Arctic Ice

I have been wanting to do a piece of fused glass artwork, based on last year's visit to the pack ice, for some time. But not knowing how to go about it, or what I wanted to achieve made me hesitant. So finally I gave it a go! It's amazing how different a piece of glass looks with different angles and amounts of light through it.   It was hard to photograph! Hopefully you get the feeling of looking deep into the crystal clear ice and seas of the Arctic.

The inspiration.

Fused glass wave - layed flat.

Detail...

The wave with light through it...the sky is an opaque grey emphasising the translucent nature of the water. 

Details and below...

North Cumbrian Frogs

Our local quarry is always a riot of colour at this time of year. Lots of lovely flowers, but the highlight was seeing the Frog Orchids still hanging on.

The quarry top.

Frog Orchid and below...

Twayblade, Chalk Fragrant Orchid and Burnet Moth.

General views ....

Damsels, Dragons and Compound eyes...

A quick weekly walk round Wedholme Flow - and quite a few dragonflies and damselflies...about time! 

Rather noticeably, things are taking on autumnal hues....

A sudden clattering of wings and an Emperor Dragonfly landed.....

Black Darter basking on the warmth of the bridge hand rail. 

Blue-tailed Damselfly.

The bright horsefly...Hybromitra distinguenda....and below.

Common Darter...and below.

Emerald Damselflies

Meadow Grasshopper.

Across to Skiddaw.

 

Bog Orchid

One of our annual pilgrimages is to see the diminuitive Bog Orchid, in flower, on the flanks of Carrock Fell. It's tiny and green, making it hard to find...knowing where it grows helps - but even then it takes some spotting! 

The site...

Hunting for the proverbial....needle in the haystack...

Photographing the proverbial....

The proverbial.....

A damp moth trap

The forecast was clear with a 14% chance of a shower between 5 and 7 am..so we risked a trap. Fortunately it had only just begun to drizzle when we covered the trap over as dawn broke.... Over 40 species, but this is below the numbers we normally get in July.  Actual number of moths was down too. How much this is because of general decline in populations and abundance, and how much is due to this year's weather I don't know - I guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out. 

 A few highlights...

The Spectacle.

Peppered Moth 

The Drinker.

Buff-tip.

Barred Yellow.

Purple Bar.

Garden Tigers. 

High Summer Scruffiness

 I have love the rambling, scruffy nature of the flora in high summer. Now we haven't really had much 'summer' yet...but last week there was a nice morning - the boat was in at Maryport, so while Steve dutifully queued up for Langoustine and fish, I wandered around....

Maryport looking great in the sun.

Behind the marina - beginning to dry up - just a few Pyramidal Orchids - the rest are over, as are  the Broomrapes. 

Tufted Vetch and Red Clover.

Red Clover...

Kindney Vetch.

Bloody Crane's-bill.

Yeloow Rattle seedheads.

Ladies Bedstraw and Agrimony.

The best Pyramidal Orchids were by the road just before the lighthouse. ..and below. 

Small Scabious.

Across the Solway to Criffel. 

Armboth Fell in the rain

This year has not been good for Wainwrighting (a new verb) as if it's been good weather - and that has been a rarity, we have been out looking at wildlife and flowers, or we have been on holiday elsewhere. Add into this the fact that my friend, who I am walking the Wainwrights with, can only make Thursdays and you will understand why, with a good fell forecast we were keen to get out last Thursday. 

I was tied up first thing so we needed something small ish and local, so Armboth Fell it was. Now Armboth is well known for being boggy ....and it still is! The weather - well it wasn't supposed to rain...

Summit views...

Shelter...

Wet!

Then as we descended....

...blue sky....

..and sunshine!