Mist swirls through the woodland fringe 14th January 2013
The find of a life-time, a unique experience? Such moments are unforgettable.
Snow came on 13th January 2013. Snowscapes were remarkable, I knew at the time. Now in 2025 I realise that, with Climate Change, snow may rarely fall here in the future. Memories of winters past are full of nostalgia, and patterns are changing.
In winter, snow on the Lake District fells is visible from Scout Scar whose highest point is 235m. So even in 2013 it was a rare treat to see such a depth of snow.
The first snow fell overnight and on the morning of 14th January a delicate tracery of fresh snow adorned the trees. The look is ethereal. I hurried toward Scout Scar to enjoy the day and to take photographs. But fog from the east overtook me, enveloped me, and I stopped to photograph ash trees on the woodland fringe just beyond Kendal Race Course. The play of mist and glimmering sunlight through the snow-clad trees was a long, slow enchantment.
By the time I returned this way sunlight had begun to thaw the snow and the beauty of the trees was disappearing fast. Snow was slipping and sliding off branches, hanging in swags.
Snow came on 13th January 2013. Snowscapes were remarkable, I knew at the time. Now in 2025 I realise that, with Climate Change, snow may rarely fall here in the future. Memories of winters past are full of nostalgia, and patterns are changing.
In winter, snow on the Lake District fells is visible from Scout Scar whose highest point is 235m. So even in 2013 it was a rare treat to see such a depth of snow.
The first snow fell overnight and on the morning of 14th January a delicate tracery of fresh snow adorned the trees. The look is ethereal. I hurried toward Scout Scar to enjoy the day and to take photographs. But fog from the east overtook me, enveloped me, and I stopped to photograph ash trees on the woodland fringe just beyond Kendal Race Course. The play of mist and glimmering sunlight through the snow-clad trees was a long, slow enchantment.
By the time I returned this way sunlight had begun to thaw the snow and the beauty of the trees was disappearing fast. Snow was slipping and sliding off branches, hanging in swags.
As the sun broke through the mist blue sky appeared and I hurried up to Scout Scar where a cluster of slender ash trees seemed engaged in a dance. In solitude, in mist and sunlit snow, there's a magic and a mystery. The slightest change of the light and the impression was lost. I lingered long - then realised I was missing a temperature inversion over the Lyth Valley. Transience here and there.
Mist played over the woods below the escarpment, hovering, billowing, snaking south toward Morecambe Bay. A volatile mist that rose above the escarpment and flowed over the ridge. The temperature dropped suddenly, landmarks vanished, the cliff-edge disappeared. The fog may disperse, or may not.
Blogs of January 2013, tells the story, and an image-sequence shows a few of my photographs.
Mist played over the woods below the escarpment, hovering, billowing, snaking south toward Morecambe Bay. A volatile mist that rose above the escarpment and flowed over the ridge. The temperature dropped suddenly, landmarks vanished, the cliff-edge disappeared. The fog may disperse, or may not.
Blogs of January 2013, tells the story, and an image-sequence shows a few of my photographs.
SIzergh Castle With a well-known location there are seasonal highlights one might predict, but nothing is certain. Patterns are quirky and trying to fathom them keeps me guessing.
On 4th November 2022 abundant fruit showed on a Rowan, Sorbus, Vilmorinii. By 15th December the tree had lost most of its leaves and bullfinch and the weather had stripped most of its berries. Each year I return, but the rowan merges into surrounding trees- looking unremarkable, with too few berries to attract bullfinch. A one-time wonder.
I had set out from Helsington Church to walk to Sizergh and I returned by the orchards of Holeslack farm where fieldfare and mistle-thrush fed on windfall apples in snow beneath the trees. At the season of winter thrush I always look for them beneath the orchard trees but have not found them here again.
On 4th November 2022 abundant fruit showed on a Rowan, Sorbus, Vilmorinii. By 15th December the tree had lost most of its leaves and bullfinch and the weather had stripped most of its berries. Each year I return, but the rowan merges into surrounding trees- looking unremarkable, with too few berries to attract bullfinch. A one-time wonder.
I had set out from Helsington Church to walk to Sizergh and I returned by the orchards of Holeslack farm where fieldfare and mistle-thrush fed on windfall apples in snow beneath the trees. At the season of winter thrush I always look for them beneath the orchard trees but have not found them here again.
In late summer, Sizergh Castle gardens and kitchen garden can be a good place for butterflies. On 16th August 2025 the kitchen garden cabbages were being shredded by hungry caterpillars of large whites and small whites. In the terrace garden verbena and dahlia were attracting painted ladies, small tortoiseshell, red admiral and a few comma. There were heavy showers throughout 11th September and only the occasional white was on the wing.
During the week beginning 22nd September I visited Sizergh gardens three times. The weather was set fair. Each day seemed likely to bring forth butterflies, calm and warm with bright sun and only a little cloud. Blogs throughout that week show how fitful sightings can be. If they are on the wing where might they be today, and why the change of location?
On 25th September sedum beside the lake was alive with comma, three butterflies in one image. Later that week, the same late morning hour, sunlight did not fall on the flowers - so no butterflies.
Next day I searched ivy flowers on the orchard wall. No butterflies there. But a damson attracted red admiral and comma which fed on over-ripe fruit. By 11th October, days of wind and rain had stripped the tree of leaves, damsons were harvested- leaving only a few wizened fruit out of reach in the topmost twigs.
In a reprise of late summer and autumn butterflies in 2025 I'm surprised how many species migrate. Painted lady and humming-bird hawk-moth I knew are not native. But red admiral, a butterfly familiar to many, often last to show in autumn, also has the migrating habit. Like birds, there are species of butterfly that may well adapt with Climate Change and begin to over-winter in the UK.
During the week beginning 22nd September I visited Sizergh gardens three times. The weather was set fair. Each day seemed likely to bring forth butterflies, calm and warm with bright sun and only a little cloud. Blogs throughout that week show how fitful sightings can be. If they are on the wing where might they be today, and why the change of location?
On 25th September sedum beside the lake was alive with comma, three butterflies in one image. Later that week, the same late morning hour, sunlight did not fall on the flowers - so no butterflies.
Next day I searched ivy flowers on the orchard wall. No butterflies there. But a damson attracted red admiral and comma which fed on over-ripe fruit. By 11th October, days of wind and rain had stripped the tree of leaves, damsons were harvested- leaving only a few wizened fruit out of reach in the topmost twigs.
In a reprise of late summer and autumn butterflies in 2025 I'm surprised how many species migrate. Painted lady and humming-bird hawk-moth I knew are not native. But red admiral, a butterfly familiar to many, often last to show in autumn, also has the migrating habit. Like birds, there are species of butterfly that may well adapt with Climate Change and begin to over-winter in the UK.
Frogs at Sizergh
One spring, there were clots of frogspawn thick about the fringe of a lake. Nothing, the following spring. 19th March 2022 we encountered frogs in amplexus, the male hitching a ride on the female's back and heading for the lake. We look the next year and find neither.
On 24th March 2025 the lake below the castle heaved with mating frogs. It was so dramatic I returned on 28th March and searched the lily pads for frogs, in vain. They'd gone. We encountered a few on paths through the gardens but the mating frenzy was over.
So, over several years, mid-to-late March seems a good time to look for breeding frogs. But within that time-frame it's chancy, and hard to fathom why that mating frenzy in the lake should so suddenly be over. Did it take place over several days or were we lucky to come upon it, by chance, on a single day?
Try finding and counting frogs in the sequence of images below.
One spring, there were clots of frogspawn thick about the fringe of a lake. Nothing, the following spring. 19th March 2022 we encountered frogs in amplexus, the male hitching a ride on the female's back and heading for the lake. We look the next year and find neither.
On 24th March 2025 the lake below the castle heaved with mating frogs. It was so dramatic I returned on 28th March and searched the lily pads for frogs, in vain. They'd gone. We encountered a few on paths through the gardens but the mating frenzy was over.
So, over several years, mid-to-late March seems a good time to look for breeding frogs. But within that time-frame it's chancy, and hard to fathom why that mating frenzy in the lake should so suddenly be over. Did it take place over several days or were we lucky to come upon it, by chance, on a single day?
Try finding and counting frogs in the sequence of images below.
Sizergh is a splendid location for a naturalist to follow seasonal patterns. Around September time, hirundines will make ready to fly back to Africa. To come upon a mustering of swallows and house martins is a rare treat. Some years, I miss the muster and simply notice the absence. There's a silence when swifts depart. Twice on Scout Scar, I've witnessed hundreds of swallows mustering and regretted not having a camera - I rarely walk without one.
Read my blogs of 6 July and 2nd September 2023 to share my discoveries regarding house martins and swallows. Which bird builds the neater nest? And where, exactly?
Read my blogs of 6 July and 2nd September 2023 to share my discoveries regarding house martins and swallows. Which bird builds the neater nest? And where, exactly?
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