Occasionally Lost: dales

Friday, 11 May 2018

Wardlow Hay Cop and Cressbrook Dale

Occasionally Lost 09:49:00
circular walk, Cressbrook Dale, dales, Derbyshire, farmland, limestone, Peak District, Wardlow, Wardlow Hay Cop, White Peak, Wildflowers 2 comments

Cressbrook Dale is a beautiful limestone valley just north west of Bakewell. It's one of my favourite spots in the White Peak and there's no better time of year to visit it than spring, when its wildflowers put on a breathtaking display. If you walk the full length of the dale, you'll find yourself in ash woodland at the southern end and here in May the air is rich with the aroma of wild garlic. We've done a circuit that takes in those woods and the beautiful expanse of ramson flowers that spreads below their canopy, which you can read about here.

Wild garlic in Cressbrook Dale in May 2015.

Tuesday, 27 March 2018

A Circular Walk from Peak Forest to Castleton

Occasionally Lost 17:59:00
Castleton, caves, circular walk, dales, Derbyshire, farmland, half-day walk, history, limestone, moorland, Peak District, Peak Forest, White Peak No comments

As I type this opening paragraph, the sun is streaming through the window, the skies are the most beautiful shade of blue and I'm being informed on a regular basis by Facebook and Twitter users alike that today is the vernal equinox. It certainly didn't feel like the first day of spring was only hours away when I ventured out on a walk above the Hope Valley yesterday. It's true that Mam Tor did stand resplendently green in the sunshine above Castleton - but that was because the unrelenting and bitter wind of the past few days had blown all the snow off its exposed slopes and not because of a seasonal thaw.

The wind's handiwork was apparent as I set off up a farm lane from Peak Forest, where huge drifts of powdery snow had formed along the wall. The pristine white whorls and curves and cornices in miniature were fascinating to look at, almost like works of art, and these were the first of many I was to encounter that day.

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Wildflowers 2017

Occasionally Lost 17:42:00
dales, Derbyshire, farmland, flora, grassland, limestone, marshland, meadows, Peak District, White Peak, Wildflowers, wildlife 1 comment

One of the things I've enjoyed most about moving to Derbyshire is that I now have much easier access to the White Peak and the Derbyshire Dales. Living in Manchester and being reliant for the most part on public transport meant that the majority of my solo walking made use of the railway lines that radiate out from the city into the Dark Peak towards Sheffield and Yorkshire. Now a quite different landscape has opened up to me, some of it walkable from my home, and as a result I think I've encountered more wildflowers this past few months than I have in all of my previous hill-walking days.

This whole field (pun intended!) is quite new to me, so - even with the help of the internet generally and Twitter in particular (thank you @wildflowerhour and @BSBIbotany, plus several other individual Twitter users)* - I've still struggled to identify some of the flowers I've come across. Nonetheless, I thought it'd be nice to collect the images here, some of them extracted from trip reports but many just snapped as I've wandered around on an aimless afternoon's ramble. Due to problems taking macro pictures with my camera many of the images below have been taken with my phone but hopefully the quality is good enough to bring a modicum of pleasure or interest to those who are curious about the flora of Britain.

The flowers are roughly listed in date order - i.e. the time of year at which I encountered them.

Wood Anemone:

Monk's Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017.

Miller's Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/wood-anemone

Cowslip:

Deep Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017.

Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/cowslip

Crosswort:

Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017.

More info: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/crosswort

Cuckooflower:

Field south-west of Sparrowpit, Derbyshire, May 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/cuckooflower

Early Purple Orchid:

Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017

Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017.

Peter Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017.

More info: http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/early-purple-orchid

Marsh Marigold:

Monk's Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/marsh-marigold

Bugle:

Peter Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/bugle

Germander Speedwell:

Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/germander-speedwell

Ragged Robin:

Buxton Serpentine, June 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/ragged-robin

Monkey Flower:

Buxton Serpentine, June 2017.

More info: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/monkeyflower

Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil:

This is one I am not entirely sure I have identified correctly, even after comparing my picture with numerous images online.

Pennine Bridleway, north of Birch Vale Reservoir, Derbyshire, June 2017.

More info: http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/greater-bird-s-foot-trefoil.html

Foxglove:

Sett Valley Trail near Hayfield, Derbyshire, June 2017.

Pennine Bridleway, north of Lantern Pike, Derbyshire, June 2017.

More info: http://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/foxglove

Tufted Vetch:

Also known as Cow Vetch or Bird Vetch.

Pennine Bridleway, southern ascent of Lantern Pike, Derbyshire, June 2017.

Pennine Bridleway, north of Lantern Pike, June 2017.

Bridle-way across Bee Low, Derbyshire, July 2107.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/tufted-vetch

Meadow Crane's-bill or Field Geranium:

Pennine Bridleway near Deep Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017.

Field on side of Hay Dale (non-access land), Derbyshire, July 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/meadow-cranes-bill

Field Scabious:

Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017.

Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017.

More info: http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/field-scabious.html

Bird's-foot Trefoil:

Many of these plants have local alternative names - I particularly like that, among other things, this small flower is sometimes known as "Granny's-Toenails".

Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017.

By-way across Bee Low, Derbyshire, July 2017.

More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/birds-foot-trefoil

Meadowsweet:

I'm pretty sure this is meadowsweet but there's a niggling doubt in my mind because the leaves look quite full in all the online pictures I've seen whereas here there are barely any, and those are small and sparsely distributed (as well as blurred!).