You may have recently seen much in the media and even TV around the werewolf-like beast known as ‘old stinker’ said to inhabit Beverley and Barmston drain which runs right past Yorkshire Water’s Tophill Low Nature reserve.
It’s where myself and our volunteers have spent many a full moon lit night looking for weird and wonderful creatures. It is perhaps entirely for this reason that we discount such myths.
Perhaps to the casual observer the woodlands and wetlands of East Yorkshire’s countryside may seem wild and desolate, but in reality nearly every nook and cranny is well watched and tended.
To be fair, from a number of reliable sources there may be some evidence to suggest a presence of big cat a couple of decades or more back, possibly dumped after the dangerous wild animals act came in, but certainly nothing of recent times.
We’ve been using trail cameras for the past few years, and recently with Hull University several at a time while monitoring otters. These work on an infrared sensor, and as such never sleep and never lose attention – in ways that a human observer can never hope to do.
The most exotic we’ve had is the North American mink and feral moggies. We’ve seen the odd good pike in Bamston drain over the years – but for us that’s a sinister as it gets.
Tophill Low Nature Reserve is located four miles from the A164 at Watton and is open daily from 9am to 6pm.
Admission £3.30 adults, £1.50 concessions, sorry no dogs. For more information visit www.tophilllow.blogspot.com or follow us on twitter @tophilllow.