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| Crummock Water, Cumbria, UK |
Let
me take you back 500 million years. Crummock Water, now one of
fourteen beautiful lakes in The Lake District, was on the sea bed, a
bed made up of sand and black, glutinous mud. Since then, that
sediment has been squeezed, scunched and uplifted (and continues to
be so) to form the fells that surround the lake, in this, the oldest
part of the National Park. To the south of this are the eroded
outcrops of hard lavas and ashes formed as a result of catastrophic
volcanic eruptions 450 million years ago. It is here that you will
find the highest peaks including Scafell Pike, England's highest at
3,209 feet (978m). To the south of this lies the gentler sedimentary
rocks of southern Lakeland. These mudstones, sandstones, siltstones
and limestones made up of billions of crushed seashells were formed
upon the sea bed around 420 million years ago. The result is an area
of truly outstanding natural beauty.
Let
us take a walk around the woodland at the edge of the lake. It feels
primaeval with its moss covered rocks and trees where red squirrels
scamper around in the canopy and warblers and finches sing from
unseen branches. Rows of bracket fungi adorn fallen branches and down
by the water's edge bilberries are just starting to form. Look at the
mosses more closely and you can see that the moss growing on the
rocks (Thuidium sp.) and the moss climbing the trees (Hypnum
sp.) are entirely different, occupying, as they do, completely
separate ecological niches.
We'll
track north now to Allonby Sands, a long, sandy beach on the edge of
the Solway Firth. It is the middle of May and the Hawthorn bushes up
on the dune ridge are just coming into flower. Floating all around
them, long legs trailing, are the Hawthorn flies (Bibio marci).
These harmless little insects (they don't bite) have a tendency to
hatch in large numbers on or about the 25th April – the
males sometimes about a week earlier – which is St. Mark's Day.
This gives them their alternative name of St. Mark's Fly. Having
completed their mating cycle many of them finish up on the surface of
lakes, rivers and streams where they provide a seasonal bounty for
the fish.
Coming
down onto the shoreline and peering into the rock pools (or guddling
in the local dialect) we find a treasure trove of shells of edible
molluscs; oysters [top], mussels [bottom] and razor shells [right]. Unfortunately the
original inhabitants of these shells are no longer present so no
'Allonby Chowder' recipe this week. It's a dish more suited to the
depths of winter so, maybe on our next visit. And we must include smoked kippers! Around the turn of the 18th century, the village of
Allonby was the centre of the local herring fishing industry, salting
and packing the herring in barrels and kippering them in the smoke
house.
From
the remote geolical past, through more recent history, we come to the
present. Out beyond the shoreline, where the oystercatchers, knots
and dunlin probe the sands for their lunch, lies the Robin Rigg
offshore wind farm. Sixty 260ft (80m) high towers with four 144ft
(44m) blades apiece turning at an average 170 miles per hour produce
enough electricity to power half the houses in Cumbria. There are
concerns of course. You can't plant a forest of turbines in somewhere
like the Solway Firth without shaking it up a little and the ecology
is being carefully monitored. But, whichever way you look at it, it
means a heck of a lot less fossil fuel has to be burnt to keep the
lamps lit over half the county.
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Steve's
Books (well,
just the one at the moment but 'The Quick Guide to Creepy-Crawlies'
is well under way and should be available later in the year).)
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Not
Just For Twisted Women by Steve Daniels A light-hearted look at life through the eyes of the fairer sex. Kindle Edition 1.99 pounds sterling (or equivalent). Paperback Edition 4.99 pounds sterling (or equivalent).. Read snippets, samples and stuff at Steve's Books |
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