Cumbria Naturally
  • Home
  • Blog
  • My Books
    • Cumbrian Contrasts
    • A Lakeland Experience >
      • Introduction
      • Derwent
      • Langdale
      • Ullswater
      • Kentdale
    • About Scout Scar
    • Atlantic Odyssey
  • Other Writing
    • What Larks!
    • Further - Explore Shetland
    • Autumn Migration
    • Rydal and Nab Scar
    • Perspectives
    • The River Kent
    • Wings
  • Gallery
  • Contact

Brigsteer Wood and Scout Scar in late April

29/4/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Early purple orchids  and cowslips appear in the grass.  Wych elm is thick with flowers, showing against a bright blue sky on a morning calm and still.  We note the tree, thinking to return in  July and look high in its crown for the white-letter hairstreak.  The wych elm overhangs a sheltered woodland fringe where we found  silver washed fritillary last summer. 
Swallows perch on a wire by Park End Farm, the sun discovering a sheen of blue on the throat and a warm flush on the breast.   Light shines directly onto the swallows, bringing out colours of their fresh breeding plumage in all its loveliness.
​


Read More
0 Comments

South Walney in April, now and then

21/4/2022

0 Comments

 
PictureEider duck, South Walney, 13 April 2015
 Wear something bright, I'd requested. I wanted  a cover-shot for my new book with  my friend looking out toward Piel Castle.  She wore a cherry-red fleece but it was so cold she kept her jacket to hand. The wind did not drown-out the cooing of eider duck  returned to South Walney in their best breeding plumage.  Male eider are pistachio green on the nape, a flush of pink on the breast, and black and white plumage spectacular in sunlit flight.
21st April 2022 Eider are returned to South Walney.  How will weather, tide and season come together? 


Read More
0 Comments

Toothwort in Warriner's Wood, a reprise

16/4/2022

0 Comments

 
PictureToothwort, Lathraeea squamaria
 A year ago to the day, we discovered toothwort deep amongst the mosses cushioning the ground in Warriner's Wood.  So we hope to find flowers of toothwort today.
  Walking the ridge of Scout Scar I hear redpoll and see them in flight. I'm almost certain I'm hearing redstart too.   It's a warm and hazy day with humidity bringing forth slugs where drops of dew are poised on blades of grass.  As the morning grows warmer we might come upon a basking adder, as I did last year  in mid-April.  


Read More
0 Comments

Avocet on eggs at Leighton Moss

14/4/2022

0 Comments

 
PictureAvocet incubating eggs
A peaceful scene with avocet elegant and serene on their nests.   So it might seem.
Open the  windows of the Allen Hide and the raucous screeching of black-headed gulls hits  in a wave of sound.
The closest avocet pair is constantly tending the nest,  tidying fragments of vegetation with  long, upturned bills.   I reckon they're turning their eggs before fluffing up their plumage to sit and incubate.  When they both stand I glimpse four mottled eggs in the nest and the waders place their long silver-blue  legs and webbed feet with care. 
An electric fence protects the site from foxes. But that nest looks dangerously close to the water's edge, if water-levels should rise.


Read More
0 Comments

Hornbeam catkins and female flowers

12/4/2022

0 Comments

 
PictureMale catkins of hornbeam. Carpinus betulus
'What are catkins?' he asked.  
The best questions are often the seemingly simple ones. 
Each spring, I  answer with studies of tree flowers; hazel,  willow,  larch, bog myrtle, hornbeam and birch.  They're all about us, if only we look. Finding them close to home is an opportunity to follow  them through the seasons.   Male catkins are usually the more striking. But the female flowers  will bear fruit; hazel nuts, alder and larch  cones. And samaras,  the small nuts of hornbeam which hawfinch love.


Read More
0 Comments

Tree flowers at Sizergh, with Hornbeam

8/4/2022

0 Comments

 
PictureWillow by the lake at Sizergh

​Frost sparkles on the ground where petals of cherry blossom lie fallen.
From Helsington Church, we see snow cresting the distant fells.
A morning of bright sunlight and tree- flowers:  blackthorn, cherry blossom, willow and maple.  Bees throng about the hives in the orchard of heritage apple trees.
Veils of hail shimmer  through sunlight and white pellets lie on the ground  with the white petals of tree- flowers.


Read More
0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

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

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    November 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    April 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009
    January 2009
    January 2004

    Categories

    All
    A Local Patch
    Birdlife
    Butterflies And Moths
    Flowers
    Locations
    Views
    Walks
    Weather
    WIldlife

    RSS Feed

Website
Home
Blog
Gallery
Contact



​Cookie Policy
My Books
  • Intro - My books
  • ​Cumbrian Contrasts
  • A Lakeland Experience
  • About Scout Scar
  • Atlantic Odyssey
    ​
Other Writing
  • Intro - Other Writing
  • What Larks!
  • Further - Explore Shetland
  • Autumn Migration
  • Rydal and Nab Scar
  • Perspectives
  • The River Kent
  • Wings
Jan Wiltshire - Cumbria Naturally
© Jan Wiltshire 2022 All rights reserved
Website by Treble3