From Smardale Fell looking NW over the ghyll to Crosby Garret Fell Heather is fragrant in the hot sun and there's a refreshing breeze. Dry stone walls pattern the fells, top-stones gleaming white. Heather gives way to pastures above Scandal Beck. There's a limestone quarry on the farther bank and, below it out of sight, two limekilns and a dismantled railway-line, the flower walk. To the south,the profile of Wild Boar Fell shows on a morning that grows hazier. Having walked through Smardale Gill so recently it's good to be high on the heather fell which cannot be seen from there.
Passing Smardale Hall, we reached the damp, lower slopes of the fell where we look for Grass of Parnassus and a local man tells of Bird's-Eye Primrose in a second, late-summer flowering. Grass of Parnassus flowers all over the short turf and we find a few tiny pink primroses. There is Devil's Bit Scabious and Autumn Gentian in delicate pink and white.
The stone wall (followed by the Coast-to-Coast route) is rich with fossils and I found a coral fossil.
The stone wall (followed by the Coast-to-Coast route) is rich with fossils and I found a coral fossil.
Up on Smardale Fell the heather looks lovely. Lingy Intake, the map declares and it's mostly Caluna Vulgaris, Ling or Common Heather. Look closely and you will find a few flowers of Cross-leaved heath and of Bell Heather. Ericas show in a palette of colour, some in full flower, some bronze and fading.
Up on Smardale Fell the heather is spectacular at this season and if this were simply limestone country massed heather would not thrive, but the geology is complex. Limestone walls have gateposts of sandstone and as you approach Smardale Bridge there's a mix of rocks in the dry-stone wall. Sandy Bank shows on the OS map where there was a sandstone quarry directly west of Smardale Bridge and there are other disused sandstone quarries hereabouts. The double limekilns abut a limestone quarry rich in fossils. I think there's a niche floral habitat up on Smardale Fell, where there's a particular geology- but I cannot recall the detail.
Up on Smardale Fell the heather is spectacular at this season and if this were simply limestone country massed heather would not thrive, but the geology is complex. Limestone walls have gateposts of sandstone and as you approach Smardale Bridge there's a mix of rocks in the dry-stone wall. Sandy Bank shows on the OS map where there was a sandstone quarry directly west of Smardale Bridge and there are other disused sandstone quarries hereabouts. The double limekilns abut a limestone quarry rich in fossils. I think there's a niche floral habitat up on Smardale Fell, where there's a particular geology- but I cannot recall the detail.
By Smardale Hall we stop to watch swallows perch on wires festooned with spiky bits of plastic designed to deter the birds from settling. The lady who lives nearby seems to welcome the swallows and the birds perch happily amongst these odd features which make bizarre images. You can tell adult swallows by their long tail-streamers and red faces. Their young lack streamers, their heads lack that red colour and they look pale about the bill. The area is a National Nature Reserve of diverse flora in a mosaic of habitats. The lady we speak with tells of a careful grazing regime to protect the special flora of Smardale Fell and, living close to Smardale Hall Farm she is notes the behaviour of the swallow and fluctuating numbers.
RSS Feed