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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