Roudsea Wood & Mosses, Cumbria, Spring
Time for somewhere a little different.
Cumbria being what it is, a sparsely-populated county full of nature, there’s a fair few Nature Reserves never mind the actual Lake District National Park. We’ve explored a few of them previously, for example Foulshaw Moss and Watchtree. This time we ventured south of Windermere and Newby Bridge, beyond the pretty village of Haverthwaite.
This is Roudsea Wood & Mosses Nature Reserve.
The Reserve is located on the eastern side of the Levens Estuary, west of Cartmel. Roudsea Wood is one of Britain’s most important woodland sites, combining varied geology (limestone and slate) with alluvial soils and fens. This has created a woodland full of bio- and geodiversity. Just east of the woods are the bogs of Roudsea Moss, an important area of peat and wildlife, especially Ospreys.
Further west of the Nature Reserve one can hike the Cumbria Coast Way towards the Levens Estuary itself, an extension of the humongous mudflats and sands of Morecambe Bay.
Roudsea: a place of bog, woodland, and sea.
Definitely one for Lisabet and I to keep coming back to.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Developed using RNI’s Kodachrome film profiles.
Around Roudsea Mosses, the bogs are home to isolated clusters of Scots Pines, making for rather minimalist compositions.
Pleasing to the eye, especially the sense of distance.
The bogs of Roudsea Moss are thankfully easy to navigate courtesy of these boardwalks. They also enable compositions by offering a leading line.
Back into the woods we go.
Delightful tree textures to photograph.
Upon entering the Woodland Trail the geography quickly changes from open bog to a limestone woodland. Lisabet and I spotted this otherworldly scene consisting of tree branches snaking around a limestone outcrop.
There were barely any clouds on our outing, allowing for the sun to penetrate through the canopy of the woodland.
More snake-like tree trunks and branches, with the addition of fungi, which Lisabet was happy to find.
This part of Roudsea Woods was a lot more green, and we were happy to see the beginnings of bluebells appearing on the woodland floor.
Just a moment, when the light caught only this tree.
Flora blossoming everywhere.
An early Bluebell. We’ll be seeing more of these in the various woods around Cumbria within the next fortnight or so.
A weird configuration of a limestone outcrop with a tree root system slowly enveloping it.
Tendrils of wood everywhere, gorgeous textures abound.
After completing the Woodland Trail, we joined the Cumbria Coast Way west towards the Levens Estuary. I knew there would be sand and mudflats ahoy as the estuary is linked to Morecambe Baby, but I had no idea there were these rocky outcrops along the coast.
I was transfixed when I saw these rocks and their beautiful lines, textures, and patterns. I had to come get some compositions in.
We were blessed with a rather beautiful, if hazy, day to be exploring this area of South Cumbria.
Looking back across Levens Estuary towards How Barrow and the Cartmel fells.
An almost impossibly perfect composition that I couldn’t resist on our way back to the car.