2000 ft Beginning
09th March 2014
Over 2000 feet up, tucked under two craggy mountains, is a bog, known as a Moss in these parts. The Bog sucks up the water that has fallen from the heavy, grey leaden skies, to pour down the slopes of the Fells, streaming through crevices, over boulders and under rocks.
The Moss is made up of grass, sphagnum moss, peat, and is dotted with Bog Cotton, Asphodel and the stumps of long dead Birch, all surrounded by a swathe of heather. This verdant waterbed sucks up all the water like a huge sponge. If you tread on this bog it gently rolls under your feet, like some huge waterbed.
I have seen all manner of insects around the marsh. Damsel and Dragon Flies, multi coloured butterflies and Cranes in late summer. Often, as you step through this wetland, a Meadow Pipet will be disturbed, rising into the air with its indignant "peep, peep". And slowly, but inevitably the accumulated water, despite the thirsty roots of the mosses and liverworts, begins its journey down the hill.
The water, as if passing through a sieve, squeezes through the vegetation and with an inherent characteristic to be 'one' entity it accumulates into small drizzles, rivulets and suddenly a fast falling stream.
In the Lake District these streams are often known as Becks, which flow within the hard, igneous slides of rock called a Ghyll. Within these groves the water tumbles and crashes over a series of rocky steps, but can eventually fall over a significant height (forming a waterfall) where they are called a Force. Evocative names, with Norse origin, for a pervasive element that exerts its nature onto the environment it passes - making it wild.
Downward it descends, often with fury, but eventually reaching wider river beds, where the water takes on a more serene nature. Here the trout, Dipper, Grey Wagtails can be found. The banks of the river covered in the mini-sun like Celandine, that open up in celebration to the daylight.
The journey of this water, falling 2000 feet has been one of contrast and changing characteristics. At this time of year it seems you travel through the seasons at an accelerated speed as you follow the course of the river. 2000 feet up, winter still holds, but by the time you reach the main river Spring is firmly in control, as the newly born lambs play amongst the Daffodils that decorate the river bank.
The Moss is made up of grass, sphagnum moss, peat, and is dotted with Bog Cotton, Asphodel and the stumps of long dead Birch, all surrounded by a swathe of heather. This verdant waterbed sucks up all the water like a huge sponge. If you tread on this bog it gently rolls under your feet, like some huge waterbed.
I have seen all manner of insects around the marsh. Damsel and Dragon Flies, multi coloured butterflies and Cranes in late summer. Often, as you step through this wetland, a Meadow Pipet will be disturbed, rising into the air with its indignant "peep, peep". And slowly, but inevitably the accumulated water, despite the thirsty roots of the mosses and liverworts, begins its journey down the hill.
The water, as if passing through a sieve, squeezes through the vegetation and with an inherent characteristic to be 'one' entity it accumulates into small drizzles, rivulets and suddenly a fast falling stream.
In the Lake District these streams are often known as Becks, which flow within the hard, igneous slides of rock called a Ghyll. Within these groves the water tumbles and crashes over a series of rocky steps, but can eventually fall over a significant height (forming a waterfall) where they are called a Force. Evocative names, with Norse origin, for a pervasive element that exerts its nature onto the environment it passes - making it wild.
Downward it descends, often with fury, but eventually reaching wider river beds, where the water takes on a more serene nature. Here the trout, Dipper, Grey Wagtails can be found. The banks of the river covered in the mini-sun like Celandine, that open up in celebration to the daylight.
The journey of this water, falling 2000 feet has been one of contrast and changing characteristics. At this time of year it seems you travel through the seasons at an accelerated speed as you follow the course of the river. 2000 feet up, winter still holds, but by the time you reach the main river Spring is firmly in control, as the newly born lambs play amongst the Daffodils that decorate the river bank.