Yorkshire Heritage

Yorkshire Wildlife

Rievaulx Abbey

The peace and tranquillity at Rievaulx is often punctuated by the sound of sheep and cows in neighbouring fields, but the woodland to the rear of the site is home to many birds, including a wide selection of raptors - particularly owls and hawks.

Whilst you are unlikely to see owls during the day, you can see evidence of their regular visits to the site, in the form of owl pellets. 

At the rear of the site, where the church wall runs parallel to the forest, many birds perch on the ruins - it is usually occupied by pigeons in the daytime, but owls take over in the evenings, and their droppings can be found under several of the big windows.

Keen naturalists can dissect these pellets to find out rather a lot about the owl's diet - each pellet may contain the remains of up to three shrews, voles or mice, giving not only a good indication of the health of the owl, but also the relative numbers of small mammals populating the area.

More information on pellet analysis can be found by clicking here.