About 35 volunteers with wellies and spades planted thousands of crocuses on the Stray at West Park in Harrogate this week.

Some 40,000 crocus bulbs have been added to the Stray over the last couple of years.

The perennials, which flower in late winter and spring, have become synonymous with the 200 acres of parkland around Harrogate. It is believed there are between six and eight million of the flowers on the Stray.

This week’s effort focused on the Otley Road section, which has not been covered in recent planting schemes.

Organised by North Yorkshire Council, which manages the Stray, people from Bilton Conservation Group, Harrogate manufacturer Belzona Polymerics, the charity Open Country and individual volunteers took part in this week’s planting.

This week’s planting.

Crocuses flowering in spring this year on West Park Stray.

Read more:

• Stunning crocus displays in Harrogate thanks to planting by volunteers
• Harrogate village doctors’ surgery to close

Anyone walking around Knaresborough could hardly fail to notice it’s a beautiful and historic place. But trying to find out more about its rich past isn’t easy.

The town’s first community archaeological festival, which begins today (Saturday), aims to shine some light — and the organisers hope it will be the start of a long-term drive to tell Knaresborough’s story.

Hundreds of people are expected at the free festival, which takes place from 10am to 4pm today and tomorrow and at the same times next weekend at the Centre-on-Gracious Street.

A 4,000-year-old ceremonial axe found at Hopperton will be among the star attractions. People can bring along their own artefacts for experts to examine and Nun Tabbetha will provide some half-term fun by writing medieval pardons for naughty visitors.

Knaresborough Museum Association, which has organised the festival, hopes the event will prove a springboard for further study into the town’s past.

Chair Kathy Allday said:

“There is so much out there that we don’t know much about. Knaresborough remains a bit of a mystery in many ways.

“We hope the festival will create more interest in the archeology of Knaresborough, generate local pride and raise awareness of how fantastic Knaresborough is.”

Knaresborough Museum Association volunteers at a dig.

Former archaeologist Kathy is passionate about Knaresborough and full of tantalising tales, many of which remain shrouded in secrets.

For example, she says a washing tunnel is believed to have existed in a medieval hospital in Spitalcroft. The tunnel in a swollen pool naturally filled with pure, clean water but the site is now part of a private garden. The Trinitarian Priory, which was dissolved by Henry VIII, is known to have been a regional mother church but its full size and significance needs further research.

Two Roman hordes have been discovered in the area. Viking straps and Saxon pins will be on display this weekend. But Knaresborough’s golden age was the medieval period, when Kathy says Abbey Road “was like Piccadilly Circus” because so many people flocked to St Robert’s Cave, the Trinitarian Priory and Knaresborough Castle.

Nidd Gorge is a key area of historical interest. Kathy says:

“Because we have an ice age gorge that has been cut through we have layers from the past all revealing different artefacts.

“There is evidence of people living there for thousands of years. There are bones and teeth of prehistoric animals. Think Woolly Mammoths.”

A mudlarker called Steve has spent 20 years extracting items from the Nidd. His finds include medieval pottery, a Victorian doll and a jug inscribed with the name John Ingleby, from the family that owns Ripley Castle.

Kathy wants to know more about the Iron Age fort that existed at Nidd Gorge and talks excitedly about the possibility of bringing home Knaresborough treasures currently housed elsewhere, including the Brotherton Library in Leeds and the nomadic Harrison Collection.

For that to happen, Knaresborough needs a larger museum.

The association currently operates Knaresborough Museum at 8 York Place, which is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It has served the town well but the ground floor of a house was never likely to be an adequate long-term solution and there are plans to move to larger premises after a bid to use the former Castle girls school fell through.

Kathy is quick to pay tribute to the work of other local groups, including Knaresborough Castle and Courthouse Museum, Claro Community Archaeology Group and Bilton Conservation Group for their work in specific fields.

But she hopes the museum can become the overarching focal point for telling Knaresborough’s story — not only a place to go but also a hub to conduct further research and hold events, including more festivals, that take the town’s story to community groups and schools.

It’s a long-term mission — but few would doubt Knaresborough has a story worth telling.

Read more:

• Knaresborough scarecrow trail to begin on Saturday
• Knaresborough to hold first community archeology festival

A Harrogate conservationist has called for signs to be put up urging children and dogs to avoid entering Oak Beck.

Keith Wilkinson described the situation as “desperate” after a series of incidents over the last fortnight have seen the beck turn brown.

The Environment Agency said last week it was “investigating the possible source of the pollution” after receiving “a number of reports of discoloured water”.

But after a brief recovery, the beck was heavily discoloured again today.

Oak Beck in Jennyfields this morning

Mr Wilkinson, who is honorary secretary of Bilton Conservation Group and chairman of the Nidd Gorge Advisory Partnership, said:

“The Oak Beck situation is desperate with daily pollution events for two weeks now — sand and silt from construction work, solids escaping from the open storm drain near The Hydro and a constant stream of what looks like detergent foam from high up near Birk Crag.

“It is totally unacceptable. Signs are needed urgently to warn children and dogs to keep out of the water.”

Volunteers lined the banks of the River Nidd and its tributaries this week to test water quality as part of a major clean-up campaign.

Nidd Action Group coordinated the activity as part of a bid to achieve bathing water status, which would require organisations to take measures to improve water quality.

It follows concerns about the state of the river and reports of bathers falling ill at Knaresborough Lido.

Nidd Action Group includes conservationists, anglers, academics and residents. Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones is also supporting the initiative by gathering data on the number of people using the river at the Lido.

On Thursday afternoon, 40 volunteers dipped test kits into the Nidd at various points from the upper reaches at Scar House, north of Pateley Bridge, right down to Moor Monkton, close to where the Nidd joins the River Ouse.

Volunteers learning to take samples last month.

A second round of sampling will take place late next month before a bid for bathing water status is submitted to the government.

David Clayden, chairman of  Nidd Action Group, said this week’s sampling appeared to go well.

He added:

“The weather was kind to us, unlike the previous very wet day. The river was running quite high, but I’ve had no reports of any incidents.

“All the samples in their sterilised bottles have been assembled, along with the documentation and the data collected at the river.

“Samples are being analysed in the accredited laboratory in Lichfield, and further samples will be sent to another laboratory on Monday  for less urgent analysis.

A second round of sampling will take place late next month in the same locations but in different weather and river conditions.

Bilton Conservation Group volunteers sampling at Oak Beck on Thursday.

Shirley Hare and Warren Considine with a sample from Oak Beck.

Mr Clayden said the results would then be shared and “we will identify any inferences that can be drawn, and discuss any actions, beneficial to the river, that might be taken”.

Sampling took place ar Scar House Reservoir, Lofthouse, How Stean Gorge, Low Sikes, Ramsgill, Wath, Pateley Bridge, Glasshouses, Summerbridge, Birstwith, Crag Hill Farm, Ripley Beck, Killinghall, along Oak beck in Bilton, Nidd Viaduct, Knaresborough, Crimple Beck, Little Ribston, Hunsingore and Moor Monkton

Mr Clayden commended the volunteers for their commitment and thanked Yorkshire Dales River Trust, a charity based in Pateley Bridge. for assembling the sampling kits and the Environment Agency staff who also undertook sampling.

Read more:

• Volunteers turn out in force to support campaign for cleaner River Nidd
• Council backs bid for River Nidd bathing water status

A newly planted woodland at Long Lands Common has been named after Harrogate conservationist Keith Wilkinson.

Mr Wilkinson founded Bilton Conservation Group and has played a key role in protecting local green belt land.

He was asked to unveil a new woodland sign on Saturday and to his surprise discovered it was named Wilkinson Wood.

The 1.62-hectare site consists of 740 trees that are a mixture of nine native broadleaf trees: sessile oak, English oak, wild cherry, bird cherry, common alder, aspen, field maple, hazel and goat willow.

The honour was bestowed at the third AGM of Long Lands Common, the community-owned woodland near Bilton created on land saved from the threat of a new road.

Keith Wilkinson at Oak Beck

Mr Wilkinson played a major role in that campaign as well as the project to open Nidderdale Greenway to walkers and cyclists. He was awarded an MBE in 2013.

He said:

“I opened my speech with the Greek proverb which says that a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. I was then ready to unveil the plaque before continuing with my speech. My jaw dropped when I discovered my name was on it. What a wonderful surprise!

“We’ve also planted over 50,000 trees in Nidd Gorge, and these will all link up together with Wilkinson Wood like a mosaic, with wildlife passing freely down the corridors.

“This is such positive news in a time when wildlife is really struggling on a local and national level. We all need to play our part in helping to support nature, and I commend everyone involved and thank them for all their hard work in creating Wilkinson Wood. I feel very honoured indeed.”

Chris Kitson, secretary of Long Lands Common, introduced Mr Wilkinson to the 100 people looking on as “the man who has done more than anybody else we know to bang the drum for nature and conservation”.

Read more:

• Knaresborough Forest and Long Lands Common campaigns to join forces
• Harrogate survives mass cull of train station ticket offices

The AGM also saw Long Lands Common members elect new board members, agree a new organisational structure and formally begin its partnership with Knaresborough Forest Park.

Talking about the partnership, Mr Kitson said:

”It made perfect sense and it was the right thing to do, and completely in line with our objectives as a community benefit society — to protect the green belt and the green spaces between Harrogate and Knaresborough, and preserve them as a space for education and recreation for the people of our towns, now and for the future.”

There may be snow in the forecast, but Harrogate’s Stray is proving that spring is certainly on the way.

A sea of white, shades of purple, and splashes of yellow is carpeting the edges of the Stray as the district braces for a predicted cold snap next week.

Harrogate is well-known for its impressive display of thousands of crocuses each spring – many of them planted in recent years by local volunteers.

Bilton Conservation Group was one of several organisations to help plant the bulbs almost three years ago, along with Horticap and Open Country, in a project organised by Harrogate Borough Council.

Bilton Conservation Group chairman Keith Wilkinson said:

“It’s great news that they’re doing so well this year. It was a good turn-out on the day of the planting.

“The mixture we put in was the Harrogate mix — the pale, white with the vertical purple stripe. It was a special commission from Holland.”

The displays have improved in the years since the bulbs were planted in autumn 2020, and are likely to increase further in future as they self-divide.

Visitors have been enjoying the scene this week as the crocuses get into full bloom.

Young Emma, who turns two on Sunday (pictured above), was staying in Harrogate for a few days with her parents and took the opportunity to explore the flowers – and pose for photos.

Read more:

• Plans for more Stray protection ‘not needed’ says defence group
• Wildflower planting programme launched at Ripon nature reserve