42 years on (The Dove Stones Ridge)

Saturday 11th April 2015
                 Over the years I've walked the wild areas along Jackson's Ridge at the back of Boulsworth in the South Pennines to the Dove Stones many times, it's an area that is wild and feels remote even though it's only 11/2 miles across the moor from the nearest road. Today about 42 years on we're revisited this area again this time with Julie our daughter  ( the family are visiting us this weekend.)
               I first took her to this wild area when she was only 4 years old and I've managed to grab a few very poor quality but irreplaceable frames from a film I shot 42 years ago.

                          The Doves Stones from Hey Slack

The only thing appearing to be growing in this harsh environment is this Sedge Grass

                              Pendle Hill from the Dove Stones

             Looking towards "Wuthering Heights" ( Emily Bronte fame)

                         A few of the frame grabs 42 years ago

    A "Selfie" a shot that definitely won't be repeated in another 42 years

Pen-y-ghent... it never disappoints

Tuesday 7th April 2015
                           Today we've been on our annual early spring walk up Pen-y-ghent to find the Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga Oppositiflora) the flower of the mountains it is a true arctic flower and as always we weren't disappointed. Depending on the severity of the winter the saxifrage begins to open in early March but in general it's at its best in early April. It grows on the 1900 ft contour on the limestone cliffs on the side of Pen-y-ghent. It is one of the first arctic spring flowers to open and it can flower all summer in the mountains where the snow melts later, it has been found as high as 4,505 meters in the Swiss Alps.
                         We've been climbing Pen-y-ghent for over 30 years in the spring and the sight of this Arctic Flower growing in the harsh surroundings is something we'll never tire of.

                   Approaching Pen-y-ghent along the Pennine Way

                 The first of the many locations that we found today

                            The steep south side of the Mountain

                              The summit of this popular mountain

Frogs beginning to spawn in this shallow tarn near to the summit, they've already spawned in my garden 4 weeks ago. What a difference in the seasons owing to the altitude.

           Returning down the steep south side down the Pennine Way

Probably the best saxifrage specimens of the day near to the path, but people pass by without as much of a glance

Pen-y-ghent, another satisfying walk

Outside My Window

Monday 23rd March 2015
                 
UPDATE....   After my initial idea of filming of the frogs spawning in my garden pond, I've decided to capture scenes from my garden throughout the year. I got another bit of reasonable footage during the Partial Eclipse on the 20th March so this has spurred me on.

The slow advance of Spring

19th March 2015

          Today has been a beautiful early spring day so I've continued to plod on in the making of my new film about the seasons in my garden. I've bought a cheap video camera with an underwater housing so I've attempted to film the frogs emerging from the mud on the bottom of my garden pond to start their annual spawning  The spawning has been stop & start because of the weather fluctuating between the seasons. I'm going to expand this short film into something longer and show all the seasons in my back garden.

Latest Update on Ribble Rivers Trust ...Burnley Area

Friday 27th February 2015
                     During the last 3 years I've recorded about 8 hours of video relating to the improvements of Burnley's town centre rivers from the earliest concept to the final delivery. This short video gives a brief outline of the project. When  the final project is fully completed  I will edit a more detailed video showing all the other events that have been running parallel with this project which I feel as been a great success.
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Early Snowdrops

Friday 16th January 2015
                            We've been going through a very unsettled windy changeable spell of weather so far this year up here in Lancashire but it hasn't been really cold with only the odd day of lying snow. So it's no surprise that the first of our garden's snowdrops have responded to this mild weather and have been at this stage for about a week.

Seasonal greetings from Pendle Hill

Sunday 28th Dec 2014
                 Our local Pendle Hill standing at 1831 ft proved to be extremely popular today for walking off the overeating and indulgences of Christmas Day & Boxing Day.
            This is just another of the countless walks to the summit, but today with the weather being so perfect we've never seen so many people on the summit during Christmas week.
             The walk from the village of Barley is a round trip of between 5-6 miles with an altitude gain of about 1100 ft. The low angle winter sunshine just enhanced the wintry scene and made for an uplifting satisfactory winter's walk.

               

                     Today's approach up the ridge from Ogden Clough

                                       The source of Pendle Water

                                   Long shadows difficult to avoid

                                    Looking towards the Bowland Fells

                                          Fading Light by 2:30 pm

                   Back down via Ogden Clough before the light goes