Blog Archives

SIlverdale: Bottoms Wood and Wood Well

25/11/2015

The Kent Viaduct

‘I’ve looked it up, so you don’t have to.’ I was amused to hear this from a Today presenter on radio 4. I sometimes feel it’s my by-line as I spend hours looking things up. It’s fun, but time-consuming. Correcting proofs for my new book Cumbrian Contrasts, I have to be meticulous and I’m about to begin on that. So writing a blog is light relief. I’m tempted to let images speak for themselves. Why not? Now and again. I know very well why not, because there are naturalists who always want to know more. And I’m one. Curiosity rules.

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Transcendence

22/11/2015

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Ash trees on Scout Scar. 22 November 2015

‘It’s beautiful up there’, she called to me as she ran down off the fell. An ordinary greeting but heartfelt I could tell. Up on Scout Scar escarpment the ground beneath our feet was in darkness, a dark mass of cloud hung over us. My fingers felt the chill from the north as the light vanished. We both felt that sudden icy blast.’ I come here every day’, he said, looking west toward the fells. No need to say more. I understood. I love to come here too and we know a rare day when we see one. .

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The Weather Writ Large

21/11/2015

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Hawthorn berries, yew tree and limestone clitter

Where are those fieldfare from the North? There’s a wind from the Arctic, snow on the fells and a bright blue sky. Head south and the sun’s in my eyes. The Lyth Valley gleams with flood water after weeks of rain, ice flood-water until the sun gets to work. The limestone clitter glistens in sun-melt. What a stunning morning! When the wind drops i hear through the silence an absence of fieldfare.

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River Kent Flood Alert

15/11/2015

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River Kent above Stramongate Bridge

Flood alerts across the country, and Cumbria was forecast to receive some of the heaviest rainfall. An Environment Agency Unit from Derbyshire was stationed by Stramongate Bridge and they had officials patrolling the river, checking for trouble. Hidden inside their vehicle were pumps and they were ready for debris brought down by the floods. There was no let-up in the rain but the river was expected to peak at mid-day and the deadline came and went, seemingly without trouble.

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The Lark Ascending

11/11/2015

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Skylark in song-flight

A skylark motif runs through my new book. The story was written and I needed a skylark image. From mid-February I watch for their return to the uplands to breed and early in the season a lark flew up at my feet, burst into song and the sun lit its wings and outspread tail with warm colour. I could see my lark singing but I needed a sharper image. Armed with a new and more powerful camera I set out on the quest for the lark ascending.

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Autumn Watch Sparrowhawk

5/11/2015

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Bonfire Night 5 November 2015

The Autumn Watch sparrow hawk was a blaze of colour, a bonfire night spectacular. With his fiery eye and his cheek and breast the flesh-colour of Atlantic salmon he was superb. I’ve watched that sequence over and over for the wonder of the bird and the great photography. If only they’d let the sparrow hawk take centre stage. Next day, my friend Monica and I talked over the triumph and the buffoonery.

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Poaching in Rusland, Cumbria

3/11/2015

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Sheep in fog 3 November 2015

A stag had been shot by poachers at Rusland Pool, we discovered. So those notices alerting us to poachers highlighted a current problem. The only poaching we encountered was attributed to cattle, more anon. Fog lingered all day and vistas closed down. The atmosphere was full of moisture and vegetation was drenched, with some spectacular effects. Gorse bushes were full of spiders’ webs and they showed up in the golden autumn grasses of Rusland Moss.

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SIlverdale: Bottoms Wood and Wood Well

Transcendence

The Weather Writ Large

River Kent Flood Alert

The Lark Ascending

Autumn Watch Sparrowhawk

Poaching in Rusland, Cumbria

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