Ennerdale...... Just beautiful

There are many things that can make a good walk and defining what that is could be quite tricky. It can be the scenery, the weather, the wildlife, or the company. Well when all four come together, you know you have had a special day out and that is how my walk around Ennerdale was yesterday. After the drive over Corney Fell and up the coast to Calder Bridge, we turned up towards Ennerdale and parked in the United Utilities car park at the end of the lake. The weather was looking very promising and the views of the Isle of Man from Corney Fell were possibly the best I've ever seen.

We set off around the lake in a clockwise direction. The land on this side of the lake belongs to United Utilities as Ennerdale is a reservoir and the paths are well maintained, but very well managed from an ecology point of view. The flowers along the route were fabulous, numerous and wide ranging. Where there is a good diversity of plants, there is always a good diversity of insects, including butterflies.

Orange tipped butterfly.

A rather jaded looking Meadow Brown.

A large and very new looking Red Admiral. (some movement in the pic as it wouldn't sit still for me). I will add some of the flower photos later. In the morning the views were along the lake up towards Great Gable, but not too good for landscape photography as it was directly into the sun.

Some thoughtfully placed seats along the way.

As we joined the forest track we met a flock of sheep being brought down off the mountains for clipping.

At the top end of the lake the path crosses the river and water meadows. At this point the sky cleared and the air cleared, making for some beautiful photo opportunities.

The land on this side of the lake is owned and managed by The National Trust. Thankfully they own a good proportion of the land in The Lake district, "For ever, for everyone".

"This looks like a good place for lunch"

The views back along the lake were just brilliant!

We came across this lizard basing on rocks near the lake shore. I thought it was a common lizard, but felt that the colours and markings ween't quite right. I have looked it up on the internet and it doesn't look the right colour or shade, but I think it must be a juvenile common lizard as we don't have many other species in this country. Slow worm and Sand Lizard are the only other native species and it isn't either of them.

The views just kept getting better.

And towards the end of the walk, the path wanders through the heather which is just coming into full flower at Ennerdale.

And having completed the walk, there is a cafe in the village of Ennerdale Bridge with a very compelling offer!

Ennerdale...... Just beautiful

There are many things that can make a good walk and defining what that is could be quite tricky. It can be the scenery, the weather, the wildlife, or the company. Well when all four come together, you know you have had a special day out and that is how my walk around Ennerdale was yesterday. After the drive over Corney Fell and up the coast to Calder Bridge, we turned up towards Ennerdale and parked in the United Utilities car park at the end of the lake. The weather was looking very promising and the views of the Isle of Man from Corney Fell were possibly the best I've ever seen.

We set off around the lake in a clockwise direction. The land on this side of the lake belongs to United Utilities as Ennerdale is a reservoir and the paths are well maintained, but very well managed from an ecology point of view. The flowers along the route were fabulous, numerous and wide ranging. Where there is a good diversity of plants, there is always a good diversity of insects, including butterflies.

Orange tipped butterfly.

A rather jaded looking Meadow Brown.

A large and very new looking Red Admiral. (some movement in the pic as it wouldn't sit still for me). I will add some of the flower photos later. In the morning the views were along the lake up towards Great Gable, but not too good for landscape photography as it was directly into the sun.

Some thoughtfully placed seats along the way.

As we joined the forest track we met a flock of sheep being brought down off the mountains for clipping.

At the top end of the lake the path crosses the river and water meadows. At this point the sky cleared and the air cleared, making for some beautiful photo opportunities.

The land on this side of the lake is owned and managed by The National Trust. Thankfully they own a good proportion of the land in The Lake district, "For ever, for everyone".

"This looks like a good place for lunch"

The views back along the lake were just brilliant!

We came across this lizard basing on rocks near the lake shore. I thought it was a common lizard, but felt that the colours and markings ween't quite right. I have looked it up on the internet and it doesn't look the right colour or shade, but I think it must be a juvenile common lizard as we don't have many other species in this country. Slow worm and Sand Lizard are the only other native species and it isn't either of them.

The views just kept getting better.

And towards the end of the walk, the path wanders through the heather which is just coming into full flower at Ennerdale.

And having completed the walk, there is a cafe in the village of Ennerdale Bridge with a very compelling offer!

Back To Old Haunts

The forecast for today wasn't brilliant, 'a dull grey morning and a wet afternoon'. So we picked out a fairly low level walk in the Rusland Valley where we lived very happily for nine years. It is a beautiful valley that does not change, barely touched by tourism at all, just a small farming community. Probably it's biggest claim to fame is that Arthur Ransome is buried at Rusland church. The grey overcast conditions were not good for landscape photography so I will get them out of the way first....

We parked at the village hall in Oxen Park and took the lane up towards Abbot Park Farm, looking back we could see the small village of Oxen Park with it's houses huddled tightly together.

As the lane gained height we could see back over Morecambe Bay out to Heysham power station.

Just before reaching Abbot Park he view out over the Rusland valley opens out to the distant mountains of the Troutbeck area.'Park' is quite a common name for a farm in the Furness Fells, they are thought to have been farms, or parks, areas of land that were leased out by Furness Abbey. Others in this area include Oxen Park and Lawson Park. From Abbot Park our route took us across the fells and past an area shown on the OS map as Three Foot Oak, I would love to know the origins of that name. Then on to High Ickenthwaite spotting a green woodpecker along the way, which was too elusive to photograph

Stonecrop, growing on the rocks near High Ickenthwaite.

Horses grazing at High Ickenthwaite. From here we headed down the lane, through the woods, to Whitestock, on to Hulleter and Longmire, before returning to Oxen Park just as the rain started. The blackberries are starting to ripen along the hedgerows. It looks like being a bumper crop this year..... providing we get the sunshine to ripen them.

This one from Whitestock meadow, tasted rather nice! The lanes are full of many different wildflowers at the moment, many of them are extremely small and their beauty can be appreciated by photographing them close up. Here are a few that we saw today, mostly just a few milimeters across.

This tiny little Speedwell lives in the stream near the roadside. It's name is Veronica Beccabunga, common name Brooklime.

This Speedwell was growing in the grass verge near to Hulliter Farm.

And across the road from the Speedwell was this little gem of a geranium.

Along the lane between Longmire and Oxen Park we found Wood Sage.