Week 69 27/05/2015 - New Camera, New Growth

Photo Blog Week 69 - Wed 27 May 2015

The Park is really full of growth now with the oaks joining the canopy with there slightly brown new leaves. The brilliant spring green, largely from the early Beech is now fading as it is joined by other textures and colours. On the ground, the woodland floors are full of new thick undergrowth which is filled with lots of wild flower including the remaining bluebells. The Moors are turning green and the meadows are speckled with highlights of yellow, white and blue petals among the grasses.
I had the company of Mrs Delta-Ged as it is half term. This is the third time she has accompanied me on patrol and the first decent day so her perseverance was at last rewarded with leaving the waterproofs in the car. That said, it poured down as we drove out at the end of the day.

Camera

I finally decided it was time for the problem camera to be replaced this week so today involved getting used to a new camera.  If you are curious, the new camera is a Panasonic LUMIX FZ200 Bridge camera and it has replaced a Fuji Finepix S2400 which was only 2.5 years old.

See you in 2 weeks

Delta Ged taking a break next week so, see you in two weeks on or after Wed 10th June.

route: North Face; East Lodge Drive to Deer Sanctuary; Coalpit Wood; The Cage; Elmerhurst Bridge

inside the courtyard at the House

Red Deer stags above Coalpit Wood

a good view of their developing antlers

and here are some of the hinds

dropping down the hill, the small group of hinds in the previous photo proved to the the top of a large grouping of hinds and year old calves together with a few young stags and hinds

rhododendron coming into flower at the end of Coalpit Wood

Common Speedwell is a beautiful little flower appearing in the grasses on the rear of Cage Hill

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) 

OR?

Persian Speedwell (Veronica persica)

Precise identification between Germander and Persian is not easy however may be possible once the plant bears fruit. 

According to Wikipedia,"V. persica can be distinguished from similar species by its heart-shaped fruit with two widely-separated lobes"

Pink Hawthorn blossom

each blossom flower has a white star centre

This oak take 'hollow tree' to a whole new level

bridge on the track out to Elmerhurst Cottage

'Stinking Bob' or Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) in a crevice on the bridge parapet

route: Elmerhurst Bridge; Elmerhurst Wood; Crow Wood; Timber Yard

a bed of white Greater Stitchwort  (Stellaria holostea) backed by bluebells

The bluebells are still in good condition but the other undergrowth is now growing up through them weakening the display and diluting the blue haze

footbridge on the woodland path through Elmerhurst Wood

Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)

Bluebells in Crow Wood

Overlapping leaf elements on horse chestnut create patterns from how much light pass through

lots of new vegetation along the waterways

Horse Chestnut blossom

*not identified

route: Timber Yard; Drinkwater Meadow; Knightslow Wood; Park Moor; Middle Moor Wall; Park Moor Boundary wall; Bowstonegate Farm entrance

Tadpoles in the Millpond by the footbridge over the race

Half term bringing many cars in and the matted overflow area is in use

Beautiful greens along the track in Knightslow Wood

Lime green glow in distance where the sky opens above the meadow

Southern boundary and Spond's Hill

 Tormentil (Potentilla erecta)

looking across the Moor, Paddock Cottage in from left and The Cage a dot about same distance from the right edge

Stag House

Stag House is marked on OS maps high on the moorland boundary of the Park. Knocked down long ago, all that remains is the foundations. The original building had high features which could be seen via a line of sight along Lime Avenue and through Knightslow Wood.

View across Stag House foundations toward the House

zoom to cutting through Knightslow Wood to Lime Avenue

further zoom over the trees of Lime Avenue to Lyme Hall

A group of hinds peering over a brow to see what's going on

Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis)

Some Cuckooflower petals have a pink / purple hue

*not identified

route: Bowstonegate Farm entrance; Knightslow Wood; Lime Avenue; Main Car Park (end)

Nice Fringe!

Highland cattle chilling halfway up Bowstonegate track

Woodland character change; left of track is deciduous Beech woodland and Pine and Fir to right

Fallow Deer - also sporting this year's new antlers

A peek through to the House

Today's track and profile

Total: 8.6 miles (13.8 km)  6 hr 00 min
 

This Time Last Year

I was away on my Jollies this week last year so this still links to one week ago last year

 Have a look at This Time Last Year 

Week 24 21/05/14 - Fluffy Green and Bird Song

Week 24 21/05/14 - Fluffy Green and Bird Song

Photo Blog Week 24 - Wed 21 May 2014

The Park is 'fluffy' green now with the tree canopies very full. More blossoms are appearing with Hawthorn, Rowan and Horse Chestnut particularly bright. Many small wild floweer are present in the now lush green grass and Park Moor has changed from the washed out pale browns of winter to rolling green hillsides.
Some early flowers are fading now and you need to be quick to catch the Bluebells and Rellums (Wild Garlic). Both of these are plentiful along Westpark Drive but this weekend will be the last before they fade quickly.

The woods and moors are full of bird song with Skylarks twittering away in the sky over the Moor.

Delta-Ged now taking a break for 2 weeks.  Next blog post will be on or after Wed 11th June.

route:  From Main Car Park; follow path behind Turtle Brew and along wall toward Four Winds wall; leave wall after walling work; follow green tracks to Green Farm entrance; climb hill and drop down to The Knott Car Park

These days, I call Lyme Park my "Wednesday Office".  This is view of previous Wednesday Offices through almost 40 years of my career in Stockport, Rochdale, Manchester and Salford.

If you look carefully centre, the back layer of faint hills are in Wales. Very clear day.

 

Tormentil

(Potentilla erecta)

 

Germander Speedwell

(Veronica chamaedrys)

I must point out that my identification of wild flower is all web based so if you know better on one please comment.

route: From The Knot; take drive toward Hall; branch off and cross step stile into Drinkwater Meadow; follow wall to Gate exit to Main Car Park; follow bank of Mill Pond to Timberyard Cafe.

General view of green over the Meadow to the Woods and Park Moor

 

Lunky hole in drystone wall

BBC are filming here again with the Hall looking fine in the sun.

Cast enjoying the sun

route: from Timberyard Cafe; to Mill Pond outflow (foot bridge); Main Car Park; gate to Fallow Deer enclosure; follow Garden wall; turn up Lime Avenue to; Knightslow Wood; Bowstone Farm track through and beyond Wood; Half way up to the Farm, stop by track for lunch.

Tadpoles!

 

Vast numbers all grouped around logs under near the overflow to the Mill Pond

 

Lime Avenue walking away from the Hall

 

My lunch was watched over by this magnificent beast flying over head. Any Birders like to identify for me?

PS: Readers have kindly identified my mystery bird as a Buzzard. Thanks folks.

 

Cheshire Plain toward Helsby Point and North Wales

Nice sky

route: Continue up track to Bowstonegate Farm; turn left along Boundary Wall to View Point; Descend to corner of Lantern Wood; left along path then loop into Moor along track returning to corner of Hampers Wood; path along Hampers Wood wall to Knightslow Wood

Sky Larks?

I spent a while trying to capture the Sky Larks, not sure how successfully and some of the ground shots may be Meadow Pipit. Birders comment again?

.

that's the last of the bird shots, we can move on now

The ridge from Sponds Hill above the now green Park Moor

 

The unmistakable shape of Shutlingsloe

 

View Point at the highest location in the Park

Panorama out toward Cheshire plain

(wish I could stop drifting down to the right as I take these panorama shots)

Kinder Plateau with Kinder Downfall clearly visible centre

Hall nestling in the lush green of tree canopies

Conservation team members rightly proud of their work

The culvert running under the path had been blocked causing extensive flooding across the path and under the wall. The pipe has been rodded and cleared, new walls built shoring up the main channel and the ground reinstated. Scrap from dry stone wall work elsewhere was used to back fill before turfing over. Now that's a permanent job. Nice one guys!

route: cross stile into Knightslow Wood; follow woodland path parallel to wall to exit to Cluse Hey; enter Drinkwater Meadow and follow grass path to Pursefield Wood exit and Paddock Cottage

Gorgeous woodland path through Knightslow along Moor facing wall

As the wood changes to Pine, with the sun on the outer trees a strong creosote perfume drifts through the air

'Middle Wall' heads out to split the Moor

 

Drinkwater Meadow nicely cropped by the woolly lawn mowers

Sun dappled woodland floor behind Paddock Cottage

 

Rosebay Willowherb

a.k.a. Fireweed, Rosebay, Blooming Sally, Bombweed (London).... apparently?

  (Chamerion angustifolium)

This will create a mass of purple later in the year followed by silky seeds flying everywhere.

route: descend from Paddock Cottage and pick up path across heathland dropping to West Park drive near Deer Clough; follow drive to near Park exit then return and follow drive to The Knott Car Park; continue along drive returning to Main Car Park and end.

The remaining Rhododendrons ablaze with purple flower bunches

Heathland coming to life in the area between Paddock Cottage and Westpark Drive

 

Bilberry blossom

 

White Bluebell anomaly

The floor covered in last year's crumbling bracken is broken buy new shoots with rolling unfurling foliage bursting out as the stems climb

Rolling banks of Bluebells on the banks above the Westpark drive

The air is full of bird song 

(you need speakers or earphones)

or view at at YouTube

Ferns, Mosses, Rock, Water and Wild Garlic flowers

 

Banks full of Wild Garlic near Westpark gate. 

The odd perfume stretches up the drive to meet you whether you like it of not.

 

White star burst flower on Wild Garlic (Rellums)

 

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) aka "Stinking Bob"

Delta-Ged now taking a break for 2 weeks.
Next blog post will be on or after Wed 11th June.

5hr 15min  7.5 miles