As we were passing on our way to Cornwall, we took the chance to stretch our legs at the RSPB's Ham Wall nature reserve, just off J23 of the M5. Stepping out of the car into 21 degrees and full sun, took us back to the summer - having come over Shap in distinctly autumnal conditions. Nothing spectacualr to report, but I just enjoyed seeing the familiar sights of pollarded willows, reedbeds and rhynes full of duckweed.
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| Silvery light on the reed beds. |
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| Pollarded willows. |
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| Glastonbury Tor. |
A few photos of the spiderlings that we encountered on our way back down towards Fangs Brow, after we'd been up Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell and Gavel Fell (previous blog).
A really nice walk out and the highlights weren't any I could have predicted. Yes the views were fabulous, the weather was great, but it was the grassland fungi and the ballooning spiderlings that stole the show!
We set off from Fangs Brow, near Mockerkin (despite the road closures!), to do three Wainwrights: Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell and Gavel Fell. There was plenty of parking on the roadside at Fangs Brow, so we headed off along the track towards Loweswater, before taking an obvious right-hand turn straight up onto Burnbank Fell. After a steep section we were on the tops and a pleasant walk out to the summit and then on to Blake Fell and Gavel.
We then headed down to High Nook Farm, where a permissive path leads to the lakeside and a scenic walk along the shore of Loweswater and back over the fell to Fangs Brow.
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| Setting off in some lovely light. |
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| Climbing up and overlooking Loweswater and Crummock. |
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| Looking back to Burnbank Fell from Blake Fell. |
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| Fleetwith Pike catching the light. |
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| Grasmoor over Mellbreak. |
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| Looking back to Blake Fell. |
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| A panorama from Gavel Fell. |
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| Swaledales... |
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| Serious horns. |
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| The grassland fungi were spectacular. |
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| Back down to the lake edge. |
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| A classic view. |
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| More Wax Caps. |
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| And then this... Ballooning Spiderlings - but they deserve another blog! |
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| And back to the start - looking back at the way we set off - what a good walk! |
It had to happen - after our visit to Kilmartin last month - some Rock Art inspired work......
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| The inspiration...not necessarily this pic, but you get the idea.... |
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| The finished piece... |
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| And the detail... |
We are so lucky to have Buttermere close by. An enjoyable walk round the lake on a very average day - but very nice!
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| Towards Fleetwith Pike. |
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| Through the woods. |
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| Damp... |
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| Damper.... |
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| Tawny Grisette and Cauliflower Fungus. |
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| Herdies. |
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| And a lovely tup. |
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| The becks were full. |
With sunshine and a light breeze forecast we headed down to Leighton Moss to see the Bearded Reedlings - at this time of year they come down to the grit trays - not today though! A glorious autumnal day though with some nice light...
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| An empty grit tray... |
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| There were lots of dragonflies around - here a Migrant Hawker landed in the reeds... |
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| Swampy... |
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| Reeds. |
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| Aspen beginning to yellow-up. |
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| Alder. |
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| Spindle. |
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| Just a nice stump. |
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| At this time of year there isn't a lot of wildfowl around... |
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| Great White Egret. |
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| Gadwall. |
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| Red Deer. |
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| And down at the coastal hides - Redshank. |
