County Durham is an incredibly beautiful place. While I was searching for a new home, I was also finding my way around, and exploring this new scenery. I decided to start walking again. England doesn't use the term, 'hiking'. Whether it's a 2 mile amble or a 12 mile trek, it's still just a walk. And I like that. So, regardless of cold temperatures and winds, I put on a new pair of walking boots and set off. I had lost much of my fitness during the past year, so I found that a couple of miles rambling was enough at first, but during the winter months I was fine with that. I joined a few groups, and now walk 4 days a week or more, and am comfortable doing 5-7 miles. I still have a dodgy ankle from a couple of years ago, but am starting physio for that next month, and hope that will help.
I have walked far too many places to post photos from the past now, but hope to drop a few in when I return to some of these places, which I will do. But right on my doorstep I have a spectacular little nature reserve, Bishop Middleham Quarry, a site of special interest. This was once a working quarry, but has now been allowed to revert to nature. It's not the easiest place to find, hidden on a tiny lane, and seems to only be frequented by locals. I squashed my car into the hedge, noting that there was an abundance of cob nuts here, I'll be back!
It was apparent as I pushed through the kissing gate that I had the place to myself. The sun was still quite high, casting long shadows over the track, and it was warm, that nice kind of warm you like feeling on your bare skin, not too hot. The inhabitants here obviously felt the same way, as I could hear a steady happy hum from bountiful bees as they buzzed back and forth over the flowers. Butterflies flittered and fluttered, some to fast to identify, but I could make out that there were quite a few varieties here.
James Common's link above did a great job of identifying the flowers. I didn't see as many varieties of orchid as him, but there were plenty of harebells, field scabius, knapweed, restharrow, birdsfoot trefoil and rosebay willowherb. There were other plants I haven't named, the abundance of wildflowers was amazing. And the insects enjoying them were also abundant. Hoverflies buzzed around my head and settled on flower heads, there were quite a few varieties of native bees, and plenty of butterflies and moths.
There were many peacock butterflies, common blues, some orange butterflies that moved too fast to ascertain whether they were commas or small coppers, large whites, brown arguses, and a few 6 spot burnet moths. Red soldier beetles were getting busy on the cow parsley, and in the shade of some trees I spotted cinnabar moth caterpillars.
It was a joy to wander around this reserve and not see any evidence of man, apart from the worn tracks. There was obviously plenty of life here. Apart from the insects and bees, which swarmed noisily around me, birds trilled from branches, hidden by leaves, the empty burrows on the cliff faces were evidence of sand martins, whose young were now grown and fledged, preparing for their migration to Africa in September. Rabbits live here, droppings are everywhere on the grass. I came across many empty snail shells so am guessing thrushes are happy to hang out here too. As was I, this is a little world unto itself, tucked away in the middle of nowhere and invisible from the narrow lane that runs along a narrow part of it.
As the shadows became longer, I walked back along the bottom of the old quarry towards the steps at the end. I'd seen no-one since I'd arrived, and had been here for about 90 minutes. In the nearly 100 years that the quarry has been abandoned, this reserve has become its own ecosystem, with rarer plants and butterflies now thriving. The European bee-eater successfully bred here in 2002; I'd love to see one of those. I'll definitely be visiting here again, it's so close to home, and I'll relish seeing the changes through the seasons. As I walked back to my car, an older gentleman and his dog wandered over, about to enter and enjoy this peaceful haven for themselves.
