Into June. A slightly longer local walk this time, to Hawes Water and the limestone pavements of Gait Barrows.
Peacock Butterfly on Bird’s-eye Primrose.Peacock Butterfly on Bird’s-eye Primrose.Bird’s-eye Primroses.Female Damselfly. I think one of the forms of Blue-tailed Damselfly, which come in several colours.And my best guess is that this is another form of the same, with its green thorax and lilac ninth segment of its abdomen. Even my field guide admits that female Blue-tailed Damselflies are ‘confusing’.Bird’s-eye Primroses and a bug, possibly Oedemera lurida. But equally, probably not.Common Blue Damselfly, male.Blue-tailed Damselfly, male.A gaggle of geese.A holey leaf. Guelder Rose I think.
I took a lot of photos of partially devoured leaves this spring; I was amazed by the extent to which they could be eaten and not collapse, whilst still remaining recognisably leaves. I never saw any creatures which were evidently munching on the foliage. Maybe it happens at night.
Scorpion Fly, male.Bird’s-eye Primrose again. With possibly Oedemera lurida again?Northern Marsh Orchid.Yellow Rattle.Germander Speedwell.Micro Moth on Yellow Rattle.
In the grassland at Gait Barrows these tiny moths hop about, making short flights around your feet, landing in the grass and apparently disappearing when they land. Close examination sometimes reveals that they have aligned their bodies with a blade of grass or a plant stem and are thus well-hidden. I was lucky, on this occasion, to get a better view.
I think that this might be a sawfly, but I’m not even confident of that, let alone what kind of sawfly.Angular Solomon’s Seal.Angular Solomon’s Seal.Bloody Crane’s-bill growing in a gryke.Lily-of-the-valley.
I met a couple who were holidaying in the area, mainly to see butterflies, but they were looking for the Lady’s-slipper Orchids. I took them to the spot where, for a while, they grew abundantly, but there was nothing there to show them. Such a shame. At least I know that they are growing more successfully elsewhere in the region, but I don’t know where. I think the consensus is that the spot where they were planted on the limestone was too dry.
Brown Silver-line Moth.Dark Red Helleborine, I think. Not yet flowering.Maidenhair Spleenwort.Lilies-of-the-valley.
The lack of Lady’s-slipper Orchids was in some way compensated by an abundance of Lily-of-the-valley. In my experience, although there are always lots of the spear-like leaves, flowers tend to be in short supply. This year there were lots. I must have timed my visit well.
Tired Painted Lady.Painted Ladies: they have Union Jacks on their faces.
This is from a couple of days later from a neighbour’s garden. We had an afternoon buffet and an evening barbecue to celebrate the jubilee. Being a fervent monarchist, obviously, I was full of enthusiasm for a party. Especially since the weather was so warm and summery. Well…I’m all for extra Bank Holidays. And get togethers with the neighbours, particularly if I’m excused from decorating as a result!
Hagg Wood – The Row – Challan Hall – Hawes Water – Challan Hall Allotments – Silverdale Moss – Back Wood – Leighton Beck – Coldwell Meadows – Coldwell Parrock – Gait Barrows – West Coppice – Hawes Water – Challan Hall – Waterslack – Eaves Wood – Inman’s Road
Autumn colour in Eaves Wood.
Covid laid me up for a little over two weeks. Not a pleasant experience, obviously, but it could have been worse. The first week of that fortnight was half-term, we’d planned to meet up with my Brother, who was over from Switzerland with his kids, and my Mum and Dad. We’d also booked a night away to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. All that went out the window. On the plus side, I did listen to a lot of radio dramas.
I also felt like I’d missed out on a half-term’s worth of walking. So, in mid-November, on the Saturday after my first week back at work, when the skies were virtually cloud free, I was itching to get out for a walk.
Some Inman Oaks, Farleton Fell and the distant Howgill Fells.
The autumn colours were splendid, and there was fungi in abundance, particularly in Eaves Wood. I very much enjoyed the views and the light and the sunshine and taking lots of photos.
Spindle berries.A Harlequin ladybird.
A drystone wall between the woods around Hawes Water and the meadows by Challan Hall was festooned with Harlequin ladybirds. A non-native species, which arrived in the UK as recently as 2004, they are enormously varied in colour and patterns. The air around the wall was full of them too. As I paused to get some photos with my phone, they began to land on me too. Apparently, they hibernate together in large groups. I assume that this wall, with its many cracks and crevices, is an ideal spot for that.
Whilst I was enjoying the weather and the sights, the walking was another matter. After about a mile, I was already feeling quite fatigued. Anyone with any sense would have turned back, but I kept walking away from home, getting increasingly tired. In the end, I walked a little over six miles, but the last couple were pretty purgatorial – I felt so tired I was tempted to lie down by the path and have a nap.
Unidentified fungi growing on the remains of the Cloven Ash.
After this walk, I took it easier for a couple of weekends and have been okay since, except it took a while for my senses of smell and taste to come back, and now that they have some foods which I formerly enjoyed now taste revolting; peanut butter springs to mind, which used to be a favourite. Almonds too. Curiously, the things which taste bad all have the same foul flavour.
Across Silverdale Moss – Middlebarrow Quarry, Arnside Tower, Arnside Knott.
Anyway, back to the walk – I was taken by the contrast of the yellow leaves of the Blackthorn thicket and the blue sky behind, but also by the abundance of Sloes on the Blackthorn…
More Spindle berries.Leighton Beck.A partial view of Lakeland Fellsfrom Coldwell Meadow.Gait Barrows limestone pavement.And again.
This bench, near Hawes Water was very welcome and I sat on it for quite a while, although it was fairly wet.
Hawes Water.Hazel leaves catching the light.Another Harlequin.King Alfred’s Cakes.Tall Beech trees in Eaves Wood.Candlesnuff Fungus. Probably.
There was an absolute riot of fungi in Eaves Wood, fascinating to see, but extremely difficult to identify.
Unusually, I think I’ve enjoyed this walk more in retrospect than I did at the time. Can’t wait for some more bright and sunny days.
Unusually, for my recent posts, all of these photos are from a single lazy local walk, a few miles spaced out over several hours, during which I took lots of photos and stopped for several brews.
Bugle.Sun-dappled path through Middlebarrow Wood.Mayflowers.Arnside Tower doorway.The view from Arnside Tower over Silverdale Moss to Beetham Fell.Green Hellebore in Middlebarrow Wood.I don’t think I’ve noticed the large size of the seeds which develop inside the flowers.Sweet Woodruff.Herb Paris.Reed beds at Silverdale Moss.Paddock near Far Waterslack.Buttercups.Daisies (of the Galaxy?) Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill.
Quite clever of this tiny flower to incorporate both the names of two birds and two hyphens in its name.
Heading towards Hawes Water.A swimmer.
I managed quite a bit of swimming this summer, but am still jealous of this solitary bather, since I’ve never swum in Hawes Water. It’s quite hard to see how you could get in through the reeds, although a couple of the houses on Moss Lane have private jetties.
Bird’s-eye Primroses growing in some of the cleared land. Vindication of Natural England’s tree-felling policy?Femal Mallard.Tadpoles and fish in the stream between Little Hawes Water and Hawes Water.Azure Damselfly (I think).Bluebells, Gait Barrows.Limestone Pavement, Gait BarrowsAngular Solomon’s-Seal growing in a grike.Looking towards Trowbarrow from a brew stop.Eaves Wood.Inman Oaks.Blue Tit. I watched blue tits going in and out of this fissure last spring. I wonder of it was the same pair nesting this year? This Nuthatch was also in-and-out, of a neighbouring tree, presumably bringing food to a nest.Male Blackbird on our garden wall.
RobinDrone flyBlackthorn.Red-tailed Bumble-bee on Gorse.Bee Fly.Air-borne Hoverfly.Leighton Beck and Creep – i’ – th’ – call Bridge.
Early April, when the birds and the bees are all busily going about their work, most trees are still leafless and there’s lots of spring blooms. When the sun shines, my favourite time of year.
Early April, when the branches are mostly bare and the birds are busy mating and nesting is a great time to spot and take photos of birds. This Bullfinch photo is a bit of a cheat, since it wasn’t taken on a walk, but through our window, by where I was sitting on a Thursday evening.
On the Friday, when I got home from work, having finished for the Easter break, I headed out for a wander round Heald Brow, to the south of the village.
View of The Howgills.Forsythia catching the sun.Hazelwood Hall.
I think someone had been doing some major pruning, because a better view of Hazelwood Hall had opened up from the adjoining Hollins Lane. My interest in the hall is due to the gardens, which I believed to be designed by Lancaster architect Thomas Mawson, although the current Wikipedia entry is slightly confusing on that score and seems to imply, in one section, that in fact Mawson’s son Prentice was responsible, only, later on, to state that it was Mawson himself who designed the garden working with another son Edward.
Hazelwood Hall 1926
Certainly the tiered terraces, the loggia and the use of stone pergolas are very similar to other Mawson gardens I’ve visited.
On Heald Brow, I noticed a Great-spotted Woodpecker in a very distant tree. I’ve included the photo, rubbish though it is, just to remind myself that I saw it, because, quite frankly, I was chuffed that I could pick it out in the tree-tops.
Likewise this Bullfinch. I know that it’s the second of this post, but I don’t seem to have seen many this year.
The Saturday was a glorious day, a great start to our holidays, so I set-off for Gait Barrows in search of birds and butterflies.
Violets
I did take no end of photos of butterflies and other insects and even more of birds, but above all else I took pictures of Primroses which seem to have proliferated all around the reserve.
Primroses with Bee-fly.Blue moor grass – typical of limestone grassland.Hazel catkins catching the sunAll that’s left of one of the former hedgerows. Still need to have a proper look at what’s grown back.A Drone Fly, I think, but it’s the texture of the wood which I really like.
There were Drone flies everywhere and I took lots of, I suppose, quite pointless photographs of them, but then occasionally what I took to be another Drone Fly would instead transpire to be something more interesting, like this Bee-fly…
I was quite surprised to see this machinery in the woods by Hawes Water, but the path from Challan Hall around to Moss Lane, which is supposed to be wheelchair friendly, had been getting increasingly muddy and Natural England were having it widened and resurfaced, so bully for them.
Cherry blossom?
I can’t really identify lichens and, I think because I can’t, I don’t always pay them the attention they merit. I think this is Ramalina farinacea, but I wouldn’t take my word for it, and, looking again, I think there are probably at least three different lichens in the photo above.
Honeysuckle leaves, some of the earliest to appear, catching the light.
Although it was months ago, I remember my encounter with this Comma butterfly very vividly. It was sunning itself on some limestone, as you can see, and I slowly edged toward it, taking a new photo after each stride. Eventually, I upset it and it moved, finally settling on a nearby tree-trunk, at which point I started edging forward again.
What struck me was that, if I hadn’t seen the Comma land, I don’t think I would have picked it out. Whilst the underside of its wings are drab in comparison to the patterned orange of the upper wings, the underwings are beautifully adapted to conceal the butterfly in a superb imitation of a tatty dead leaf.
This…
…is a warbler. I don’t think it’s a Chiff-chaff, they have a very distinctive song which I can actually recognise, so I can recall getting excited because this had a different song. Sadly, I can’t remember the song at all, and can’t identify which warbler this is without that additional clue.
No such confusion here…
…this is a make Kestrel. I wish I’d managed to capture it in flight when it’s colours looked stunning.
And I suspect that this is a Chiff-chaff…
Though I couldn’t swear to it.
Another mystery here…
…with a bone suspended in a Blackthorn bush. I know that Shrikes impale their prey on the thorns of this tree, but Shrikes are quite small and I think that this bone is probably a bit too big for that. Also, Shrikes are very rare in the UK these days and are not generally seen this far West (although I know that they have occasionally been spotted at Leighton Moss).
Ash flowers beginning to emerge.More Hazel catkins.And again!White violets.
I was back at Gait Barrows the following day, but the skies were dull and I didn’t take many photos. On the Monday, I had another local wander, including a visit to The Cove…
The Tuesday was a bit special, so I shall save that for my next post…
A new traffic light had been installed at Waterslack where a footpath crosses the railway line. I suggested to the Network Rail engineer, who was there testing the lights, that I could claim the privilege of being the first to use the crossing, but he told me that they’d already been on for 20 minutes and that he had crossed several times, which made him first.
He was wrong, obviously.
I realised yesterday that I’ve been writing posts about this January since the start of June. So two months to write up one: this is obviously not sustainable! At this rate, there’ll come a point pretty soon where I’m exactly a year behind and it will seem like I’m strangely in sync. January, as Pilot used to sing, has been hanging on me.
Hawes Water
Clearly, this won’t do – so back to portmanteau posts. This one winds-up the final week of the month, glossing over a couple of walks when the weather was a bit grim and the light not so suited to taking photos.
Hawes Water Summer House, newly restored and turned into a visitor centre. At the time it was still locked up and, I realise, I still haven’t been in. I wonder if it’s open yet? Maybe I’ll have a look tomorrow morning!
No such problems on the Monday, when I had another long lunch break walk.
It was still cold, and the edges of Hawes Water were partially frozen over.
I headed for the ‘top’ of the limestone pavements…
…and settled down for some soup and a cup of tea (in the insulated mug)…
I was sitting in a favourite spot of mine, close to a small set of steps which have a rustic handrail…
This Robin seemed intent on joining me for my repast. Sadly, I didn’t have any bread to share.
A rainbow day.Snowy lakeland peaks (just about?) visible behind the trees of Gait Barrows.
Later, I was out again and took a turn by The Cove and The Lots.
On the Friday, after work, TBH and I were out by Hawes Water again and were rewarded by some stunning late-afternoon light.
Hawes Water.
I was back that way, on my own, on the Saturday, presumably to capture the obligatory Snowdrops picture.
It was a walk which finished quite late!
On the Sunday we repeated our usual circuit of Jenny Brown’s Point, but the weather wasn’t up to much. And that’s January dealt with. Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic!
And so to a tune. Something by Pilot? Ex-members of the Bay City Rollers? Not on my watch.
…which is more than can be said for the poor old blog!
So..this is the second-half of a snowy January Saturday. Near the end of my morning walk with TBH and A the sun finally made an appearance. After lunch, when I set out again, this time alone, there was still some blue sky in evidence, enough to patch a sailor’s trousers, as my mum puts it. On south facing slopes the snow soon melted, leaving an odd patchwork of green and white.
Eaves Wood.Stinking Hellebore, one of the first flowers of the year.
I was heading, initially, for Gait Barrows. This…
…is usually a tiny little spring which creates a small pool before disappearing back underground. On this occasion, as you can see, it was creating a stream which had flooded the gateway and was flowing across the adjacent field.
From Gait Barrows, I crossed Coldwell Meadow, heading for the ruin of Coldwell Limeworks in Back Wood, but was distracted by the sound of this cascade on Leighton Beck..
It’s not very big, but a bit of a rarity in limestone country where the water is often below the surface. No name is given on the OS map, but it’s close to the wonderfully named Creep-i’-th’-call Bridge, so maybe Creep-i’-th’-call Falls, which has a nice ring to it?
Coldwell LimeworksMiddlebarrow Quarry, partly obscured by very low clouds.Arnside Knott, also hidden in clouds.
Near Arnside, by Black Dyke, I was fortunate to find a way around this flooded section of path.
I climbed Arnside Knott, soon entering the cloud to find that the snow had clung on under the cover of the cloud.
Arnside Tower Farm and a hint of Middlebarrow Wood.
Whilst I generally enjoy the views from the Knott, it was quite exhilarating to be in the clouds and the monotone woods and apparently cut-off from the surroundings.
The last of the light from ‘The Dip’, between Far Arnside and Silverdale.
The title pretty much sums it up. Photos from lots of different local walks, taken during the second half of October. I was aware that some people were beginning to travel a little further afield for their exercise, but somehow my own radius of activity seemed to shrink to local favourite spots not too far from the village.
Crepuscular rays on the Bay.Rainbow over The Lots
This is my mate D and his pug. I often meet him when I’m out for a local walk. I think I’ve mentioned before how much bumping into neighbours whilst out and about has helped during the lockdown in all of it guises.
The sun dips towards the sea, from Castle Barrow.
I can’t remember exactly when this happened – let’s assume it was October: I bumped into a chap carrying a fair bit of camera gear in Eaves Wood. He asked if he was going the right way to the Pepper Pot. He was. I saw him again on the top. It turned out he’s working on a book, one in a series, about where to take photos from in the North-West. Based in Lancaster, he’d never been to the Pepper Pot before. Funny how that can happen. Cloud had rolled in and the chances of a decent sunset looked a bit poor. I saw him again, a few weeks later, this time he’d set up his camera and tripod a little further West, in a spot I’d suggested. I hope he got his sunset.
A paper round rainbow. Just prior to a proper drenching.TBH in Eaves Wood.Among all the changes which Natural England have been carrying out at Gait Barrows – raising the water level, felling trees, removing fences, putting up new fences in other places etc, they’ve also renovated this old summer house by Hawes Water. Presently, it’s still locked, but eventually it will be an information centre and a vantage point to look out over the lake.Around this time, TBH started to take a regular weekend walk together around Jenny Brown’s Point. It was interesting to watch the channel from Quicksand Pool change each week and to contrast the weather and the tides each week.Traveller’s Joy by Jenny Brown’s Point.From Castlebarrow, heavy showers tracking in from The Bay.Late sun from Castlebarrow again.The lights of Grange from The Cove.Sunrise from our garden.TBH by the Pepper Pot on Castlebarrow.Post sunset from Castlebarrow.The last of the light from The Cove.Silverdale Moss from the rim of Middlebarrow Quarry. It had just finished raining, or was just about to rain, or probably both.Autumnal birches with a rainbow behind.The Shelter Stone Trowbarrow Quarry.Leighton Moss from Myer’s Allotment.The Copper Smelting Works Chimney near Jenny Brown’s and more heavy showers.Jenny Brown’s Cottages.The Bay from The Cove on a very grey day!Cows in the rain.
The brown cow at the back here is a bull. I’d walked through the fields on Heald Brow where they were grazing a few times and he’d never batted an eyelid. But on this day he and a few of his harem where stationed in a gateway. I was considering my options and wondering whether to turn back, but when I got within about 50 yards the bull suddenly started to run. At quite a canter. Fortunately, it was away from me and not towards – he was obviously even more of a wuss than me!
A White-lipped Snail – the rain isn’t universally disliked.Clougha across the Bay.Little Egret.The yellow feet are a good distinguishing feature.Picnic lunch – apple, mushroom soup and a selection of cheeses.
I decided that the best way to make the most of sometimes limited windows at weekends was to head out in the middle of the day and to eat somewhere on my walk. This bench overlooking the Kent Estuary was a particular favourite. Haven’t been there for a while now – must rectify that.
The tide had heaped up fallen leaves in a long sinuous line.Scot’s Pines on Arnside Knott.Birches on Arnside Knott.Whitbarrow from Arnside Knott.River Kent from Arnside Knott.A flooded Silverdale Moss from Arnside Knott.Ingleborough in the backgroundArnside Tower.Clouds catching late light.
If you click on this image and then zoom in, you’ll see that the Howgill Fells had a dusting of snow.
Last year, when I got behind with the blog, I dealt with the previous October with a single brief post. Not this time. Last October deserves at least 2 posts.
Eaves Wood
So, what did I get up to last October? Well, I certainly got out for a lot of walks; almost exclusively from home. I took a lot of photos, generally of cloudy skies, often with a rainbow thrown in for good measure.
My brolly became my constant companion and my favourite bit of walking kit. It was windy too mind, and my umbrella was turned inside out on a couple of occasions. Which trauma it seems to have survived without any noticeable loss of function.
Challan Hall and double rainbow.
B took over A’s Saturday morning paper-round, then offered to stand in on Sundays too for his friend E, at which point an ongoing knee problem flared up leaving him unable to walk, requiring surgery and a lengthy convalescence, so muggins ended up doing both rounds. At least I got an early walk in at the weekends. And often an early soaking. I was initially at bit slow finding all of the houses on the rounds, so much so that, on one occasion, the Newsagent sent out search parties. I think I was eventually forgiven – she took pity on me after seeing me doing my drowned rat impression so often.
Hawes Water and rainbow.Eaves Wood from by Hagg Wood.The Bay looking moody.Sunset from near Hagg Wood.Rennie’s Aqueduct, taking the Lancaster Canalover the River Lune. Why was I in Lancaster? I can’t recall. Early mist rising off Hawes Water.Clearly, it wasn’t always cloudy.This has become a bit of a new favourite view, with the Lakeland Fells seen over the woods of Gait Barrows. In Eaves Wood.Ruskin’s View.
Rugby training, without contact, resumed for B, until the knee injury put a stop to that, which is why I was in Kirkby Lonsdale.
Fungi intent in taking over a Luneside park in Kirkby.Looking toward the distant Howgills.Usually when I take photos of Roe Deer in the garden, I use my camera’s zoom to bring them closer. This was taken on my phone, since I hadn’t realised that the deer were there. They eventually hopped over the fence, but were unusually nonchalant about my presence.
Another walk during which I took more than two hundred photos. This was a longer walk than the last one I posted about, taking in Lambert’s Meadow and parts of Gait Barrows. It was still only around five miles, which, in ‘butterfly mode’ kept me occupied for three hours.
Yellow composites – can’t identify them, but they look good.Another Seven-spot Ladybird on a Spear Thistle.Meadow BrownWhite-lipped Snail and a Copse Snail.
I was looking at something else altogether, when I noticed that a patch of nettles on the perimeter of lambert’s Meadow were surprisingly busy with snails.
Whilst most snails in the UK live for only a year or two, apparently Copse Snails can live for up to seventeen, which seems pretty extraordinary.
Another White-lipped Snail?White-lipped Snail.Another Copse Snail?Common Spotted-orchid.Meadow Brown.Ringlet.Meadow Brown.
There were some Comma butterflies about too, but they were more elusive and my photos didn’t come out too well.
A St. John’s Wort – possibly Pale St. John’s Wort.Busy Marsh Thistle.A faded Bumblebee?
I suspect that this Bumblebee was once partly yellow, but has faded with age. A bit like my powers of recall.
Male Large Skipper.Female Brown Hawker.
Lambert’s Meadow was superb this summer. It felt like every visit brought something new to see. I can’t remember ever having seen a Brown Hawker before, so was excited to see this one. In flight it looked surprisingly red.
Later I saw another…
Brown Hawker.
…this time high on a tree trunk. I’ve read that they usually hunt in the canopy, so I was very lucky to get so close to the first that I saw. The fact that they generally haunt the treetops probably explains why I haven’t spotted one before.
I love the way the light is passing through dragonfly’s wings and casting those strange shadows on the tree trunk.
Guelder Rose berries.Male Small Skipper.Great Willowherb
As I made my way slowly around the meadow, I noticed that a group of four walkers had stopped by some tall vegetation, mostly Figwort and Great Willowherb, at the edge of the field and were enthusiastically brandishing their phones to take pictures of something in amongst the plants. I had a fair idea what they might have seen.
There were a number of Broad-bodied Chasers there and, after the walkers had moved on, I took my own turn to marvel at their colours and snap lots of pictures. They’re surprisingly sanguine about you getting close to them with a camera.
Common Knapweed.Male Small SkipperA Sawfly – I think!On a Yarrow flowerhead.
This Sawfly was another first for me. I’ve spent a while trying to identify which species it belongs to, but have reluctantly admitted defeat. Depending on which source you believe, there are 400 to 500 different species of sawfly in Britain. They belong to the same order as bees, wasps and ants. If you’re wondering about the name, apparently female sawflies have a saw-like ovipositor with which they cut plants to create somewhere to lay their eggs.
Soldier Beetle on Ragwort.
There were Soldier Beetles everywhere, doing what Soldier Beetles do in the middle of summer. This one was highly unusual, because it was alone.
Meadow near Challan Hall.Creeping Thistle.
Creeping Thistle is easy to distinguish from other thistles because of its mauve flowers. The fields near Challan Hall had several large patches dominated by it.
Red-tailed Bumblebee on Spear Thistle.Ladies Bed-straw.Swallow.Burdock.Three-spined Stickleback.Three-spined Stickleback.Leech.
I was watching a pair of Wrens which had a nest very close to the bridge over the stream which flows from Little Haweswater to Haweswater, and also watching the sticklebacks in the stream itself, when I noticed a strange black twig floating downstream. But then the ‘twig’ began to undulate and apparently alternately stretch and contract and move against the flow of the water. Soon I realised that there were several black, worm-like creatures in the water. Leeches. The UK has several species of leech, although many are very small, which narrows down what these might have been. I suspect that they are not Medicinal Leeches – the kind which might suck your blood, but the truth is I don’t know one way or the other.
Mushroom.
A wet spell after a long dry spell always seems to provoke a bumper crop of Field Mushrooms. This summer that happened much earlier than in 2018, when the fields were briefly full of mushrooms, and in not quite the same profusion, but for a few days every walk was enlivened by a few fungal snacks.
More mature mushroom.
I only eat the smaller mushrooms raw, before the cup has opened and whilst the gills are still pink. The bigger examples are very tasty fried and served on toast, but they need to be examined at home for any lurking, unwanted, extra sources of protein.
Common Centuary was growing all over the Gait Barrows meadows in a way I’ve never noticed before. I made numerous return visits, hoping to catch the flowers open, but unfortunately never saw them that way
Another Gait Barrows view.A native allium – Wild Onion?
I think that this is Wild Onion, also known as Crow garlic. A lengthy section of the hedge-bottom along Moss Lane was full of it. These odd looking things are bulbils – which is how the plant spreads. Whilst trying to identify this plant, I came across photos of another native allium – Sand Leek – growing on the coast near Arnside. It’s very striking, but I’ve never spotted it. A target for next summer.
Beating The Bounds 