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Wild weather on Scout Scar

28/1/2020

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PictureLooking west from Scout Scar escarpment
Elemental on Scout Scar. Somewhere, there came a moment when I was all involved with wild weather, at one with the day, an  inspirational. day. It took me up.  
I began an alibi walker, somewhere else in thought. Frances had set me a challenge, birds beginning with R.  In my mind's-eye the Outer Hebrides. On the Benbecula causeway we stopped to admire  a wader with a long bill. The name eluded me.  Slithery mud underfoot, someone turned down the light and down came the hail.  Ruff, that was the bird's name. Recalling that kept me going, I was in two minds whether to bother. .    


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Scout Scar: a week-end of contrasts

19/1/2020

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PictureFresh snow on the northern fells Saturday 18 January
Fresh overnight snow on the Langdales to the west and on the northern fells. The Howgills bare.  A blue sky.  Bowfell shrugged-off cloud to reveal snow.  Veils of rain and a rainbow. 
High pressure lasted into Sunday which was  all about the skies.  Aeolus, god of the winds, had been at work and the rhythms and patterns of cloud were mesmerising.  By mid-day the drama was all over and a gloom prevailed. 



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Goosander on the River Kent

16/1/2020

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PictureGoosander on the River Kent
Goosander are in town and if you stroll riverside through Kendal you will sense them preparing to breed.   This is the season to see their courtship behaviour and to marvel at their beautiful plumage,  their colours most vibrant right now.  
You may see the courting pairs in town but goosander nest in tree holes, in niches in rocks, and there lies the mystery.  To find a goosander nest would be quite something. 
If only. 


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Reflections on Skeggles Water

3/1/2020

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PictureSkeggles Water
A day of fleeting floodlight, the low winter sun creating highlights of the season. 
Skeggles Water is a slow reveal,  hidden amongst  low fells, screened by last summer’s tall sedges in  rough-and-tumble tussocks.  Hydro sere, where   becks flow into the tarn and reeds take hold in shallow water.  Hydro sere, where water and vegetation merge and intermingle. Skeggles Water has hidden depths who knows where? Terra firma is not the nature of hydrosere.  Tarns appear and disappear, ephemeral.   In summer, a weave of aquatic plants hides the tarn in a shimmer of green..   



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    Jan Wiltshire is a nature writer living in Cumbria. She also explores islands and coast and the wildlife experience. (See Home and My Books)

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