Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: tree

  • Roseberry Common

    Roseberry Common

    More snow overnight. To use Scottish terms: a ‘fyoonach‘ or a light fall, just enough to cover the ground. By the afternoon, a ‘murg‘ or a heavy fall, ‘skelves‘,  large flakes of snow. And in the evening, with a temperature rise, rain. Changing weather then. Appropriate for January perhaps. January, named after Janus, the Roman god…

  • Rampike, Bridestones Moor

    Rampike, Bridestones Moor

    A rampike is the skeletal remains of a dead tree, in this case, a triple trunked birch standing alone on a windswept moor. The word comes from Canada but probably originated back in England in the 16th-century. It is thought the “ram” element means raven, i.e. as a perch favoured by these birds. It was…

  • The Ash

    The Ash

    Near Huthwaite Green in Scugdale a fine specimen of the Common or European Ash, Fraxinus excelsior, one of Britain’s most majestic trees. In Norse mythology, the tree is Yggdrasil, a great ash at the centre of the cosmos where its branches and roots connect different places and time, allowing passage from the underworld to heaven.…

  • Lonsdale Quarry

    Lonsdale Quarry

    A wet morning following by a wet afternoon. The sky mottled shades of grey. It is said the stone used in the building of Christ Church in Great Ayton in 1877 came from Lonsdale Quarry although surprisingly egress for the stone blocks seems to have been uphill over Great Ayton Moor. The quarry is occasionally…

  • Hawthorn tree on Cliff Rigg

    Hawthorn tree on Cliff Rigg

    A stroll up Cliff Rigg. Yesterday’s exertions have taken their toll Corrugated sheeting covers the sky. Plenty of haws for the birds. No shorts today. Autumn is well and truly here. Open Space Web-Map builder Code

  • 12th December – a special day

    12th December – a special day

    For Herr and Fru Munch who would, in 1863, have been celebrating the birth of their first son, Edvard, who would in his time become Norway’s most famous painter; for Frank ‘old blue eyes’ Sinatra, who, in 1992, would have been celebrating his 77th birthday; and for Princess Anne who, on the same day, would…

  • Broughton Bank

    Broughton Bank

    Dull muted colours with a splash of vibrancy

  • Young Beech Tree

    Young Beech Tree

    I found myself in Nottinghamshire today, Robin Hood country. The young scion was running in the English National Cross Country Relay Championship. It meant a wet and windy pre-dawn run up Roseberry with the dog, not many photography opportunities. Berry Hill park, Mansfield, turned out to be remarkably dry, with sandy soil and a lovely…

  • The Banana Tree

    The Banana Tree

    My first camera was a simple Kodak but sometime in my teens I was given, for a Xmas present, a SLR (single lens reflex) camera made by the German manufacturer Praktica. Colour film was far too expensive so I tinkered around with developing my own monochrome film in the bathroom. I experimented with filters of various shades but my favourite…

  • Birdsfoot Treeroot

    Birdsfoot Treeroot

    A break with tradition. An arty closeup. Had an explore along Black Bank, an area of clear felling on the escarpment of Great Ayton Moor where some crags and boulders have been revealed. Interesting enough but I was fascinated by this tree stump where the bark has worn off to expose knobbly, wavy  roots. Reminding me of a bird’s foot. Or…