Withernwick. There is steady traffic every few minutes. At Whitedale, I cross the Trans Pennine Way.

There was no bull to be seen.

A large Ash stump with Dryad's saddle.

The footpath follows the Lambwath for a while.

The restored Whitedale Station building.

Several Rooks were feeding in the garden of the station house.

The Yew lined walk theough Whithernwick Churchyard.

St Alban's Church at Withernwick.

After a quick stroll around the village and the church, I take a right of way from Straits Farm that takes me towards the Lambwath meadows. A tractor is tilling a field, followed by a cloud of rooks and gulls. I spot a Wheatear on the field, they are migrating now. I cross a hedge and get a sweeping view across the valley giving broad views of the meadows. Perfect spot for lunch!

The approximate extent of the Lambwath Mere. Note that it was longer, and of a similar width to Hornsea Mere, the last surviving mere of Holderness.

The old Lambwath Mere

The source of the Lambwath Stream is east of the village of Aldbrough, a few meters from the beach, on the soft boulder clay cliffs 20 m in height. The incline of the Holderness landscape means that the stream flows west, skirting the village. The stream forms a narrow and sinuous valley 10 m deep over the sea level, which soon widens in a long basin, what used to be Lambwath Mere (see image above). As other meres in Holderness, this mere formed after the ice melted, as a proglacial lake. A layer of peat lies under its sediments as in other meres. In historical times it provided fish and reeds for neighbouring villages.  It is likely that drainage patterns downstream contributed to the draining of the mere in medieval times, although changes in sea level might have also contributed. The mere became silted and simply, disappeared. However, and despite the many parallel drains now in existance, the fields still are seasonally flooded, and several of them are managed traditionally as flower rich hay meadows, with some formerly arable fields in the basin being restored as neutral, species rich wet meadows. Part of the old mere basin, is now a SSSI, just south east of Withernwick. This area seems to call for stream restoration measures to elevate the course of the stream and connect it with its floodplain and slow the flow, blocking drainage ditches. We might be a long way to reintroducing Beavers in East Yorkshire, but these ecosystems engineers would be ideal to bring new life to these ancient meadows.

A Wheatear on a just tilled field.

A footpath sandwiched between ditches and hedgerows crosses the valley. It has flagstones at some point.

The Lamwath stream with the meadows on its floodplain.

Small White.

I climb to the rim of the valley again and walk on the road along Marton and New Ellerby, then I take the Hornsea rail trail and make it to Skirlaugh with some time for a coffee at the Lazy Bean before my bus back home. 

More information

Sheppard, J. A. (1957). The medieval meres of Holderness. Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), (23), 75-86.