Tags
bolete, butterfly, cat's-ear, Climbing Corydalis, common ragwort, Forestry Commission, Fox-and-cubs, fungus, heather, lady's-mantle, lichen, moss, pixie-cup lichen, ringlet, walking, Whinlatter Forest, wild flowers
Alice came to visit us on the last day of our holiday in the Lake District. We met her off the train in Penrith at about 10.00 am and took her back to our rented cottage for a cup of tea. After catching up with all her news we took her to Whinlatter Forest which we had visited briefly earlier in the week, as Elinor wanted to show it to her sister.
Not only are there a number of tracks through the woods for walking and mountain biking but they also have segways for hire too. There are trails designed to appeal to small children and zip wires and swinging on ropes for very active people.
We walked.
Alice is a fast walker so she and Richard went ahead. I am forever on the lookout for interesting plants and insects and take lots of photos and Elinor can’t walk fast or far so we both kept together.
You can see how small these little cups are by comparing them with the pine needles next to them.
The reason I really wanted to get a photograph of it was that I thought it looked like a Ringlet butterfly but they usually have eye-spots on their wings. I have since done some research and I believe it is likely to be a Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) as sometimes they are seen without eye-spots. What is confusing is that all references to Ringlets state that they aren’t found in the north-west of England! I am sending my inadequate photo to ukbutterflies.co.uk to see what they make of it.
We returned to the carpark and went into the café and had a drink and a sandwich. We took Alice back to our cottage for a while until it was time for her to catch her train to Sheffield. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the cottage and packing for our journey home the following day.
Thanks for visiting!
tootlepedal said:
I have seen a ringlet so I think they are about up here.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you!
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Jill Weatherholt said:
Thanks for taking us along, Clare. What a beautiful walk! Your photos are wonderful. I really love the Skiddaw shot and I too liked Elinor’s forest glade.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jill! One of my ambitions is to climb to the top of Skiddaw.
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Lavinia Ross said:
A beautiful wood for walking and taking photos! Thank you for the trip through this wood.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lavinia! It was a lovely day out with the family 🙂
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Thom Hickey said:
Seems like a lovely family excursion. Have to check out those Segways! Regards Thom.
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clarepooley33 said:
Not sure if I’m quite brave enough for Segway riding but it was a great place to be with the family. Thanks Thom!
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Julie said:
The views are just gorgeous Clare, I’d like to walk up just to see them too. We tried Segway for the first and probably last time this year, we much prefer to walk and stop like you to see what is going on. Lovely to see the four of you together, when those days do not happen often, it makes it all the more special.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Julie! It was nice to be all together again even if it was only for a few hours. I’m not sure that I’d enjoy being on a Segway – I get nervous on a bike!
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lundygirl said:
What a treat to visit Whinlatter this morning via your blog. It’s one of my favourite places. I shall now start the rest of my day happy. Thanks Clare.
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clarepooley33 said:
I am so pleased, Rachel! 😀
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Jane said:
Oh Clare, I would love going on walks with you! We seem to enjoy similar things. Thank you for sharing the pictures of fungi, lichen and moss in particular. I always have to stop and examine them on my walks. Fantastic stuff. 😀
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jane! Either my companions slow down to accommodate my photography or I have to keep running to catch up with them!
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colorpencil2014 said:
I always enjoy ‘our walks together’ Lovely way to start the day here, on the other side of the pond! xo Johanna
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Johanna! I hope you are having a good week 🙂
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markspitzerdesigns said:
Clare – liked the views of the fells. Where does the term ‘fell’ come from ?
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Mark! ‘Fell’ is from the Norse word ‘fjallr’ meaning mountain (usually a large, flat-topped mountain). The Lake District was one of the areas in Britain that the Viking and Norsemen came to live in. Where I live in Suffolk was another such place.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
Yes, those do look like pixie cup lichens and the moss looks like it might be peat.
I wonder if the bolete might be Boletus bicolor, which has a red cap and yellow pores. The stem is also red and the flesh bruises blue.
I’ve never seen the climbing corydalis here.
The forest looks much like ours but I can’t think of anywhere I can go to see such beautiful views!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Allen. I cannot find that Boletus bicolor grows here. We have a similar bolete – Ruby Bolete/Boletus rubellus – which also has a red stem and bruises blue. I didn’t touch the ones I found so I don’t know whether they bruised. I also am not sure what colour the stem was – I thought it was a pale colour but I could have been mistaken as a lot of it was eaten. Thank-you for confirming that the lichen was probably pixie-cup lichen and for the possible moss ID. My photo of the corydalis isn’t good. This is a much better photo
https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=C211GB843D20150105&p=climbing+corydalis+image
The views are spectacular!
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
Mushrooms are difficult. I don’t really know if the bicolor bolete grows there either. If you see another one you’ll have to bruise it.
Thanks for the corydalis link. It’s an interesting plant.
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clarepooley33 said:
Yes it looks so delicate but can take over a large area. It’s a member of the Fumitory family.
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Charlotte Hoather said:
I loved these photos, it reminds me of home and Delamere forest I can recommend that area if you’re ever in Cheshire.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Charlotte! I have been to Delamere Forest once when we stayed near Chester. My husband was born in Altrincham and then moved to Frodsham when he was a year or so old. He has many happy memories of playing and walking in Delamere Forest and was very unhappy when his parents moved to Manchester when he was nine years old. You are right, the forest looks a lot like Delamere. Clare xx
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quietsolopursuits said:
You picked a wonderful area to go for a walk, loved the forest and surrounding hills! The flowers and fungi were like bonus treats along the way. I’m still amazed by the overall appearance of your part of England, or whatever you call it, it looks nothing like I’ve come to expect from watching TV, movies, or even from reading books. It’s so much prettier there than I expected.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jerry! The Lake District is a lovely place which is why we holiday there so often. It is in England in the far NW near the southern border of Scotland. I will be posting about the Peak District soon and that is just as lovely to my eyes though with a different kind of landscape. That is in the Midlands – right in the centre of England. The countryside at home where I live is a much gentler place – a few rolling hills and quite a bit of flat land near the sea and more flat agricultural land further inland. I am often surprised at the locations chosen by film crews. They often choose the dreariest places to set their films! I like seeing where you live too. I don’t know that there have been many, if any films/TV programmes set in your part of Michigan.
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Aquileana said:
Excellent post… It is always great to catch up with your updates and to look at your stunning photographs, dear Clare… Sending you much love and best wishes. Aquileana 🐉☀️
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you my dear Aquileana! With much love to you. Clare xx
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Gallivanta said:
How lovely that Alice was able to join you. My eyes lit up when I saw Penrith. My great great grandfather was born in Langwathby which is north east of Penrith. He came to NZ in 1863. The family must have had a close association with Penrith because he named one of his sons, Thomas Penrith. My gg gfather had a sister who was married in St Andrew’s church in Penrith and her golden wedding anniversary was published in the Penrith papers in 1904. I am learning about their home region through your blog. Wonderful.
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clarepooley33 said:
How lovely! I’m glad I have been able to help you picture where your relatives came from. We didn’t spend much time in Penrith this last holiday but as we will no doubt be going to the Lakes again in the not too distant future I will see if I can take some pictures of the town and church.
http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/penrith/
http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/penrith-st-andrews-church/
Hope these links are useful.
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Gallivanta said:
It looks so beautiful, I can’t imagine why my ancestors wanted to leave. What they came to was pretty rough, and can’t have been easy at first.
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clarepooley33 said:
It does look lovely but I think life was hard there too in the mid 1800’s. Winters there are very bleak and cold and transport and roads weren’t too good either. I have found you another link, though you may also have found this one by now!
http://www.visitcumbria.com/evnp/langwathby/
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Gallivanta said:
Thank you. I hadn’t come across that one. Yes, the winters in NZ would have been warmer, that’s for sure. This is the area where my people settled in NZ. I expect they were homesick at times. https://silkannthreades.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/amelia-sims/#comments
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you for the link. I too like the idea of having a ship-gift. This reminds me of a lady I used to do voluntary work with whose name was Monica. We complimented her on her name after she had said she disliked it and she told us she was named after her father’s boat!
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Gallivanta said:
Oh dear. It would be hard to know if that were a compliment or not!
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clarepooley33 said:
She didn’t think of it as a compliment!
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greytabby1 said:
It was lovely to take a walk through this forest with you Clare – you are a very good guide and bring it all to life so well. Despite being a non-native forest it really is very beautiful and atmospheric. I especially liked the forest glade. It looked almost magical. The views of course were spectacular. Look forward to more of your posts as it’s so lovely to learn about different areas of England that I have yet to visit.
Kate
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Kate. The forest was lovely especially as, every now and then, the path came out into the open and there were fantastic views.
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womanseyeview said:
What amazing riches you found on this forest floor. I too loved Elinor’s glade and the way you captured it in your photo.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! Elinor is a nice walking companion.
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