3 September 2013 - Today's outing was to the disused platform area of Bolton Percy Station which, again, is a nature reserve managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. However, I had previously spotted some bracket fungi on the road to Thorp Arch Trading Estate so thought that I might start there and also take in All Saints Church at Thorp Arch before making my way to Bolton Percy. God, that sounds so sad!

I parked up at Thorp Arch and immediately spotted a rabbit dashing back into it's burrow, so I set up my tripod and waited for about a quarter of an hour. He didn't come back of course and I took some pictures of the fungi and then made my way around to the church.

All Saints, Thorp Arch was mentioned in in the Domesday Survey and has undergone a number of rebuilds; first in the Norman style in C12, the Perpendicular style in 1485, and finally in the Medieval style in 1871/72 by the architect George Edmund Street. At the front of the church was a sundial mounted on an old looking octagonal pillar. I later found out that this was probably the support for a font presented by the mother of Revd. Christopher Atkinson in 1756. There was also a sundial on the side of the tower and a goodly collection of ancient gravestones, some looking rather Gothic in a cladding of ivy.

Then I drove to Bolton Percy, which is a rather small reserve. Most notable was a large bush just inside the entrance which seemed to be a butterfly magnet. I saw Tortoiseshells, I've no idea which variety, what I took to be Wood Whites, and a couple of yellowy Brimstones. I'm no expert so please take these identifications with a pinch of salt. Of course the trains roaring passed caused them to be very skittish and I wasn't very happy with the focus of the butterfly pictures. Hey ho.

Again, the whole set can be seen at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100919022204905244251/albums/5919683501069738609