This site was the far end of the Selby Mine field and teh transect covers what is now designated a Special area for conservation due to newt pond and invertebrates. Many scarce species are abundant here. The route skirts the site and includes the far soil heap  which contains the subsoil from teh oriiginal site The rest forms a shallow bowl  of coal shale ground and flattened formig a open mosaic habitats with invading alder scrub. Early succesion areas are dominated by Birds foot trefoil and fine grasses.  Untillrecently it was teh only colony of Marbled White and Dingy Skipper in the Vale of York but now has many satellites due to the abundance here. 

County wide 2023 results reflect  the 2022 Heat and drought  with Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock nearly halved for the second year against their 5 year average. Red Admiral arrived in force in July and took advantage of soft nettle growth of the rains and had their best year ever. Drought sensitive species on thin soils were badly hit,  particularly Dark -green Fritillary and Northern Brown Argus but also Ringlet, Green-viened White and Small Heath.  Less drought affected species along with the hottest June on record built even more on gains last year leading to Comma, Brimstone, Holly Blue and most Browns  having a fantastic year reaching all time highs. A increase of 9% overall was mostly due to sheer numbers of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers ment 2023 nearly pipped 2014 as best year in modern times.  Most noticeable was the large differeces between moisiture retaining mineral soils of the valleys and thin, dry limestone or sandy soils. A large number of damp grassland, hedgerow and woodland  dominated sites benefitted hugely with 3 sites seeing more than 50% increase . A smaller number of thin, chalky, sandy or craggy sites did badly some down up to 25%.