Natural history

Derwent Water, Cumbria

The Lake District: characterised by steep, towering mountains, vast lakes and walking gear. We had our family holiday here in August and it is stunning. Do visit.

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Sweetchestnuts

The parkland at NT Calke Abbey has many beautiful huge, old sweet chestnuts. Some have long, trailing branches that appear to prop it up like a drapey candelabra and this is quite possibly what they are doing.

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Tissington Trail, Peak District

For me, the Peak District is characterised by its thousands of miles of dry stone walls which vary in colour depending on whether they’re in an area of brown gritstone (sandstone) or light grey limestone – the limestone is my favourite for walling but the gritstones make wonderful millstones which are still used decoratively around the region.

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Damsels and dragons

I touched on damselflies and dragonflies in my last post so thought I’d look into them a bit more today. Five ways to tell them apart: Bodies: damselfly’s long, thin and fragile looking; dragonfly’s are chunkier

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Hydrangeas, Weston Park

I visited Weston Park for the first time this week for a heritage event – previously I’ve only got as far as The Granary restaurant. It’s a fabulous place so if you’re at a loose end this weekend and it’s good weather, I highly recommend it.

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Honesty

These seed pods belong to the plant honesty. It’s a lovely plant originally from central and southern europe which has been adopted by gardeners, mainly for these unusual seed pods. There are a few varieties but only two colours: purple or white.

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Yellowhammer

There’s a country lane near the kids school that I often walk down which sings with the calls of a Yellowhammer. It’s a distinctive call and stands out against all others. It’s high pitched and seems that the bird is saying “little-bit-of-butter-no-cheeeeese!”

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Handkerchief Tree

If you’re after an unusual tree, try this: the Handkerchief tree or ‘Davidia involucrata’, or Dove tree. So called due to these fabulous paper-thin, pale green-white, handkerchief-like flowers dangling from the branches.

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Mackerel sky

A nicely nerdy post! A lovely sky we had recently, known as a mackerel or buttermilk sky due to the resemblance to the mackerels distinctive patterning or curdled milk.

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Bluebell woods

Before it’s too late, head off to your local public access bluebell woods – there’s nothing quite like them. Blue is an unusual colour in the flower world and to see these en masse is just stunning.

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