The Ingleton Waterfalls Trail

As the weather was forecast to be changeable this Spring Bank Holiday Monday, David and I went for a five mile walk along the very commercial Ingleton Waterfalls Trail. The trail boasts 20 falls with six main viewpoints. The well defined path (no worries about getting lost), follows two rivers (Twiss and Doe), and meanders through an oak wood before crossing open moorland. The area is a designated SSSI. Instead of parking charges there is a relatively steep £7 each for admittance (that was my only bugbear!) We spent a leisurely three hours walking the trail and were lucky the weather stayed dry.

On our walk we focused on the sights, sounds and smells of nature. Before we reached the first waterfall on the trail, we spied a parent dipper feeding its two fledged youngsters. It was fascinating to watch as the adult would plunge into the water, swim and then pop up with insects or fish in its beak. The two fledglings stood begging with open mouths waiting for the parent to bring back breakfast. The scene was a highlight of our visit and David got some great footage.

Dipper feeding young

Fledgling dipper

Dipper feeding young

Adult dipper

As we continued our walk, climbing upwards through woodland the smell of garlic scented the air and the path was awash with wild garlic (ransoms). I attempted to focus more on the flora of the area and noted a splash of bluebells among emerging woodruff and the odd early purple orchid. I identified the latter two with the help of the app PlantSnap, thanks to Sharon for the suggestion. (Sorry for the poor shot of the orchid.)

Woodruff

unfocused picture of an early purple orchid (sorry)

Wild garlic

Of course the waterfalls were undoubtedly the star attraction. Here’s a selection of photos by David and I.

Pecca Falls

Hollybush Spout

Thornton Force

Beezley Falls

Baxenghyll Gorge

Snow Falls

Have you walked the Ingleton Falls Trail? What did you get up to during the bank holiday?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

2019 Wild Swim Season – #1 High Dam

I found it difficult to chose the first wild swim of 2019. I’m like a child in a sweet shop, there are just so many possibilities! I’ve spent so many hours recently trawling the internet looking for swims/walks.

This weekend David and I planned on visiting The Lake District for the first swim/walk of the season. I don’t know what made me decide on High Dam near Windermere but SwimmingTheLakes’ fantastic blog post on High Dam settled it for me.

High Dam Swim

High Dam is a man made tarn. Built in the 1800’s to provide hydro energy to power a 32 foot diameter water wheel at the nearby Stott Park Bobbin Mill. The mill produced up to a quarter of a million wooden bobbins to aid Lancashire’s spinning and weaving industries at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

Though the weather decided to be stubbornly gray on the day, we headed up the M6 and arrived at 9am at the High Dam National Trust car park, just north of Finsthwaite. From this car park (we paid £2.50 for 2 hours) we enjoyed a bird song filled short walk through a woodland stuffed with bluebells and ferns. In parts the path was rough and steep but at only 2 miles it was a relatively easy walk for us.

The route took us passed a smaller tarn, Low Dam before drawing close to High. High Dam reminded me of Glencoe Loachan near Glencoe, (which we visited last year). Perhaps it was the cloudy weather conditions that made me think of this similarity?

High Dam

Glencoe Lochan

We walked around the perimeter of the tarn, looking for good access points to the water. I didn’t want to scramble over rocks or wade into ankle height water for meters. We found a promontory with decent access and I quickly stripped to my tankini. I had worked up a sweat on the walk and didn’t feel too cold. I occasionally feel nervous entering the water but on this occasion I waded in! I was so elated to be swimming again! Terrence registered a comfy 15-16°C. I managed to swim for around 20 minutes without feeling cold. Actually, I found it hard to get out of the water. The peaceful solitude of the tarn struck me. Nature seemed very prevalent. As I swam, a curious wagtail watched me from a rock, the song of a cuckoo echoed across the tarn, whilst great tits flittered among trees and a heron flew overhead.

Have you been to High Dam? If so what were your impressions?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

Sunday Sevens #65

I’ve wanted to write a Sunday Sevens (devised by Natalie at Threads and Bobbins), since Easter. However I’ve just not had enough material to warrant a post.

In the past three weeks David and I have been to a wedding, visited bluebells at RSPB Burton Mere and had a disappointing trip to The Royal Liver Building.

Wedding

Liver Building Tour

Burton Mere Bluebells

Beach:

David and Riley

Riley

Christine and Riley

Riley

We’ve visited Formby Point on several occasions recently. I think you can gather from the pictures that Riley loves the freedom the beach offers.

On our second visit David managed to capture splendidly the very friendly and brave red squirrels!

Red Squirrel by David Evans

Red Squirrel by David Evans

Book I am reading:

I recently saw an advert for Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls. My education heavily featured Greek History so I was intrigued by the premise (the Trojan War told by Briseis), so I decided to purchase a Kindle copy. I found the writing easy to read and though I enjoyed it, I feel I expected more from the story somewhat. Since then I’ve picked up The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase. Have you read any of these books?

The Silence of the Girls

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde

#walk1000miles:

I fear my mileage has taken a hit recently. Late buses (meaning I don’t do a two mile walk before work) and days of feeling poorly, have meant my miles total for this week has been 38, bringing my annual total to 785 miles. If you are doing the challenge, how are you doing?

Baking:

David has been baking again, this time it’s cup cakes!

Nutella Cupcakes

#30dayswild

#30DaysWild:

This week my 30 Days Wild poster and wildflower seeds arrived through the post. I was so eager to start planning that I pinned the huge calendar up on the fridge. We’ve a few days already planned, but I won’t tell you about them just yet. Will you be participating in The Wildlife Trusts‘ initiative?

And finally:

During a Sunday visit to Liverpool’s Sefton Park we finally got to see the mandarin duck that’s recently taken up residence and caused a stir in the birding community!

Selfie

Mandarin Ducks

So, that was my week, how was yours?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x