Over the Easter Weekend we spent quite a bit of time walking the dog around Melmerby. We are still discovering new footpaths there, it’s a lovely place for a wander, especially at this time of year.
I still love my original What To Look For In The Seasons Ladybird Nature Books , which were first published in the fifties and sixties. Ladybird brought out a new set last year, they are also quite charming. The Spring book accompanied me on my recent walks.
Melmerby is the kind of village , where I often find myself doing double-takes! This Easter I have seen 2 children walking their pet ferrets, a Grandmother taking the little ones bare back riding on a sturdy horse, a man whizzing round a field in a pony and trap and several llamas being led along the Village Green.
Here are a few photos from Melmerby in the Spring.
Daffodils on the Green. Lungwort.Melmerby mud and Rosie Sandstone buildings. Pied Wagtail. Blossom. Honesty. Peacock Butterfly 🦋 enjoying a sunny spot. Little Ford. Little Lamb. New Life in the fields. Dog Violet. Yellow Hammer.
I thought I would stick with the Spring prompt, even though the temperatures have taken a dip again. The season is awakening slowly. By this time last year I had noticed more wild flowers and blossom than I have so far in 2021.
However I have spied some Spring flowers on recent wanders. 🙂
Celandine.
The Lesser Celandine is a cheery yellow flower with glossy heart shaped leaves. Celandines are mentioned in The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe and Wordsworth has written three poems about them.
Cherry Plum Blossom.
Flowering before all the other blossoms is the Cherry Plum which bares it’s fruit in August. I have confused this with Blackthorn in the past, but the flowers appear even earlier. So pretty.
Red flowering currant.
I notice this Red Flowering Currant every year but I haven’t been able to find out much about the shrub. I don’t recall it ever baring any currants either. The pink blooms are very vibrant.
Daffodils in bud.
The golden trumpets of the Daffodil herald the start of Spring. Daffodils are the national flower of Wales, the inspiration for Wordsworth’s most famous poem and are even the name of a Mark Ronson dance track.
Primrose.
Who doesn’t love the pretty Primrose , its name derives from the Latin primula vulgaris meaning First Rose. Primroses are meant to bring luck to keepers of chickens! A flower to plant around the hen hut.
Crocuses.
Crocuses in St Mary’s churchyard looking almost like a fairyring. A vibrant Spring flower associated with love, success and cheerfulness. ❤️
Another blog post, another local walk. This one is from the picture perfect village of Downham, where in fact many years ago, I went to primary school. The hike is a 4 mile circular route and was a very peaceful one, we saw only one other person out walking until we arrived back in the village at the end for an ice cream. 😊
We set off from the large car park in Downham, following the brook down through the village. You may recognize Downham from the TV series Born and Bred which was filmed here.
A stone bridge over the brook.
All the cottages in the village are owned by Lord Clitheroe’s estate, so the whole village is tenanted.
There are quite a few Stiles and kissing gates on the walk.
A brood of ducklings. 🙂
We head uphill through farmland and find a well placed bench.
Some locals are keen to see us off though.
A pretty wildflower meadow. 🌼
Hugo cooling off in Twiston Beck.
Twiston Mill Pond, though we couldn’t see the pond for the reeds!
Heading past Twiston Mill , which was a busy cotton mill in the past.
Old squeeze style replaced by gate.
You can continue here to Downham Mill, but our route took us elsewhere. I would like to do this walk though too.
The walk carried on past a couple of farms. Here’s a view of Pendle.
Dog Roses and Elderflowers.
Cows grazing as we approach Downham again.
On a rocky outcrop above the village , a 🐝 on mother of thyme.
And Biting Yellow Stonecrop.
Back into Downham. The cottages are stunning and no overhead cables or satellite dishes in sight.
Picture postcard perfect.
The Assheton Arms, Downham’s lovely pub. A couple of days after our walk we heard that the company who owns it has gone into administration, so not sure about it’s future. 😦
Downham pre school, which once upon a time used to be my primary school.
Hugo waiting for ice cream.
We ended our walk at the little ice cream shop on Hare Green, which also sells brews, cakes and sandwiches.
So I returned as promised to Salthill Nature Reserve in Clitheroe to look for the elusive Bee Orchid. There was a photo of one on a local wildlife group, but could I find it? Well nope! However there was still plenty to see and it was nice to wander round the reserve.
There were lots of Speckled Woods in the woodland areas.
And scented Dog Roses adorned the pathways.
The poisonous Cuckoo Pints green berry stalks cover the woodland floor.
The Common Blues looked vividly blue.
Honey scented flowers of Agrimony were once added to mead.
This rabbit sat and watched me from a woodland clearing.
A new wild flower sighting for me ~ Round leaved Wintergreen. The leaves remain evergreen through winter.
I saw a few Brown Ringlets.
Common spotted orchid.
I snuck into a gated off meadow which might not have been part of the reserve. Whoops! There were vast amounts of ox-eye daisies in there which were buzzing with bees and small dragonflies.
Daisy fest. 🌼
Small tortoishell on daisy.
And on bramble blossom.
Red Clover. This one looks particularly vibrant.
I didn’t have a clue what this was! I thought it may be some rarity, but then someone told me it was a cowslip gone to seed. 😜
Small tortoishell on wild thyme.
Cinnabar Moth.
I always get my Cinnabar’s and Six spotted Burnet’s mixed up. I should just count the spots. 😊
So despite not coming across the bee orchid, it was a successful visit. Have you visited a nature reserve recently?
I have been craving ‘ a sea fix ‘ for some time now. Today was finally the day that I got my fix. We headed to Heysham on the Lancashire coast and parked at Heysham Nature Reserve behind the power station. After typing Heysham Nature Reserve into Google maps it told me that we had visited the reserve two years ago. Scary that it remembered. 😜
Heysham Nature Reserve is still open , however the car park and facilities are currently closed. We managed to find a spot near the entrance and Hugo had an off lead wander. At some point we ended up on the rocky shore in front of the power station. Un surprisingly it was easy to social distance beside a nuclear power station. 😊
We walked as far as the striking rust coloured South Pier lighthouse and retraced our steps back to the car.
Rocky shore.
Behind the power station.
Yellow Rattle.
Greater Knapweed.
Hugo inspects the thin strip of beach.
Sea & sky.
Lesser black backed Gull.
South Pier Lighthouse selfie.
South Pier Lighthouse.
Oyster catchers brunch time.
It was around 11-30 and already cracking the flags at nearby Half Moon Bay when we parked the car on the small car park there. In fact it was getting a bit too hot for Hugo. After a short walk along the cliffs as far as the St Patrick’s chapel remains, we called it a day. Looking back on my post from two years ago, we had a hot weather visit then too! No beautiful new sculptures at that time though. Fab to see the recent editions. 😊
Oyster catcher sculpture.
Half Moon Bay.
Ship Sculpture looking over Half Moon Bay.
Ship Sculpture.
My first ever sighting of a Whitethroat. 🙂
St Patrick’s Chapel.
Rock cut coffin graves.
Goodbye beautiful Lancashire coast. Until next time. ❤️
By midday today it was scorching hot. I had taken our labrador for a riverside walk early morning ( saw my first dragonfly of the year) and then decided to head out somewhere unaccompanied. I love Hugo but he gets a little impatient when I become distracted by butterflies. 🙂
Salthill Quarry Nature Reserve is one of two nature reserves in my home town. A mixture of limestone grassland and shady woodland, the reserve is a haven for wild flowers and birds such as black caps and bullfinches. Which I never see ! Haha. Today my nemesis bird ( a gloriously colourful jay) posed for several photographs, promptly flying off cackling before I could get him into focus.
I enjoyed my walk and intend to post a blog in June, when hopefully the bee orchids will be in flower. For now, enjoy these photos. 😘
Hawthorn.
Yellow poppies.
Blue sky.
Cowslips.
Clock.
Small white.
Germander Speedwell.
Robin red breast.
Birds Foot Trefoil aka Bacon & Eggs.
Dog Rose.
Small white.
Wood Aven.
Bugles and Herb Robert.
Bluetit flying in and out of a nesting box.
Crinoid bench.
Milkwort.
Wild Strawberry.
Common Blue.
Chiffchaff.
Common Blue on Buttercup.
I hope I have identified the above correctly, please let me know if I have mixed up my common blues with my holly blues. 😅
Before the sun broke through the clouds yesterday and all the social distancing sunbathing and street parties commenced, we headed out for a walk up Worsaw Hill. The grassy limestone knoll is walkable from my hometown of Clitheroe, we managed an eight mile circular route before lunch time. 🙂 Here are a few images from our morning.
Lambs and Pendle Hill.
Blossoming Horse Chestnut Tree.
Hello Nanny 🐐.
Sheep sculptures ~ Worston Village.
Bunting ~ Worston Village.
Footpath sign after the Calf’s Head pub in Worston.
Footpath with Worsaw Hill ( I only took one actual picture of the hill itself, doh! ) In the distance.
Curious cows.
Water Avens.
View to Pendle Hill from ( almost the top of ) the much smaller Worsaw Hill.
View of Pendle. We rested and ate an Aldi version of a Tunnocks Tea Cake. Hugo had half an apple. 🙂
Downham Hall and Church from the other side of Worsaw Hill.
And views toward Kemple End and Clitheroe.
Violets.
Pretty path towards Chatburn village.
Tortoishell butterfly.
From Chatburn we headed for the river. Hugo had again rolled in something dead! Time for a dip.
The Ribble between Chatburn and West Bradford Bridge.
Bad dog! 🙄
Mute Swan.
Any ideas botanist bloggers? On the Riverside.
Canada Geese.
Dandelion clocks.
Hanson Cement works on the outskirts of Clitheroe.
Heron doing a Greta Garbo. 😅
Dusky Cranesbill.
This was a quiet walk with great views, wildlife and if done in the future, places to find refreshment. Also for film buffs, Worsaw Hill appears in Whistle Down The Wind , which was made locally.
This morning we had a ramble up to Salthill Quarry which is one of two nature reserves in my hometown of Clitheroe. We also had a wander there last weekend and found a new route back, so here are a few pictures from both walks.
I always look at this sign and think ‘hmmm where are those bullfinches?’. I have in the past seen the Bee orchids though. 😁
Wild Strawberry or maybe Barren Strawberry flower.
Birds Foot Trefoil, I think.
We always try our best to get a photo of Hugo on this fossil inspired seat, with little success.
More cowslips.
I have seen a few photos recently on Facebook of what can only be described as a ‘ Blue Lagoon’. I told Wil I really wanted to see this local landmark/ quarry pit for myself. Apparently as a teenager him and his mates would go scrambling round it. Boys will be boys!
Anyway the aquamarine water is a result of the limestone, which is quarried. Clitheroe’s limestone is made into cement and there has been a cement works in Clitheroe since the 1930s. I remember the town being known as ‘Cement City’ on CB radio. Haha.
The lagoon can be seen from a field off the A59 Link road.
There is no public access to the lagoon. I did see some mallards on it though.
After the blue lagoon excitement we walked back into town on a footpath we found last weekend, also off the A59 link road.
Beautiful Apple Blossom ❤️.
Magic Mushroom Graffiti under a stone footbridge.
Bluebells.
Stitchwort.
Stoney track. Spring flowers on both bankings here.
Daisies.
“I’m watching you “.
Old unlived in farm house.
Heading back through upbrooks, a part of Clitheroe that I didn’t really realise was here until recently.
One good thing about having to hang round home, is new walks found, and new parts of town explored.
Have you found any ‘new to you’ footpaths in your local area?
sunshine and celandines 