Stepping stone crossing of the River Doe at Beezleys

I wasn’t tempted to risk a crossing but was content to watch a dipper hopping across the stones.

The River Doe is quite short, rising near Chapel-le-Dale and becoming the Greta after its confluence with the Twiss at Ingleton.

Soon after these stepping stones the river plunges down a narrow gorge with several waterfalls — which are only veiwable on the payment of an an entrance fee.

A lot of water for a little river, draining the Yorkshire peaks of Whernside and Ingleborough.

One oddity I came across while descending Ingleborough was several masses of a whitish jelly like substance. A sort of like wallpaper paste. There was nothing else around, no sheep, just rough open moorland at 350m asl¹above sea level..

There seems to be many explanations as to what this jelly was, but after consulting the oracle that is Wikipedia, I  reckon its an algae called Nostoc, or Astromyxin²‘Astromyxin – Exploration Journal’. 2017. Exploration Journal <https://www.explorationjournal.co.uk/tag/astromyxin/> [accessed 1 January 2023], a form of cyanobacteria.

It has many common names which are most interesting: Witches’ butter, Star jelly, Troll’s butter, Spit of moon, Astral jelly and Fallen star³Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Star Jelly’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_jelly> [accessed 1 January 2023]⁴Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Nostoc’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostoc> [accessed 1 January 2023]. In Gaelic, it is called Sgeith Rionnaig, ‘Star vomit’⁵‘The Inverness Courier-September 20, 1895. | Inverness Courier | Friday 20 September 1895 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000446/18950920/044/0003> [accessed 1 January 2023].

Many of these names derive from the suddenness of the jelly’s appearance, resulting in a belief of it apparently falling from the sky during meteor showers.

Two 17th-century works allude to this astral origins⁶‘Star Jelly | Legendary Dartmoor’. 2016. Legendary Dartmoor <https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/star_jelly.htm> [accessed 1 January 2023]:

“That the Starres eat…that those falling Starres, as some call them, which are found on the earth in the form of a trembling gelly, are their excrement.”

And in Dryden’s play “Œdipus“⁷‘Where to See Red Snow | Derby Daily Telegraph | Thursday 29 August 1929 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000327/19290829/138/0011> [accessed 1 January 2023]:

“The tapers the gods
The sun and moon run down like waxen globes;
The shooting stars end all in purple jellies.
And chaos is at hand.”

It’s not surprising that such a mysterious and elusive substance would have lore associated with it. In the 14th-century, the jelly was thought a cure for abscesses⁸Owen, Martyn. 2018. ‘What Is “Star Jelly”? – BiOME Ecology Magazine’, BiOME Ecology Magazine <https://biomeecology.com/nature/2018/02/what-is-star-jelly/> [accessed 1 January 2023].

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  above sea level.
• 2
  ‘Astromyxin – Exploration Journal’. 2017. Exploration Journal <https://www.explorationjournal.co.uk/tag/astromyxin/> [accessed 1 January 2023]
• 3
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Star Jelly’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_jelly> [accessed 1 January 2023]
• 4
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Nostoc’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostoc> [accessed 1 January 2023]
• 5
  ‘The Inverness Courier-September 20, 1895. | Inverness Courier | Friday 20 September 1895 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000446/18950920/044/0003> [accessed 1 January 2023]
• 6
  ‘Star Jelly | Legendary Dartmoor’. 2016. Legendary Dartmoor <https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/star_jelly.htm> [accessed 1 January 2023]
• 7
  ‘Where to See Red Snow | Derby Daily Telegraph | Thursday 29 August 1929 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000327/19290829/138/0011> [accessed 1 January 2023]
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  Owen, Martyn. 2018. ‘What Is “Star Jelly”? – BiOME Ecology Magazine’, BiOME Ecology Magazine <https://biomeecology.com/nature/2018/02/what-is-star-jelly/> [accessed 1 January 2023]