The castle headland

Turn right after the graveyard and head up the hill to the castle. The castle is open to the public, but there is an entry charge. Our route follows the path that runs below the castle walls.

Either side of the castle gate you are greeted by the Common Mallow. The plant is common along the coast, but you'll rarely see it more than 10 miles inland.

If you stand in this arch, you're directly on the fault line of the earthquake

As you follow the path away from the castle gate, you drop down into what is actually the fault line of an earthquake that hit Scarborough around 65 million years ago. It was a significant event that helped make the area such an ideal location for a settlement.

The earthquake caused the ground on the church side of the fault to rise, while the castle headland fell. As a result the hard upper Jurassic limestone, that makes up the headland, wasn't eroded away.

Because the headland is formed from a tough limestone it has remained while the sea has shaped the bays either side. The result is an area that's sheltered from the northerly wind by the headland, and this is where the town first developed.

These rock formations were rumoured to be cannonballs fired from Oliver's Mount

The sheer cliffs either side of the headland also made it an ideal site for a castle, simply because it's so easy to defend.

At various points along the path exposed areas of rock reveal spherical formations of rock. According to local legend these are the cannonballs fired from Oliver's Mount by Oliver Cromwell. But in fact there wasn't a cannon in existence that could have hit the castle over that distance.

What you're looking at is known as the Ball Bed. The balls of rock are a hard limestone in a bed of softer rock that have become exposed as the softer rock around them erodes away.

Male Meadow Brown Butterfly on the castle headland

The headland provides a good wildlife oasis with a temperate climate. Numerous insects can be seen here including: Peacock Butterfly, Ginger Tailed Bumblebee, Ringlet Butterfly, Wall Butterfly and the Meadow Brown Butterfly.

Anyone familiar with the song Scarborough Fair, will know the lyrics: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. It's likely you'll find close relations to three of the four growing in Scarborough.

Rosemary is the exception, it isn't native to the area. However it's widely believed that Sweet Marjoram would have been used rather than Rosemary. It's possible to find Wild Marjoram, Wild Sage, Parsley and a herb closely related to Thyme all growing in the town.

A Bumblebee on the castle headland

The seaside wouldn't be the same without seagulls and many can be seen on and around the headland. The Herring Gull is the most raucous and has moved into the town in quite large numbers where, like Pigeons, they can find rich pickings from the untidiness of humans.

The headland is also home to an important colony of Kittiwakes. These are a smaller gull that are now quite uncommon. The past few years have been hard for the Kittiwake, for reasons that are not entirely understood, and their numbers are in decline.