Weather Window

Thursday 11th Nov.2010
                                    How can three days be so different weather wise ? Monday was cold with gales and driving rain and sleet and on the higher hills in our Pennines.... snow, today we're back to the same old weather except it's milder this morning it's 7c. Yesterday was a gem of a day with almost unbroken sunshine, very little wind and excellent visibility, so Audrey and myself did a brisk walk to the top of Pendle Hill 1831 ft, we were rewarded with extensive views of the surrounding Pennine fells and clear views of the Lake District mountains and these mountains are at least 50 miles away. This gave me the opportunity of trying out the telephoto end of my new camera.

                              Pendle Hill from Newchurch in Pendle

                           The shortest route to the top

                 The distant central mountains of the Lake District

                    Telephoto of the Central Fells of the Lake District

                         Telephoto of the Eastern Lake District Fells

                                     Telephoto of Ingleborough

                                   Telephoto of Pen-y- Ghent

        Across the dales to the snow covered summit of Great Whernside

                                       Great Whernside

                             Me looking rather dishevelled

                   Looking S.E. over the towns of Nelson & Colne

                          A final view across the Ribble Valley

                          Back down to the village of Barley

Craven Country

Sun. 7th Nov. 2010
                 Today our weekend walk was in the lovely craven countryside about 15 miles from where we live.
This was a circular walk from the village of Airton following the River Aire along the Pennine way to the hamlet of Hanlith then a climb up out of the valley across Hanlith Moor to Weets Top, a climb of about 700ft.We returned across Calton Moor gradually loosing height  down to the small village of Calton and then back on the road for a short distance to the riverside at Airton , the walk was a good 7 miles.

Along the fast flowing river Aire

We bypassed Malham with the famous Malham Cove in the background

                 Looking north to the limestone cleft of Gordale Scar

                                          Hanlith Moor

        The walk back across Calton Moor with Pendle Hill in the distance

                  Almost the end of the walk the.... village of Calton

The Salmon have come home to their birthplace

Thurs. 4th Nov.2010
                            Yesterday was a mild and wet autumn day and in the last two weeks autumn seems to have given way to early winter.With all the heavy rain that's fallen the Salmon and Sea Trout have managed to reach the place of their birth in the many small streams high in the Pennines around the Lancashire and Yorkshire border. At the weir on Swanside beck several Salmon and Sea Trout managed to ascend the weir, which has now been made easier with the wood constructed  easement  in place, this enables the fish to rest and shelter in the wooden sheltered bays out of the strong force of the current. Along Twiston and Ings beck many of the gravelly stretches and pools had Salmon and Sea Trout in them and on the fast flowing gravelly stretches fish were paired up and starting to spawn, it's years since I've seen so many fish present on these two small becks
                It's been a privilege to be able to watch these fish spawning at the end of their long journey back from the ocean off the east coast of Greenland and any photos that I've taken don't do justice to the wonderful natural events that are and will be taking place in the next couple of weeks.
          I'm sorry the photos are so poor, the difficult locations, the very low light levels and slow shutter speeds have all been against me, but if you use a bit of imagination and screw up your eyes you will probably see some sort of image.

                                        Swanside beck

                                  The weir at Swanside beck

                           The wood constucted easement fish pass

                                          The shelter bays

                        Salmon resting in one of the sheltered bays

                                                  Ings beck

                                    Spawning in Twiston beck

 

                                              

Waxwings and Salmon

Monday 1st Nov.2010
                         First just a quick mention of our bit of luck of being in the right  place at the right time. On Sat. afternoon on a short walk along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at East Marton near Skipton a flock of about 30 Waxwings landed in an Ash tree just as we were walking passed on the canal towpath. I managed to get a distant photo of them before they flew off to a nearby Hawthorn bush and started to strip the berries. Also on the walk we saw the Kingfisher, 2 Goldcrests and several Long- tailed Tits.

Yesterday on our weekly Sunday walk with our friends we had another stab at  seeing some Salmon.
.The best place to see them is at Stainforth Foss on the River Ribble in Upper Ribblesdale. I never tire of watch them leaping up the falls and I've been visiting this spot for over 50 years. Yesterday was particular pleasant on a quite Autumn day with many of the Autumn colours at their best.

                           The village green.... Langcliffe

                 

                Walking back to the town of Settle on the Ribble Way