Hut

Want a cosy woodland shelter?  Here is a recreation of a Bark Peelers Hut at Hay Bridge Nature Reserve which looks as though nature is trying to colonise it.  In past times these would have been the summer residence of a bark peeler who would remove bark from oak trees before they were coppiced to supply local tanneries.  They would also make other woodland products to sell such as brooms, stakes, clothes pegs and baskets. We gathered around to admire the construction but some of those present disputed it was a bark peelers hut and suggested a charcoal burners hut (both occupations having used the Lakeland forests for centuries).

To give you some idea of  of the scale of the hut here is Bob bobbing down to enter.  Bark Peelers Huts had low circular walls and a central heath with a flue. Obviously the degradable material of the poles and sides of the original huts have long gone but the remains of the walls and hearths still can be found in the woods of Cumbria.  Charcoal burners huts on the other hand although the same shape were more temporary structures so their footprint can be harder to find.

Taking a higher view of the hut you can see that this is not the only piece of past woodland industries in this little corner of the Rusland valley for there is also a Potash Kiln.  These were usually built into hillsides and I think this one has been rebuilt by Hay Bridge Nature Reserve as part of their educational remit. Here is a front view...

Wood or more often green bracken would have been burnt in this to make potash for fertilisers but could also be mixed with burnt lime and tallow and boiled to make soft liquid soaps called lyes.  The other use was a combination of potash and alum which can fix the dye in the process of turning wool into dyed bolts of cloth.  About 15 miles east of here is the town that originally produced the colour Kendal Green, famous for being the colour that Robin Hood wore.  I have read that the last potash to come out of a Potash Kiln in Lakeland was about 1840.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at H here

Random Reflections

Liverpool

A group gathering perhaps deciding where to go next, one impatient to get going and me clicking rapidly to catch the reflection of the White Star building and them before a decision is made to move.

Whenever I am here I can never resist yet another photograph of Albert Dock so here is my most recent attempt

The rust colours of Autumn in the Rusland valley after much rain the beeches reflect in a puddle

The rays of sun glitter on the tarn as the leaves rustle

Tarn Hows

The low cloud of morning will soon retreat and then after a days walk it will be time to

Tarn Hows

 repose and reflect on the day sitting by the water.

"A lake is a landscapes most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature" Henry David Thoreau

An entry to ABC Wednesday. A journey through the alphabet

Autumn Ending

Rusland Beeches

The start of Autumn for me is always the tree of intense red that will appear on Barrow's Abbey Road, it will appear early and is the first sign of Autumn.  The trees in the Rusland Valley will still be green. The planet turns some more and by the first week in November the Rusland valley beeches will be the last to put on a show - it always feels like a grand finale (accentuated this year by the first snow appearing on the hills, but not seen in this sheltered valley).

With the water table so high after months of rain I even got the added benefit of part of the road being slightly flooded in the photograph.     

Lakeland Weekend

In the rhythm of the seasons the beaches in the Rusland valley are always the last to change colour which usually coincides with the first frosts, the prelude to winter. All though of winter are put aside for clear skies and sunshine this weekend have been perfect for

cycling club

who soon whizzed by towards their destination

Sailing on the lakes. The ferry Miss Lakeland was packed as it came to disgorge its passenger at Lakeside and fill up with more to travel down back down Windermere.

whereas the sailing boats were enjoying tacking across the lake. The smaller visitors to the Lakes were steaming

from Haverthwaite to Lakeside on Thomas the Tank Engine

ABC Wednesday - Rusland

R is for the Rusland Valley
which lies folded between the lakes of Windermere and Coniston Water in the southern Lake District. The road in is lined down one side with over 50 beeches. We are blessed they are still there. The National Park Authority wanted to clear fell them all in the name of 'safety', but a local campaign sprang up to combat this vandalism and had the trees surveyed. Result, all perfectly sound apart from half a dozen. For the history of the trees see here
In the end the campaign was successful and only a few were chopped down (including the largest one) and new beeches were planted to replace them. A story with a happy ending.

The next destination is a small nature reserve which is designated an SSSI.
A raised bog, woodland, open low fell and lakes in between Rusland Hall and Hay Bridge
The Hay Bridge Nature Reserve has been established for about 30 years. In the past it did not have boardwalks as it has taken time for the ground to revert to its natural condition. Before the boardwalks water could be up to your fetlocks after long spells of wet weather and it is still
reet clarty in places, translation if you are not from the north of england, quite muddy in parts.
There is firm ground by the streams that run through the wood. It is a peaceful, magical place and the only sounds that can be heard are birds. There are red deer, badgers, brown hare, weasels and stoats.

Q How do you tell the difference between a stoat and a weasel?
A. One is weasely distinguished and the other is stoately different.

How did that 7 year old child get in here?
In spring and summer there are lots of flowers, but even at this time of very late autumn, there are still some in the streams. In summer there will be huge numbers of dragonflies and damselflies at this place.
There are also a few large sheltered ponds surrounded by trees, wonderful for of all types of wildlife, and beautiful when the water lilies are in flower. For an overview of the species at Hay Bridge Nature Reserve see here
But not all is wetness. If you walk on to the little mound only 125 ft above sea level where sits the Tissie Fooks memorial, and where you too can sit and contemplate, (the hills pointed out cannot be seen on this hazy day)

the surrounding woods and pasture are all in view.
Leaving the reserve behind us and walking on, the sheep at High Longmire stand to have their picture taken, the farm is hidden behind the trees. The valley has scatterings of farms and

Kirkthwaite Cottage

cottages,

some with immaculate lawns
and some with a river running by at the bottom.
Here I end my tour at Rusland church. Our car was parked outside and the heavens opened as we walked then ran down the road, but I could not resist this photo of the light in the church door. Unfortunately as you can see the photo gods were not smiling on me as, unknown to me, I did not manage to keep the rain off the lens.

Run Rapidly over to se a Range of Rs at ABC Wednesday

Sloe Walk

Had a lovely walk in the Rusland Valley yesterday with the additional treat of coming across this blackthorn bush which was laded with sloes. It looks a very old bush as it is covered with moss and abundant grey lichen, which I think is the shrubby Ramalina farinacea. The lichen indicates good air quality round here and as it is near a place called Windy Hall this certainly indicates a lot of fresh air. I don't think last year was a good year for sloes as the ones we can across were poor specimens. This year they are plump. Plastic bag out and we gathered about a pound, which left loads left on the tree for anyone else with a desire to make Sloe Gin.

The temperature this week can only be described a balmy, a wonderfully warm autumn. (This time last year it had snowed). The air was still and the breeze crackled the dry leaves on the trees as we walk through the woods. The birds sang and the sparse late flowers felt as though they were wishing us goodbye for the year.
A profusion of Scarlet Hood (Hygrophorus coccineus) greeted us as we walked through the fields towards the end of the walk. These fungi like to grow in grass and the cap fades to yellow as it ages. You can just see the yellow edges on these ones.
What of the sloes we picked. Today I bought a bottle of gin, pricked the juicy sloes, put them in the gin and added the sugar. Now I turn the bottle every day and wait. I knew someone who used to put the bottle under her bed and the last thing she did before she went to bed was turn it. One way of remembering to keep turning the bottle.