Whitby, England

July 3, 1996

Although I was sad to leave York, we did have more adventures ahead of us, so I turned my attention north and east, to Whitby. To get there, we drove through the well-known (possibly infamous) Yorkshire Moors, which I loved. They are absolutely gorgeous – misty, and dark, and lovely.

Throughout the trip, we would often pull the car off to the side of the road when I caught a glimpse of a bird. While this would become a regular occurrence, on this drive there was one bird during this leg of our drive that we did not stop to watch – a reddish-colored lump out in a field. I’m certain it was a Red Grouse, even though I wasn’t able to get even a full-fledged glimpse of the bird (and so wasn’t able to count it). But I’m certain it was a grouse because we ended up never seeing another on on the trip (making me grumpy with myself for not having stopped to try and see this one). Murphy’s law and all that, haha.

We arrived in Whitby mid-afternoon to find a quaint harbor town noisy with the cries of gulls circling overhead (although I didn’t spend the time to identify any of them). The reason we’d stopped here is because this is the setting for some of the events in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” and we weren’t disappointed by what we saw, even though we were only there for a short time.

We climbed the 199 steps up to St. Mary’s Church, and then through the gorgeous cemetary where Mina and Lucy sit on a bench overlooking the sea, and where Lucy first encounters Count Dracula, after he arrives in England. The ancient headstones were weathered and pocked by the salty air, and somewhat fittingly, I saw my first Rooks – very distinctive birds – in the graveyard. I know some folks find corvids unpleasant, but I love these large, boisterous birds, and the bare-faced Rooks in the graveyard were no exception.

We also visited the adjacent Whitby Abbey, now no more than a skeletal ruin, but beautiful. The view from the headland is spectacular . . . over the North Sea, the sun had come out and the sky was bright blue. Perfect!

Simply called “Swallow” in Britain, we saw a few Barn Swallow flitting about the ruins of Whitby Abbey. A beautiful setting to see this familiar and beautiful bird.

We ate a very late lunch at Trenchers, which had been recommended to us by a cabby in York, and then we got back in the car to head north toward Edinburgh. Up the coast from Whitby, in a town called Sand’s End, we stopped the car to view several swallows as they flitted about a seaside cottage that they apparently called home. Very British! I was able to identify them as House Martins.

Continuing north, I was thrilled to see an entire field full of gorgeous Northern Lapwing! Of course, we stopped the car to view them at our leisure. Really attractive!

After night fell, we crossed the border into Scotland. While driving, we saw European Rabbit, and dozens and dozens of Common Toad, which were hopping across the roads during their migration. We had to swerve and slow down numerous times in order to avoid squishing them. Pretty cool (and slightly apocalyptic) to see so many of them.

Species List

Rook (Corvus frugilegus), Common House-Martin, (Delichon urbicum urbicum/meridionale), Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), Common Toad (Bufo bufo), European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

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