Spikenard, Gentians, Eyebright, Sandwort

February 19, 2026February 22, 2026 Mark Richardshiking, Nature, Walking15 Comments

PXL_20250830_103135245 — *Ploughman’s Spikenard.*

With the last of our summer skive ebbing away, I went for a wander on Farleton Fell (or, if you like, Holme Park Fell, which is what the Wildlife Trust, who own the land, call it). I was tempted, if memory serves, by social media photos of Autumn Gentians, since this is the only spot where I’ve seen them.

PXL_20250830_103236759 — *Hutton Roof. Clougha Pike in the distance.*

PXL_20250830_103241254 — *Warton Crag and Arnside Knot.*

It was quite some time before I found any Gentians, but I did notice some other tiny flowers in their stead.

PXL_20250830_104122598 — *Limestone Boulders.*

PXL_20250830_104521419 — *A little limestone edge.*

PXL_20250830_105251340 — *Approaching the top.*

PXL_20250830_110132755 — *A Sandwort. I think. There are several.*

PXL_20250830_110429726 — *A Painted Lady.*

PXL_20250830_110755784 — *The Kent Estuary. Hampsfell, Gummer How, Whitbarrow. And on the skyline: Black Combe, Whitfell, Caw, the Coniston Fells.*

The vistas from the top of the fell are absolutely superb, and pretty much every time I come this way, I wonder why I don’t come more often, what with it being so close to home. For once, that thought actually lead to some action on my part, as you will see in forthcoming posts.

PXL_20250830_110801304 — *Arnside Knot and Beetham Fell.*

PXL_20250830_110805267 — *A view along the edge to Warton Crag.*

PXL_20250830_110818716 — *Looking to Clougha Pike.*

PXL_20250830_110827277 — *Middleton Fell, Great Coum, Gragareth, Ingleborough.*

PXL_20250830_110834994 — *Scout Hill, with the Howgills behind.*

PXL_20250830_112103720 — *Autumn Gentians.*

It took me ages to spot any Gentians, but once I did I noticed more plants dotted about. They can grow to about a foot tall apparently, but these were tiny and remained so on subsequent visits.

PXL_20250830_113221042 — *Another view of Ingleborough*, *from Newbiggin Crags.*

PXL_20250830_114104142 — *Middleton Fell etc from close to Whin Yeats farm.*

I dropped down to Whin Yeats Farm to buy some of their delicious cheese from the little ‘honesty shop’ there.
It wasn’t a long walk, about three and a half miles, but packed full of interest. In the evening I was out around home for a stroll to The Cove and Lambert’s Meadow.

PXL_20250830_183101120 — *Later, at The Cove.*

Hare Hill

January 18, 2026 Mark RichardsNature, Photography4 Comments

PXL_20250828_100222798 — *Southern Hawker, male.*

We were on our way home, but had places to visit on route i make the most of our final day in Cheshire. Hare Hill is adjacent to Alderley Edge. In fact there’s a permission path across the parkland at Hare Hill which connects the two.

Although there is a house at Hare Hill, it doesn’t belong to the National Trust, just the parkland and the garden. The highlight of the garden is the former Victorian walled kitchen garden which was converted (in the 1960s I think) by it’s last private owner, Charles Brocklehurst, working with garden designer James Russell.

PXL_20250828_100719030 — *Walled Garden, Hare Hill.*

PXL_20250828_094908568 — *Walled Garden, Hare Hill.*

PXL_20250828_094929052 — *Equestrian wire statue, Christopher Hobbs. One of two.*

PXL_20250828_095104296 — *Pergola and shelter.*

The National Trust’s website suggests that the garden would be a great place to enjoy a picnic, or read a book or just drink in the peace and observe nature. I think that’s absolutely spot on, and I would love to come back for a longer visit.

PXL_20250828_095833633 — *Looking out at the garden.*

PXL_20250828_095603416 — *White planting, with Hornet.*

The planting in the walled garden is predominantly of white flowers, thought to be in tribute to Brocklehurst’s twin brother, who died in a riding accident. When I took this photo, however, I wasn’t really focused on the flowers, it was one of many failed attempts to get a decent shot of the Hornet seen in the top right corner. We don’t see them at home, and although I have seen them in France, I was amazed again at just how large they are. This one led me a merry dance and refused to settle down anywhere for a photo.

PXL_20250828_100155789 — *Southern Hawker.*

Fortunately, the garden was absolutely buzzing with insects and some of the denizens were much more cooperative. Distribution maps suggest that we ought to spot Southern Hawkers around home, but I never have. The only photograph of a Southern Hawker on the blog is from our garden and is, with hindsight, quite clearly a misidentified Migrant Hawker. In my defence, it’s from a long while ago and I didn’t own a copy of Smallshire and Swash’s marvellous field guide ‘Britain’s Dragonflies’ back then. Anyway, I shall be on the look-out for them from now on: what stunning colours!

PXL_20250828_100950032 — *Small Copper.*

PXL_20250828_101030427 — *Scarlet Lily Beetle.*

PXL_20250828_094848988 — *Hoverflies. Google lens says ‘Marmalade Hoverfly’, which is wrong. Probably a Syrphus species I think.*

PXL_20250828_100438851 — *Obligatory garden visit, plant-I-liked-the-look-of photo.*

PXL_20250828_102815334 — *Around the walled garden is a woodland garden.*

PXL_20250828_102042371 — *With several ponds.*

PXL_20250828_102317817 — *A towering Hydrangea (?)*

I should have asked TBH to stand beside this shrub, it was immense. We both loved it, but I’m not sure it would fit in our garden.

PXL_20250828_103155279 — *Hare Hill statue.*

Not a huge site. We were there for roughly an hour and walked about a mile on our tour. But it is definitely a really tranquil spot. We chatted to a couple of staff (or volunteers?) and they were full of enthusiasm and affection for the place. I’d love to come back for a longer visit, perhaps combined with a walk to and around Alderley Edge.

Lyme Park

January 13, 2026 Mark Richards13 Comments

Another day, another National Trust property! Lyme park is more familiar to me than any of the other properties we could have visited in that area – mainly because it’s on the edge of the Peak District and I’ve walked through the grounds a few times. Back in my Manchester days I occasionally caught a train out to Disley either to walk or to cycle and there are several paths through Lyme’s large deer park. I think I met my Mum and Dad there once for an orienteering event, but if I did, that was a very long time ago, so I could be wrong.
Until this visit, I also thought that I’d toured the house before, but since nothing inside looked remotely familiar, I’m now doubting myself.

PXL_20250827_125105467 — *Lyme Park, Chapel.*

I might not have included a picture of the chapel, except that tucked away in a corner…

..was this bit of stonework. The National Trust’s online inventory doesn’t reveal much about it, but gives the material as sandstone and the date as 900. So…part of an Anglo-Saxon Cross? There are two medieval cross-shafts still in situ at Bow Stones on the edge of the deer park. Could this be part of the upper part of one of those?

PXL_20250827_125520888 — *Lyme Park Library.*

PXL_20250827_130043643 — *An ornately carved chair.*

As with other properties we visited, a came away with a multitude of photographs, but could go again and end up with a completely different collection of images because the place is stuffed full of things to see. Perhaps even more so at Lyme Park because every surface is so elaborately decorated.

PXL_20250827_130142428 — *Ornate mantel and woodcarving, Dining Room, Lyme Park.*

PXL_20250827_130156237 — *More woodcarving.*

PXL_20250827_130337867 — *Another fancy fireplace.*

PXL_20250827_130406883 — *Lyme Park, interior.*

PXL_20250827_130428552 — *Another fancy fireplace.*

I seem to have been particularly taken with the over the top fireplaces.

PXL_20250827_130506451 — *Harp, 1829, Sebastien Erard*.

PXL_20250827_130500333 — *Wall panelling with portraits.*

PXL_20250827_130453996 — *Stained* *glass*.

PXL_20250827_131121105 — *Corridor with frieze.*

PXL_20250827_131349285 — *Plaster cast frieze, 1813-1820*

PXL_20250827_131556860.NIGHT — *Clocks!*

One of the former residents of the house had a passion for clocks and the house now contains a virtual museum of old timepieces. The inventory lists 46 items for Lyme under horology, and I’m not sure if that includes all of the clocks on display – I would have guessed at more.

PXL_20250827_131723078 — *Bracket clock, Claude Duchesne, 1730-1735.*

PXL_20250827_131846484 — *Longcase Clock, Wiliam Grimes, 1685.*

PXL_20250827_131903807 — *…with Marquetry.*

PXL_20250827_132052097 — *Limewood Carving, school of Grinling Gibbons.*

One room has several of these limewood carvings, each depicting some abstract concept, in this case ‘The Arts’ I think. Naturally, I took photos of them all.

PXL_20250827_132631357 — *Plaster cast ceiling.*

PXL_20250827_133007856 — *St. George’s Cross and a severed arm. Seen everywhere at Lyme.*

The family which formerly owned Lyme were granted their land and status after the Black Prince’s standard was lost and then recaptured at the battle of Crécy along with a severed arm which had been holding the flag. Hence this crest which is seen in many places around the house.

PXL_20250827_133625260 — *The Long Gallery.*

PXL_20250827_133603599 — *Lion’s head? Carving on the paneling.*

There were lots of these heads on the panelling in the Long Gallery, each one different. Again, I took a lot of photos!

PXL_20250827_133254444 — *Yet another fancy fireplace.*

PXL_20250827_133217178 — *Cabinet and Table.*

PXL_20250827_133406316 — *A fireplace, just for a change.*

PXL_20250827_133738093 — *The Knight’s Bedroom.*

PXL_20250827_134622565 — *Italian Garden.*

We didn’t venture around the extensive deer park, but did really enjoy the formal gardens. The pond from which Colin Firth famously emerged in the BBC adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was dried up, so I missed my chance to recreate the scene.

PXL_20250827_135400407 — *Large White Butterfly.*

PXL_20250827_141444883 — *The Orangery.*

PXL_20250827_141520591 — *Inside The Orangery.*

PXL_20250827_141703557 — *Inside The Orangery.*

PXL_20250827_141930669 — *The Rose Garden.*

PXL_20250827_142126352 — *Exploring the gardens.*

PXL_20250827_142408391 — *Colourful planting.*

PXL_20250827_142640720 — *More flowers.*

PXL_20250827_142818790 — *A team of gardeners hard at work.*

PXL_20250827_143834555 — *Carving on sundial.*

It had been a really enjoyable visit and we still had one more thing to cram into our very full day…

A Pig in Mud

December 4, 2025 Mark Richardshiking, Nature, Wildflowers13 Comments

PXL_20250812_102337236 — *A and S on Norfolk Island in Ullswater.*

We had several shortish trips away during our summer holiday, but that still left quite some time at home. After our trip to Northumberland we had a fortnight in Silverdale. This post deals with most of that, although I’ve skipped a couple of longer days out, which I shall come back to. All three kids were at home for at least some of that time, although they were busy too, with work or just doing their own things.

PXL_20250812_102544285 — *A view along Ullswater.*

For her birthday, A wanted a day of swimming and boating so we took a canoe and a paddle board to Glencoyne Bay on Ullswater. It was a lazy day, more sunny than the photos suggest.

PXL_20250812_102611733 — *Place Fell from Norfolk Island.*

The most strenuous thing we did was a short paddle to Norfolk Island.

PXL_20250813_051326538 — *Sunrise and Warton Crag.*

On the day we were at home I found a rhythm; interspersing a walk or two each day with some pottering in the garden, tidying up and doing some very simple DIY tasks – fitting a few shelves in the tool shed, refelting the summer house roof, repairing our compost bins; exciting stuff like that. To be honest, I enjoyed every minute. I was often thinking that if this was a foretaste of retirement, then I’ll happily give up the rat race tomorrow.

PXL_20250813_052628487 — *Quicksand Pool and Warton Crag.*

There’s a few photos here from a day when I was out very early, before sunrise – I don’t remember what prompted such an early start. The light was lovely; I should do it more often.

PXL_20250813_053957675 — *Bryony berries.*

PXL_20250813_061339656 — *Harebells on The Lots.*

PXL_20250813_061537528 — *Red Clover and Black Knapweed.*

PXL_20250813_062027550 — *Grange-over-Sands from The Cove.*

PXL_20250814_173103949 — *International Food Festival on Morecambe Promenade.*

I took Mum and Dad to Morecambe – I think we were shopping. Anyway, we found an international food festival with lots of street food stalls.

PXL_20250814_172959021 — *Mum and Dad with Crêpes.*

PXL_20250816_075402924 — *Morecambe Bay from Arnside Knot.*

PXL_20250816_081145776 — *Gummer How and Whitbarrow Scar from Arnside Knot.*

PXL_20250816_083347241 — *Small Scabious.*

PXL_20250816_083850990 — *Speckled Wood butterfly on bracken.*

PXL_20250817_125017694 — *Arnside Knot and Warton Crag from Morecambe Prom.*

The food fair was so good, I was back a couple of days later with TBH and the DBs – I thought they would enjoy the wide variety on offer.

PXL_20250817_195330635 — *Post sunset view from The Cove.*

PXL_20250820_152749957 — *Green-veined White butterfly.*

PXL_20250820_152843140 — *Sawfly, Tenthredo species.*

PXL_20250820_153109807 — *Common Green Grasshopper.*

PXL_20250820_154450430 — *Another Sawfly, I think.*

PXL_20250820_154708052 — *Rose-of-Sharon flowers.*

PXL_20250820_154746811 — *Rose-of-Sharon fruit.*

PXL_20250821_152746100 — *A and TBH at Jenny Brown’s Point.*

PXL_20250822_083303716 — *Path between The Cove and The Beach.*

PXL_20250822_083806906.TS — *Video of a bore in a channel close to the shore at Silverdale. Click on the image to view it on flickr.*

PXL_20250812_213247310 — *Those who walk away.*

I’ve been meaning to read some Patricia Highsmith for a while. And now I have.

Gardening Leave

October 19, 2025 Mark RichardsMorecambe15 Comments

Wednesday

PXL_20250723_115318169 — *A brave bather in Morecambe Bay.*

A post to cover the remainder of the first fortnight of our summer break, after our North Wales trip, excluding a couple of away days (of which more to come obviously).

PXL_20250723_115639010 — *Rapidly receding foreshore.*

We were at home. Mostly, I was outdoors. I seem to have fairly consistently walked around seven miles each day, often over a morning stroll and an evening wander. In between I pottered: preparing our trailer tent for sale; resuming my ongoing battle with the brambles and bracken in our garden; trimming hedges and shrubs; replacing the roofing-felt on our summer house; repairing our compost bins; putting up a couple of shelves in our tool shed.

PXL_20250723_120031953 — *Almost back to the cliffs.*

The blend of messing in the garden and getting our for local walks suited me to a tee. I recall often thinking that if this was a foretaste of retirement, then bring it on. Of course, it helped that the weather was pretty good, although it was more mixed then it had been earlier in the summer.

Friday

PXL_20250725_090755841 — *Common Knapweed.*

PXL_20250725_092211575 — *Gatekeeper butterfly.*

Sea Asters always look tatty. I’ve given up on thinking that someday I’ll catch them before the weather has battered them; I think they must emerge pre-battered.

PXL_20250725_094134199.TS — *Quicksand Pool tidal bore.*

This is a video. It won’t play – but if you click on it and open it in Flickr, then you can watch it in glorious technicolour. It shows a tidal bore on little Quicksand Pool. Hardly imposing, but it does give some idea of the speed of the tides hereabouts.

PXL_20250725_194757440 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

PXL_20250725_201651357 — *Grange-over-Sands from The Cove.*

Saturday

PXL_20250726_092651258 — *Common Sea-lavender.*

PXL_20250726_133316422.PORTRAIT — *Venison, blue cheese, rocket, heritage tomatoes.*

We accompanied my Mum and Dad on a trip to the Midland Hotel in Morecambe for lunch. Unusually for me, I remembered to photograph my venison salad, which was terrific.

PXL_20250726_160743300 — *Morecambe Prom, The Midland Hotel, the Stone Jetty.*

Naturally, a wander on the prom followed.

PXL_20250726_190201378 — *The Dale from Castlebarrow.*

PXL_20250726_190216580 — *The Bay from Castlebarrow.*

PXL_20250726_192845285 — *White Harebells on The Lots.*

Sunday

PXL_20250727_104006108 — *Quicksand Pool and Clougha Pike.*

Tuesday

PXL_20250729_082403182 — *Harebells on The Lots.*

PXL_20250729_082427465 — *Super-saturated grass on The Lots.*

PXL_20250729_082457917 — *White Harebells on The Lots.*

PXL_20250729_091925567 — *Marsh Woundwort.*

PXL_20250729_171529011 — *Penny’s Hospital Almshouses, King Street, Lancaster.*

Thursday

PXL_20250731_090008480 — *Grey Dagger Moth caterpillar.*

There’s a Hazel in our Beech hedge which I suspect is an interloper. It grows much more quickly than the Beech, which is a bit of a pain. When I was trimming it, I noticed this striking caterpillar, which I was very pleased to see. The adult is very pretty too, in an understated way, so I’m happy to think that they are resident in our garden and look forward to seeing one.

PXL_20250731_153707713 — *Carline Thistle.*

PXL_20250731_153928815 — *Carline Thistle on the coast near Arnside Point.*

PXL_20250731_155640573 — *Heather by the cliff path.*

PXL_20250731_160457126 — *Sea Plantain.*

PXL_20250731_161720944 — *Lax-flowered Sea-lavender.*

PXL_20250731_161846113 — *Common Sea-lavender.*

PXL_20250731_163005852 — *Kent Estuary.*

PXL_20250731_170736417 — *Kent Estuary and Lakeland Fells from Arnside Knot.*

This was taken part-way up the Knot, and has the advantage of no intervening trees or shrubs compared to the viewpoint where I more often take these sort of photos.

Friday

PXL_20250801_094252334 — *Grange-over-Sands from The Cove.*

PXL_20250801_141742047 — *A vardo. In Kirkby Stephen.*

We were in Kirkby to meet my in-laws for lunch. On this occasion I seem to have forgotten to take a picture.

PXL_20250801_194222644 — *Grange-over-Sands from The Cove.*

Finally, a couple more of my half-baked book reviews. Well….both a bit odd. I like Graham Greene and a couple of these stories were well worth a read, but some seemed quite dated in their attitudes. Grimus was a long-anticipated reread. I read this book repeatedly in my twenties, I was perhaps a bit obsessed with it. I wish I could remember why. Ursula LeGuin liked it, apparently, and I was quite consumed by her ‘Earthsea’ trilogy in my teens, but I find most science fiction and fantasy hard-going these days, (although there are exceptions).

Creatures of Habit

October 18, 2025 Mark RichardsCamping, hiking, Nature10 Comments

PXL_20250719_205712624 — *A muted sunset over Porth Towyn Beach.*

So, we began our summer holidays with a trip to Towyn Farm campsite on the Llyn Peninsula, as usual. With all of the usual suspects. (Well many of them). And did all of the usual things. Actually, I’m not sure there was as much cricket as previously, because there often wasn’t much beach in the day when we would have played. Also – you can see somebody having a beach bonfire in the photo above – that was a habit of ours when the kids were little, but we seem to have abandoned it now that they’ve grown up.

PXL_20250720_080718521 — *Our new tent.*

I did a fair bit of snorkelling, as usual, which was superb, as usual, and stayed in too long and got very, very cold, as usual. I think for next summer I might have to treat myself to a wetsuit.

PXL_20250720_104040001 — *TBH and A on Carn Fadryn.*

We climbed Birthday Hill, of course, but the birthday boy wasn’t with us; he was celebrating the end of his A-levels in Morocco or, I think by now, Madeira, holidaying with friends.

PXL_20250720_104336096 — *Picnic on Carn Fadryn.*

PXL_20250720_104210136 — *Mynydd Rhiw and the other Mynydds at the end of the Llyn.*

PXL_20250720_104215785 — *Looking towards Abersoch and St. Tudwal’s Islands.*

PXL_20250720_104239839 — *Yr Eifl (and lots of other Snowdonian mountains).*

PXL_20250720_104250537 — *Tremadoc Bay.*

PXL_20250721_100709936 — *Porth Towyn and Yr Eifl.*

PXL_20250721_101053647 — *A coastal walk.*

We did a fair bit of wandering along the coast from the campsite, not always in the best of weather.

PXL_20250721_110701314 — *Porth Gwylan.*

I didn’t swim at Porth Gwylan, as usual, and resolved to make sure to bring a snorkel here next summer, as usual. It’s a lovely spot.

PXL_20250721_113626813 — *A and TBH swimming at Porth Ysgaden.*

TBH and A swam at Porth Ysgaden, which is new. I didn’t join them. I think it was raining at the time and it didn’t look all that inviting.

PXL_20250721_113932402 — *A and TBH swimming at Porth Ysgaden.*

Whilst everyone else walked back along the coast, I turned up the little lane away from the coast, just for a change of scene. Of course, left to my own devices, I immediately slowed down and faffed about photographing flowers and insects.

PXL_20250721_114601744 — *A busy umbellifer.*

I think this is probably Hogweed. I don’t think I realised just how busy it was when I took the photo. I was after the wasp, which I think is an ectemnius species, a kind of solitary wasp. If I’m right, then the flies and the tiny micro-moth should have been making themselves scarce because these are predatory wasps.

PXL_20250721_115239566 — *Drone flies. Possibly Eristalis tenax.*

PXL_20250721_115655397 — *Agelena labyrinthica*.

PXL_20250721_121135028 — *Some sort of Dock and Hemp-agrimony. Carn Fadryn in the background.*

We walked along the coast to Rhosgor a couple of times. The tiny dots in the bay are seals, as is the blob on the beach by the water’s edge.

PXL_20250722_101203415 — *One of the ‘secret’ beaches.*

PXL_20250722_102708465 — *Painted Lady butterfly.*

PXL_20250722_103742446.LONG_EXPOSURE-02.ORIGINAL — *Coastal scenery.*

PXL_20250722_105715105 — *Rhosgor again. Yr Eifl in the distance.*

PXL_20250722_110442608 — *Seal watching.*

OGS supplied the binoculars which were great for observing the seals. Some kind of drama played out in the shallows by the rocky ledges. I used my phone’s zoom to take lots of pictures, but not very successfully. It was very relaxing to sit and watch them, even from such a distance.

PXL_20250722_163352838 — *Taking it easy.*

Fabulous to see everyone, as usual. I had a great time, as usual. Same again next year, please!

Emergency Kit

September 20, 2025 Mark RichardsBooks, Poetry, Walking12 Comments

PXL_20250612_160002056 — *Flowering Rush in Lancaster Canal.*

Sometime in the early summer, I realised that my calves and even my feet were tight when I woke up in the morning, and fearing a recurrence of plantar fasciitis, decided to start stretching my calves again; which I ought never to have stopped in the first place. So far, so good. But then one morning, in a fit of enthusiasm, I stretched them first thing, rather than after a walk like I usually did, and for the rest of the day, and about a month afterwards, found myself hobbling around with a painful right calf.

PXL_20250614_102213502 — *TBH walking around the coast to Arnside.*

When my calf eventually recovered, my knee began to give me trouble, which still hasn’t entirely cleared up. This is not the only reason I didn’t do a great deal of walking during June, but, hopefully, it’s something which, with a bit of common sense, I can avoid suffering again.

Anyway, here’s a few photos from the handful of times I did get out.

PXL_20250614_114313110 — *Fox and Cubs.*

PXL_20250615_074518759 — *Grange-Over-Sands from The Cove.*

PXL_20250622_093539864 — *Broad-leaved Helleborine (I think) in Eaves Wood.*

PXL_20250622_093826595 — *Rock Rose on Castlebarrow.*

PXL_20250622_093910698 — *The Dale from Castlebarrow.*

PXL_20250622_101747732 — *Large Skipper and Froghopper.*

PXL_20250622_102035343 — *Common-spotted Orchid, Lambert’s Meadow.*

PXL_20250622_175006622 — *Lady’s Bedstraw on The Lots.*

PXL_20250623_192455609 — *Receding sands and Knowe Point.*

Over recent years a high, and often quite dry, area of firm sand has built up close to the shore at Silverdale, which has been a real pleasure to walk on. This summer, it rapidly disappeared again.

PXL_20250623_202528074 — *Two more novels.*

I did get quite a bit of reading done in June. ‘The Long Firm’ was most enjoyable. The structure is unusual, with the same London gangland villain appearing in each chapter, but each time from the perspective of a different one of his associates. It’s been sitting around on a shelf waiting to be read for years, but probably not as long as ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’. After I bought that, I read Flanagan’s earlier novel ‘Gould’s Book of Fish’ which I found quite heavy going. Couple that with the thought of reading a book about Japanese prisoner of war camps and I kept putting off starting it. But I shouldn’t have. It’s an amazing book, absolutely superb and both very different and so much more than I was expecting. Highly recommended.

PXL_20250627_062806272 — *And a poetry anthology.*

Here’s another book I’ve had for a long time and often dipped into. I picked it up this time because I was listening to an episode of the Radio 4 show ‘Great Lives’, in which Niamh Cusack and Helena Kennedy were discussing the poet Mary Oliver with Matthew Paris. I thought Niamh Cusack mentioned first encountering an Oliver poem in this anthology and was surprised that I hadn’t come across that poem and had needed a tip-off in a comment here on the blog to discover her poetry. Had I bothered to check the index, I would have discovered that the book contains no Oliver poems at all. In fact, the anthology which was mentioned was ‘Staying Alive’ which I’ve also had for years, and which was almost certainly right next to this book on our bookshelves, and which opens with one of Mary Oliver’s most famous verses, which I’d still somehow missed, despite having dipped into that quite a bit over the years too. Still, I’m glad I didn’t check. I originally resolved to read ‘Emergency Kit’ slowly, one poem at a time, rereading each poem several times, but instead found myself devouring it. I picked it up today, looking for a pithy line or two to quote and soon found myself flicking through and reading lots of poems again and thinking I might just start at the beginning and do it all again. But I shan’t; not yet anyway, as I am now working my way through ‘Stayin Alive’ in a much more restrained fashion.

Looking at ‘Emergency Kit’ again, I was reminded that I made mental notes to check out quite a few poets with whom I’m not especially familiar, having liked something they wrote in the anthology. Some I’d never come across before, others I know, up to a point (I’m thinking of Raymond Carver, Don Paterson and Simon Armitage for example) but clearly not well enough. When I do get around to reading it all again, I may need a notebook and pencil to hand to make more indelible notes.

Well, that’s June dealt with. I’m glad to say that July and August will not be so easily dismissed.

Day of the Odanata

September 8, 2025 Mark RichardsButterflies, Dragonflies, Nature, Photography, Wildlife8 Comments

Lambert’s Meadow – Bank Well – Myer’s Allotment – Trowbarrow – Moss Lane – Gait Barrow’s – Hawes Water – Eaves Wood

I haven’t been mooching about with my ‘birding’ camera a great deal this summer. So much so that I hadn’t bothered downloading the photos I had taken until I started looking at my phone photos from this weekend in mid-May and found myself wondering what had happened to all the photos of damselflies and dragonflies I remembered taking.

Now that I have downloaded several hundred photos, a significant proportion, admittedly, from one walk, I find that some of those photos have ‘missed their chance’, dating back as they do to February, March and April – months which have already gone in the world of this blog.

Anyway, the first photo is the sole representative of a Saturday wander around Hawes Water with TBH. The rest are all from the following day, when I took my camera for a snail’s-pace wander to Lambert’s Meadow, Myer’s Allotment, Trowbarrow and Gait Barrows. This was the day when I took most of the photos which were on my camera’s memory card.

P1420283 — *Large Red Damselfly, female, fulvipes form.*

PXL_20250518_112405677 — *Guelder Rose, Lambert’s Meadow.*

P1420290 — *Large Red Damselfly, female, fulvipes form.*

P1420367 — *Green-veined White butterfly.*

P1420372 — *Mating,* *Large Red Damselflies*

P1420414 — *Common Blue Damselfly, male, on Salad Burnett.*

P1420426 — *Common Blue Damse*lfly, male.

P1420464 — *Female Damselfly, possibly green form of Common Blue, which turns brown with age.*

P1420467 — *Mating Common Blue Damselflies.*

P1420474 — *Black-tailed Skimmer, female.*

P1420476 — *Mating Common Blue Damselflies.*

P1420481 — *Mating Common Blue Damselflies.*

P1420485 — *Mating Common Blue Damselflies.*

P1420493 — *Broad-bodied Chaser*, *female.*

P1420495 — *Broad-bodied Chaser*, *female.*

P1420497 — *Broad-bodied Chaser*, *female.*

P1420505 — *Black-tailed Skimmer, female.*

PXL_20250518_133122055 — *Leighton Moss from Myer’s Allotment.*

PXL_20250518_134115633 — *New seat at the top of the hill in Myer’s Allotment?*

P1420517 — *Mating Common Blue Damselflies* *and additional male in flight.*

P1420522 — *Mating Common Blue Damselflies.*

P1420526 — *Large Red Damselfly, female, fulvipes form.*

PXL_20250518_123050555 — *New Oak leaves.*

P1420542 — Bramble Sawfly, *Arge cyanocrocea*.

PXL_20250518_123510557 — *Welsh Poppies and Dandelion Clock.*

PXL_20250518_123707455 — *Solomon’s-seal.*

PXL_20250518_153248461 — *Hawthorn and Cow Parsley on Moss Lane.*

PXL_20250518_124007833 — *Star of Bethlehem.*

PXL_20250518_172454210 — *Gait Barrows limestone pavement.*

PXL_20250518_172759816 — *Angular Solomon’s-seal.*

PXL_20250518_163830918 — *Small Emerald.*

A Small Emerald is generally pale green, although some photos online show moths which seem to have faded to a kind of grey. To the naked eye this one looked almost white. I think my phone has extrapolated a bit with this lovely blue. The photo below, taken with my camera, is probably nearer to the actual colouring…

PXL_20250518_174158775 — *Crepuscular Rays over Hawes Water.*

PXL_20250518_174518369 — *Alder Leaf Beetle.*

PXL_20250518_174542744 — *Blue-tailed Damselfly, female*, *typica form, I think.*

MapMyWalk gives nine miles for this walk, which took almost as many hours. I have some doubts about the efficacy of the GPS measurement when I’ve stopped or am not moving very quickly.

Anyway, nine miles or otherwise, it was an absolute delight and an excellent reminder of why sometimes it’s good to take my time and linger rather than focusing on how far, how fast etc.

Oh – and books. I somehow convinced myself that I hadn’t read David Copperfield. It didn’t take very long for me to realise my error, but by then I was engrossed and happy to be in the company of Mr Micawber et al again. Whilst I was reading it, I listened to Miriam Margolyes on Radio 4’s Great Lives. She was making the case for Dickens. I seem to remember that she said ‘Our Mutual Friend’ was her favourite. Or was it ‘Great Expectations’? Either way, I would be happy with either of those choices. I do remember that she isn’t a big fan of ‘The Pickwick Papers’, which I couldn’t get on with either. The other guest was very keen on ‘Bleak House’, which I found hard work. Maybe I should go back and give it another go?

‘Flight’ is a thriller written by a literary novelist and well worth a read. Highly enjoyable.

The Nathanael West is a collection of four novellas. So far, I have only read the first in the book, ‘The Day of the Locust’ which was, well…odd. Notably, one of the principal characters is called Homer Simpson, which is where Matt Groening borrowed the name from.

Around Home at Easter

August 19, 2025 Mark RichardsNature, outdoors, Photography, Wildflowers7 Comments

PXL_20250410_064543662 — *Early light on the Pepper Pot.*

A portmanteau post featuring whatever was catching my eye during my local walks over the Easter fortnight. I’ve left out various other outings, a bit further from home, and shall come back to those.

PXL_20250410_071431552 — *Frost lingering in the shade at Lambert’s Meadow.*

The weather was pretty good on the whole, but, as you might expect, we also had a bit of all-sorts, with frosts, clouds, fog and some rain along with the sunshine.

PXL_20250410_075759077 — *First appearance of Wild Garlic flowers.*

PXL_20250410_185148143 — *Sunset at Jenny Brown’s Point.*

PXL_20250411_064108395 — *The Inman Oaks in the fog.*

PXL_20250411_071552551 — *Hawes Water (just about).*

PXL_20250411_192017609 — *Humphrey Head in post sunset light from The Lots.*

PXL_20250413_062844399 — *A profusion of Ramson flowers.*

PXL_20250413_063011647 — *Long shadows early doors at The Cove.*

PXL_20250413_063029571 — *Looking south along the coast from the same spot.*

PXL_20250414_164804434 — *Toothwort in Middlebarrow Wood.*

PXL_20250414_165543254 — *Herb Paris on a rainy day.*

PXL_20250416_104527380 — *Grange from The Cove on an overcast day.*

PXL_20250416_104737376 — *Wych Elm seeds.*

PXL_20250416_110635506 — *Coralroot flowers.*

PXL_20250416_111958680 — *High Tide at Cow’s Mouth.*

PXL_20250416_113637344 — *A shower viewed across Quicksand Pool.*

PXL_20250416_124518182 — *Toothwort in Eaves Wood.*

This was a patch of Toothwort I hadn’t noticed before. I kept coming back to it and discovering, on each visit, that it was even more extensive than I had first realised.

PXL_20250416_125040559 — *Cherry Blossom. Not quite Tokyo standards.*

We were seeing a lot of gorgeous photos from Japan on Whatsapp around this time, mainly of pastries, skyscrapers and Cherry Blossom. Not wishing to be left out, I took numerous photos of local Cherry trees, in the woods, in people’s gardens, wherever I could find them, but somehow I just couldn’t compete.

PXL_20250419_184443876 — *A lone horsewoman on Morecambe Bay sands.*

The remaining nature pics were all taken on the same day, towards the end of the fortnight. It helps a lot if the sun shines!

PXL_20250420_102953198 — *Hoverfly on Jack-by-the-Hedge flowers.*

PXL_20250420_103550524 — *Inman’s Road in Eaves Wood, with new Beech leaves.*

PXL_20250420_103642030 — *New Beech leaves!*

PXL_20250420_105142736 — *Toothwort in Eaves Wood. Again.*

PXL_20250420_105721844 — *Honesty on The Row.*

PXL_20250420_111619637 — *Cuckoo Flower on Lambert’s Meadow.*

PXL_20250420_111321641 — *Cuckoo Flower.*

Cuckoo Flower is the foodplant for Orange-tip Butterflies and there were clouds of them fluttering from plant to plant. In fact, there were generally lots of butterflies in evidence during the Easter period, as there have been since. The Orange-tips weren’t very cooperative about me taking photos though.

PXL_20250420_112655577 — *Green-veined White Butterfly.*

PXL_20250420_112840663 — *Marsh Valerian (I think).*

PXL_20250420_120352899 — *Apple blossom.*

PXL_20250420_122809657 — *Silver Birch Catkins.*

PXL_20250420_123254685 — *Brimstone Butterfly.*

PXL_20250420_123333426 — *Early Purple Orchid.*

PXL_20250420_124411548 — *Speckled Wood Butterfly.*

PXL_20250420_132023369 — *Coralroot again.*

PXL_20250420_130745550 — *Primroses and Bluebells at Jack Scout.*

One of the big advantages of having great walks on our doorstep, is that you can fit in a wander and still have plenty of time to get other stuff done. We did quite a bit in the garden; I wish I’d taken before and after photos of the bramble thicket I went to war with. Of course, the brambles will always have the last laugh, I’ve been fighting them again this week. Our neighbour suggested Agent Orange as a remedy.

PXL_20250420_133233829 — *Ramsons again.*

For weeks, TBH had been reminding me that she had bought tickets to see ‘the ADHD comedian’ a few days after my birthday. She couldn’t remember the comedian’s name and I couldn’t remember that we had tickets. What a pair! When we arrived at the theatre I was struck by the posters in the bar: “Oh look, Shappi Khorsandi is playing here too, I’d love to see her, we should get tickets.”

PXL_20250409_195552238.NIGHT — *Shaparak Khorsandi* *at The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster.*

Luckily for me, it turned out that Shappi Khorsandi is ‘the ADHD comedian’. She was promoting her memoir about living with ADHD. She was hilarious. We had great seats, on the third row, just far enough away to not be dragged into the very funny banter she engaged in with the first two rows.

Another Easter project involved refurbishing our library. That’s right, the library, just between the billiard room and the sauna at Chateau BTB.
Well, when I say library, some people might describe it as a landing, or a corridor by some stairs. With shelves. Our friend TM replaced the old shelves for us, we just had to move the books out and back in, and remove the old shelves (which turned out to be a bit of a game).
In the process, we discovered, to exactly nobody’s surprise, that we had far too many books piled up in there to get neatly back on the shelves. It turns out that one of us has a compulsive book purchasing problem. So we sifted through them and I took a couple of car loads to Sizergh Castle where the NT have a second-hand bookshop.
A very painful process!

Here’s a book that survived the cull, a memoir about building a home in a very wild and remote spot, which I found surprisingly gripping, given that, if it hadn’t been written by Annie Proulx I would never have contemplated reading a book about building a house.

PXL_20250419_142550566 — *Superstar detective.*

This one got a temporary reprieve. I’m pretty sure that I’d read it before, but, as usual, I’d forgotten ‘who done it’, so enjoyed rereading it. Why are maverick cops with a phenomenal success rate universally loathed by their superiors in crime fiction?

This is the first of several books I’ve read precisely because as we sifted through our collection I found myself either thinking, ‘I’d like to reread that” or “Oh, I’ve got that, when did I buy it?” In this case, it was the latter. I like Evelyn Waugh and really enjoyed this fictional account of the life of (in this version) the Romano-British Empress Helena.

PXL_20250421_191118851 — *Easter Monday family pose on The Lots.*

Workers’ Playtime

June 1, 2025 Mark RichardsPhotography, spring4 Comments

A sunny weekend, but we had things to do. I didn’t take before and after photos of the bramble thickets before I removed them, or of the nascent forest which needed to be hacked back into a more conventional beech hedge shape, so you’ll have to settle for what I did the rest of the weekend, when I escaped for a bit of r’n’r.
So, on Saturday afternoon, a wander around the coast to New Barns and a return via the Knot and Middlebarrow Woods.

PXL_20250322_101742835 — *Yellow flag. Not an iris.*

The bank on Cove Road was resplendent with yellow – Daffodils, Primroses and little plastic yellow flags. I was to see the flags on quite a bit of my route – they were waymarking an organised trail run. I remember it happening last year too. Then I got caught at a gate and chatted to a marshall whilst a host of runners came through in the opposite direction. This time, no delays of this sort, although I did eventually meet a handful of competitors.

PXL_20250322_103309033 — *Curious coos.*

PXL_20250322_104222215 — *White violets.*

PXL_20250322_104455092 — *Wild daffodils at Far Arnside.*

The Daffodils in the woods near Far Arnside are a spring highlight every year. And when they are flowering…

PXL_20250322_104612326 — *Green Hellebore.*

…the Green Hellebore nearby will be too.

PXL_20250322_104632390 — *Green Hellebore, going to seed.*

PXL_20250322_105707083 — *Park Point and Grange-over-Sands.*

PXL_20250322_111641409 — *The River Kent, Grange and Hampsfell.*

The views from the Knot were incredibly hazy again, so that even the Bowland Fells were barely visible.

PXL_20250322_121610352 — *A Peacock Butterfly.*

A lady walking past was intrigued by what I was doing, on my haunches in the leaf-litter in the woods on Arnside Knot, inching my phone closer and closer to a pile of leaves. This Peacock had led me a merry dance.
It seems to have been a good spring for butterflies. I imagine I saw lots of Brimstones too – I have on numerous occasions, but they never seem to settle where they can be easily photographed.

PXL_20250322_124255588 — *More Green Hellebore, Middlebarrow.*

Since the Hellebore at Far Arnside was flowering, I felt duty bound to have a wander through Middlebarrow Woods where a more substantial patch grows.

PXL_20250322_124434151 — *Not yet going to seed.*

They were flowering too, although not so advanced. I always feel that these plants are subtly different to the ones at Far Arnside, although I’d be hard-pressed to say how or what the differences might signify.

A little further along, the path was scattered with feathers and pretty much an entire wing. It looked like a pheasant had come to an unpleasant end.

PXL_20250322_124647592 — *Pheasant feathers?*

The feathers are very handsome. Now then, “I’m not the pheasant plucker….”

PXL_20250322_124825229 — *Emerging Toothwort flowers.*

PXL_20250322_130043819 — *A Comma butterfly.*

Initially, there were two Commas on this tree trunk, but only one was willing to pose.

PXL_20250322_130051837 — *A Comma butterfly.*

PXL_20250322_192349170.NIGHT — *The Dukes Lancaster for Shirley Valentine.*

That evening we were in Lancaster to see Mina Anwar in Shirley Valentine. I have to confess that I’m not familiar with the film and didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t even realise that it is a one-woman show. Anyway, it was enormously enjoyable. We’d also seen a staging of Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’ at the Dukes back in February, which was hilarious. I think I have seen that film, but it must have been at least a fortnight ago, because I’d completely forgotten the plot.

On the Sunday when the gardening began to pall, I set-off again, without a clear plan for my route, but then hit upon an idea which I can’t believe I haven’t thought of before – a tour of the village taking in all of the National Trust properties.

PXL_20250323_152616275 — *A hazy view from the Pepper Pot. No sign of the Bowland Fells.*

PXL_20250323_152835044 — *In Eaves Wood.*

PXL_20250323_153452640 — *Scot’s Pines, Eave Wood.*

In early spring when the deciduous trees have yet to come into leaf, I always think the Pines and Yews in the local woods come into their own.

PXL_20250323_160438396 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

PXL_20250323_161030588 — *Burtonwell Wood.*

Burtonwell Wood doesn’t seem to have a sign. I’m sure it used to.

PXL_20250323_161646856 — *Pointer Wood.*

PXL_20250323_163913562 — *Hazelwood Hall.*

PXL_20250323_164421428 — *Carnforth Salt Marsh from Heald Brow – still no Bowland Fells.*

PXL_20250323_165757995 — *Quicksand Pool and the Copper Smelting Works chimney.*

PXL_20250323_170953308 — *Primroses at Jack Scout.*

PXL_20250323_171740779 — *Blackthorn blossom.*

PXL_20250323_172321198 — *More white Violets.*

PXL_20250323_172824282 — *The pond at Woodwell, seen from where the path drops down the cliff.*

PXL_20250323_172956713 — *And looking back up the same section of path.*

PXL_20250323_175257397 — *Bank House Farm.*

I’m sure that these twos fields used to have a sign which said ‘The Lots’. Bank House Farm is much larger I think, but is tenanted and most of the land is not obviously National Trust property.

I’ve done variations of this walk several times since – there are numerous ways to link together the various National Trust bits and bobs.

PXL_20250325_155831566 — *Queen Victoria statue Dalton Square, Lancaster.*

From a Lancaster walk later that same week.

Later that week, my Mum and Dad celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary. Here they are with their card from the King and Queen…

PXL_20250327_195318104 — *Celebrating at QSF.*

PXL_20250327_195425953.NIGHT — *Mum and S.*

PXL_20250327_195500943.NIGHT — *B, ARH and BTB.*

Thursday night at QSF (Quite Simply French) is lobster and champagne night. My Dad seemed to think that he had never had lobster and decided to splash out. It seemed rude not to keep him company.

PXL_20250324_073552216 — *Edge of England*

PXL_20250326_073546057 — *The Daylight Gate.*

*Heartburn. Forgot to photograph this one!*

And finally, as if this post isn’t too long already, three more books which I finished at around this time. The first is perhaps best recommended to Yellow Bellies like myself. I’ve read several of Jeanette Winterson’s novels, some of them several times, and knew that I would enjoy her fictionalised account of the Lancaster Witches. Nora Ephron is new to me, although I knew that she wrote the script for the marvellous ‘When Harry Met Sally’. I listened to an old episode of Radio 4’s ‘A Good Read’ and I think this was Harriet Gilbert’s recommendation; when, shortly afterwards, I spotted it in Lancaster’s Oxfam Book Shop it seemed like too big a coincidence to ignore. I’m so pleased I didn’t. It’s beautifully written, I enjoyed to enormously. In fact, I would probably read it again now, except for the fact that I’ve already lent it to a friend. As good as Wodehouse at his best, which is, as far as I am concerned, the highest praise I can manage.

Not a bad week!

Incidentally, I’m not old enough to remember the BBC’s hugely popular radio show ‘Worker’s Playtime’. But I do have a soft spot for the Billy Bragg album of the same name.

Beating The Bounds

A Blog about walking, thinking about walking, reading about walking…….and maybe other stuff

Butterflies