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

Petrichor: rain after prolonged drought

29/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureScout Scar escarpment 14 July
Through the protracted summer heat-wave I longed for rain.  Impossible to imagine how farmers felt, watching their crops wither and die for lack of rain.  Their cattle being given winter feed  because the grass did not grow.  Temperatures were still high when the rain came. I opened the windows and relished the sounds of  a heavy shower. And from the garden there arose a fragrance, not simply cool refreshing rain but something unusual.
Pertichor: a phenomenon rare in Britain.



Read More
0 Comments

Bodyguard: a high calibre thriller

28/8/2018

0 Comments

 
 Home Secretary Julia Montague is assigned a  bodyguard, Sgt David Budd. The calibre of ‘Bodyguard’ is breath-taking. Jed Mercurio’s drama drives fast and clean through terrorist plots and at high velocity through rivalries, power-seeking and  machinations  within government. There are threats all around. There’s subterfuge and ambiguity, but a powerful narrative arc cuts through it all.  Whom do we trust?  Not Anne Sampson, the Head of Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command,  played by Gina McKee. Did she deliberately withhold back-up when  Julia Montague’s vehicle came under fire in an assassination attempt?  Montagu believes so.


Read More
0 Comments

Scotch Argus on Kendal Fell

19/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureScotch Argus
Heavy rain overnight and grasses drenched, but there are Scotch Argus on Kendal Fell and if the sun can break through cloud we should see them.
Here, a golf course is managed in harmony with conservation. Steep and rough ground is managed for flora, and so for butterflies.  It's late in the season and buddleia flowers are past their best, but we see their butterfly potential.  There's knapweed and thistles that offer nectar.  And we head for an area of blue moor grass on the limestone, favoured by Scotch Argus.


Read More
0 Comments

Osprey at Roudsea

19/8/2018

1 Comment

 
PictureArum maculatum, Cuckoo pint in Roudsea Wood
 The sway of Roudsea Wood gradually took hold.  After rain, there was a freshness of almost autumn on the air.  And a hint of the sea as the River Leven debouches into Greenodd Sands and out into Morecambe Bay.
 Glossy scarlet berries of glowed from the woodland floor. Arumn maculatum, Cuckoo pint, Lords and Ladies- some plants have a profusion of names. Others, like tiny fungi rising on slender deep-red  stipes from the leaf litter, are more elusive. Their abundance hints at their mycelium, a spreading network of threads hidden in the earth.  A connectivity of trees and fungi.



Read More
1 Comment

Ravenstonedale, Smargdale Gill, Smardale Fell

16/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureSmardale Gill, approach from Ravenstonedale
A fresh approach to Smardale. From Ravenstonedale, we walked north beside Scandal Beck sounding loud after rain.  Walking its muddy banks was a novelty this summer.  Smardale Gill opened up before us: limestone quarry on its western flank and the  viaduct soaring high above the beck.  A fresh perspective on  Smardale packhorse bridge and the dismantled railway track.  The skies were louring and cloudy, so butterflies seemed unlikely.


Read More
0 Comments

Smardale: Newbiggin-on-Lune to Smardalegill Viaduct

15/8/2018

1 Comment

 
PicturePainted lady on knapweed
Heavy rain at breakfast,   thunder at tea-time. The morning was humid and still, with rain drops lingering  on vegetation.   There was time to appreciate different aspects of Smardale Gill National Nature Reserve as we walked the dismantled railway track.   Vistas opened up  toward Scandal Beck and Smardale packhorse bridge and the sun grew brighter.  There are diverse flowers and with the sun came  butterflies. We had a range of species, with  good sightings of Scotch Argus and painted ladies. 


Read More
1 Comment

Smardalegill National Nature Reserve in August

11/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureRosebay willowherb and old barn, 12 August
Nature has regenerated along a dismantled railway track, now Smardale National Nature Reserve. Embankments topped with flowers,  rank in August, bedraggled after a searing heat-wave and early morning rain.  Greater burnet with petals a rich atro-purpurea, so dark and dense they might  be mistaken for seed-heads. Mingling by turns with tall scabious, with purple knapweed, with rosebay willowherb and greater willowherb.
.


Read More
0 Comments

Fair-weather cumulus over Scout Scar

6/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureCumulus cloud, Sunday 5 August
Fair-weather cumulus, promised Tomasz Shaferfnaker.  And here it was. Patterns of cumulus and sunlit mist over the River Kent, and toward the horizon.  Lured by the  beauty of cloudscape, I set out for Scout Scar.  The air was still and humid and  mist soon engulfed me.  Trees revenant, nothing for sure. Impossible to tell if I were  alone up there. A cough sounded and a couple of collies leapt out of the mist, and away.  The Mushroom Shelter toposcope was useless-  no fells to name.  A pale sun peeped from beyond the mist, and slipped away again.  It was late morning before the grand reveal.


Read More
0 Comments

Barbon with  painted ladies and sheep folds

2/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureSheepfold beside the River Kent, Kentmere
The last week-end of July saw a break in the heat-wave, with days of steady rain. Cloud  filtered sunlight, with  a breeze to invigorate  us on the first day of August.   Seed-heads of bluebells in the woods above Barbon Beck, its waters low but flowing. A joy to hear the sounds of water in a landscape. Rowan berries ripen and heather comes into bloom.  Sphagnum moss has soaked up  rain and rehydrated,  no longer looking distressed. A pleasant temperature for walking. And that’s news!  Talking of weather is not banal, not inconsequential. This coming  week-end, Spain and Portugal may reach almost 50 degrees.



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

    July 2025
    June 2025
    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