30 August 2013 - By way of a digression, I 'ave mostly been taking some time off work and taking pictures of stuff. I started out on Friday by visiting Hetchell Woods, a nature reserve managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It's a mix of woods and grasslands and has Bardsey Beck flowing alongside its edge. There were quite a few dog walkers when I first arrived so initially I just had a preliminary look around.

I started at an unusual area just south of the reserve itself, a set of earthworks associated with a Roman site called Pompocali. The location is distinctive for its many small circular features, with traces of tracks. These are thought to be kiln sites from the lime burning that took place between about 1700 and 1850. The lime was used for agricultural use and for mortar using the limestone quarried from the field close by, just across Milner Lane.

The trail through the woods took me passed quarry workings, either limestone or gritstone, and a set of rocky outcroppings known as Hetchell Crags. My path took me along the top of the crags at first and then further on was a hairpin turn and I came back along the base of the crags and adjacent to the beck.

Along the way I took pictures of flowers, fungi and insects as I went. There was a bit of a breeze but fortunately I had taken along a couple of freezer clips which held some of the flowers nice and still so that I could get some reasonable pictures.

The whole lot can be seen at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100919022204905244251/albums/5917973751674210241