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

Kentmere in October

24/10/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureLooking north into Kentmere
To Kentmere, once more. No need for a map when my own memory map presents time and place of all those other days, other seasons.  The sun spotlights the crag at The Tongue, gleams white off Reservoir Cottage and shadows the disused quarry where I once disturbed a peregrine with its kill. On the last day of March I once heard skylark as a flock of fieldfare took flight from the sycamores by the barns at Stile End, heading north toward the snows at the head of Kentmere. 
The morning light is wonderful, in defiance of a gloomy weather forecast.


Read More
0 Comments

Red Deer Rut, Martindale, October 2017

22/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Cloud sits low on Rampgsill Head and the roaring of stags echoes about  Martindale.  Mid-October and  the season of the red deer rut, an ancient, atavistic sound-scape.  The Martindale herd of native red deer is the oldest in England.   Through the loud wind the stags bellow their challenge for control of the hinds.  From Hartsop,  up  past Gray Crag,  listening and searching the gullies above Hayeswater, below The Knott,  toward Rest Dodd and the head of Rampsgill, below Place Fell we hear the bellowing of the stags.  It’s a rite of autumn,  the deer rut experience.



Read More
0 Comments

The Great Storm: thirty years to the day

17/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture Eerie light. 16 October 2017
A crescent of silver moon is lost in cloud. Did I imagine it?  Dawn is murky but it's far darker  by 9.00am, triggering street-lights.   The River Kent flows dark and silent  after the turbulence of last week when rocks rumbled in the bed of the river below Stramongate Bridge, below  the weir almost lost to standing waves.  There's an eerie light in the sky, a flush of red. Hurricane Ophelia is heading our way. Red is her colour.


Read More
0 Comments

October 12th, 2017

12/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture12 October 2017
Yesterday in Kendal, the River Kent was rising fast.  A rumble and clatter of  rocks  beneath the weir by Stramongate Bridge. 
I left Castle Street with lots of signatures on the petition opposing cattle on Kendal Race Course.  A lone voice questioned whether the cattle were actually there, she hadn't seen any.  Well, here's the evidence from this morning. Once again.
Standing right by the cattle grid, blocking access to one of the two public footpaths.


Read More
0 Comments

Wensleydale: Askrigg, Bolton Castle and Aysgarth Falls

9/10/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureSeason of mellow fruitfulness 8th October
 The warmth of this October day was unexpected and, over-dressed,   I glowed like an apple in this Askrigg garden. A baked apple.  Askrigg, the location of 'All Creatures Great and Small.'  It seems so long ago.
 After the Lake District fells, the open grassy sweeps of Wensleydale and its limestone scars were a delight.  A network of field-walls, barn, so many barns and sheep.   


Read More
0 Comments

Far Easedale, Calf Crag, Gibson Knott, Helm Crag

7/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture5 October 2017
Becks  brim-full , Sour Milk Gill a cascade of whiteness and every waterfall that ever flows pouring off the fells- rainbow in water droplets,  rock gleaming wet.  Up into Far Easedale, looking  into  sunlit waterfalls, by the tarn at Brownrigg Moss, over Calf Crag, Gibson Knott, Helm Crag - the sun gleaming off Easedale Tarn and threads of light on the meandering beck down in the dale.  A wondrous day.



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