Did you know that Beatrix Potter took two bird skulls on holiday with her? We'll be revealing more about Beatrix Potter and her holidays at Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery this year.
The skeletons I've been looking at are those of winter trees up on Claife Heights on the west shore of Windermere.
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| The larch branch looks creepily like an elbow. |
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| Winter oaks against a backdrop of yachts on Windermere |
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| The smooth bark of a grand old beech |
As mentioned last week, we do get a lot of rain around here.
Rainfall is generally higher in the west of Britain which is not so good
for sunbathing and BBQs but excellent for all sorts of mosses, lichens
and liverworts. We tend to take it for granted that our winter trees, rocks and anything which stands still for too long becomes festooned in cloaks of brilliant green - until someone comes from
the dreary south or east and raves about them!
Moss tends to grow on the north side of trees. This is shaded from the
sun so doesn't tend to dry out. So, if you're lost in a wood ........
The same applies to algae so woods often have a green tinge on their
north side. This is why I hadn't noticed the moss and ferns on this
tree on Claife Heights before. I usually do the walk from Claife
Viewing Station northwards through the wood and then return along the
lake shore. One day I did it the other way round - a completely
different view.
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| How many different types of moss can you find? |
