Rudston Newsletter

From Tony Ezard

During a relatively mild spell at the beginning of the month both of the two species of newt which occur in our area of the world were seen to have come out of hibernation. They spend the winter in a dormant state under any solid cover they can find and are often discovered when paving slabs or something similar are removed but they have also been found a couple of feet underground in rubble foundations.

The great crested newt is a nationally noteable species which somehow still manages to exist locally. The other species, the common or smooth newt, is rather more frequently found but locally is nowhere near as common. Rather surprisingly both species have already been recorded in garden ponds even though they will not breed for several more weeks.

A couple of toads have also been seen wandering about but as yet none have been reported in the water, while the earliest breeders, the frogs, have not been seen at all as far as I know. A good deal of concern is being shown about the latter species since their numbers and breeding success has been very poor recently particularly in relation to toads and newts which suggests that it is not the lack of breeding sites or water quality that is accounting for their lack of success.

As a result of the creation of a deep water lake locally and the very wet autumn and winter, the tufted duck has returned to the area. It is one of a group of ducks which feeds by diving and for the last few years it has not found sufficient depth of water to sustain it although it has frequently been seen on other waters close by.

The flock of geese which comes and goes has also spent more time here and it’s numbers have been greater than for some time.

Among other birds reported have been woodcock, several snipe on the soggy fields, a nice flock or charm of goldfinches numbering between fifteen to twenty and the return of a few song thrushes. Song thrushes are rather less often seen than they were a few years ago and while in some people’s minds the use of slug pellets to kill their favourite food, the snail, is having a harmful effect on the thrushes, slug pellets have been around a long time, so there may well be some other explanation. Our other species of thrush, the mistle thrush, has been singing in several places in the village advertising the fact that it is a very early breeder, often building it’s nest in the forked branch of a tree before any leaves have appeared - even then it is very difficult to find.

The other obvious early breeder is the rook but it’s early efforts have in some instances come to grief this year due to the very strong winds. I enclose a letter I received recently which says:-

Very shortly afterwards I was fortunate enough to be invited to the house to see the bird plucking it’s prey on the lawn. It was in fact not a kestrel but a female sparrowhawk emphasising just how difficult the two species are to distinguish. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the female sparrowhawk is considerably bigger than the male and may well have much lighter, almost reddy-brown plumage in contrast to the almost black-brown male plumage. The sparrowhawk is a bird of woodland with it’s ability to weave through trees - a garden must look very much like a woodland extension to a sparrowhawk - while a kestrel is more a bird of open country where it may be seen hovering above fields or roadside verges.

On the matter of whether the bird is visiting regularly it is really a matter of conjecture, but having found a readily available food source will have had an influence, also the numbers of the species have increased in the last few years and their more frequent sightings in built up areas suggets that available areas in the countryside are more difficult to find.

Grey squirrels are not often seen in the village although there are plenty in the surrounding woods, but a couple have been seen a few times in the south end of the village.

The only other mammal of any note has been the first hedgehog reported snuffling about.

While honey bees are about on a few mild days even in the middle of winter, the first bumble bees have made a fleeting appearance when the sun has come out.

Only three moth species have been recorded so far they are march moth, hebrew character and pale brindled beauty.

I would like to thank all those in the village who have enquired about my health after my recent heart attack. Since we moved to Rudston I have always liked the village and have been grateful for how well we have been accepted but it is when sudden and unexpected illness strikes that the true nature of the people of this village shines through. My wife Judith and I have been so grateful for all the assistance we have been given with lifts to the hospital, help with the shopping and all the cards and good wishes that were sent.

Our special thanks go to Alan and Pat Stevenson of White Rose Cottage, our next door neighbours Heather and Mrs.Dennis and Pete and Barbara Lingard for the initial phone call to the hospital.

I am pleased to say that I am now getting about and hopefully I shall be driving again in a few weeks time.

Once again our thanks to everyone.

Robin Woods - 20 Southside Lane.

There will be a Special Annual General Meeting for outdoor bowls on Wednesday April 6th in the Village Hall at 7.00pm to elect Captains etc. May I please remind you that the Annual Subscription will be due. Hopefully the fixture list will be available. Prospective new members are invited to attend this meeting. The Club’s subscription which is only £8.00 is extremely good value as it entitles you to play at any time you wish and you are given a key to the Sports Pavilion. Club equipment is available until you are sure you want to be a bowler. If you need any further information please ring us.

CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn

If they live with hostility, they learn to fight

If they live with ridicule, they learn to be shy

If they live with shame, they learn to feel guilty

If they live with tolerance, they learn to be patient

If they live with encouragement, they learn to be confident

If they live with praise, they learn to appreciate

If they live with fairness, they learn a sense of justice

If they live with security, they learn to have faith

If they live with approval, they learn to like themselves

If they live with acceptance and friendship, they learn to find love in the world.

Apparently, at the Hull Model Railway Show last November, there was a lay-out named "Caythorpe" supposedly showing a planned railway near Rudston.

After a little research, I have found that although Rudston was, indeed, to have a railway, the actual plans were rather different. The junction was to be at Burton Fleming, not Caythorpe.

The Plan, dated 30th November 1883 and passed by Act of Parliament in 1884 was one of 8 seperate projects by the "Scarborough and East Riding Railway Company". The route via Rudston being the "Scarborough to Howden with branch to Weaverthorpe". The only section actually built was Howden to Driffield via Market Weighton.

Driffield was to be surrounded by railways! A junction on the Market Weighton side was to take the line across the Malton line, through Kings Mill, to a junction "370 yards south-west of Little Kendale Farm House". Another line was to loop round the other side of town to a junction on the Hull to Bridlington line at Gate House about 1/2 mile from the station.

The continuing line to Scarborough from Little Kendale followed Pockthorpe road to Green Dikes (the cottage in the trees now), then swung across to pass through Kilham between the pond and the Harpham road junction. Veering towards Rudston, it passed about 1/2 mile west of the village just "below" Springdale.

The junction for the Weaverthorpe branch at Burton Fleming (then known as North Burton) was to be "310 yards east from the first bridge over the Gipsey Race on the Wold Newton road". The spelling of "Gypsey" is theirs.

The line to Scarborough continued via two tunnels to Folkton, then via Cayton and Eastfield to a seperate station at Falsgrave - probably the Goods Depot which closed some 10 to 15 years ago.

There was to be about 2.5 miles of railway through the parish of Rudston affecting numerous fields and "cartways". Also, in one case, "Farm buildings, farm yard, stack yard and pond". Most of the land belonged to Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville; some to Henry Somerville Boynton, Baronet, Lord of the Manor of Rudston; and two fields and a cartway to the Archbishop of York (owner: Rev.H.Danby).

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We were born before television, before penecilin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, videos, Frisbees and the Pill. We were before Radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pens; before dishwashers, tumble driers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes..... and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together ( how quaint can you be ). We thought "fast food" was what you ate in Lent, a "Big Mac" was an oversized raincoat and "crumpet" we had for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating, dual careers, and when "a meaningful relationship" meant getting along with cousins and "sheltered accomodation" was where you waited for a bus.

We were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. We never heard of FM Radio, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yoghurt and young men wearing earings. For us "time-sharing" meant togetherness, a "chip" was a piece of wood or fried potato, "hardware" meant nuts and bolts and "software" wasn’t a word.

Before 1940 "Made in Japan" meant junk, the term "making out" refered to how you did in your exams, "stud" was something that fastened a collar to a shirt and "going all the way" meant staying on a double-decker to the bus depot. Pizzas, Mcdonalds and instant coffee were unheard of. In our day, cigarette smoking was "fashionable", "grass" was mown, "coke" was kept in the coal house, a "joint" was a piece of meat you had on Sundays and "pot" was something you cooked in, "Rock music" was a grandmother’s lullaby, "Eldorado" was an ice cream, a "gay person" was the life and soul of the party and nothing more, while "aids" just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.

We who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the ways in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder we are so confused and there is a generation gap to-day..... BUT

Thank you for all the reports sent in to me this month, please keep it up, every little helps. I should also like to appeal to you for donations to keep the newsletter going.

Thank you to Robin Woods for typing this issue, I’m pleased to hear you are feeling much better.