Thirteen of us enjoyed our outing to Boston Spa on a glorious spring day, sunny with not a cloud in the sky. On arrival, looking upwards we saw our first sightings, three red kites in the sky above (later buzzards were also spotted).
We started our walk following the Eastern Trail along the Georgian High Street admiring the beautiful buildings constructed from local limestone which had a warm hue. Boston Spa had been an important staging-post for travellers, reflected in some of the buildings which were clearly identified as stables previously, which now were superior residential homes. It had also been an important spa town boasting of several hotels in a previous era.
We left the High Street at Wharfeside and started our walk along the banks of the River Wharfe, passing Boston Spa bridge (built 1779), the weir and fish pond to Deep Dale and Jackdaw Crag finally returning on the main road to St Mary's Church.
The ancient woodland alongside the Wharfe had burst into life, flowers and shrubs were in bloom, birds were singing and insects were on the wing. The woodland was a carpet of the leaves of wild garlic, wild arum and dogs mercury. In and amongst were patches of dog violet and wood anemones which shone in the sunlight. Other floral species recorded were butterbur, cow parsley, green alkanet, and hogweed. The wildflower grassland area was covered in cowslips and primroses but no oxlip. The blackthorn seen in flower on our journey and in the woodland was superb,
A variety of birds were seen or heard. In the woodland were chiffchaff, jackdaw, nuthatch, tree creeper, wren, long tailed and other tits. On the river were cormorant, goosander (male and female). In the fields greylag geese were grazing. Sue was especially intrigued to see a pair of robins exchanging food as part of their courtship in the church yard. Four butterfly species were recorded including small tortoiseshell (several), comma, brimstone and peacock. Bumblebees were in flight and ladybirds were enjoying the sunshine. Of considerable interest to the party visiting Jackdaw Crag were the morels seen in Deep Dale valley.
A successful day out with thanks especially to Alice for her research and leadership, also to Julia and Kevin our drivers for the day.
See the photos here.
Margaret