Broxa Forest is situated in the South East of the North Yorkshire Moors. The road to it has views to the North East of the North Sea. It is 730 hectares of mixed woodland although it’s mainly Coniferous. Japanese Larch and Scots pine are most prevelant with hybrid Larch, Corsican and Lodgepole pine. Broadleaf trees are dominated by birch and beech with a mix of ash, oak, sycamore and alder. Where the forest’s been cleared it’s created a heathland environment and is home to the nightjar. Nightjars are found on heathland, moors, woodland with open clearings and recently felled conifer plantations. It’s a nocturnal bird, it’s presence usually indicated by the males churring. Which can sound almost ghostly in the dark. They’re most numerous in Southern England but are present here in Broxa. They have a supernatural reputation with their silent flight and the surrounding myth of their ability to steal milk from goats.

25% of Broxa is designated as ancient woodland, most of which is to be found in the deep cut valleys. These valleys are Langdale, High Dales, Whisper Dales and Bready Gill. Whisper Dales sounds intriguing. Below you’ll find a video of our visit to Broxa at the weekend where we explored part of a ravine. I believe this to be Bready Gill and the area we were in to be Turkey Carpet. Yeah I know, Turkey Carpet. That’s what it’s called. There are 30 scheduled monuments and up to 200 unscheduled monuments. In the video I mention we’d visited the area previously. This was further down the main road seen at the begining of the video on the left. This area is Cripple Grain Head and Inn Moor. The entire area seemingly rich in history.

In this video I mention about not doing a post when this is the post, doh! What I meant was a specific post relating to what I mentioned in November’s newsletter. But I do explain a little about why that is.

Forgive my frustration in the video. This was not to do with wanting to stop people from enjoying the forest. As has always been the case it’s to do with people’s attitudes, entitled behaviour, ignorance at reading situations and their passing judgement and giving opinions I haven’t asked for. I get tired of having to ask people to keep their distance and explaining why. I go into the wild places to seek solitude, comfort, contemplation at the wonders of our world, peace and other such things. Not to have a battle with other dog owners, it’s becoming increasingly hard to find the above mentioned things I seek. I envy those of you who have access to wilderness areas with miles of forest off the beaten path. Even if you have bears, mountain lions, wolves and other animals to contend with. Having said that I know it’s a privilage to be able to get to a forest as many cannot. I state in the video about not going back but on reflection we probably will at some point we just need to keep searching for those quiet areas. This is why the ravines are so intriguing, we only walked through a very small section of woodland. Plus there are other forests to get out to.

As if by magic I’ve just come across an interesting recent article about Britain’s rainforests. “Rainforest? In Britain?” I hear you cry. Why yes, we have them and it’s time we took better care of them before they disappear forever.

Link below:

https://unherd.com/2022/11/the-magic-of-britains-rainforests/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Regardless of my frustration, I hope you enjoy accompanying us on a walk through the forest.