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Raven nesting at Arnside

26/1/2023

The sky mirrored in the Kent Estuary, Arnside

‘What is that?' A weird call coming from the crown of a tall tree puzzles him and he follows our gaze. A raven in liquid two-tone note is duetting with a gravelly bass in courtship display.
‘It’s fluffing up its feathers when it does that. I’ve never heard that before and there are thousands of them round here. We noticed in lock-down.‘ The raven postures and preens before his mate, ruffling his feathers and giving voice in a resonant gurgle answered with a gruff bark.

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Leighton Moss from floodwater to ice

18/1/2023

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Icy pool with heron and snipe

Water-levels were high after January rains, the lower hide inaccessible, the track to causeway hide might overtop our walking boots, so the warden advised us. He wore wellingtons. With the coming of cold floodwater had turned to ice, spectacular and challenging. The Sky Tower was closed, being a hazard. Sunlight on frozen pools and on reedbeds was beautiful and the soundscape of thaw and melting ice was all about us. Alder and willow carr were ice-bound, with beautiful pattern created as ice locked onto water-logged trees and grew, trapping air-bubbles.

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Helsington Church to Sizergh Gardens on a January day

17/1/2023

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Mist over Windermere, snow on the fells

Snow on sunlit fells, a layer of mist lies over the waters of Windermere, rising and dispersing as we watch. There's a frosty pallor over icy floodwaters in the Lyth Valley. The morning has a wonderful clarity.
In January, the position of the sun in the sky gives the light a distinct quality and frost has come suddenly after a month of rain. By the time we return to Helsington Church cumulous cloud has bubbled up and clarity is gone. Fieldfare are calling in the crowns of trees and the sun shows their colours.

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Scout Scar in January

15/1/2023

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The Lyth Valley, looking south to Morecambe Bay

'It's rained the last thirty days,' she said. Weather-man Darren Betts confirms January 2023 has been mild and exceptionally wet.
On Sunday 15th the sun shone and we all headed to Scout Scar, rejoicing to be outdoors at last. There was flooding down in the Lyth Valley with snow on the Lake District fells and on the Howgills.
Few would have ventured onto Scout Scar on days so dark and wet. But how has resident wildlife fared? It's the hungry-gap when food is scarce and relentless rain makes foraging and hunting harder.

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Kentmere

2/1/2023

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Fells above Kentmere Hall

A bright winter's day amidst days of rain. Everywhere there's the sound of water flowing off the fells. The becks are lively and water-tracks appear, and vanish in fair weather.
The low winter sun highlights a pattern of field-walls and outlying barns. Above Kentmere Hall becks are fringed with alder and birch and there's a scatter of boulders. The sky is peerless blue, winter bracken glows and the woods are warm and muted colours.

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Raven nesting at Arnside

Leighton Moss from floodwater to ice

Helsington Church to Sizergh Gardens on a January day

Scout Scar in January

Kentmere

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