Langdale Five

A gloriously sunny day and being as it's mid week and before Easter, a quiet walk round the Langdales. Breezy on the tops mind, with a decent wind chill! We parked at Stickle Barn - ideal for the post walk pint - up the steep path to Stickle tarn - round the tarn and up Pavey Ark - some nice scrambly bits, then onto Thunacarr Knott - across to Harrison Stickle; onto Pike O'Stickle - another nice scramble and then back down over Loft Crag and back down into the valley. Another excellent day out!

Pavey Ark and Stickle Tarn.

Looking down over Stickle Tarn from Pavey Ark.

The top of Pavey Ark...

And Thunacarr Knott.

Looking down on Pike O'Stickle from Thunacarr Knott.

From Harrison Stickle looking across to Bowfell.

Pike O'Stickle and Bowfell.

From Pike O'Stickle looking along to Loft Crag, with Harrison Stickle on the left.

Descending into the valley...

...and a pint!

St Bees

A glorious day and a lovely walk out along St Bees headland. A good number of Razorbills and Guillemots, two Puffins, which was nice and a Black Guillemot. Bluebells, Thrift and Red Campion were just coming out, while the Primroses and Celandines were at their best. 

Bluebells and Thrift.

Rafts of birds on the sea below. 

Guillemots on the cliffs - on their rookeries....and below.

Razorbills...and below.

Guillemots - but just look at the lovely cross-bedding in the sandstone cliff. 

One of the two Puffins we saw ...

Signs of spring - and below. 

Fleswick Bay.

I can never resist a wave photo! 

...or patterns, honeycomb weathering, in rocks. 

Speleothem

 A fortnight ago I started playing round with collages based loosely on our trip round Whitescar Caves. They resuted in a collage montage and this then turned into a patchworked and quilted piece. All the fabrics were hand-dyed pieces of cotton etc. Some have Gelli printing on them to add texture....

One of the original collages. 

The paper plan ...

The textile piece...and below - details: 

Ferns Book

In an attempt to develop some ideas for my next textile piece, I had a play. So here are some of the pages from today's sketchbook. Now to fathom why I like some more than others and how to combine them into a design....

Comings and Goings...

An afternoon visit to Wedholme Flow NNR and it's amazing how rapidly things are changing. Flashes of bright green light up the woodland floor and there were copious numbers of Tiger Beetles flying and scuttling around. Then as spring establishes herself, the Whooper Swans, known as 'Angels of Winter', in Japan, disappear north to their Icelandic breeding grounds.   

Tiger Beetle.

Whooper Swans.

Up....

...and away.

 

Booming Bitterns

A trip out to hear the bitterns at Leighton Moss; they obliged. Also good views of a pair of Garganey, a rare dabbling duck with only an estiamted 105 pairs coming, from Africa, to the UK for the summer.

Some spectacular Scarlet Elf Cup fungus.

Sleeping Garganey on the bank at the coastal Allen hide.

Nice to see the Avocets back. 

..and on to the main reserve....

Shoveller.

Pochard.

Marsh Harrier...and below.

Golden-eye.

Gadwall - look at the feather patterns! 

...and more views of Garganey -  the RSPB staff were trying to establish whether this is the same one as we saw at the Allen hide...and below.