Get up close and personal with Duncombe Park’s oldest residents on a free guided walk at 2pm on Saturday 14 May 2011.

The Medieval Deer Park that surrounds the stately home contains some spectacular ancient trees, some of which are more than half a millennia old.

One of the many ancient trees at Duncombe Park

Former Forestry Commission Wildlife Officer, Brian Walker, will lead the walk and explain what is being done to ensure the future survival of these remarkable trees.

The walk will take in parts of the Duncombe Estate which do not usually have public access and is being organised as part of series of ‘hidden gem’ walks and talks by the Lime & Ice Project.

The Project was awarded just under £500,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in 2008 to deliver new access, interpretation and conservation initiatives in the southwest corner of the North York Moors National Park and the northern part of the Howardian Hills AONB.

Famed for its heather moorland, the North York Moors National Park also has one of the largest concentrations of veteran and ancient trees in northern England. Many of these trees can be found at Duncombe Park, which became a National Nature Reserve in 1994.

Jennifer Smith, Lime & Ice Project Officer, said: “These wise old veterans are all that remain of the ‘wild wood’ that would have covered much of the country in the 16th century.”

Places on the walk are limited so people should pre-book by calling 01439 772738.

Duncombe Estate

The gardens and parkland of Duncombe Estate will be open from Wednesday 1st June 2011 to Monday 29th August 2011. The house however will remain closed to the public.

Duncombe Park is in Helmsley, around 20 miles from the A1/A1(M), between Thirsk and Pickering on the A170.

Situated on the lower eastern region on the Solway Plain, about 15Km to the West of Carlisle is the nature reserve known as Finglandrigg Wood,

Finglandrigg Wood information board

The woodland habitat is managed by English Nature as a National Nature Reserve, primarily to provide a habitat for the indigenous Red Squirrel but many other species can be found here such as Linnet, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

In the rushy areas, the high water tables are maintained for reed bunting, sedge warbler and grasshopper warbler.

Intensive management of the fields encourages devil’s-bit scabious, the food plant of the Marsh Fritillary butterfly.

Hebridean sheep along with Exmoor ponies and cattle, graze areas of rough grassland and scrub.

A peat bog occupies the lowest areas below the arable land. Once drained and cut for peat, the bog still has a 2m deposit.

Walkway through the boggy woodland

During the ‘Enclosure Acts’ of the late 1700s and early 1800s, much of the common land at Finglandrigg was placed into private ownership, and by the mid 1800s the site was a mixture of small fields, Scots pine plantations and peat bog, with the heath the only remaining common grazing.

Immediately following Enclosure, the site was used for agriculture, but the fields were gradually abandoned during the depression that swept the farming communities in the late 1800s.

[amazon-product align="left"]B000EXZL4I[/amazon-product]Birch and rowan trees were the first to occupy this unused open ground.

There are two waymarked walks that take you around the reserve and include the main features of interest.

Chalybeate Well Trail

Discover the many aspects of the woodland and rough pasture, as well as the Chalybeate Well, a stone structure marking the presence of a sulphate rich spring.

This 2km walk will take you around 45 minutes to one hour, with easy to soft going on a gravel and bark chipped surface for all but the final 70m.

Chalybeate Well in the morning mist

Little Bampton Common Trail

A woodland walk that also includes open rough pasture and heathland as well as Scots pine plantations.This 3km round trip takes about one- and-a-half to two hours.

The going is relatively easy as the first 0·8km is on firm bark chip and some areas have had special walkways installed over the boggy regions but the remainder continues on mown grass which can be wet and muddy after rain.

Sculpture carved in a tree trunk

Along your walks, look out for a couple of  wonderful sculptures in the woodland (Searches so far have not been able to shed light on the sculptor).

Carved into the trunk of old trees are insects which inhabit the woodland. Open a secret door to reveal carved larvae and resting bugs.

Memorial

Monument To Derek Almey Ratcliffe, conservationist

A memorial to Derek Almey Ratcliffe,  A renowned conservationist and author, stands towards the end of the walk.  He loved wild places and the creatures and plants that inhabited them.

He is perhaps most famous for his research which saved the Peregrine Falcon from the grasp of  the pesticide, DDT.

It is noted that one of his favourite places was Fingland Wood.

Near the memorial, a stunning bench seat featuring the Peregrine Falcon is carved from a single tree trunk.

Both the bench and the mini beasts sculpture were designed and made by Robert Coia.

Carved seat