Coppice Pond

The largest area of water on the Bingley St Ives estate is the Coppice Pond, more of a lake than a pond in size. I think it was originally linked to a fulling mill - hence 'mill pond', I suppose. (Fulling is a process in woollen cloth making.) The Pond often has a sizeable population of waterbirds, though there didn't seem to be that many there that day. The lumpy thing on the left of the photo above is a wooden fish, leaping from the water. It's been there for many years and is now beginning to rot away. 

You can walk right round the perimeter of the lake, though there are only a few places where you can really get a good view of the water. There are fences around it and lots of shrubbery, so I never feel it lives up to its potential photographically. 

Baxters Pond

Hidden in the woodland at Bingley St Ives is a small pond known as Baxters Pond, named after the man who restored it - John Baxter - in 2004, in the 40th year of his employment on the estate. 

It's a sweet little spot. I imagine in summer, when there'll be more colour and plant growth, it'll be even more magical. I'll have to go back and see.  

It's not especially deep but the water was crystal clear and I spent some time enjoying the reflections and patterns captured within it. The more I looked the more I could see animal heads too, in the shapes of the rocks round and about.  A ram? ☝ A lamb? 👇

Bingley St Ives

As we edge closer to spring, I'm enjoying the brief sunny interludes between the frequent showers. One day I drove up to the country park at Bingley St Ives and had a walk through the lower woodland. From the entrance drive, there are far reaching views up the valley to Harden and beyond. 

The estate is pleasant, though not my favourite woodland to explore. It's all rather messy, somehow, and a lot of trees have been felled because of disease, so there are areas where it's quite sparse. At this time of year it's muddy too. There are numerous little streams running down the hillside, and a few ponds where the water collects. Some of the original estate cottages survive and are still used. Those in my photo above are, I believe, Cuckoo's Nest Cottages. 

I was surprised to spot a wooden monk lurking in the undergrowth! It seemed rather eerie. Apparently in the Middle Ages the land was owned and farmed by monks from Rievaulx Abbey. Over the years all sorts of ghostly encounters have been reported (see HERE) so that I wouldn't be keen to be up there on my own at dusk. 

St Ives Mansion was originally built in 1616, and became the home of the Ferrand family, whose descendants lived there until 1929, when the estate was sold to Bingley Urban District Council. I think the present building mostly dates to the 19th century. It became a residential care home for young people with disabilities, and was then reputedly sold to become apartments, which seems never to have happened. It's a listed building but sadly in great need of repair, having been subject to vandalism and arson attacks. I just read in the local press that the owners are now intending to convert it back into a care home. They need to get on with it! 

I'm told it still has some Jacobean style features inside. On the outside wall there's a plaque, presumably a coat of arms - perhaps for the Ferrand family. Although the writing seems to be in English not Latin, I can't make out what it says at all. 

 

A walk at Bingley St Ives

It's over a year since I last had a walk up at the Bingley St Ives estate. I've been too busy, so a trip there was long overdue. I chose a rather dull day but the circular walk around the estate is pleasant and varied: some wide reaching views, moors and woodland too. It takes me just over an hour (with photo stops!) from the car park and back.

There is an equestrian centre on the estate and many of the paths are actually bridleways. As it was a Sunday morning, there seemed to be a lot of horse traffic! 

Early autumn and the fall colours are developing. The little birches seem to be among the first trees to gain their russet finery. 

Where they have recently felled trees (due to a fungal disease) it has really opened up the views. Lady Blantyre's Rock (below), where the dowager lady of the mansion used to come to sit and read, must have had a panoramic view in her day (mid 1800s). For most of my life, the view has been one of thick woodland but now the panorama over the valley is visible again. It's rather a nice change. 

The large swathes of felled trees all look rather bleak but I suppose they've left the brush to rot down naturally. I did note that they have already planted new saplings in many of the areas, native trees that will eventually mature into a good, mixed woodland. 

By the time I arrived at the Coppice Pond, the clouds had really arrived, so it all looked a bit dull. There are a lots of mute swans here. It must be a very safe roost for them. 

I was rather amused by a little girl, perhaps aged about 6 or 7, carrying a substantial stuffed horse under her arm. Rather than walking round the lake's perimeter sedately with her family she was cantering along, obviously deeply identifying as a pony! Very cute, but I didn't take a photo for obvious reasons. I guess most of us girls had a 'pony phase' at some stage. 

Coppice Pond swans

I don't think I've ever seen so many mute swans on the Coppice Pond at Bingley St Ives, as well as all the ducks and gulls. There are at least two pairs who have cygnets, still grey and downy but growing fast, plus there are some more adults around too. There can't be many predators up there as both broods had about eight young ones. There are many changes around the lake. Much of its periphery has been fenced off, for fishermen and to allow more vegetation to grow and stabilise the lake's edge. The decking that jutted out over the lake is gone but the wooden fish sculpture is still there (see below). It's a lake that I always feel ought to be more picturesque than it is. Nevertheless, it's a short but pleasant walk around it.

These are just phone shots as I didn't have my camera with me. 

If you go down to the woods today...

If you go down (or up) to the woods around Bingley St Ives today, you're in for a big surprise. The authorities are once again having to fell huge areas of trees and shrubs because of a fungal disease called Phytophthora ramorum, which mainly affects larch and sweet chestnut trees and which is harboured by rhododendrons. (See HERE) It devastated the eastern side of the estate some years ago and has now affected the western side. It is vastly changing the outlook. You can perhaps see the difference from the photo above (recent) and the photo below, which was taken (albeit in a different season) about eight years ago. Now, the tree cover is much thinner and you can see the view over the Harden valley

I think it's not all bad news because the views are glorious, and in time they will replant the woodland with native deciduous trees that are less prone to disease. It will take a while for it to mature but in the meantime the terrain more closely resembles what it looked like when the mansion house on the estate was lived in by the Ferrand family in the mid to late 1800s. Lady Blantyre's rock (below) commemorates the Dowager Lady Blantyre, Mr Ferrand's mother-in-law, who regularly took her book to this spot to read and enjoy the view.  For as long as I can remember there has been no view, as the forest had grown to obscure it. Now, once again, the view can be enjoyed. I might take a book up there myself! 

The bird man of St Ives

I enjoyed a beautiful walk around the Bingley St Ives estate, through the woods and around the Coppice Pond. I feel really fortunate to have all these lovely places nearby that I can explore. 

As I was circumnavigating the lake, I came across this gentleman feeding the swans. He was giving them 'proper' swan food and not bread. He said he came up nearly every day, and the birds were obviously so used to him that they were feeding from his hand. There were two mature mute swans and the rest (about seven altogether) appeared to be younger. The five in the photo that are still sporting brownish plumage will be this year's cygnets. Two with white feathers but pale beaks might be last year's brood. They all looked quite big but when the adult pushed in a few minutes later, that was even bigger - and had a much more orange beak. It was quite amusing. It seemed to be holding back for a while letting the younger ones feed and then, deciding they'd had their fair share, muscled in and kept nipping them on the neck and pushing them out of the way! 

It was heart-warming to see them, and the feeding routine might be helping them survive, who knows? I don't think you often see a clutch of as many as five survive to adulthood, though maybe having the island in the middle of the lake gives them a safe sanctuary, compared to the swans that nest along the canal. 

Freezing frolics

I met my family up at Bingley St Ives recently, for a walk around the estate. It was, typically, a bit drizzly and untypically for this time of year, freezing cold. (Until this last weekend, I hadn’t managed to shed my winter coat!) There are stables and a riding school there and many of the fields have horses grazing. Some of them still had their heavy winter blankets on, though these in my photo were unfettered. 

My grandgirls kept warm with their usual running and jumping about, climbing every available wall, log, accessible tree and - ultimately - the structures in the large playground on the estate. It's hard to get them to stand still for a photo! Lovely to be carried along with their high spirits though, and I think I appreciate them even more after the experiences of the past year. 

There were plenty of bluebells in the woods. They are peaking later than normal this year, perhaps because it has been so cold. ( I promised I wouldn't take any more bluebell shots. Oops!) 

Bold mallard, shy swan

My photo makes it look like there was only one duck on the Coppice Pond up at Bingley St Ives. It's deceptive. It's such a large area of water that the birds spread out. There were actually lots: mallards like this one, tufted ducks, black-headed gulls, geese, at least two swans and probably more if I'd stayed still long enough to study them all. 

Further round by the jetty, a lady was trying to entice a swan to eat grain from her hand. The swan was definitely interested but not quite brave enough to reach out. It was a strangely intimate little scene. 

 

Turf research

I find it quite heartwarming, for some reason, that such an august institution as the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) is based, unassumingly, on the St Ives estate in Bingley. You hardly realise it's there, tucked away in some modest buildings with a few fields, below the golf course. It dates back to 1929, when The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland wanted help to improve its greens. Since then it has become the world's leading sports turf consultancy. Their clients include FIFA World Cup Football, the Olympics, Sport England, the RFU and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. You rarely see much evidence of activity there but one day, as I walked up the lane alongside, I saw these test patches marked out, apparently seeded, and a technician in a white bodysuit was hand spraying or spreading something in the distance.