Thorne Moor National Nature Reserve (NNR) - May 2003

In April, May and June I try to make sure that I get as much free time as possible, especially at weekends. It’s one of the most productive times of the year for pottering about, just observing nature. I was out in the field, from dawn to dusk, on May 10th and 24th. On both occasions I watched birds, butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. Since my Fundamental Bushcraft Course, in May 2002, I'm now identifying trees and wild plants. It's fascinating to see what's on your own doorstep that you gets missed by not looking. The two days were so useful that I thought I'd pass on the lessons.

The Place

Thorne Moors National Nature Reserve, is a lowland peat bog on the south side of the Humber Estuary. A rare environmental habitat now because all the others have been destroyed by peat extraction for garden compost. In fact this reserve is a reclaimed extraction site and extraction is still going on right next door. I get the impression from conversations I’ve heard that this will stop in about two years (thankfully) and then the whole area will come under the NNR scheme. The reserve is accessed by parking my car in Moorends and then following the sign posted footpath on to the reserve. It’s quite a long way before you get onto the reserve proper but it’s worth it. The whole area is really interesting. The added bonus is that once you get on the moor you've got the place entirely to yourself.

The Food

On the edible plant side, I managed to identify Reed Mace (Bullrush); Reed; Stinging Nettle; Fat-hen; Hogweed; Cow Parsley; Wild Strawberries (lunch - yummee); Goosegrass; Marsh Thistle; and Dandelion. On the dangerous side, I positively identified Water Iris and Hemlock.

Fungi

I am just a beginner. I think I identified the following correctly (but didn't have the bottle to take any home and try) Pavement Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus); (which I found emerging in the middle of a hard packed limestone road that divides the NNR from the area of peat extraction); Mosaic Puffball (Handkea ultiformis); Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea), but not really big ones; and Yellow Swamp Russule (Russula claroflava). Yellow Swamp Russule occurs with birch in very damp or boggy ground – exactly where I was.

My rule when handling wild animals, plants or fungi is: If you can’t positively identify it, then don’t handle it or eat it. I learned this after a long night with a Bamboo Pit Viper in Thailand, but that’s another tale.

I found a Silver Birch with lots of True Tinder Fungus / Grey Fire Bracket Fungus (Phellinus igniarius) on it, so I selected a decent sized bit that I could press my thumb into. The preparation instructions for amadou talk about simmering for 24 hours etc. - is there a quicker way with a microwave I ask myself?

Well, after three days I had a plate full of amadou, which is not quite right, but will take a spark and smoulders quite well.

Tinder

The moor was absolutly covered with Cotton Grass with big fluffy seed heads. I've now got a Tesco bag full of the stuff drying out in my study (more of why it was wet a bit later!). The Reed Mace was in the state where all the flower heads were brown and fluffy. I couldn't remember if this was supposed to be good tinder but it certainly looked and felt as if it would be. So another Tesco bag full of that is on my study floor also drying out.

The weather on both the day trips was hot and sunny so I expected lots of butterflies and dragonflies. But it was rather quiet and I only managed to identify Large Skipper; Common Blue; Large White; Painted Lady and Meadow Brown butterflies. There are only 58 species of butterfly in the British Isles so it's quite easy to get your head round the common ones in your area. There's 2,400 species of moth!

On the dragonfly front I only found a few Large Red Damselflies; Azure Damselfly; Blue-tailed Damselfly and many Four Spotted Chasers.
Do you now where the expression 'damsel in distress' comes from? It's to do with the mating behaviour of damselflies. After the male and the female have got together they fly about together linked up. The male holds the female by the neck with the end of his tail, (not the technical term for the end bit of a damselfly but you known what I mean), and forces her down onto the water to force her to deposit her eggs in sites he chooses. In olden days they didn't understand the mating behaviour and believed that one damselfly was rescuing another from drowning when it had accidentally landed on the surface of the water. Romantic isn't it?

On the bird song front I noticed that lots of Willow Warbles; Chiffchaffs; Whitethroats; Lesser Whitethroats; Garden Warblers and Blackcap had arrived back from over wintering in Africa. Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler look practically the same but have a completely different song. Willow Warblers are very common so any walk in any woodland and you will undoubtedly hearing them all the time. It's a delightful 3 to 5 second soft whistling song, which is repeated frequently. I also heard Nightingales on my second visit. Thorne Moor National Nature Reserve is one of the most northerly areas where this elusive species can be heard and seen (if you are extremely lucky).

Birds were numerous on both visits with many summer migrants present a couple of weeks before I had expected them. This was undoubtedly due to the six weeks of dry and sunny weather we had in April/May.

As Thorne Moors is a very wet boggy area there are many dragonflies, which in turn attract the fast flying elegant little falcon, the Hobby. On my second visit I was lucky to see three of these super little falcons hawking for dragonflies over the area. Just the sight of these birds made the visit worth it.

I also managed to hear 3 separate Grasshopper Warblers - they skulk in reed beds and sound like Singer Sowing Machines. A rapid clicking reel that goes on for minutes.

In the evening I went with some friends to look for Nightjar in my local wood. They are rare this far north but we had to two singing males. They are nocturnal like owls and their song is a low churring sound that goes on for minutes. They sound like a baritone Grasshopper Warbler. In fact the first Nightjar and Grasshopper Warblers I ever saw were near the Fundamentals Bushcraft Course I attended in Ashdown Forest, at a place called Nutley Mill. I think it's about 10km from where the course was held. If you are ever doing a course down that way after mid June it's certainly worth listening out for the song at night as it carries quite a distance on the wind.

Trees

Trees are good for sheltering under when the weather forecast says it's going to be a brilliant sunny day and you get caught in a thunder storm without any waterproofs!

Hazel - excellent with large leaves and a canopy that acts like an umbrella.

English Oak - not very effective and you have to sit very close to the trunk to get any sheltering effect.

Silver Birch - absolutely fffing useless.

The trees I Identified were: White Poplar; Aspen; Crack Willow; Grey Willow; Silver Birch; Hazel; Alder; English Oak; Sweet Chestnut; Wych Elm; Rowan; Ash and Sycamore. I'm really getting into tree identification. I Don't know what they are useful for but there's no point in knowing their uses if you don't know what one looks like. First things first.

That’s about it for my first ‘Tales from the Vale’. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings through the countryside.

An anecdote to end.

Out birding with friends the other day.

Richard - 'Oh, there's a Redstart'

Joan - 'Where have you got it'

Richard - 'It's in the Alder next to the English Oak'

Jack - 'Well that's all very nice to know but where's the bird!'



Copyright Š2003-2007 Bushcraft UK

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