Staying Close to Home

Sometimes we miss the things on our door steps.

Until the weekend I did not even know of a little lake called Hawes water, less than 5 miles from my home in Gait Barrow Nature Reserve.

The watery light ensured were no great vistas and most of the wildlife heralded by Natural England was hidden away. Only the snow revealed the tell tale tracks of rabbit and deer. A lone woodpecker was just about the only sign of any wildlife at all.

Lacking the range of a clear day makes me look for macro vision and brings to notice colours which may normally be overlooked. Tiny red fronds from paint green moss and the orange breasted antics of a bullfinch.

My walk started walking from Yealand Redmayne, down Moss Lane. we didn’t follow a map or book, but later I looked at Cicerone Walks in Siverdale and Arnside and we had navigated an haphazard combination of walks 7 and 8, incorporating a section of the limestone link and Yew Trail inside the Gait Barrow reserve.

So may be next time you think there is nothing to see – take a closer look.

More photos  here, on my facebook page.