Mawbray meander

A walk on the beach. The carpark was full - everyone else having the same need for fresh air and excercise after Christmas. There were some nice Knot murmurations and it is always pleasing to find a Roman fishing weight.  

Looking into the Lake District.

..and out to sea.

Low tide murmurations.

Oyster trestles.

Barnacled Mussels.

Knot - and below. 

..with an Oystercatcher and Redshank....

Well camouflaged.

Into the early sunset...

Roman fishing weight.

Spectacular clouds skirting Skiddaw.

The northern fells.

Aughertree gloom

A walk, just to get out, in the typical December weather! Some nice lichens, mosses and fossils - but that was about it! 

Across the common to the Northern Fells...

The pond - which had a thin layer of ice on it. 

A couple of nice horned corals and other bits including crinoids and a blastoid. 

Lichens ...

Sphagnum sp.

Sinkhole...

Glacial till exposed in the sinkhole. 

Southerscales Textile

I haven't been to Southerscales for a while and would like to visit again, but mid-winter isn't really the time to sit and sketch on a limestone pavement...so photos had to suffice as an inspiration source for this textile piece. All the fabric is hand-dyed and there is a mixture of machine and hand stitching. 

Inspiration...

My interpretation.

..and details...

Great Asby Scar

Finally an opportunity to get out inbetween the Christmas preparations and rubbish weather...a brief walk out onto Great Asby Scar to take a few reference photos for my current limestone project. Not the weather for careful picture composition or for fern identification! 

A break in the murk....

The Scar....

Gryke.

Bedding planes.

Maidenhair Spleenwort and Hart's-tongue ferns.

Maidenhair Spleenwort and gryke.

An unidentified fern...

Raggedy Hart's-tongue.

I should have removed the piece of grass! 

More textures.

Cladonia cups.

 

Wedholme light

As things get busy in the Christmas run up, a quick walk round Wedholme Flow - beautiful light...

A coating of ice...

Icy textures.

Reed Buntings.

Reflections and below...

 

Raven Crag

We  were too late to get a carparking spot to go up Clough Head, so it was Plan B: Raven Crag. With snow on the tops it was a shame we hadn't planned anything bigger, but a nice walk nonetheless. We went straight up the eroding path (direct route) and then up the steps to the top - returning via the meandering timber road. The closed road across the dam was fringed with some super mosses, lichens and ferns.

Thirlmere.

Dunmail Raise in the distance.

Towards Blencathra from the summit.

'Cathra's winter coat.

A very 'Lakeland view' - with Skiddaw in the background.

Looking across to Castle Rock.

A friendly Robin.

..and some of the lower plants of the dam wall....

Peltigera membranacea - there were substantial areas of this spectacular lichen.

Rhizocarpon geographicum lichen blotches,  Common Polypody and lichen sp (on Pine).

Maidenhair Spleenwort, lichen sp, Hart's-tongue fern and Wall-rue.

Lakeland Baubles

Last year I began, far to late in the year to sell for Christmas, to play around with some ceramic Christmas baubles. They give a lovely surface to paint on and given they are a Christmas product I actually enjoy doing them. Yes, I would love to do a whole series of different fells, like I have for my mini paintings, but I am scaling back what Christmas events I do, so they are generic Lakeland Fells. Then again ..never say never! 

The specific baubles ..one day!