‘Have you found a four-leaved clover?' he called.
‘ We have something rare. Come and see,  if you’d like to.’
On a south-facing slope In the short turf at our feet the  flowers of Autumn gentian amongst dark  linear leaves.  Not spectacular like Alpine gentian.  but small and  intricate and – being hard to find- the more precious.  Felwort, a plant of the fells. Flowers seek pollinators so when light and temperature fall low, like today,  their strategy is to close up petals to safeguard  nectar and pollen until it's brighter and insects are out foraging.   ‘Dull purple, blue, pink or whitish’ writes botanist Marjorie Blamey in her ‘Flora of Britain and Northern Europe.’ 

Goldfinch on sunlit thistles on Kendal Race Course are calling to each other, plucking out thistle-down in the search for seeds.  A few swallows gather in the trees.  
High pressure during the last week of August, still and hazy sunlit days.  So warm the colour of sloes deepens each day, from green to blue- the bloom fresh on them.
There are pockets of heather, trailing strands of bramble leaves and ripening fruit. With bramble late to flower, then a heat-wave, flowering was over quickly so the crop is poor.  Sloes are abundant although, down in the Lyth Valley a cold snap hit the damsons and there are none to be had.

‘ Smardale gives  the best views in England. You have to come every week, to appreciate it.’ If only ---
Less than a fortnight since our last visit  and the alchemy of season and weather brings change.  Cloud is low with fleeting illumination of distant fells, the Howgills, High Dolphinsty and Wild Boar Fell.  Starlings gather along wires.  Hirundines feed low, skimming about us, the light too poor their flight too fast to be sure whether they’re swallows or house martins.  The first flowers of Grass of Parnassus appear low on the skirts of Smardale Fell.  

 Sunbeams illuminate flowers on the                  embankment.  The white plume of a parachute seed-head is arrested in flight.   Sunlight and overnight dew reveal strands of spider silk strung between the flowers of great burnet,  its petals of deep crimson  bright as blood, great burnet, Sanguisorba Officinalis.  An evocative name.  Along the embankment of the disused railway there are drifts of great burnet and field scabious and vistas of the packhorse bridge over Scandal Beck. 

 

​Who comes to Smardale and what do they seek?
On a Butterfly Conservation field-trip there are  visitors from Haworth and South Wales, eager for their first sight of Scotch Argus. It is almost peak-flight time for the butterfly.  A man from Richmond tells of kestrel breeding and he’s seen a kingfisher.  A red squirrel is seen and there’s a nest of wild bees.  It’s gratifying to share our  day with our experts Peter and Chris, and with those eager  to make discoveries.
The weather is perfect.    On Tuesday 3rd August the day is warm and still with sunshine and  cloud so  Scotch Argus are in flight and they settle too.  The next day is hotter and brighter so they’re rather more lively.