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Sleepy larch
On the col at Roseberry Common. The larch looks windswept and battered. I wonder if it were a young sapling in 1904 for it was on this day (7th January) in that year that the radiotelegraph company Marconi introduced its new distress signal, ‘CQD’, CQ standing for ‘seek you’, and D for ‘danger’. This was…
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Cross ridge dyke, Skelderskew Moor
An evocative alignment of standing stones continuing down to North Ings Slack between Commondale and Skelderskew Moors. The stones are part of a dyke, an earth bank with a ditch dug alongside both of which have mellowed over time. The dyke extends for some half a kilometre from the Hob on the Hill boundary stone…
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A lone Redshank amongst a flock of sleeping Oystercatchers
A mooch around South Gare at the mouth of the Tees. Twitchers were twitching over a black-throated diver. Apparently. But it was so far away I couldn’t make out any detail. Could well have been a cormorant as far as I knew. Instead, a lone Redshank amongst a flock of sleeping Oystercatchers caught my attention.…
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Jack Sledge Road
Ever get that feeling of lethargy during the dark winter months. It hit me today. Must have melatonin to spare. And a wee sniffle didn’t help. So a potter around Danby Rigg. This is the Jack Sledge Road as it descends into Little Fryup Dale. It must be an ancient track linking the dale with…
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Prehistoric linear boundary, Bridestones Moor
A small section of the 930m long prehistoric earthwork forming the boundary between Bridestones Moor and Dalby Forest. The archaeologists are concerned that encroachment of the forest is causing damage to the ditch and earth banks. So the winter job of clearing the trees is now in its third year, and the end is in…
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Sir Michael Tippett
Today, Sir Michael Tippett, perhaps the leading British composer of the 20th-century, would have been 114 years old. He is most famous for his oratorio ‘A Child of Our Time’, which was inspired by the murder in Paris of a German diplomat in 1938 by a Jewish refugee teenager. The murder led to the attacks…
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Penny Rigg Quarries, Tilberthwaite
This great gash dominates the lower slopes of Wetherlam. Sandwiched between Tilberthwaite Gill and the remains of the Tilberthwaite copper mill, the 18th-century quarrymen were seeking a band of fine quality silver-grey slate. The slate is in a vertical bedding plane meaning extraction is very economical with minimal gunpowder needed. The slates were carted to…
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East Bonsor Copper Mine
Copper has been mines in the valley west of Coniston since Elizabethan times but it is only below ground can remains be found. Wooden false floors in the vertical voids that a rotting away make exploring quite a hazardous pastime. Above ground most of the remains are 18th-century. At East Bonsor the remains of the…
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Tarn Hows
One of the National Trust’s iconic properties. A place for which I have a lot of affection. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Blackarse sheep
Spotted near Coniston. You will have heard, of course, of blackface sheep, well these are blackarse sheep, a truly rare breed. Those were my first thoughts but then noticed the patches were of a material “sewn” onto the fleece. Ah, must be a sheep’s chastity belt. Hasn’t stopped the tups trying. A farmer fellow confirmed…
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