Welcome to the Rosedale blog. This is where we share news and information about events in Rosedale and the wider community throughout the year. You’ll also find news about the village timetable, our micro enterprises, school events, clubs, and lively socials.
Image: Rosedale Show By Patrick Chambers
Sunday 12th November from 10am
Rosedale Church
All welcome.
The yews and holly in our churchyard are full of berries and redwings are taking full advantage during the cold weather. Redwings are a winter migrant and arrive here during October and November. They are the smallest of the UK true thrushes and are identified by the distinctive cream stripe above the eye and an orange-red flank patch. Easily disturbed but a little patience and they can be seen plucking and eating the red yew berries. Updale Natural History Recorder
Sad to see a roadkill woodcock on an early morning walk but a chance to study the extraordinary plumage of this beautiful wader. Woodcocks breed here in Rosedale but during Autumn and Winter numbers are bolstered by an influx from abroad. The woodcock is similar to the snipe with a very long bill but it is slightly larger and russet-brown with short legs and a barred crown. Woodcock live in marshland and damp wooded areas and can sometimes flush from ditches. They are perfectly camouflaged in leaf litter with their mottled feathers and often go undetected. Woodcocks are nocturnal, spending the day resting up and at night feeding in the open, mainly on worms. To see and hear a male woodcock’s display flight called roding in Spring is another of nature’s delights Updale Natural History Recorder
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
