The old oak tree is bare! It’s this time of year when trees show all they have got. The split in the trunk and subsequent hollowing is very visible Updale Natural History Recorder

Oak tree

The trunk showing its age
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.
The old oak tree is bare! It’s this time of year when trees show all they have got. The split in the trunk and subsequent hollowing is very visible Updale Natural History Recorder
Oak tree
The trunk showing its age
We have dippers here on the River Seven in Rosedale. They are early breeders and pair bonding is already underway at their nest sites. Plenty of singing between them – females sing as well as males. Plenty of picking up and dropping leaves, bowing with wings quivering and tail cocked. Next month they will be well on with refurbishing their nests. Updale Natural History Recorder
Pair of dippers
As today, Sunday 2 December, was the last tea and chat meeting of the Society for 2018, the members presented Carol Cockerill and Margaret Truran with early Christmas presents in grateful thanks for the delicious tea and cakes they provide for the meetings throughout the year and which are such a well known feature of these events!
The next regular meeting of the Society will be on Sunday 6 January, from 2.00 to 4.00pm in the Updale Reading Room – all are most welcome and in the meantime a very Happy Christmas and a stimulating New Year to everyone.
A couple of roe deer does showing themselves well in Hartoft during our wintery weather. Roe deer are reddish brown in summer but adopt this dull brown coat in winter. There appears to be an obvious light patch on the necks. Updale Natural History Recorder
Lovely to see a grey partridge in one of gills on edge of moor at Rosedale East. The grey partridge, also known as the English partridge is our native partridge but by no means common these days. Updale Natural History Recorder
Grey partridge
These beautiful wheatears are back in their numbers up on the edge of the moor. The male has a grey back and crown and a striking black eye-stripe with a white stripe above called a supercilium. The female has altogether browner colouring with a cream supercilium. Both have buff underparts and a white rump and both have a characteristic bob and flick action. You should see them from the old railway line on the east side of Rosedale and at the top of Chimney Bank. Worth getting your walking boots on. Updale Natural History Recorder
Male wheatear
Female wheatear
Comma butterfly is now on the wing here in Rosedale. A favoured place for them is a sheltered sunny position on the edge of a wood where they will bask in the sun. Delightful white comma on the underwing if you are lucky enough to see it. Updale Natural History Recorder
Comma butterfly
Underwing showing comma
Some spectacular fungus out there just now. Yellow Brain fungus Tremella mesenterica, is hard to miss, its golden yellow looking so unnatural. Jelly Ear fungus Auricularia auricula-judae is perhaps less obvious but is just beautifully formed in a rich brown. Both are jelly-like and found on dead or decaying trees. Updale Natural History Recorder
Yellow Brain fungus on decaying Ash tree
Jelly Ear fungus on decaying Elder tree
Found this beautiful Jelly ear fungus here in the dale this week. Also known as Judas’s ear fungus, Auricularia auricula-judae and commonly found on the elder tree. The story goes that Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus hanged himself on an elder tree. It resembles the human ear and is rubbery in texture. It ranges from purple to brown through to almost black as it ages. Updale Natural History Recorder
Jelly ear fungus, Auricularia auricula-judae
This adder was basking in the welcome sunshine on Sunday up on the moor here in Rosedale. Can’t have been long out of hibernation. Beautifully marked reptiles to be admired from a safe distance as their venom is poisonous. Updale Natural History Recorder