Mike's Natural Musings

Tuesday, 6 July 2021

Lake District, July, Day 3. A Kent Canter with flowers, butterflies and beer.

As we wandered along the summer river Bank it was difficult to believe that we had woken to rain first thing. The early rain did have the benefit of giving us a lazy morning; always welcome! We stayed and had lunch at the site and then set off for our walk along the River Kent to Stavely and back across the fields. Things had changed dramatically since we did this walk in May when bluebells were the theme of the trip. Everything is now much more grown up and verdant and we were delighted with the wide range of flowers that we found. Plenty of butterflies were on the wing as well: large skippers, tortoishells, meadow browns, ringlets, small white and a possible fritillary. The river was beautiful as always with water hemlock and mimulus or monkey flower giving fresh interest. When there were no sheep in the meadows they were rich with grasses, flowers and butterflies. Those fields that had sheep in were grazed to the ground and sterile. When we reached Stavely we had planned a cup of tea in Wilf's but it was closed so we had to make do with a beer at the brewery next door. What a shame, eh! The last mile over the fields went quickly and we were soon settled outside the van in the sun with a beer waiting for the BBQ to heat up. An excellent day.

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Giant Bellflower

Hemlock Water Dropwort

Yellow Loosestrife

Lake District, July, Day 2

Woke to rain today and largely wet day, although it was warm and enough dry spells to be able to sit outside and have lunch. In the afternoon we drove down to Thomas's in Lancaster where we managed a walk around Williamson Park. In the evening we walked down into Lancaster for a lovely Italian meal.

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Sunday, 4 July 2021

Lake District, July, Day 1

We were sad to take our leave from our friends and Llanfendigaid, but at the same time we were looking forward to getting back to the caravan. The journey went well, although yet again, we were surprised at how long it takes to negotiate the lanes of Wales. The views as we drove up past Talyllyn and Cadair Idris were wonderful and we relived days on the mountain and scenes from Susan Cooper's 'The Grey King'. Once on the motorway system the journey went quickly with just one stop for shopping at Asda in Kendal. As we neared The Lakes the sky became more and more threatening but it stayed dry until later in the evening allowing us to get set up and walk up to 'The Tree' after our dinner of pizza and salad accompanied by a fine Costières de Nîmes. Later in the evening the rain was torrential.

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The Llanfendigaid Team

The Tree

The local Herdies

Llanfendigaid, Day 7. Sand, Sea and Jellyfish. Plus Sunburned Feet!

Sadly our last day today so we plumped for a walk along the beach to Aberdovey, parking at Temper Tantrum layby. We set off over the railway line and crossed the golf course enjoying new plants on the way: marjoram, fox and cubs, ragged robin, sea spurge and sea bindweed. As We crossed the dunes we revelled in the expanse of pristine beach and crystal clear sea. We really enjoyed the walk along the beach into Aberdovey, paddling some of the way. There was plenty of activity on both sea and beach and we were fascinated by the large numbers of washed up jellyfish. Reading up about this later we discovered that increased numbers of jellyfish are becoming a problem due to warming seas from climate change. Aberdovey was as lovely as ever and we enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Medina cafe. It was soon time to head back, the return walk being quicker as we spent less time beach combing. A great evening back at the cowshed topped off a wonderful week with special friends in a fabulous location.

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Fox and Cubs

Compass Jellyfish

Sea Bindweed

Friday, 2 July 2021

Llanfendigaid Day 6. Falling in Dolgoch

There were nest boxes every where in the steep hillside oakwood and at one of them I was watching a superb female pied flycatcher popping in and out feeding chicks. As it was a dull, overcast day we had decided to drive to Dolgoch on the Talyllyn railway to walk up through glorious oakwoods past the series of spectacular waterfalls. Several years ago I had photographed pied flycatcher at the nest here and hoped to see them again. In this I was successful but my other target species: redstart, proved too elusive. I did have good views of blackcap and greater spotted woodpecker, though. The oakwoods and waterfalls were as enjoyable as ever and we heard one of the steam trains on the railway so it's good to know that they are still running. Once back down we enjoyed tea and cake in the cafe and then headed to Tywyn for some shopping. The day was made complete by an evening BBQ and another win for Cav in the Tour de France.

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Pied Flycatcher

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Llanfendigaid, Day 5. Ridge Walk and Aberdovey.

Pulling up the summit of the ridge we were suddenly rewarded with views down to Llanfendigaid, the coast and the Dysynni Estuary. We had the idea to walk from the Cowshed along the ridge that we look out on. Our route took us up the road and round the back of the ridge before climbing up to it where we enjoyed a drink and snack looking out at the views and taking team photos. The highlight of the ridge was the excellent close views of hares one of which exploded from under John's feet. The route down involved avoiding a herd of savage cows one of which was snorting and black. Their body language was positively negative. Having avoided the ravenning beasts we enjoyed the walk back. After lunch Heather and I took the new car out for a play and went to Aberdovey. Unfortunately it turned cloudy and hazy but it was still good to be pack and potter around all of our favourite places. The slate green of the sea was beautiful and I was well-impressed with the number of wild swimmers.

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