Mares' tails through water lilies, SIzergh Castle gardens A mellow morning at SIzergh Castle gardens where dragonflies mate in the bright and sultry air. Water lilies spiked with mares' tails and across the lake berries of hawthorn and guelder rose shot through with sunlight. Cordons of apples bordering a profusion of flowers. Red admirals nectaring on everlasting flowers with waxy petals and sedum alive with small tortoiseshell, painted ladies, bees,wasps and hoverflies. Here nature thrives.
Fruiting hornbeam seeds hang thick, like bunches of keys. Spiders' webs on morning dew. There are bee hives in an orchard where ripening apples glow in the sun. The gardeners share their knowledge- rare varieties of apples that tell a history of horticulture. Flowers, fruit and vegetables in vibrant colour and a profusion of pollinators. Pink and white daisies spill down the steps descending from the castle. A bank of tufty grass is home to solitary bees, so neat handwriting on a slate tells us. There's much to discover and the birds we hear in the tree tops will be easier to see once autumn leaves fall.
Saturday 21st and a sensuous day on Scout Scar. Sunny and warm on bare arms with a delicious breeze that rustled the dry leaves of ash trees. So still I could hear the beat of ravens' wings. A jay was calling down in Honeybee Woods below the escarpment. Goldfinch gathering. No sign of swallows.
Whitebeam full of ripening fruit. They grow in the cliff face and on the scree buttress below. Whitebeam- the white tree- named for the pale underside of its leaves. Hawthorn thick with fruit too. There are sloes but not in such abundance. The last of the scabious and harebell flowers and yellow hawkbit. Few late bramble flowers so few butterflies- what a contrast to Sizergh gardens.
A fine day to walk the Scout Scar ridge with the Lake District Fells to the west and the Howgills to the east. An autumnal haze in a cloudless sky. Cloudless - but let your eye sweep upward from the horizon to a zenith of intensifying blue.
Whitebeam full of ripening fruit. They grow in the cliff face and on the scree buttress below. Whitebeam- the white tree- named for the pale underside of its leaves. Hawthorn thick with fruit too. There are sloes but not in such abundance. The last of the scabious and harebell flowers and yellow hawkbit. Few late bramble flowers so few butterflies- what a contrast to Sizergh gardens.
A fine day to walk the Scout Scar ridge with the Lake District Fells to the west and the Howgills to the east. An autumnal haze in a cloudless sky. Cloudless - but let your eye sweep upward from the horizon to a zenith of intensifying blue.
A herd of cattle has appeared on Kendal Race Course. The warm weather has dried out the slop of cow muck along the farm track and about the stiles.
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