Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today myself and Angela had a walk at Skipwith Common – a national nature reserve in North Yorkshire. It is an ancient landscape with 270 hectares of open heath, ponds and woodlands.

There are numerous paths through and around the common. Today there was plenty of water from the recent rain in evidence.

The heathland was formed at Skipwith about 3,500 years ago when settlers tamed the ancient woodland with fire. Their descendants grazed sheep and cattle preventing trees invading open areas thereby allowing heathland plants to thrive. Peat digging created many of the ponds on the common.

During World War 2 in,1942, the Common and some of adjoining Ricall Common was the site of RAF Ricall – a base for training aircrew to learn how to fly four engine Hadley Page Halifax bombers. There were 32 aircraft and almost a thousand men stationed there until the war ended in 1945 when the base was decommissioned. It remained as a storage facility until 1960 when the final off-Common parts were sold.

A memorial (based on a propeller) was raised in 2010 dedicated to members of RAF Ricall who lost their lives in accidents.

We walked along some nice wooden walkways that led to wildlife viewing points.

We only had time for a brief but enjoyable visit.

All being well, myself and Angela should walk a new section of the Bridgewater canal over the weekend. I am looking forward to that.

Happy Walking!