Ready, steady, timber!

After all the frantic preparations we're open again - and it was alright on the day!
There's a real buzz about the start of a new season, getting back with old friends and looking forward to getting to know the new seasonal team - not to mention greeting all our visitors.  We also get a sneak preview of the new exhibition in the Beatrix Potter Gallery (lots of things we didn't know about Beatrix on holiday) and the little touches in Hill Top house which suggest she might have just returned from one.
There was some quick painting of the toilets at Hill Top and some hard work by Janet cleaning up all my splashes!  (You don't want a picture of that!)
It's an ill wind - our green entrance sign was a casualty of the wind - so we've got a brand new one which is much prettier. 

Luke putting up our new sign

 

Apart from that, we escaped lightly weather-wise - just one or two extra lakes and a few trees down on Claife Heights.

Other

Sam (the ticket office dog) reckons trees are easier to climb when they've fallen.  This one is in Ash Landing car park.

 

 

 

 The rabbit (part of the children's trail at Hill Top) seems to be doing fine tree climbing - and proved difficult to find.  Other ducks and rabbits can be found kite flying, swinging and bird watching to complete their '50 Things'

 I thought this was a 'white van' convention but turns out they were working on the electricity supply for Claife Courtyard!

skeletons

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. 

The larch branch looks creepily like an elbow.

Winter oaks against a backdrop of yachts on Windermere

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.

How many different types of moss can you find?