Hodbarrow Nature Reserve, Cumbria, Autumn
Time for somewhere a little different.
Time for somewhere a little different.
For a little while now we’ve had our peripheral vision on a little-known nature reserve in southwest Cumbria: Hodbarrow Nature Reserve.
Today was the day to visit and explore it.
The nature reserve occupies the site of a former iron ore mine, which was in operation until the 1960s. The RSPB purchased the nature reserve in 1986, and are managing the area to sustain numbers of terns, wintering red-breasted mergansers, as well as wintering teals, coots, little grebes, redshanks and dunlins, and breeding great crested grebes. They are also looking to re-establish the nationally rare natterjack toad.
While parts of eastern Cumbria and North Yorkshire were looking cloudy and rainy, the southwest Cumbrian coast at Millom was thankfully sunny and clear, with gorgeous painterly high-altitude clouds aiding our photos.
Photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f2.8–3.8 zoom and Laowa 9mm f2.8 prime lenses. Images are 90% made in-camera using Shark & Palm’s “Kodak Ektar 100” film recipe. Finalised using Affinity Photo 2 for iPad.
Hodbarrow Nature Reserve, Cumbria, Autumn by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
What became immediately obvious to me and Lisabet upon our arrival was how quiet the nature reserve was. Absolutely delightful.
Beautiful “brush stroke” clouds decorated the skies above the flooded “lagoon” of the nature reserve.
The fell that commands your attention all around the nature reserve is Black Combe, an isolated Lake District fell of 600m high.
However, further into the distance are the Coniston fells, looking sublime as the clouds cast painterly shadows across the slopes of the fells.
An old abandoned lighthouse, possibly abandoned in favour of the newer one further southeast of the nature reserve. The little stub of a building in the distance to the right is the ruins of a windmill. The old windmill was used by Hodbarrow Iron Ore Mine to store gunpowder, used for blasting, between 1855 and 1880, when a purpose-built facility was built.
A clearer panorama of the Coniston fells.
A crackin’ composition I couldn’t resist. The old lighthouse reflected in the lagoon with the hump of Black Combe in the distance.
The crags of Hodbarrow Point, subject to constant erosion by the tides of the Duddon Estuary, itself connected to Morecambe Bay.
Beautiful strokes of painterly clouds adorn the skies above Black Combe. Attached to the nature reserve’s lagoon is the Hodbarrow Marina.
An old couple enjoy the views across the Duddon Estuary as feathery clouds streak across the sky.
Faded grandeur. Plus the streaky clouds enabled an ultra-wide composition as they “pointed” towards the lighthouse.
From the top of the sea wall, the ever-stretching expanse of Haverigg beach comes into view.
Looking along the sea wall all the way back to the Furness peninsula.
I enjoy the way the curve of the lagoon is mirrored in the curves of the clouds above.
After lunch, we re-emerged into the nature reserve with considerably more cloud cover. The Lakeland fells, however, were still looking magnificent.
Did you enjoy these photos?
Various Places, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs, Autumn, Scotland
Our Loch Lomond holiday is over.
Our Loch Lomond holiday is over.
But before I say goodbye, here’s some bonus photos that didn’t really fit in with any of my other Loch Lomond Holiday posts.
I hope you enjoy them. Until next time, Scotland…
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my two prime lenses: a Laowa 9mm f/2.8 and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0 lens. Developed using RNI Films.
Kilchurn Castle & Loch Awe
The Falls of Falloch
RSPB Scotland Loch Lomond Nature Reserve
The Falls of Leny
Swindale, Lake District, Spring
We finally got the opportunity to explore one of the Lake District’s “hidden” valleys.
We finally got the opportunity to explore one of the Lake District’s “hidden” valleys.
I’ve had Swindale bookmarked in my Pinterest for years now. What drew me to the area was looking at maps of the valley’s head, appropriately called Swindale Head. Here you can find a series of cascades and waterfalls dropping down 300 ft of crag, known as Forces Falls.
Reality, thankfully, was much better than any map or Google Image Search.
Swindale is not the easiest valley to find, and I suspect most people near the area venture either to Ullswater or Haweswater. Certainly, driving up the A6 through Shap, you’d have no idea of Swindale’s existence, especially as the valley is well obscured by Rosgill Moor and Ralfland Forest.
The valley is part of RSPB Haweswater and aspects of it are being “restored” to more natural features ever since 2012. In 2016, the beck running through the valley was “rewiggled”; previously, the beck had been straightened a couple of hundred years ago to prevent the flooding of hay meadows. This had knock-on effects—as man’s meddling in nature does—primarily with salmon and trout that were no longer able to spawn in the straightened and now-fast flowing river. Once the beck had been rewiggled, salmon returned to spawn, and the diversity of the beck’s flora and fauna continues to improve.
After negotiating the myriad of minor country roads, we arrived near Swindale Foot Farm to park at the small lay-by. Then it was a simple task to follow the road, which increasingly became a gravely lane, all the way into the valley towards Forces Falls at the head of the valley.
Photographically, conditions were challenging. The weather was changeable, with frequent waves of misty drizzle washing over us from the fells. This meant I had to keep getting the camera in and out of the bag; the camera body can take the rain fine, but none of my lenses are weather sealed.
I’m happy, nevertheless, with what I did manage to capture, but I’m eager to explore the valley further once again, when conditions are more favourable. Swindale is remote, silent, and so very beautiful.
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. The images were made 80% in-camera using a customised Velvia film simulation, with minor edits afterwards in Lightroom and Affinity Photo