Heather in bloom, Smardale Fell ‘ Smardale gives the best views in England. You have to come every week, to appreciate it.’ If only ---
Less than a fortnight since our last visit and the alchemy of season and weather brings change. Cloud is low with fleeting illumination of distant fells, the Howgills, High Dolphinsty and Wild Boar Fell. Starlings gather along wires. Hirundines feed low, skimming about us, the light too poor their flight too fast to be sure whether they’re swallows or house martins. The first flowers of Grass of Parnassus appear low on the skirts of Smardale Fell.
Less than a fortnight since our last visit and the alchemy of season and weather brings change. Cloud is low with fleeting illumination of distant fells, the Howgills, High Dolphinsty and Wild Boar Fell. Starlings gather along wires. Hirundines feed low, skimming about us, the light too poor their flight too fast to be sure whether they’re swallows or house martins. The first flowers of Grass of Parnassus appear low on the skirts of Smardale Fell.
Through autumn and winter I love the palette of heather moorland, the springy feel under foot. Now heather is in full bloom, intense in colour and wonderfully fragrant. A mass of purple heather unfolds before us, patterns of rippling clumps, subtly different shades with hints of bronze and copper in early -fading flowers. Swathes of heather, broken only by an outcrop of limestone, by a few tall trees on the horizon, and grazing sheep showing white against the dark heather. Deep in the heather a family of stonechat calls. Skylark on a wall, crest visible. A raptor flies off, perhaps a kestrel. Red grouse call, fly low, peep above the heather, rise up and peer at us from the skyline. We take to the heather, like Davie Balfour and Alan Breck Stewart fugitives from the Redcoats after the murder of the Red Fox in Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped.’
The skies are dark and drizzle sets in so we head down toward Smardale 15th century packhorse bridge. We chance upon the fossil I photographed circa 2011 and dubbed a Roman sandal when I wrote Cumbrian Contrasts. I wonder when the dry stone wall was made. A ravel of time-lines, to and fro. I can’t help feeling the wallers chose to place this cluster of fossil rocks together as something strange and wonderful. On Smardale Fell there are gateposts that speak of a quarryman’s hoping not merely to build a boundary wall but to share what he’s discovered.
A few Scotch Argus in flight but wind and light drizzle don’t suit them.. The kestrel nest hole appears empty, the young take flying lessons and the adults teach them how to hunt, calling to each other flying above us. Suddenly, an adult male appears in the nest cavity. Bright yellow feet, tawny mantle and grey head and flies off. We witness, and try to interpret behaviour, their secret lives. Another shot at a video but the adult kestrel’s appearance is unexpected and fleeting and I’m all fingers and thumbs. I freeze-frame a few seconds, and work it out.
Along the dismantled railway. A fortnight since, field scabious was abundant. Now it's hard to find, taken over by Devli’s Bit Scabious, a later flower. Guelder Rose berries grow glossy red and leaves begin to assume autumn colour.
Driving home via Ash Fell Road, there are swathes of heather on either side and vistas unfold before us, the fells we have glimpsed from up on Smardale Fell.
A few Scotch Argus in flight but wind and light drizzle don’t suit them.. The kestrel nest hole appears empty, the young take flying lessons and the adults teach them how to hunt, calling to each other flying above us. Suddenly, an adult male appears in the nest cavity. Bright yellow feet, tawny mantle and grey head and flies off. We witness, and try to interpret behaviour, their secret lives. Another shot at a video but the adult kestrel’s appearance is unexpected and fleeting and I’m all fingers and thumbs. I freeze-frame a few seconds, and work it out.
Along the dismantled railway. A fortnight since, field scabious was abundant. Now it's hard to find, taken over by Devli’s Bit Scabious, a later flower. Guelder Rose berries grow glossy red and leaves begin to assume autumn colour.
Driving home via Ash Fell Road, there are swathes of heather on either side and vistas unfold before us, the fells we have glimpsed from up on Smardale Fell.
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