Muncaster Fell

Sphagnum Moss on Muncaster Fell 13 September 2015

Rain and low cloud dashed our hopes of Buckbarrow. But when John Holman suggested a lower walk on Muncaster Fell I was not in the least disappointed. ( I remembered  a walk he’d led there one spring when his wife Fiona and I pored over the tiny flowers of crowberry deep in the heather.)  Up by the cairn on Hooker Crag, we looked south to the estuary of the River Esk and the sea.  To the north lay Hooker Moss.  John found a route over drier ground but he knew he’d lost me to the lure of peat bog.  I lingered, wishing Fiona were here. She and I are known for lingering on the quest botanical.

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Cross-leaved heath, Erica tetralix, is a plant of blanket bog.  Fresh flowers are pink but cross-leaved heath gives colour to the fell as it fades to gold. 

Sprigs of heather interwoven with bilberry and mosses

Heather, cross-leaved heath and bilberry

Bilberry leaves 13 September 2015

On Muncaster Fell the draw is not simply the vistas, it’s the ground beneath one’s feet.  The beauty is created by the diversity of flora and  the subtle  seasonal change that flows over the fell.  In spring, bilberry leaves show sharp green.  Now they turn rosy pink and red. 
The trend of the moment is colouring books, I hear. How about a colouring book for Muncaster Fell. 

A heather fell  is a palette of shifting colour long after its full summer flowering.  Years ago, I fell for heather moorland on the Black Mountains and the way the light creates pattern amongst the low shrubs in winter, a hatching of shadows.  Perhaps this is my best –loved habitat. It’s magic, for its sheer loveliness.  In amongst this sweep of heather there are skeletal shrubs bare of foliage and healthy flowering plants. 
Hooker Moss, any moss, is best avoided if you want to keep your feet dry, if you like a brisk walk at an even pace.  So my thanks to John for giving us the option of skirting the moss, or an interlude of delving.