Threlkeld Mining Museum

 

It's been a while since the last blog post, mainly due to the poor weather, but we have managed to make one excursion: to the Threkeld Mining Museum (I take you to all the best places). Unfortunately, despite the website saying it was open, it wasn't. Still, if you're up for a little tramping around in the cold Cumbrian drizzle, here it is.

“More like a machinery mausoleum than a mining museum,” Ishbel observed, as we tried to avoid the suspiciously grey puddles. A raven forlornly cronked his agreement overhead. Even so, there was a certain contrapuntal beauty between the gaudy, angular leviathans, and the muted natural colours, and contours, of the landscape.

There were, however, signs of spring arriving. Amongst the leafless trees, the willows were in full bud, and in one of the cleaner ditches, the pool frogs had spawned.

And, joy of joys, the first adult insects of the year have emerged. A pair of water crickets. These are in the family Veliidae (the riffle bugs) and are closely related to the Gerridae (water striders). The differences are mainly internal and must have been discovered in the 20^th century as my 1896 Cassell's Natural History doesn't mention them.

Meanwhile, there are strange goings-on, going on across the river from the Old Cornmill (where I live). Fearing a new housing estate, I made enquiries. But no, it is an archaeological dig. I am lucky enough to live on the outskirts of the old Roman settlement of Derventio and history, being a relatively new interest of mine, is literally on my doorstep. I'll let you know what they dig up.

Talking of things historical, my little on-line shop is still growing nicely with just short of a hundred items on the shelves at any one time. Come in and have a browse. Steve's Vintage Collectables.

Last time, I mentioned that my new novel, The MONOM (The Magic of Nature of Magic) is now available as a paperback and an ebook. I suppose it would have helped if I'd included the link! Here it is. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Steve-Daniels/author/B081Z8FNK5

(And as the insects are now beginning to appear, it's a good time to get a copy of The Quick Guide To Creepy-Crawlies which you'll find on the same page). 

All the best,

Steve

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Steve Daniels Cumbria

Series 14 Springtime in Cumbria

 

Welcome to a new series of The Crete and Cumbria Nature Blog. Still in Cumbria, thanks to the necessary travel restrictions still in place, but I'm not complaining. Cumbria is a wonderful place to spend the Springtime. So, let's celebrate by looking out for the first signs of Spring, such as newborn lambs, primroses bursting through last years fallen leaves, trees and woody shrubs budding and flowering, and insects pollinating the plants as their blooms burst forth.

Continuing our railway theme from last week's imaginary trip on The Cockermouth Circle Line, our journey today starts at Keswick station and follows the old railway line towards Threlkeld. The line, which used to link Penrith to Cockermouth, was axed in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, and is now a tarmacadamed walk/cycle track suitable for wheelchair users. Just listen to Spring beginning around the station with this symphony of birdsong.

The River Greta (which means stony stream in Old Norse) will be our constant companion on this walk, as it zigzags back and forth across our trail. There's a Woodpigeon down there, collecting sticks for what he laughingly thinks of as a nest. Whereas some birds construct intricate structures of grass, moss, wool and other materials, pigeons just seem to launch twigs at a tree and see what sticks. How their eggs and chicks remain aloft is one of nature's great mysteries.

There are ponds along the side of the trail, with Marsh Marigolds bursting forth. These are predominantly insect pollinated and have an unusual method of seed dispersal. When the seeds have matured they are surrounded by a 'splash cup'. When a raindrop hits the splash cup the seeds are bouced out. They are also surrounded by a spongy lifejacket so they simply float away from the parent plant. Like their relatives, the Lesser Celandine, which we have been seeing a lot of in recent weeks, their leaves are edible when cooked but poisonous when raw. (see Longlands Lake). And clumped together on the bottom of the pond we have frogspawn. You can tell that it's frogspawn and not toadspawn because of the way it clumps together; toads lay their spawn in long strings.

You'll have noticed that all the bridges, the tunnel and much of the infrastructure on this trail are brand new. In 2015, Storm Desmond produced such a torrent of water that all the old railway bridges were destroyed. Seeing the river so calm and peaceful today, it's hard to imagine the scale of the flood that could have wreaked such havoc. It took five years to repair the damage and the trail was only reopened at the end of last year. I've included a few pictures of fungi and lichens, not because they are signs of Spring, for they are with us all the year round. I just didn't want them to feel left out.

We also have caterpillars crawling about and this one features in my new series on Steve's Nature Plus called Minibeast Monday in which I tell you a little bit more about the insects and other creepy-crawlies that appear in my blog posts. Much of the information is taken from The Quick Guide To Creepy-Crawlies which tells you who is related to whom, how to identify them in their various stages of life, and plenty of other interesting facts (like whether they are likely to bite or sting you). Everyone tells me that it's a very interesting and informative book but modesty precludes me from agreeing with them wholeheartedly. I still refer to it when I come across something I've never seen before.

I'll leave you with this beautiful picture of the River Greta flowing through the Lakeland pastures with a little Grey Wagtail bobbing around on the boulders. See you through the week on Steve's Nature Plus.

Happy Springtime,

Steve

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