An Excellent few days in the Lake District

As our son Thomas has moved to Ambleside in the English Lake District to study Outdoor Studies at the University of Cumbria, we decided it was time to pay a visit.  I have also set myself the challenge of walking all of the Wainwrights (peaks mentioned in the famous books of Alfred Wainwright) in the three years that he is there.  Early December turned out to be an excellent choice as both Ambleside and Windermere (where we were staying) were both beautifully decorated for Christmas.  We were also lucky in that the Lakes had the first snowfall of the winter while we were there.  On our first day Heather and I took things easy and pottered up the Langdale Valley and wandered up to Stock Ghyll Force behind Ambleside before meeting Thomas for lunch and then doing some Christmas shopping.

On our second day Thomas and I did the first of my 36 Wainwright Walks: a round of Striding Edge, Helvellyn, Seat Sandal and St Sunday Crag; some 14.5 miles and 8 out of 214 Wainwrights.  Unfortunately this was our only day of totally bad weather so we had very little visibility higher up and it was bitterly cold and snowing on the high tops.  To add to the excitement the knife edge section of Striding Edge was very icy.  A very enjoyable day nonetheless.

On our third day we drove up to Blea Tarn for some photography in excellent light and then stopped off for photographs of an in spate Stockwith Force.

All too soon it was time to head home but we delayed things somewhat by calling in for the night with friends in Blackpool.

On the final leg of our journey home we were delighted to see at least 30 red kites in the air over Harewood House.  What a spectacular sight.

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Windermere and the Langdales

Windermere

Windermere and the Langdales

The Langdale Pikes from Elterwater.

Colourful rocks in the quarry

The River Rothay and the Langdale Valley

The River Rothay and the Langdale Valley

The Langdale Pikes

The Langdale Pikes

Stock Ghyll Force

Stock Ghyll Force

Stock Ghyll Force

The Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarn

The Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarn

The Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarn

The Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarn

The Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarne

The Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarn

The Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarn

A snow storm sweeps over the Crinkle Crags

Stockwith Force

Stockwith Force

Stockwith Force

Stockwith Force

Stockwith Force

Early morning light over High Street from the slopes of Helvellyn

Harsh conditions on the summit of Helvellyn

Kingfisher at Hubbards Hills

I had to go to Louth, a Lincolnshire Wolds Market town today so took Jet for a walk through Hubbards Hills.  It was not the most pleasant of days and the rain was starting to come down heavily as we set off on our walk along the River Ludd though the parkland section of the walk.  I was surprised but delighted to spot a kingfisher sitting on some metal piping across the river.  I stopped and then moved forward slowly and was rewarded with excellent close views of the bird, before it sped off, sapphire-like along the river ahead of me.  Imagine my surprise, then, when a hundred yards later I again caught excellent close views of the bird.  This was repeated several more times over the next half mile or so of river.  What a treat.  It was also good to hear both jay and green woodpecker calling and to see some of the beeches still sporting Autumn colour.

The images below are not from today but are from the archives.

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Kingfisher

Jay in the snow.

A Magical Sunset at the End of a Wet Day.

It had been raining all day today when we decided to take Jet for a quick walk around Irby Dales late in the afternoon.  Not expecting to do any photography, I left the camera in the car.  I should have known better.  As the light began to fade the sky in the west began to clear and we were treated to the most magnificent sunset as the sinking sun lit up the whole sky.  Amazing.

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Atlantic Grey Seals at Donna Nook, Linconshire Coast.

I made my annual trip to see the Atlantic grey seals at Donna Nook nature reserve on the Lincolnshire coast today.  Living so close it's an easy trip but it is to be recommended to anyone interested in wildlife; it is one the best wildlife spectacles this country has to offer.  Donna Nook is home to around 3000 grey seals and in November and December they come ashore onto the beach and dunes to pup and mate.  Around 1000 pups are born each year and this year the first one arrived on October 25th.  On 8th November there were 218 pups, 427 cows and 278 bulls. As well as the seals it was good to see large flocks of brent geese and impressive wader flocks feeding out on the beach and mudflats, every so often rising and whirling like smoke before settling back down to feed.

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Autumn Colour at Swallow Vale

Had an excellent walk with the dog, Jet, today around Swallow Vale Woods on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds.  It was a beautifully sunny Autumn afternoon with the beeches absolutely glowing with Autumn colour.

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Autumn at Horsehoe Point

I needed to do some retakes for my photography degree so a trip to Horseshoe Point on the Humber Estuary was in order.  Picking up Jet first, we set off, arriving in the car park ready for our lunch which we enjoyed before the walk.  It was a beautiful afternoon with a rising tide and a large tanker tied up and offloading at the monobuoy out in the estuary.  The bird life had changed shifts since my last visit; gone were the noisy breeding avocets and their place was taken by brent geese and large mixed wader flocks.  It was good to see large numbers of starlings and linnets too.  Photography over, we began our journey back along the beach enjoying the views of the wader flocks whirling and twisting like smoke as the caught the light; they were being driven off the mudflats by the rising tide, flying up and settling again.  The bird of the day, though, was the beautiful short-eared owl which took from in front of us and drifted moth like over the dunes; beautiful.

Tanker tied up at Tetney Monobuoy.