By a Mossy Gnome

Tiger stripes

Borrowdale, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

I wonder whether the heather is still flowering on Maiden Moor. This is the hillside a couple of weeks ago, overlooking Borrowdale - you can see the rain advancing, veiling the mountains as it passes. There seemed to be plenty of heather then, but there is less than there used to be when I first started climbing the Lakeland mountains over twenty years ago. Then, when it was in flower, it formed great tiger-stripes on the flank of Maiden Moor. Now, the stripes have retreated, as grass and bracken advance.

Wild weather and wild life

Pen-y-ghent, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

The weather might have been wet and windy over the bank holiday, but at least there was some interesting wild life.  Yesterday, at Leighton Moss nature reserve, the rain failed to put off some interesting mammals. As well as flocks of humans (gathering especially in large numbers in the cafe and shop), a herd of deer showed up in front of one of the hides, a rabbit hung around under the bird feeders, and a high velocity tiny furry animal shot across the footpath.  Maybe it was a vole. 

The picture is of Pen-y-Ghent in the Yorkshire Dales, on Saturday.  There I watched two tiny, slender animals run, or rather ripple their way across, the top of the limestone pavement - stoats.  Also over that large expanse of  limestone, a noisy aerial battle took place between two falcons.  Both pairs of talons seemed to be clamped into the same small prey, and neither would let go. To the accompaniment of indignant shrill screams, both birds descended, revolving, through the air.  I lost sight of them as they landed, but their shrieking argument continued for some time.

A holiday in Clapham?

Ingleborough, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

If you can’t face the August bank holiday traffic in the Lake District, how about visiting Clapham instead? Clapham in the Yorkshire Dales, that is, not the London version. A pretty village, with a stream running down the middle of it, it is the start of a number of walks, high, medium and low level. Most of the walkers seemed to be heading towards Ingleborough, but there are plenty of footpaths across the hillsides around it. Here is Ingleborough, probably covered in a layer of bank holidaymakers, from a more peaceful corner. It is a spacious landscape and, apart from the occasional walkers or mountain bikers, was very quiet.

Maiden Moor

Maiden Moor, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

Nobody knows why Maiden Moor, between Borrowdale and Newlands Valley, is so called.   Old hill forts sometimes have the word 'maiden' as part of their title, but there is no trace of a hill fort here.  Some people fancifully suppose that it may have been a place where maidens gathered, perhaps to dance.  After climbing to the top of this substantial hill, I doubt whether anyone would have the breath or energy for dancing about.  The tops of Lakeland mountains are often too cold, windy, wet or cloudy, or a combination of all, for tripping lightly about.  Huddling behind a rock, shivering over a cup of tea while trying to shelter from the weather, is a more likely activity.  Perhaps that's what the local maidens did.   Here is Maiden Moor caught in a brief few moments of sunlight between showers.  

What are you doing here?

Sheep on Maiden Moor, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

Hello! What are you doing here, human? It’s raining. Why aren’t you in a café, with a hot drink? It’s so cold and wet on our mountain. You really need a woolly coat, like mine. You people don’t belong up here. This is our country. You should be down there, in the world of humans, somewhere warm and dry, enjoying a pot of tea. You’re nodding - you agree with me, don’t you?

Gratitude

Grange in Borrowdale, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

If I was lucky enough to have a home in lovely Grange in Borrowdale - or anywhere else in the Lake District - I might want to call it something like "Gratitude", too.

A two-café village

cafe, Grange in Borrowdale, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

Never mind a one-horse town. This is a two-café village. Grange in Borrowdale may be small, but it boasts two cafes and two chapels - catering for the needs of body and soul.  Such a choice for someone looking for a cup of coffee before starting a hike - which café? One has seating outside, overlooking the river, but I chose the other one yesterday.   It has seating outside, and also provides a little shelter from the frequent showers.  The view is less peaceful, though, for instead of a quietly flowing river, it is passed by a thin stream of cars.  

Like autumn

Fairfield fells from Black Fell, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

It’s so cold these days - more like autumn than summer. There was a hint of autumn also in the glowing colour of a fine bunch of apples growing at the end of a branch on a young apple tree in the garden. Then disaster struck - the weight of the fruit was too much for the slender branch, which broke off. It is such a young tree, more a very large twig really, that it lost half its height when the branch went. The apples are not quite ripe, but eatable, so it is not entirely disastrous. Instead of a picture of a damaged apple tree, here’s another shot from the top of Black Fell, this time of the Fairfield hills. It was cold there, too.

From a windblown summit

Langdale Pikes, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

After all that rain, here is some windy weather instead.  I have nothing but pictures of soggy jackdaws in Ambleside from the weekend, so look back to sunnier days.  Those are the Langdale Pikes seen through some very windblown trees on Black Fell (or Black Crag as some maps have it).  

Unlike these trees, the conifers on the lower slopes, around Iron Keld, have been cut down and the remaining stumps and branches left to rot and return to nature.  The scene along part of the route is rather bleak at present, looking rather like the aftermath of a war.   It is much more open to the surrounding landscape, though, and should be softened by nature in a few years' time.

Rain at Hayes

Jackdaws at Hayes, Ambleside, originally uploaded by byamossygnome.com.

Sometimes it rains all day in the Lake District, and Hayes Garden Centre in Ambleside is one good place of refuge. The large windows along the wall of the café allow you to look over Wetherlam and Loughrigg but if low cloud covers the hills, then you will be entertained by a troupe of jackdaws instead. They sidle along the bars outside the window, trying to make eye-contact with customers. If they succeed, the birds then gaze pathetically at them, looking as hungry as they can. If they are lucky, someone might throw them a crumb or two.