Delta Ged, Volunteer Ranger @ National Trust Lyme Park : July 2014

Photo Blog Week 32 - Wed 30 July 2014

I set off on my patrol in just my shirt but by the time I got to the Moor I had to put my tee shirt on underneath. After a dull slightly drizzly morning, the weather changed completely at lunchtime and I was melting by 2 o'clock.

Today I concentrated on some of the woodland areas and also, as the park was busy, spent a lot of time zig zagging around picnic areas and car parks litter picking. The result was lower actual mileage than normal for 5 hours.

I cleared two recent fire pits, the first one leading to a degree of pain. Shifting cinders and dumping them into a hole by a log, I thought a tall stem had caught me but after brushing it away saw the wasp sting with sack still attached in my arm. I managed to knock it out without squeezing much further poison but it still started to hurt! I carried on working then within seconds was stung again on the arm and on the hand. Looking down, the little blighters were swarming out under where I was working. Obviously I had disturbed a wasps nest. I had nothing with me so just poured cold drinking water over them and carried on. When I arrived at the Moor 20 Min's later, I have never enjoyed a cooling breeze so much. Still burning a little now as I type some 10 hours later.
The second pit had tops of aerosols lying around which denies any claims of 'responsible' behaviour.

Fires are not allowed anywhere in the Park and BBQ's only in the marked old quarry areas near The Knott car park.

route: The Stables; East Lodge drive; Caters Slack; Lantern Wood; The Lantern

Narrow path parallel to East Drive

Red Deer below The Cage on Coalpit Wood side

Rowan Berries

A nice thistle to honour Glasgow and the Commonwealth Games

Manchester in the murky morning

The Lantern

Inside looking up from doorway

The open windows all look into the Park toward the Hall

Notice the holes in the wall suggesting a floor having been in place so these windows would have been face level. There is nowhere stairs could have fitted so I guess a ladder would have been used to reach the 1st floor.

View from the door direct to Lyme Hall

The Lantern

route: The Lantern; Lantern Wood East Deer Leap; Lantern Wood West to top and Park Moor; High View Point; Bowstonegate Fm entrance.

Path through Lantern Wood

There seem to be a lot of fungi appearing about the park

The menace that is the rhododendron takes over anywhere it can

The sky open as the tree canopy ends at the top of Lantern Wood.

Park Moor over the wall to right.

Haze over the town with Lyme hall in the foreground

Looking from the high view point over the Park and The Cage.

Sunny spots highlighting some areas around Stockport.

Topograph at the highest point of the park

Bowstonegate Farm secondary earning stream seems to be hosting aerials

Park Moor across to Sponds Hill

The unmistakable profile of Shuttlingslow from near Bowstonegate Fm.

route: Bowstonegate Fm entrance; Knightslow Wood gate; east along bottom of Moor; Knightslow Wood; top of Lyme Avenue

Kestrel

UPDATE: If you have returned to this post, I had labelled this previously as a 'Buzzard' but with the following rider, "I think this is a Buzzard but if you know better please leave a comment.".
Ken the Waller has since advised me that it is a Kestrel hovering over the Moor.

My puzzlement at the lack of the orange/brown colouring could be that while the adults are feeding their young, they become dull with damaged feathers and under nourishment of them selves. This can result in them appearing dull and 'washed out'. (Thanks Ken)

Kestrel over Park Moor

The Moor Herd deer feed station by Bowstonegate Track has been taken over by the cattle

Cat's Ear (Hypochoeris radicata)

also known as: 'Catsear', 'False Dandelion', 'Flatweed'

As summer moves on, there are now only a few colourful wild flowers. These include Cat's Ear, Buttercups, Tormentil and Harebells

Moor Herd

The Moor Herd are usually difficult to spot but they are out there. These three shots go from my camera's maximum zoom out to real view.

Full zoom - appears to be a group of Hinds

This is about how the human eye spots them.

Note the shape of the paler grass when looking at the next picture.

... and this is standard camera view.

The pale grass area referred above is dead centre.

Alderley Edge escarpment clear against the mist

Blackberries soon

Fallow Deer

The Fallow Deer male and female are Bucks and Does and the young, Fawns.
Separate from the Red Deer herds of the Park and the Moor, the Fallow Deer are a Mediterranean species and much smaller. Their enclosure is closed off in the winter, partly to let grasses recover from the public footfall but also to de-stress the deer who are not at home with cold winter temperatures. Their feed in winter is largely corn supplemented with vitamins and minerals.

Fallow Deer come in many colours, including white. This buck is not an albino.

Mature Fallow Buck

A 'fawn'; young fallow deer.

The antlers on the Buck, left, show it to be quite young.

At about 3 years old, the 'Palmate' form of the antlers begins. Look at a picture of a mature buck and note the flat hand-palm like form.

route: Knightslow Wood (top of Lyme Avenue); Bowstone track; inside Wood track to Drinkwater Meadow side; cross tracks within Wood; Old Quarry; Drinkwater Meadow; Timberyard and Mill Pond; Main Car Park end.

The higher part of Drinkwater Meadow with long grasses flicking in the wind

Knightslow Wood is a perfect natural adventure playground to be explored

Wood Sorrel is one of the earliest flowers in spring.

Its bright green foliage still lights up the woodland floor but the sweet apple smell seems to have gone as the leaves age.

This old quarry in Knightslow Wood is a lovely secret spot

This manhole cover takes me back to a previous life.

Early 1980's I was a Cable Test Engineer with British Telecom and worked in this location for several summer days testing a new cable. I thought it was wonderful then... and I still do.