Halcion day of summer?
Settle Eco Explorers (for families with children aged 4-11) meet fortnightly on Wednesdays after school at 4pm. Today we went to Clapham, 6.5 miles from Settle. As part of the walk we visited Clapham churchyard and recorded wildflowers and wildlife in Quadrats (1 by 1 m squares)
Two families plus Sally and Keith and I met near the pub just south of the YDNP carpark and walked up the river "The Beck" to the church.
(Side track: Inside the church a man was playing the accordion. He was practicing for the concert he will be giving on Sat 17 June in the church. The sound resonated from the wooden pews to the tall roof arches. We sat and listened.)
We walked up to the north end of the churchyard. Here some areas had been left unmown this spring and were full of blue Bugle and white Dog Daisies. We set out our two 1 metre quadrats.
We practiced sitting silently for one minute listening to sounds we could hear:
Four species of bird; a football being kicked. A child's voice; The "white noise" of the river "The Beck" about 100 m away.
We sang a song that Sally had brought: and had biscuits and a drink.
Finally we got down to the quadrats. This time we listened for two minutes: and added
a wood pigeon ("Take two coos taffy")
a possible blackbird /wren / chattering/warning call that went on and on, and on and on
and "A buzzing"
An Orange-tip butterfly flew by.
Quadrat one which included a flat tombstone had Dog lichen (Peltigera hymenina growing on it). There was blue bugle in flower and Creeping Buttercup in leaf. Plus lots of Rough Meadow-grass. S went round the quadrat with a little water sprayer to freshen up the lichen and moss.
Quadrat 2 had a vertical tombstone - with Cigarette Ash Lichen (Porpidia tuberculosa) growing on it. That wuadrat had lots of Dog Daisies.
Both had Springy Turf-Moss and Rough Meadow Grass
Finally we went for a walk "up the two tunnels" to a mystery gate.
Then returned back down to the village.
Next fortnight we plan to go for a walk at Austwick.
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