" Storms and Squirrels "

Date & start time: Monday 23rd May 2011. ( Morning and afternoon.)

Location of Start : Scale Bridge car park, Loweswater , Cumbria, Uk ( NY 149 215 )

Places visited : The garden and later on the lake.

Walk details : Short and sheltered from the strong winds.

Highest point : Seeing our local wildlife on a regular basis

Walked with : Ann and the dogs, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Very windy after a night and morning of heavy rain.

A new member of the Loweswater Football Team calls round for a practice session.

Not exactly true   as he was more interested in what lay beyond . . .   the bird table laden with goodies   for birds and squirrels alike.

What was nice this morning was that he / she was joined by a sibling

and together they enjoyed a late breakfast and a run about the garden.

Climbing the pole towards the food . . .	" I can't get in if you keep sitting on the lid ! "

He decides the table might provide equally good fare.

Close up of the lower, brown tailed one . . .

[ Pictures taken through the glass so apologies for the reflections and slight focus problems of some shots ]

. . . and of the lighter tailed one above.

As the first vacates the nut box in favour of the other feeder

the lighter tailed one has a chance to go for the cob nuts.

Then after a brief pause below the lounge window they were off on their travels again.

- - - o o o - - -

After a light lunch we enjoyed a brief walk down by the river to see the effects of the local overnight rain.

The woods would be a good place to go as they would protect us from the strong winds and any rogue showers that were still about.

The river levels were certainly up and the river was starting to flood the fields this side of Scale Hill woods.

No problem though as there's still plenty of capacity under the bridge.

Put those plans for a large wooden boat and a duplicate list of animals away !

There were two Heron down by the river though.

They were cleverly scouring the shallow water for any fish that had been swept out of the main river.

We have a new water level monitoring station, the last one wiped out in the big floods.

The river is normally confined to the area this side of the trees.

The new construction is still high and dry.	It has a plaque noting the top 2009 flood level.

I hope their equipment is in the top half of the building and above the marker level otherwise they may have wasted a lot of money.

Continuing on, we take the forest track towards the lake.	Plenty of water about as one would expect.

Sunlight through the trees on a bend in the river.

I've swum in the river here on a quiet summer day . . . but not today thank you.

The normal riverside path option is out of bounds too.

Our little bit of temperate rainforest has turned to swamp.

The wind fills my jacket as we reach the lakeside . . .

. . . but the dogs don't seem bothered.

The beach is littered with flotsam brought across by the strong winds.

It also whips the top off the waves and sends swirls of water high into the air.

Don't hold out much hope of reaching the bridges.

Harry decides the main river is far too strong to attempt a crossing

and wisely turns back of his own accord.

No round the lake walk today.

Even the two weirs and central fish ladder are hidden from view.

We decide to be really 'British' and sit down on a local chair and enjoy the view despite the weather.

We sat by the beach and watched the waves crashing against the shore.

[ Hold your cursor over the picture to join us today ]

The weather was putting on a fascinating display as it lifted the tops of the waves high into the air . . .

. . . and spun it round in mini-vortices across the water.

However the weather was on the turn and the sunshine was winning out as we left the lake for our return home.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon 75 or my Canon G10 digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . boat building plans put away for another time.

Go to Top . . . © RmH.2011 . . . Email me here

Previous walk - 22nd May 2011 Six Welshmen and a Mountain

A previous time up here - 19th January 2009 Snow and Squirrels

Next walk - 28th May 2011 Crummock and a Geocache