Hedge-laying, sheep farming and snowdrops about Holeslack

Hedge-laying Lancashire and Wetmorland style, Holeslack orchard,

Behind the mossy stone wall bordering a Holeslack orchard the  once flailed and  outgrown hedge is being laid, Westmorland  and Lancashire style.  Mostly hawthorn,  it will be stock-proof  and, as it regenerates,  something of a wildlife corridor.  The perfect habitat for birds and small mammals,  providing food and shelter.   Tall ivy clad trees bordering the orchard have berries and roosts for birds, and shelter for over-wintering butterflies.   Volunteers at Sizergh are working hard and glad to be out on such a lovely day.   The gate into the orchard is open and I am invited in, a rare opportunity.   Brashings lie strewn  on the grass and I spy snowdrops  beneath the trees in the woodland fringe.  Apple trees have labels, Keswick codlin one reads.  The orchards at Holeslack are famous for traditional varieties of pears and apples.   It would be good if some windfalls were left to feed the fieldfare and redwing that are often hereabouts in winter.
Hedge-laying is a traditional craft  done in February but with climate change birds will begin nesting earlier, so hedge-laying and coppicing now need to be done earlier.   I was surprised to find snowdrops so advanced.  One of their folk names is Candlemass bells.  Candlemass, 2nd February. 
​  I meet a young farmer gathering his flock overwintering in these pastures. Lambing begins on 1st February, down in the Lyth Valley.

Tuesday brought wild whistling winds and rain. Wednesday was calm, bright and unusually warm. I walked south, dazzled by the  low sun and seeing little.  Moisture hung in the air and the fells were hidden.   The day grew lively as I passed Helsington Church where I heard a young farmer calling to his dogs as her gathered his flock of sheep.   One broke loose and ran  fast toward the wall, leapt, tottered on the top-stones as it suddenly saw me below it on the track, landed at my feet and ran off.  Not sure which of us was the more startled.  The farmer told me it wasn't his and he wanted his dogs to drive it away. It appeared on the loose in Holeslack orchard a while later.   So the sheep-proof new laid hedge will serve its purpose- stock-proof.  I met the farmer later as I explored the snowdrop wood by the Holeslack orchards below the barn.   I love this old farmstead with its Westmorland chimney, its pigs sties abutting the barn and stables and in particular this gated and sheltered old orchard that attracts diverse birds. 
The National Trust have developed a track through Holeslack Wood.  There's an old ice house within the stone wall beside the farm and an old apple tree with a carpet of snowdrops beneath.  

I had come to see when the snowdrops would be in flower and was surprised to find them fully out.   I like to see them amongst bright mosses and brown winter leaves.   A day for photographers to capture Candlemass Bells. One lady asked me if I meant to photograph the mice too.  She had brought felt mice with her and placed them amongst the snowdrops.   The  flowers were a great attraction and so much better than those in our gardens, so we said. 
Snowdrops at Holeslack and SIzergh is a seasonal highlight.   Hedge-laying is a craft I love to see and something practical too.