North Cliffe Wood walk - East Yorkshire walks

Route: North Cliffe Wood

Area: East Yorkshire

Date of walk: 14th December 2022

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 2.5 miles

Ascent: nil

Weather: Frosty and below freezing

North Cliffe Wood Nature Reserve is managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is well worth a visit at any time of year.

The wood is well known for its carpet of bluebells in late April and early May (click here for a visit during bluebell season). Grass snakes emerge from hibernation and may be spotted basking in sunny glades or the edges of paths

This is a good place for bird watchers – from spring and into summer migrant warblers, chiffchaff and blackcap add their songs to the resident species, such as treecreepers, great spotted and green woodpeckers. In recent years, woodlark has colonised the woods

During autumn flocks of siskin feed on the birch and alder seeds. Fallow deer and red deer may also be seen here

With the leaves off the trees winter is a good time to look for woodpeckers, both green and great spotted can be seen as well as treecreepers working their way up tree trunks looking for invertebrates in the bark

The reserve is open at all times. There is no fee but note that dogs are not permitted. There are a few roadside parking spaces along Sand Lane by the two entrances to the wood and I parked in one of these. A grassy path leads around the reserve, with options to take a short cut before arriving at the heathland area. The maps page shows the shorter route but if time permits it’s best to include the heathland area and additional woodland. Navigation isn’t an issue as the paths are obvious

Today’s visit coincided with a hoar frost, making the woodland paths take on a magical appearance. A route description isn’t necessary, so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves (these include a few taken on other recent visits here)…

For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)