Derwentwater Sunset

It’s hard for me to believe that this sunset was little over a month ago – so much has happened since then, summer has all but arrived and I’ve been to so many other places both physically and mentally. It was the evening of our first full day of camping on the shore of Derwentwater, a day of speeding clouds and thick, blanketing drizzle of the kind that is utterly miserable everywhere else but familiar and atmospheric on the fells.

Just as we were starting to cook dinner back at the tent, the clouds parted and we were treated to a spectacular sunset that went on for an hour or more, the clouds that were passing across Catbells somehow still catching sunlight long after higher cloud had bled to grey.

For more beautiful and fascinating images of the sky around the world, visit Skywatch Friday!

The Long Man of Wilmington

A misty spring morning a couple of weekends ago saw a group of us set out to explore the Long Man of Wilmington.  At the start of our walk, in a valley buried in cloud and noisy with birdsong we couldn’t quite believe we would see anything, but as we climbed the haze lifted to give us one of our first truly glorious spring days and a vast panorama dissolving into the horizon.

On the approach to Windover Hill we chose to first climb the ridge to the top, thus hiding the Long Man from our view until we had picnicked at the top and made our descent. Spurred on by the exhilarating song flight of skylarks, buffeted by chilly winds and squinting in harsh sunshine we gained the top of the ridge, sank down into the stubbly grass and unpacked our goodies. Our bellies did very well for themselves, but perched on the precarious ridge with our legs braced against the drop we also feasted on this…

I’ve walked in higher places but this still felt like the top of the world. Where we sat and gobbled our food it was possible to steal a glance at the giant inscribed on the hillside  just below our feet, but he’s so huge (and designed to be seen from below) that we could not make much sense of what we saw. Once we’d eaten it was time to go and inspect our enigmatic friend.

It seems no-one can agree on much where the Long man is concerned; although he looks ancient there are many who believe him to be a relatively modern creation. There is controversy over whether his outline was changed during a restoration attempt, and whether he is a war god wielding weapons or a man standing in a doorway. Even up close he is not as he seems; as we descended the hill and approached the white outlines which we had assumed were scratched directly into the chalk hillside they resolved into a kind of narrow stone pavement laid into the turf.

Whoever made him, he was designed to be seen from below and at a distance, and this is the best way to look at him and make your own mind up. He is an astonishingly powerful presence even if, as we agreed, it did look as if someone had botched up his feet a bit. I couldn’t see the war god in him at all, preferring the interpretation of someone standing at an entrance, hands on either side as if flinging open a set of doors, paused before entering or emerging. Of course no-one really has a clue or ever will, and therein lies the Long Man’s true secret… he makes you see what you want to see, we are all free to interpret him as we wish.

At a distance the sinuous curves of Windover Hill took on the aspect of a sleeping woman, curled up on her side.  “He’s being born!” D exclaimed, and once he’d said that we could all see it too.

Spring Adventures

In the time since I last wrote here spring has arrived and I’ve been so immersed in it that I’ve neglected to share. Shame on me! From turning part of our tiny back garden into a vegetable patch, hedge planting in Hampshire, discovering a Neolithic Giant on a chalky hill and Osprey spotting in the Lake District I have a huge backlog of stories to tell… plus I’m off to Scotland again next week for another adventure. My itchy feet are giving me plenty to do and no time in which to record what I have seen. I love the busyness of spring, but capturing it is one task too many.

The gradual unfurling of blossom, then green, the release of delicious new scents into the air, the reappearance of old migratory friends (we were lucky enough to be there when the Swallows returned to Derwentwater) has felt like celebration after our unusually hard winter here. On the banks of the Thames, the dainty yet screechily foul mouthed Black headed Gulls have regained their smart summer plumage. A few weeks ago when I took the pictures below some were still growing in the handsome chocolate brown head feathers for which they are named, now all sport their fine new plumage as they squabble and wheel.

Crammed into an unpromising corner of  our garden a small, self seeded plum tree has sprung up from a plum pit fallen from our neighbours tree; a week ago this little wild fruit tree was covered in delicate pure white blossom. Dandelions spring up in cheerful clumps wherever we turned the earth for planting, leaving me regretful at having to grub up their rubbery carrot like roots.

Sunflower seedlings bravely defy the slugs and snails, and in the rotton ash tree wood pigeons have settled into lazy displays of affection after the comical territorial disputes of early spring. I’ve been wandering the countryside, but spring in a small London garden is as beautiful and full of potential as anywhere I’ve been.

Lords And Ladies is a polite name for…

What? The beautiful and alien looking Arum Maculatum, a native of much of northern Europe, lurker of the dark, dappled shady places. This incredibly common plant with its strikingly sculptural flower like spathe, elegant spotted leaves and brilliant scarlet berries unsurprisingly has many common names in the British Isles – and some of them are distinctly suggestive! Here is a short list of local names given to this plant:-

Cuckoo pint, Jack-in-the-pulpit, Devils and angels, Naked boys, Snake’s meat, Cows and bulls, Adders root, Wake robin, and my all time favorite…Willy lily!

The word “pint” in the common name “Cuckoo pint” is considered to be a shortening of the old English word “Pintle”, which refers to a certain portion of a gentleman’s anatomy. For those not familiar with British slang, the word “Willy” in the name “Willy lily” fulfills the same purpose. I absolutely love it that Lords and ladies has been considered a prim Victorian name for the plant, coined by those who couldn’t bear to say the cruder ones. And I love it that there is a counter argument, that if you look at the flower and how it is made you could easily say that calling it Lords and ladies is actually ruder still (If you are innocent of mind, think about human anatomy and what makes the boys different from the girls. What were those Lords and ladies up to?). No matter, these plants are, as my mum would say, “common as muck” and don’t care what you think they look like. I would love to coin a new name for them, but all the best ones seem to have already been taken.

Wildflower weekend

The May bank holiday meant a chance to get out into the countryside, run around like fools in the fresh air, go on walks, get some exercise. We made the most of it, and luckily the weather was kind – I’d even go as far as to say perfect. All the recent rain coupled with the even more recent sun has seen many wildflowers at their best. Through train windows we glimpsed the improbable violet blue mist of bluebells on woodland floors, and on one journey saw (and smelt!) woodlands with a snowy carpet of wild garlic, a beautiful if unusually scented flower. I spent plenty of time in the woodlands and meadows of Hampshire, belly down with my camera pointing at some choice beauty. The photo above was taken in short, sun dappled grass and has, as far as I can count, eight if not nine native species in flower, from the familiar, cheerful Primrose to the somewhat alien looking Lords and Ladies. I won’t write a list of what species I can see; I think this picture is more about the overall effect. Anyway, if you are in southern England right now, you could do worse things than go looking for wildflowers, especially with the newly glorious weather. In fact – do it wherever you happen to be! You don’t have to know what they are to enjoy them.

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