Springtime around Alcester Warickshire

Friday 24th May 2013
         We've arrived back home earlier this week after visiting my daughter and family in Alcester Warwickshire. One of the reasons for our visit was the Food Festival which was held in the High St. last Saturday and what an enjoyable day it turned out to be. I haven't taken any photos of food festival because I was concentrating on making a video of the event and trying to do both, falls short of the standards that I try to aim for.
         On a couple of days we enjoyed two walks into the lanes and backwaters "Shakespeare Country" of this lovely county and what was noticeable was that spring was at least two weeks advanced even though we'd only travelled 150 miles south.
      The Bluebell display in Oversley Wood near Alcester was as good as it gets and on the walk from Alcester to Stratford-Upon-Avon we found our first flowering orchids of the season in a small woodland coppice on the Heart of England Way which winds its way through Warwickshire.
         Here are a few photos of  this Warwickshire landscape which is so different to the wilder Pennine Landscapes that we're more used to.

The Bluebells at their best in Oversley wood two week in advance of our Lancashire Bluebells

 The start of our second walk (about 10 miles) along the Heart of England Way

                                 The Early Purple Orchid

               Some woodland Grasses or Sedges that I'm not sure of

This old house is over 1000 years old  and the owner (a historian) showed us round it some of the outer walls are still "Wattle and Daub".

                     The King's Head in the village of Aston Cantlow

                         Along the Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal

This Swan is on its nest alongside a busy garage workshop on the outskirts of Stratford-Upon-Avon

                    The Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Haven

Ultramarine Blue....Gentian Verna

Wed. 15th May 2013
                         We've arrived back this weekend after spending a few days in our motor home in middle and upper Teesdale with  Eric & Jean our friends. Eric has featured in some of my videos posted on this blog and this visit was timed to seek out the rare Alpine Gentian (Gentian Verna) which can be found in this area .
       This flower is a great draw to wild-flower enthusiasts, but because of its rare habitat it is strictly protected by law. Its intense Ultramarine Blue depth of colour always ensures that it is noticed and to find this flower growing in the wild gives us much satisfaction .
       We've videoed the walk in High Def. and later in the year I will edit it and hopefully post it on this blog without pinpointing the exact the locations.
         

                                      Wild upper Teesdale

                                     Eric ....full of enthusiasm

   
                     

         

Success for the Ribble Rivers Trust

28th April 2013
                   During last year I followed and filmed along with other members of Burnley Film Makers many  events organised by the Ribble Rivers Trust to promote an awareness of our local heritage.
       Their bid was submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund and they have been successful in achieving a grant award of £674,000, the project will see almost £1 million pounds being spent on the naturalisation of the rivers of Burnley with the involvement of the local communities.
                     Victoria Dewhurst, Community Engagement Officer for the Urban Rivers Enhancement Scheme (URES) said, making physical improvements to the river habitats, controlling invasive species and improving biodiversity, we known that local people are essential to the success of URES and we are working to encourage and equip our communities with the skills,experience and confidence to take ownership and pride in our rivers.
                      This is the short film we made, we hope it helped with the success of their bid.
    I've copied and pasted the film off their website hoping it will give them more publicity.

The best of Lancashire's coast

Friday 19th April 2013
             It's been a beautiful spring day today for another walk in an area of Lancashire I never tire of. We did our usual walk with our friends from Arnside,over Arnside Knott via Eaves Wood to Silverdale then back along the coastal path overlooking Morecambe Bay. The Brimstone butterflies were about  in  Eaves Wood , the Early Purple Orchid leaf rosettes were showing and the Wild Daffodils were at their best along the coastal path almost 4 weeks later than last year.

                             The pepper pot in Eaves Wood

   The promise of things to come ... The Rosette leaves of the Early Purple Orchid

                                      Along the coastal path

                       The wild Daffodils along the coastal path

                          The vast expanse of Morecame Bay

              

Pen-y-gent..... meaning (hill of the winds)

Wed. 17th April 2013
             Yesterday we made our annual trek up and over the summit of Pen-y-ghent and the mountain certainly lived up to it's name. Our aim was to make a short H.D. film of the Purple Saxifrage that grows on the Limestone cliffs along the 1900 ft contour of the hill. I've walked up Pen-y-ghent dozens of time in all seasons but I've never experienced the windy conditions (that this hill is known for) like we experienced yesterday. It soon became apparent that making a film was impossible and in many exposed locations dangerous because we were blown off our feet and had to hang on to the rocks when the gusts came.
       I managed about a minute of footage in some of the less exposed areas but the all exercise was completely unsatisfactory. I reverted back to using my small compact still camera.
            Compared to last year the flowers are almost one month behind.

                                     The western aspect

PurpleSaxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) growing on the south facing rocks

                                         

                                       The path to the summit

                                                The cairn

There's still about 6ft. depth of snow below the west facing cliffs but the warmth of the rocks as influenced and has a warming effect on the plants growing there

          The plants obtain all their nutrients from the calcium rich rocks

On our way back the clouds melted away giving clear views of Pen-y-ghent's western cliffs

The lane leading back to Horton in Ribblesdale showed how the influence of the sun compared to the shade  has on the spring flowers

                                      Snowdrops in the shade

                                 Lesser Celandine in the sun

Finally just a short bit of yesterday's windy footage

Another Walk With Eric

Wed. 10th April 2013
     Today's felt like a real spring day 12c this afternoon, at last the sun has some warmth in it. Today we've had a look at the Upper Ogden Clough Valley which cuts deep into the higher reaches of Pendle Hill. Along the beck side the Dipper was active and we spotted our first summer migrant the Wheatear.
       We've just booked 5 nights in our motorhome starting on the 7th May in Upper Teesdale to co-inside with the flowering of the Alpine Gentian (Gentian Verna) but I fear we may be too early because of the late spring.
       I've already filmed this beautiful flower in May 2010 on a memorable walk with Eric, this is one of my favourite walks, starting at Langden Beck and following the River Tees down passed High Force and finishing at Middleton-in Teesdale a walk of about 10 miles.
        The film was shot on a small Panasonic NV-GS500 video camera on standard definition cassette tape and edited on Sony Vegas Movie Studio upscaling to High Definition, copyright free music by AKM.

A bit of warmth this weekend

Mon. 8th April 2013
        The sun has come back for a couple of days this weekend raising the temperature to a magical 10 C.  One of my favourite alpines the Purple Saxifrage in my scree garden as finally flowered a good 3 weeks later  than all the previous years. this is an indicator that  it won't be flowering at it's best until the middle of April this year on Pen-y-ghent because of the deep snow cover,  it's going to be 4 weeks later this year, it was at it's best on the mountain on the 20th March in 2012.
   On Sunday morning 2 Siskins were on our feeders, we saw our first butterfly this year ( Small Tortoise Shell) and a Honey Bee on the Crocuses.
   This morning the east wind is back with a few light sleety snow showers and a high of 4 C.

            A flying visit up to John Williams's garden on the moor yesterday showed  very few signs of spring, in fact John was snowed in last week for 6 days until the road were cleared.

                                  Snow still in the stream channel

Still a wintry scene

The moss garden is still spreading

The same view end of  May 2010....The season has some catching up

                    The same view end of May 2010... roll on Spring