Bishop Monkton Railway Cutting

As part of our project to discover more about Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserves we took a trip out to Bishop Monkton Railway Cutting, a limestone habitat, part of the former London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), Harrogate to Ripon Line which closed in 1967. One of our first sightings and a first for the year was this Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus), a dark brown butterfly with white fringed wings and light coloured rings on the underwing.

I do like an interpretive board and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust never disappoint.

Here's a view of the railway cutting, the vegetation comprised Marjoram, Common spotted orchid, Thistles, Birds Foot Trefoil, Wild Strawberry, Nettle, White Campion, Buttercup, Thistles, Self Heal, Ox Eye Daisy, Brambles, Hawthorn, Elder, Willow.


I'm not so good at identifying orchids but the interpretive board highlights Common Spotted Orchid as a prevalent species.





At the far end of the track we encountered two Roe Deer, they stood chomping away for a couple of minutes before leaping out of view.

We were a week or two early for most of the flowering plants, but I imagine the marjoram and thistles attract a large number of butterflies. During our wander, as well as the Ringlets we saw Meadow Brown, Silver Y moth, Green Veined White, Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell and I understand that 19 species of butterfly have been recorded over the years. Although we came away without any decent pics of the feathered inhabitants we did see a family of Long Tail Tits, Whitethroat, Blackbird, Great Tit, Blue Tit. A great little reserve to visit on a sunny day.