Blog Archives - Cumbria Naturally

Scout Scar cloudscapes

29/10/2018

Cloudscape over Scout Scar

A depth of bright cloud billowed above the surrounding fells and a dome of blue rose over Scout Scar. An inspirational cloudscape.
Approaching the ridge, I heard a shepherd shouting to his dogs; ' lie down, lie down,' now between a groan and a roar, 'lie down.' Black Hebridean sheep huddled close. Sheepdogs darted here and there but did not 'lie down.' Across a network of pastures wooden gates had been set out as if for a training course for 'One Man and his Dog. '

Scout Scar in late October

28/10/2018

Ash laden with keys, Scout Scar

Sunday morning, delayed as the clocks have gone back an hour. The clean, cold north-west wind has dropped and wind comes from the north-east. A sky of bright blue. Exposed to the wind, the ash trees on Scout Scar are stripped of leaves, laden with bunches of keys. Winter light strikes bare trees and fragments of limestone pavement.
During the morning, dark clouds gather, plunge the escarpment into gloom as a flight of fieldfare passes calling overhead. Trees on the horizon are backlit, spooky for the approach of Halloween.

Isle of Man to Liverpool: a sea-crossing

15/10/2018

Sky-line of Liverpool from Mannanan

A calm sea and a comfortable voyage aboard Mannanan, sailing Douglas to Liverpool. On a bright October day the sand-dunes of Formby were distinct, seemed close. Then the dramatic sky-line of a great city.
We arrived the day the Giants were in town. Their third and last appearance and the city was thronged with families eager to see them. Our objective was The Terrracotta Army, an enterprise of antiquity on a far grander scale.
Next evening, Jodie Whittaker made her debut as Dr Who, set in Sheffield. How about Liverpool? Another time, Another Place.

Eider and gannet, Point of Ayre, Isle of Man

15/10/2018

Point of Ayre 26 September

'Eider beyond the lighthouse, directly off the Point.' Returning, he shared what he had found. Gannet flew by, deceptively close as banks of shingle plunged into deep water. Sea-smoothed pebbles rose in tiers of shingle, a natural amphitheatre where we settled into a drama of sea-watch. Late September sun, a fine cloudscape and the sea a spectrum of aquamarines. Off the Point, white water showed where tidal races met. Closer to the shore, rafts of eider bobbed up and down on the waves, heads tucked into the plumage of their mantles.

Isle of Man, waders in autumn

14/10/2018

Cronk Y Bing, Isle of Mann 28 September

Late September and sunlight glosses seaweed and shingle with an incoming tide. From the yellow dunes, amidst sea-holly and marram grass, I spy a couple of waders outlined against the white foam of a breaking wave. The birds are foraging, running to and fro against the rhythm of the waves and heading north along the strand. Amongst the ringed plover there are dunlin, first winter birds with plumage of tortoiseshell and grey. Breeding solitary in the uplands, dunlin come to the coast and spend autumn and winter here in flocks.

Scarlett Point and Rushen Abbey: Castletown, Isle of Man

13/10/2018

LIttle egret at Scarlett Point

Scarlett Point is great for bird-watching. Hidden in a car, we could observe the little egret's hunting tactics. The wind ruffled his white plumage, his panache- a wispy crest of feathers for this elegant white heron. His feet stirred amongst seaweed, searching, his long black bill stabbing and his toes trailing ochre weed.
Cormorant in silhouette on rock, eider off-shore. Sunlight illuminated Castletown across the bay.
Always the possibility of wildlife drama.

Chough over The Chasms: Isle of Man

9/10/2018

Chough over The Chasms

Black against alto-stratus cloud and blue sky, a flight of chough. They nest on cliff- ledges, on sea-stack and precipice here at The Chasms. A flock of thirty birds, their voices high-pitched- the counter-tenors of the crow family.
Chough are a motif here amongst precipitous cliff, rocky bluff and sand dunes. Their call evokes the coastal solitudes I love. Long black fingers as they soar. Wings folded in steep dive.

Linnet and stonechat: October, Isle of Man

9/10/2018

Stonechat 4 October

In late September and into October we heard stonechat on our coastal walks, and saw flocks of linnet sweep over the shore and disappear into the stubble of autumn fields. Then came a magical half hour above the cliffs at Pigeon Stream, on the Marine Drive beyond Douglas. Our vehicle served as a hide and a family of stonechat flitted about gorse and on the stout fence about the cliff-top car park. A flock of linnet were about and one settled on the fence. Then came another visitor!