Delta Ged, Volunteer Ranger @ National Trust Lyme Park : Week 55 28/01/2015 - Between the Snows; Muddy but Spring Is On Its Way

Photo Blog Week 55 - Wed 28 January 2015

The weather forecast was foul and rain and sleet had been blowing against the window as I left home.
Due to the expected adverse weather conditions I only carried my old pocket camera with an already condensation damaged sensor which, combined with low light levels for much of the day, mean that this weeks photos are below the usual clarity.

As it was, I escaped most of the rain, though I did have several squally fine hale storms to put up with and boy they stung.

After the stunning beauty of last week's snowscapes, everything was a little dull. The grasses were all flattened from the now melted and the paths muddy with melt water and this mornings downpours.
However, there is a new green coming through heralding the approaching spring. Looking across short grassland there is a brightness to the colour which wasn't there and in among the woods, the odd green shoots are appearing here and there.
(PS - the following day received such a dump of snow that the Park had to close because they couldn't keep the roads clear.)

route: House; Turfhouse Meadow; Park Moor; Knightslow Wood (lower path); Drinkwater Meadow; Main Car Park; Timberyard

a wet Turfhouse Meadow

A distinct spring green appearing in the grass

even the trees have gaiters on in these wet conditions

Leaf Burst on a hawthorn in Hampers Wood

looking up to the summit on Park Moor

Nature's Artwork: This piece of lichen blown off the trees looked like a small bunch of green flowers lying on the coloured stems of flattened rushes.

a break in the black clouds

some of the Moor herd

Manchester in the distance lit up by the sun through a gap in the clouds

Manchester city and a plane approaching Manchester airport (quarter from left high in sky)

This view across into Derbyshire and the previous picture taken from the middle of the Eastern part of the Moor.

I had been asked to locate the cattle which are still out here and had climbed away from the paths to a beautiful rise in the centre of the wild grassland. (Not a good idea in Spring or Summer when ground nesting birds would be disturbed.)

"Anybody out there?"

eerie mix of lighting with The Cage looking like a castle

that spring green appearing again in the Fallow Deer enclosure grassland

Multiple Tree Planting

I attended a presentation last week which mentioned many aspect of the history and development of Lyme Park and Gardens and was interested to hear this as it answered a question which had often intrigued me.
One of the landscapers (can't remember name) liked to plant more than one tree in a single hole. I have often noted in Knightslow Wood that trees looked grown into each other and I guess this explains it.

on this tree, the dark patch points to a problem in this practice where rot can start in the wet joints leading to weak spots where massive failures can occur when the tree deteriorates. Some recent Beech failures where half a tree has failed leaving a huge scar in the remaining tree have hallmarks of this practice.