The first lambs were due at Bradleyfield Farm on 18 March, as usual. So why were there five thriving lambs, a week old, a fortnight old, in the lambing pens and waiting for this bright and frosty morning to warm up before their first venture onto grass? By the time I returned the ice on the water tank had melted, Brian Bowness had fitted a blue coat onto the youngest and they were in the pasture trying out their new legs. Little leaps, all four legs off the ground. What will this body do? Can we lambs fly, mum? If we try.
Under the brush, that's what happened, said David Horrobin. A good old Yorkshire expression, under the brush. What brush, I asked. He didn't know. An over-eager tup had got in amongst the ewes rather too early, Brian Bowness explained. And he had not prepared for these early births with supplies of iodine and antibiotics for the newborn. He did have a heap of little jackets for cold nights out in the pasture. He has erected notices asking dog walkers to keep dogs on leads, please. Four notices for Kendal Race Course- he's made them himself. There's a public footpath across the Race Course pasture where his pregnant ewes graze and rear their lambs and he wants all dog walkers to act responsibly. If they did, he wouldn't have had to make four notices large and clear: sheep may abort, in blood red. Is it written in Polish? Just what is it you don't understand? He's ready for anyone ignoring the request courteous. And we locals do our best to support him. Eyes and ears on behalf of hill farmers. Did he know that half a dozen horned Swaledales had appeared on Bradleyfield Allotment? Yes, thank you, and I wasn't the first to call by to tell him. He had seen a pair of dark foxes trotting over the Race Course two days ago. I'd seen their tracks in snow.
The morning was sunny and bright, with pockets of frost in shadow. Should have been a good day for photography but it was challenging. On a winter's day it's no use hoping for images looking north along Scout Scar escarpment much before mid-day because the sun is too low and cliff and wood are deep in shadow, as they were when I arrived bright and early. A clear blue sky but the fells seemed hazy. Gradually, cloud bubbled up and the sky became more interesting. But gathering cloud threw blocks of shadow over the fells. Sometimes, cloud defines a fell and that's dramatic. But with vistas there's a lot of ground to be besmirched with cloud.
The morning was sunny and bright, with pockets of frost in shadow. Should have been a good day for photography but it was challenging. On a winter's day it's no use hoping for images looking north along Scout Scar escarpment much before mid-day because the sun is too low and cliff and wood are deep in shadow, as they were when I arrived bright and early. A clear blue sky but the fells seemed hazy. Gradually, cloud bubbled up and the sky became more interesting. But gathering cloud threw blocks of shadow over the fells. Sometimes, cloud defines a fell and that's dramatic. But with vistas there's a lot of ground to be besmirched with cloud.
I've photographed this group of ash trees often. To the south, the sun is too low in the sky to illuminate the sloping ground but it flares the southern aspect of the trees. I like these gleaming-shadowy trees rising out of dark rock.
There is a crescent of limestone right on the cliff-edge, with low-lying ground below and in the distance the fells: Fairfield, Red Screes, Caudale Moor. As cloud developed, shadows darkened fell and woodland. Bright sunlight catches the lime-washed farmhouses, hidden in a snowscape.
Looking west. From the left, the Coniston Fells, through Crinkle Crags and Bowfell to the Langdale Pikes.
Clarity to the west. Not much snow on the fells but sunlight and shadow defined their architecture, and from Scout Scar I could track routes I've walked. How solid and precise they look! Nothing like the mirage mountains of my snowscapes last Saturday.
Clarity to the west. Not much snow on the fells but sunlight and shadow defined their architecture, and from Scout Scar I could track routes I've walked. How solid and precise they look! Nothing like the mirage mountains of my snowscapes last Saturday.
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