A morning in Hawthorn Dene.
The hottest day of the year so far!
Went walking this morning in Hawthorn Dene. The Dene is one of the County Durham Denes which are steep sided wooded valleys running West to East into the sea, cutting through the local Magnesian Limestone. The geology gives the Denes a particularly interesting flora and fauna. There is a link to more info about Hawthorn Dene in my links section.
I parked the car and almost stepped on a common shrew as I put my foot out of the door. It shot away into the hedgerow at great speed.
Taking the high footpath through the north slopes of the Dene I came out from a wooded section on to the edge of a huge disused quarry. A kestrel was quartering the edge of the cliffs looking for food.
The pathway has many large stones bedded into it. On one of theseI found the snail shell remains shown in the picture. I think a thrush had been using the stone as an anvil to break open snails for food.
The pathway snakes down towards the coast between open sunny banks. This morning these were alive with butterflies, mostly Meadow browns which seemed to be every few feet. There were also Common Blue and lots of a small brown butterfly which moved so fast I couldn't identify it. Maybe better luck next time!
At the bottom of the path a yellowhammer was perched in the top of a hawthorn bush but predictably flew away just as I pointed the camera at it.
Where the Dene flows out into the sea a large area of Magnesian Limestone meadow lies just inland of the cliff edges. This is a mass of flowers at this time of year, particularly Meadow Cranesbill.
Just on the cliff edge I came across a Common Field Grasshopper in the vegetation which obligingly stayed still long enough for a picture. Maybe it was as hot as I was.
Went walking this morning in Hawthorn Dene. The Dene is one of the County Durham Denes which are steep sided wooded valleys running West to East into the sea, cutting through the local Magnesian Limestone. The geology gives the Denes a particularly interesting flora and fauna. There is a link to more info about Hawthorn Dene in my links section.
I parked the car and almost stepped on a common shrew as I put my foot out of the door. It shot away into the hedgerow at great speed.
Taking the high footpath through the north slopes of the Dene I came out from a wooded section on to the edge of a huge disused quarry. A kestrel was quartering the edge of the cliffs looking for food.
The pathway has many large stones bedded into it. On one of theseI found the snail shell remains shown in the picture. I think a thrush had been using the stone as an anvil to break open snails for food.
The pathway snakes down towards the coast between open sunny banks. This morning these were alive with butterflies, mostly Meadow browns which seemed to be every few feet. There were also Common Blue and lots of a small brown butterfly which moved so fast I couldn't identify it. Maybe better luck next time!
At the bottom of the path a yellowhammer was perched in the top of a hawthorn bush but predictably flew away just as I pointed the camera at it.
Where the Dene flows out into the sea a large area of Magnesian Limestone meadow lies just inland of the cliff edges. This is a mass of flowers at this time of year, particularly Meadow Cranesbill.
Just on the cliff edge I came across a Common Field Grasshopper in the vegetation which obligingly stayed still long enough for a picture. Maybe it was as hot as I was.
posted by David R at 1:32 pm
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