News
July 2010
We have produced a new 4 page colour leaflet about Hob Moor. It has a map of the moor and takes you on a guided walk highlighting some of the key features to look out for. Click here or right-click to save it to your computer. Note: the leaflet is only available as a pdf file.
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Mark Tyzska lead another of his interesting walks on Hob Moor, this year concentrating on bugs and beasties. The umbrella was not because of the rain, but to catch the creepy-crawlies found in the hedges!
The Council have been cutting some of the grass on the moor as part of their plan to tackle the ever creeping Creeping Thistle. This will hopefully prevent the thistles seeding. More action is planned next year.
June 2010
Cows are now back on the moor for the summer, a month later than normal. The reason for the delay is a switch to a different grazier from last year. Because they are later this year, there will initially be a slightly greater number than usual in order to get all the grass eaten!
May 2010
We have held a couple of events this month and had a third cancelled. First of all Margaret Weeden lead a bird walk around the moor where we saw, amongst other birds, swifts and a meadow pipit (but no skylarks). We also heard a blackcap on the Triangle.
Later in the month Martin Hammond showed us some of the ecology to be found on the moor. Unfortunately, due to the late spring this year, a lot of the wild flowers he was expecting to find at this time of the year still hadn't come into flower.
Finally, the Hob Moor Local Nature Reserve Fair was due to take place at the end of the month. Unfortunately, because of a weather forecast of torrential rain (after an almost totally dry month!), the Council decided to cancel it on the morning of the event. This was a real shame after all the hard work that had gone into organising it.
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The first swifts were seen over the moor at the start of the month. They come to the UK to breed over the summer, having spent their winter holidays in Africa. They have short forked tails and are dark underneath, in contrast to swallows which have long forked tails and light underparts.
April 2010
Our spring newsletter is available here.
Cowslips are flowering at various points around the moor.
March 2010
The first skylark of the year was heard on March 9th.
A couple of new photos have been added here.
February 2010
Details of the summer events organised by Friends of Hob Moor and York Council can be found here.
January 2010
Sunrise over Hob Moor on New Year's Day. A Happy New Year to all.
December 2009
Some more memories of growing up in the area around Hob Moor have been added here.
The website has recently had a small make-over resulting in a slightly different layout and structure. We hope you like it. We've also added a slideshow of Hob Moor photos to the home page. If you have difficulty viewing this, it is most likely because you need a small piece of software called Flash which can be downloaded and installed here.
Some details of who to contact to report issues (litter, motor cyclists, etc.) have been added to the Contacts and Links section.
November 2009
A short section on where the name Hob Moor may have come from can be found here.
October 2009
The minutes of the 10th Annual General Meeting are now available on the website here.
September 2009
Teams from Probation Services and BTCV have worked on 26 separate days this summer clearing thistles from the central area of the moor. This has helped the wildflowers in the area and has also significantly reduced the steady streams of thistle seeds that usually drift across the moor at this time of the year.
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As mentioned in July (below), the cows this year are from a different farmer from previous years. If you would like to know more about them and the farmer, or are interested in sampling the produce, you can link to the farmer's website here.
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There were lots of strange goings on last night on the moor (Sept 3rd). A helicopter circled over the moor about 9.30pm and then landed in the middle. It then took off and hovered over the moor for over an hour, landing once again, whilst police restricted access across the moor. It was very unclear at the time what was going on, but it appears that the police had called in a helicopter with a heat-sensitive camera to look for a missing woman. The York Press website has a brief report about it here.
August 2009
Our autumn newsletter is now available here with updates on all our latest news, including the details of our AGM in October.
July 2009
The cattle this year are owned by a different farmer from previous years. There about 35 of them and they are South Devon cattle, aged between 8 months and 11 years.
Thistle cutting is now taking place regularly by BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) and Probation Services.
Some new photos of butterflies have been added here.
June 2009
Thistles
Creeping thistle, as its name implies, creeps. And over the last few years it has crept across large areas of the moor. It is now seriously encroaching into the nesting areas for skylarks and meadow pipits and is also starting to strangle the wildflowers.
To bring the thistles back under control and reduce their hold in coming years, the City of York Council have carefully assessed their options for dealing with the problem and are now starting on a programme of cutting. In the sensitive areas around the middle of the moor, the thistles are being strimmed by hand. This process will be repeated every month, thereby weakening the plants considerably. In the outer areas of the moor where no birds nest, some cutting will be done by machine.
Wildflowers thrive in infertile conditions. So, in order to reduce the fertility, the cuttings will be removed. Also, it is important not to stifle other vegetation by leaving the cuttings behind. An additional reason for cutting the grass is that the cattle will be arriving shortly and the long grass is likely to be too long and tough for the cows to eat. Cutting the grass will stimulate new growth for the cows to eat.
A further programme of thistle eradication will be carried out next year with a review to assess the results.
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Friends of Hob Moor had a stand at West Bank Park Summer Fair on June 28th. There were well over 1,000 people there and there was a great deal of interest in our stand. Of particular interest were the large aerial photos we had on display and also some new photo cards we've produced for sale. The cards sold very well, so we will also be selling them at the AGM in October. Eleven new members joined as well, so it was very successful all round.
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A recording of a skylark singing on Hob Moor has been added in the birdsong section of the birds page here.
A new section on the becks around Hob Moor has been added here.
Also, a number of new photos of the plants on the moor have been added to the Flowers and Grasses section here.
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The cattle have been late in arriving this year. The Council commissioned an agricultural report to look at the effect of cattle on land such as Hob Moor, so that they could determine the optimum number. The report has now been received and 35 cattle should be arriving towards the end of June (there were 59 last year). This unfortunate delay has, however, resulted in a very attractive moor this year with a sea of red sorrel among the buttercups.
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All the back issues of the newsletters have now been added to the website and can be found here.
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Mark Tyszka led another fascinating nature walk, here explaining about the three different types of buttercups to be found on the moor.
May 2009
The annual Hob Moor Fair took place on Saturday 23rd and was a great success. As well as the usual attractions such as the falconry display and dog show, this year there was also a climbing wall, trampolining and a bouncy castle, which were very popular. Around 1,000 people came along.
A new aerial photo by Anthony Crawshaw has been added to the Photos & Maps section.
April 2009
The spring newsletter is now available as a pdf here.
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Five male mallard ducks are to be seen regularly on the becks as well as in the skies over Hob Moor. Has anyone seen any females for them?
March 2009
A small section on butterflies and moths has been added to the website. You can view it here.
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A new section on flowers and grasses has been added to the website. You can view it here.
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A new section on hedgerows has been added to the website. You can view it here.
February 2009
An aerial photo of the moor taken in 1999 has been added to the others taken in 2007 and 2002. View it here.
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The first skylark of the year was heard on February 21st. Although they can't be heard regularly until the nesting season between April until July, they can occasionally be heard on clear, sunny days beforehand.
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A snowfall of 7cm transforms the moor overnight, bringing a new arrival:
