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Kendal community amenities- when will that be?

31/8/2024

Beside the River Kent

When will access to the countryside on our doorstep be restored? Brigsteer Bridge, a key amenity, is closed.
It's worse than Covid lockdown, said a resident. Scout Scar was our salvation in the lovely spring of 2020, with wildlife sightings galore. With the Lake District National Park on our doorstep, we crossed that bridge to freedom.

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Brown Hairstreak at Arnside Knott

10/8/2024

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Female Brown Hairstreak on Hemp Agrimony

I have seen Brown Hairstreak and I never thought I would. This elusive arboreal butterfly mates high in ash trees where it feeds on aphid honeydew.
I may have seen caterpillars and eggs, and not seen them. In early spring, I look for the first flowers of Blackthorn on lichened twigs. In autumn, I go in quest of photographs when sloes are ripe and Blackthorn leaves are rich in colour. Prunus spinosa, Blackthorn of bitter plum. The Brown Hairstreak lays her white eggs on young Blackthorn shoots so chances are I’ve overlooked both eggs and green caterpillars that feed only on Blackthorn.

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Perspectives: from Arnside Knott to White Scar

10/8/2024

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From Arnside Knott over the Kent Estuary

From up on Arnside Knott I spy the Kent Viaduct, then Foulshaw Moss and White Scar. Here's a viewpoint to put in perspective different habitats about the Kent Estuary and Moracambe Bay. Sites of summer visits, from the disused limestone quarry and the terraced cliff at White Scar to the raised mires at Foulshaw and Meathop Moss and the limestone up on Arnside Knott. A cluster of sites to study flora and fauna and of strikingly different character. Arnside Knott is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, nationally important for butterflies.

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Painted Lady at Arnside Knott

10/8/2024

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Painted lady on Knapweed

Golden tops is spectacular this summer and pollinators love it. I rather like this name the poet John Clare gave to Ragwort. At Arnside Knott a talk on management for butterflies was complemented by the appearance of a Painted lady in a sunlit glade on the fringe of woodland. My first of this year, even Chris Winnick is only on his second and if they were about he’d have found them.

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Being on Scout Scar

4/8/2024

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29 July 2024 Scout Scar escarpment

At Helsington Church the car park was busy, for a Monday morning. Cars were parked close by on the Brigsteer Road too. With the Brigsteer Bridge closed everyone must have taken a diversion to drive here. All looked deceptively normal. What you don't see is the disabled, all who cannot take to their cars and drive. Some are not able to afford a car, others, for a range of reasons, cannot drive or choose not to. So those who most need a daily walk from their doorstep are excluded. It's discriminatory.

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Kendal community amenities- when will that be?

Brown Hairstreak at Arnside Knott

Perspectives: from Arnside Knott to White Scar

Painted Lady at Arnside Knott

Being on Scout Scar

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