Fylingsdale Moor & Ravenscar

October 16, 2016 Pete

The continued search for grouse in North Yorkshire led us to Fylingsdael Moor, a conservation area of moorland close to Ravenscar, which is accessed via the A171 Jugger Howe lay-by between Whitby and Scarborough.

This former grouse moor is managed by the Hawk and Owl Trust and according to their website uses traditional moorland management techniques to enhance wildlife.

Our trip wasn’t proving to be very successful as the only wildlife that we found on show were sheep.

I did, however, take a couple of scenic shots whilst traversing the moorland.

Having lugged heavy lenses around the Lyke Wake walk path for some considerable time without any joy, the decision was made to cut our losses and head over to Ravenscar, this decision coincided with the cloud starting to roll in.

Ravenscar is, according to the Collins book “Short Walks in The North York Moors”, known locally as ‘Bay Town’ and a holiday resort that began as a speculative venture of building another Scarborough but was never quite finished due to the unstable geology of the area.

On arrival we stopped off at the National Trust visitor centre for an ice cream before heading on down to the cliffs and for scenic view from Ravens towards Robin Hood’s Bay.

The tide was in so this time we do not get to see the rock formations that look like scars.

A panorama looking towards Robin Hood's Bay from Ravenscar — A panorama looking towards Robin Hood’s Bay from Ravenscar

I had decided to travel light, just taking my small pancake lens, and this turned out to be a bad decision as we found several Common Seals (Phoca vitulina) really close to the shoreline at the bottom of the cliffs.

Here is a severly cropped image of one.

The one positive of the day was the sun makign a re-appearance as we returned back up to the cliff tops, offering much better lighting and visability.