Rosedale
Abbey

The coffee morning in aid of the Women’s Institute held at the Coach house Inn on Saturday 4 November raise just short of £330 and the Church Appeal stall in the craft fair raised £200 – excellent results and a tribute to the generosity of those who attended.

As always, many thanks to all who contributed their time to organising the two events, to all who contributed prizes for the raffle, to those who also gave donations to the WI and the ‘Save Rosedale Abbey Church’ appeal and to Dave Oakey and the team at the Coach House for the excellent coffee and biscuits.

A group of local volunteers, armed with buckets and spades on Saturday 28 October, dug down through the mud and discovered the original upstream entrance to the Reeking Gill culvert, with Shaun Doughty having used a digger to clear the site (see previous update on 4 October). Work will now continue to shift the rest of the debris from the entrance and expose more of the large stone archway. Muscle power and determination won the day and well done to all.

Work has also been done to clear some of the smaller culverts along the old railway line so that water no longer builds up and threatens the integrity of the track bed.

A fuller progress report will be given around the New Year, so that all can see how this marvellous project is progressing. Meanwhile please look at the NYMNPA call for volunteers poster and join in.

A craft fair and the Women’s Institute Coffee Morning will be held at the Coach House Inn, Rosedale Abbey, on Saturday 4 November starting at 10.00am. On display and for sale will be hand-made, high quality local crafts including jewellery, Christmas cards, calendars, gifts and decorations, cushions, turned wood and much more.

So come along, enjoy a cup of coffee, the raffle and cake sale and support our local WI, then browse at the craft fair for those special Christmas gifts.

We wish a warm Rosedale welcome to Helen and Graig, the new proprietors of Abbey Stores. Currently they are busy re-stocking the shop but are open for business apart from the tea room which they hope to have up and running by Monday 23 October.

Call in any time to say hello and watch this space for further details of opening times and the like once they have settled in.

Update: from 23 October, Abbey Stores will be open from 08.30 to 5.00pm every day of the week for breakfast, light lunches and teas.

The Rosedale Abbey Home School Association is hosting a Body Shop party on Wednesday 18 October from 6.30 to 9.00pm in the Rosedale Abbey Community Primary School.

Come along to find some great Christmas present ideas and, of course, spoil yourself!

Refreshments will be available and all proceeds will go to the School.

Hope to see you all at the School on Wednesday evening.

Work on the Land Of Iron project continues apace in Rosedale. The repair done to the track at Stone Kilns is greening up nicely and will be barely visible from a distance by this time next year:

New, bigger interpretation boards have been placed at the three kiln sites:

Work is currently ongoing to clear the upsteam entrance to the major culvert under Reeking Gill to prevent the dangerous build up of water behind the embankment:

Ever wondered what barn owls feed on? Well here it is. Barn owls typically eat small prey items such as mice and voles. They swallow them whole and their digestive system extracts the nutrition as juices and forms a pellet with the remains, namely bones and fur which cannot be digested. The pellet, which is black is regurgitated and dropped from the beak, approximately 6 hours afterwards. A pellet can contain the remains of 2-5 prey items depending on the prey. By collecting and studying these pellets the diet of the barn owl can be monitored which in turn tells us what small mammals are present in our countryside. One such study is being conducted by Derek Capes of Great Ayton to establish the extent of harvest mice within the National Park. Sample pellets from various locations are collected twice a year for analysis. Such is Derek’s knowledge of small mammals he only needs to see the jaw bone in order to identify the species. Two barn owl roost locations in Rosedale provide good numbers of pellets and the results, below are fascinating.

The field vole is the dominant prey for the barn owl with common shrew being an important secondary prey species. Field voles are more nutritious therefore less are required. Shrews are less so and the barn owl needs to expend more energy hunting a higher number. Results have revealed the presence of harvest mice here in the dale. Normally associated with arable crops the harvest mouse is also found to nest in long rough grass and rushes. A local resident at Rosedale East has actually seen harvest mice whilst cutting his grass. He has also provided this fabulous photo of one of our resident barn owls. Very much appreciated.

51 barn owl pellets collected in February 2017 in Rosedale East revealed 8 mammal species present, a total of 254 prey items with mean prey items per pellet of 4.98:

90 Field vole
1 Bank vole
16 Wood mouse
1 Harvest mouse
11 Brown rat
85 Common shrew
43 Pygmy shrew
1 Water shrew
6 birds

80 barn owl pellets collected in February 2017 in Rosedale West revealed 8 mammal species present, a total of 397 prey items with mean prey items per pellet of 4.96:

132 Field vole
12 Bank vole
7 Wood mouse
1 Harvest mouse
5 Brown rat
162 Common shrew
72 Pygmy shrew
4 Water shrew
1 bird
1 frog

The next pellet sample collections are in progress and the results will reveal mammal species over the Spring and Summer seasons.  Updale Natural History Recorder

A real autumnal feel walking through the dale this weekend.  Birds and mammals taking full advantage of the seasonal bounty along our hedgerows.  Hazels Corylus avellana full of cobnuts and Guelder Rose Viburnum opulus laden with shiny red berries.  Good to be out.  Updale Natural History Recorder

A coffee morning and the ever-popular raffle and cake sale in aid of the ‘Save Rosedale Abbey Church’ appeal raised the magnificent sum of £523, thanks to the generosity of those attending and those who donated cakes and raffle prizes. Also, sixty five of the Rosedale 2018 calendars have been sold so far, therefore nearly £1200 had been raised from Show Day to date. The remaining copies of the very popular calendar are for sale in the Abbey Stores, Graze of the Green, the Coach House Inn and the White Horse Farm Inn at £10 per copy – get yours now before they all go!

Again, heartfelt thanks to all who contributed prizes and cakes, to June, Lorrie and Carol for helping with the raffle, to Ali and the staff of the Coach House and also to the good folks at the Howard Caravan Park who gave a generous donation to the cause along with some raffle prizes.

For your diaries, the next coffee morning will be on Saturday 7 October, between 10.00 and 12.00 am and will be in aid of the Rosedale History Society, with lots of interesting displays on offer, no doubt.

Sunshine, showers and a blustery wind typified show day at Rosedale on Saturday 19 August, but as usual the crowds of locals and visitors came out and enjoyed the varied displays of horses and other livestock, exhibitions, trade stands and live music throughout the day.

Much thanks to all on the Show Committee and to the volunteers who manned the gates and controlled the traffic to make the day such a success.

Thanks must also go to all those who donated to the Rosedale Abbey church repair appeal by buying the excellent calendars on offer or by giving directly or both. The grand sum of  £546.30 was raised for this vital cause.

The remaining calendars will be on sale shortly in the village between now and the church appeal sponsored coffee morning in the Coach House Inn on Saturday 2 September from 10.00 to 12.00 am – in the meantime, if you have any queries, please call 01751 417071 and leave a message.

Thanks again to all who helped make this Saturday such a special day for Rosedale.