Upper Teesdale round walk

It was a glorious day and such a treat to be in Teesdale, in wall to wall sunshine and only a gentle breeze! We did our usual walk: Hangingshaw carpark; down to the Tees; along to cross the river at Knott Hill; across to Widdybank and along under Falcon Clints; up to Cauldron Snout and back along the road by Cow Green reservoir; down to Langdon Beck and returned to Hangingshaw.  A long day but well worth it! The flowers were perfect as they hadn't been rained on and battered by wind, the landscape as stunning as ever - it looks dry though and the turf by Cow Green was very dry. In this blog I'll focus on the walk ...following blogs will focus on the flora. 

Looking down the dale from the road - Caltha meadows giving the land a yellow tint.  

Wheysike House, still derelict. There were lots of Common Sandpipers on this stretch. 

Spring Gentians and Bird's-eye Primroses. 

Mallard with young.

It was nice to watch this Dipper collecting flies...

Looking towards Widdybank Farm.

Wood Anemones still out.

Alpine Bartsia. 

That Gentian blue! 

Bird's-eye Primrose.

Looking back down the river with Falcon Clints on the left and Cronkly Fell on the right.

Falcon Clints - crags made from the Whin Sill - an igneous sill - that more famously outcrops at High Force waterfall. 

Heading towards Cauldron Snout - one of my favourite views. 

Mr and Mrs Ring Ouzel ..the Mountain Blackbird. 

Looking back ...

Cauldron Snout. 

An ominous sky as we reached the dam. 

Cow Green is rather low at the moment. 

While we had seen many Mountain Pansies, this was a spectacular group - not suprisingly where sheep couldn't graze - a fenced off mine working. 

Southerscales Limestone Pavement

After a visit to Whitescar Caves, a cold walk out onto the limestone pavement of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's reserve at Southerscales.....

Looking down the 'U' shaped valley towards Ingleton.

Lime kiln with Ingleton behind.

..and spectacular pavements.

Zooming in to Ribblehead.

A glacial eratic.

Gryke patterns.

White Scar Caves

A trip out yesterday... White Scar Caves - to be honest it was really spectacular and well worth the visit - lots of textures, colours and inspiration for a variety of speleothem based textiles!   

Titchwell and Hunstanton again

After a quick trip into Titchwell to check what had been seen ...and to eat our picnic, we went back to Hunstanton as I wanted another look at the cliffs ...a possible source for a wall hanging - I'm planning it in my head! 

Titchwell was cold and windy - not a lot different to see, and Hunstanton wasn't a lot warmer! 

Brent Geese.

Golden Plover - well camouflaged in the dull light.

Avocets and Brent Geese - choppy waters.

And then on to Hunstanton.

The three layers in the cliffs are well demarcated ...

An excellent explanation from: http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/hunstanton-norfolk/

Fulmars.

There are fossils ...finding them is another matter ...

Trace fossils - crustacean burrows.

Slipper Limpets and Mussels.

..and some decent interpretation.

Old Hunstanton

A morning walk along the beach at Old Hunstanton. A nice tideline and plenty of birdlife, notably lots of Sanderling running, in their characteristic manner, along the edge of the waves. Some spectacular cliffs too, where the Late Cretaceous chalk overlies the Early Cretacious sandstone.

Looking back towards Old Hunstanton.

Tidelines....

Knot.

The Ferriby Chalk (Upper Cretacious) overlying the Sandstone from the Hunstanton Formation (Early Cretacious). 

Fossil crustacean burrow...a trace fossil.

..and cross sections through the burrows.

Colours and textures ...with fossil sponges in the central picture.

..and back through the sand dunes and beach huts.