Birding The Cleveland Way – Charltons to Saltburn

Sat 31st Aug, 2024

Birding the Cleveland Way

Growing up on the northern edge of the North York Moors National Park, Richard has always wanted to walk the entire length of the Cleveland Way, to explore the landscape, birds and wildlife along this fabulous National Trail. His plan is to walk a different section every month over the course of 2024 and write a blog in the process. Joining him on these leisurely walks is artist Jo Ruth.  

August – Charltons to Saltburn

Charltons is a small village at the base of Birk Brow Road, by the A171. Surrounded by woods and hills with a location between the lower grounds of Guisborough and the start of the higher moors the only downside is the busy main road. Starting the walk on the eastern side close to Café Slapewath meant we could park near the trail without crossing the road. We started the first part of the walk up a series of steps towards Spring Bank. An old quarry looked like it could be interesting habitat for insects but this was too early in the day for butterfly or dragonfly hunting.

Common Lizard - Spring Bank above Slapewath August 2024 © Richard Baines

In the bracken by the side of the path a movement caught my eye. I was amazed to see a Common Lizard resting on a frond. I have usually seen these reptiles on logs or scurrying away on the ground. It was a real treat to see one basking in the early morning sun.

Common Linnet (male) North Yorkshire 2024 © Richard Baines

After leaving the woods the path cuts across open arable farmland where a large flock of almost 400 Common Linnets were swirling away from a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. The Sparrowhawk gave up quickly faced with mass confusion. The linnets had found a recently harvested oil seed rape crop, the tiny rape seeds are a good source of autumn food for these small finches.

Eurasian Sparrowhawk (male) - North Yorkshire © Richard Baines

This turned out to be the first of four sparrowhawks we saw on that day. With juveniles about and songbird migration starting this is a time of plenty for predators as well as their prey.

Skelton Beck and Saltburn Valley Gardens August 2024 © Richard Baines

Following Airy Hill Lane, the trail slowly enters the urban areas of Skelton. This was the first time we had walked through the edge of a town along the whole 50 miles of the trail which made this stomp to the next wild section less of a problem. Thorny Close and Crow Wood are the first woodlands which lead down into Skelton Beck. This watercourse runs to the sea all the way from Guisborough which creates a very valuable habitat network for wildlife to follow. I imagined being a migrant songbird just having arrived across the North Sea, if I landed at the seaward end of Skelton Beck, I would have a fantastic wildlife corridor to follow with plenty of food and shelter. Huge numbers of small birds migrate from continental Europe every autumn. When they arrive, they move west as quickly as possible, on a journey towards less exposed areas of the UK.

We left Saltburn with great anticipation for the next leg of our journey where the spectacular coastal path awaits!

© Richard Baines, Yorkshire Coast Nature