YESTERDAY was the Glorious Twelfth, more formally known as August 12. This is the start of the grouse-shooting season, unless it falls on a Sunday, and coincidentally it is about this time that the moors are looking their best.

If the moors are to be maintained in a good and healthy condition, they have to be constantly tended and this costs both time and money. The owners of our moorland areas provide that money through income from shooting parties and, in turn, this annual cull of grouse ensures the surviving birds remain in peak condition.

If numbers of red grouse increase too much, it means there will be insufficient food for all, which in turn results in serious weakness among the birds. This renders them liable to a disease which affects their breeding, so it is in the greater interests of the grouse that they remain healthy through being kept within sustainable numbers. This annual cull helps to achieve that.

The heather must also be tended so that it constantly provides the necessary food and habitat for the grouse. The grouse depends on young shoots of heather for its food, mature heather for shelter and open patches among the heather for the chicks to mature. Systematic burning of old heather ensures that there is a continuing supply of new growth. So the grouse depends on the heather, but the heather also depends on the grouse - and both require human assistance.

Recent research has confirmed that the grouse survives due to skilled management of the moors, which includes the annual grouse-shooting, but it is not the only beneficiary. It has been shown that, where moorland is managed, other species of birds thrive, whereas on unmanaged moorland, species tend to decline. Examples include the snipe, the lapwing, golden plover and curlew.

A recent joint study by the RSPB and the Game Conservancy Trust showed that, where moorland was managed for grouse-shooting, there was also a higher density of wader birds - for example the curlew - but fewer carrion crows and song birds. The grouse-shooting season ends on December 10.

A brief tour of the northern part of the Yorkshire Wolds produced several items of interest, including a curious stream which is said to appear only before national disasters, the landing site of Britain's oldest known meteorite, several fields of mysterious but beautiful blue flowers, and England's largest seabird colony.

I've often thought the Wolds are among England's least known delights - the roads are virtually deserted as they twist and turn through lots of pretty and peaceful villages, many with ponds, old churches and picturesque inns.

The mysterious stream is called the Gypsey Race. This has nothing to do with gypsies, the name probably coming from the Old Norse "geipsa", which means to yawn or gape, and "ras", meaning a rush of water.

The Gypsey Race is known locally as Woe Waters because it has often appeared just before some national tragedy. Its appearance has nothing to do with magic, however. When rain falls on the Yorkshire Wolds, it is rapidly absorbed by the chalky, porous ground and stored in vast subterranean reservoirs.

From time to time they become full and the water gushes out to the surface. This may happen even in very dry spells of weather - if the reservoirs are gradually filled by natural seepage, they will overflow at well-established points to suddenly appear as strong springs.

The result is an unexpected stream which flows like a river, perhaps for a few days or even a few months before vanishing.

The best known of these is the Gypsey Race, which makes a dramatic appearance near Wold Newton to flow ten miles or so into the sea at Bridlington.

At times, it can be 12ft wide and 3ft deep. Sometimes the water emerges as spouts or geysers, while parts of the route remain dry.

In fact, the Gypsey Race rises higher in the Wolds near Duggleby, not far from the medieval village of Wharram Percy, but it can travel both over and under the ground.

The legend of its woeful presence arises because it appeared before the Great Plague of 1666, a great flood of 1860, a fearsome storm in 1880, the First World War, the General Strike of 1926, the Second World War and some local floods in 1960.

One of the villages through which the Gypsey Race passes is Wold Newton and it was here, on December 13, 1795, that some local men heard a curious whistling sound in the sky. They saw a white-hot object hurtling down and fall to earth with a huge explosion, burying itself nearly 20 inches into the ground and crashing through six inches of solid chalk.

One of the witnesses, a farm worker called John Shipley, was so close to the site that he was showered with flying mud and earth and the stone remained hot until it was eventually dug from the ground.

The event was recorded in writing by Edward Topham, whose cottage was only a few yards from the landing site, now marked by a monument. It is about three-quarters of a mile along Rainsburgh Lane, which leads past the village pond towards Thwing.

The meteorite was a 56lb lump of rock which was a yard long by 28in deep and it is currently housed in the Natural History Museum in London.

Another curious sight was fields full of deep blue flowers. At first, I thought this was another crop of flax, but closer inspection showed it was borage, sometimes known as the blue starflower.

Borage is a herb which was once grown in gardens to attract bees for honey-making, although it was more usually found in the wild on waste ground, often close to human habitation.

In medieval times, it was thought to dispel pensiveness and melancholy, was noted for driving away sadness and was said to "quieteneth the lunatic person". The seeds and leaves were beneficial for promoting milk in young mothers, while infusions from the plant were useful in the easing of colds, fevers and lung complaints.

It now seems that borage is being grown as a crop for use in herbal remedies and I believe some farmers near the Scottish borders have been growing borage in commercial trials. One problem is that it is very difficult to harvest, so it will always remain something of a specialist crop, but it seems the bees love it and it does produce some very nice clear honey. Today, it has potential as a dietary supplement and research is under way to determine whether or not there are other benefits.

Our next destination was the RSPB nature reserve at Bempton Cliffs, near Bridlington, which is open to non-RSPB members. This is England's largest seabird colony and also hosts the largest inland gannetry in Britain.

There we saw gannets, puffins, guillemots, razorbills, fulmar petrels, kittiwakes, herring gulls and even jackdaws and rock doves on the white chalk cliffs.

Even though we were well outside the normal nesting season, there was plenty of interest, not only with the spectacular birds and breathtaking views, but also with a range of wild flowers and butterflies and the possibility of spotting seals and porpoises at sea.

The best time for seeing the birds is between April and August when they are breeding, but any visit to this fascinating place is memorable.

The reserve is open at all times, while the visitor centre opens daily except from December 24 to January 3.

As our summertime meals are often enjoyed outdoors on our terrace, it follows that we are often entertained by wild creatures. Today, it was the turn of a small red ant.

We were amazed to see a tiny red flower, complete with stem, moving steadily across the stones. When I investigated, I saw it was being hauled along by a solitary red ant.

It was rather like a man dragging a full-grown sycamore tree and, as we watched, the ant eventually took it into a crack between the paving stones. Then both ant and trophy vanished under the stone.

Where on earth does such a tiny creature find such strength, but more curiously, what was it going to do with the flower? I did not wish to disturb the ant by lifting the stone to find out.