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Ayton Banks Alum Works
A cold, overcast day. The fresh snow of the last few days has aged into a dirty wet surface. I found myself above Gribdale looking down on the heavily worked hillside of Cockshaw where the snow accentuated the contours of the Ayton Banks Alum Works that operated for a mere nine years in the latter…
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Spring has sprung
The first day of Spring. Meteorologically speaking. The 1st of March. An arbitrary date that the Met Office has declared for their statistics. More snow overnight with strong winds. Yet in a sheltered hollow of Newton Wood, a snow-encrusted oak sapling with a stubborn leaf still clinging on. An appropriate poem for this day by…
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On Ayton Bank
The last day of February and I had had tentative thoughts of cycling into Middlesbrough to photograph the Newport Bridge for it was on this day in 1934 that the bridge was opened by the future King George VI. But more snow overnight put paid to that idea, so Plan B: head up on to…
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Thundersnow?
The “Beast from the East” arrived in North Yorkshire as a lamb. No worse than a normal winter. In The Sun today there is an article about thundersnow, apparently a rare phenonmena in the UK when thunderstorms occurs in cold winter air and rain falls as snow. This may well have been the front of…
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Tarn Hows
Monday mornings have always made me feel dysphoric. Not in the clinical sense but if Friday afternoons are full of euphoria because the weekend is near, then Mondays are back to reality. And the feeling is now ingrained, even though I no longer have to get up to go to work. In North Yorkshire, grey…
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Brim Fell Ridge
View north from the Old Man of Coniston. Brim Fell and Swirl How. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Rose Castle
Near Tarn Hows and an opportunity to experiment with star trails in the dark skies of the Lake District away from the light pollution of town and cities. I only had enough battery power for the one trial. For the technically minded I took 30 photos of about 2 secs exposure then used a fancy…
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Elterwater from Black Fell
Above Skelwith Bridge. Black Fell is a little frequented National Trust property. Looking north west towards the lower Langdale valley. The twin lakes are in fact one – Elterwater. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Xanthoria aureola
A splash of colour by the side of the Cleveland Way in the winter sunshine. Easily overlooked but deserving a closer inspection. Lichens fascinate me but I admit I am lost when it comes to naming and hesitate to put a name to this. Xanthoria aureola is a likely candidate, there are other contenders, same…
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Raven’s Scar
A north facing sandstone crag overlooking Great Broughton on Hasty Bank. On the 1857 map named as Baven’s Scar which I think must have been an error. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
Care to comment?