Sundown out the back on our hottest day so far here

The trick with dragonfly monitoring on a very hot day is to pick a couple of shaded spots & just see what lands or flys by rather than roasting out in the open. You will see plenty of species. Loads of Emperor, Brown Hawker, Four spotted Chaser, Common Darter, Ruddy Darter, Azure, Large Red & more

Never realised that Prof. David Petts @davidpetts1.bsky.social of Durham University had written this excellent 2009 book on The Early Medieval Church in Wales. Picked up a good condition copy on EBay.

Lots of Pike fish resting up in the heat today in the Montgomeryshire Canal

Moorhens mooching in the increasingly shallow Montgomeryshire Canal. You will be able to cross the canal without getting your feet wet soon.

Even the Herons look hot and bothered today

Watched the first two episodes of the fantasy drama The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin. It is based on the 1980’s novels by Stephen R Lawhead which I haven’t read. If you take it as complete fantasy hokum its actually a good watch if a bit disorienting at first www.imdb.com/title/tt2373...

Hope Count Binface wins the Clacton by-election. What a humiliation that would be. Even as a candidate with dubious qualifications for the role Binface would probably do more for Clacton than Farage ever did 😁

It’s that time of the year out the front. Windows closed to avoid the hay dust when cutting and its 31 degrees 🥵

Love the contemporary stained glass by Alan Davis in Penmachno Church

This high status medieval grave slab in Penmachno church was found when the original church was demolished in the 17th c. It is later 12th/13th c. in date & assoc. with Iorwerth ab Owain Gwynedd. Iorwerth was killed in battle at Pennant Melangell & his son went on to become Llywelyn the Great.

The 5th-6th c. Carausius stone in Penmachno Church. It includes one of the earliest examples of Christian symbology in Wales with a staurogram cross. The Carausius mentioned is not the usurper Roman emperor of 286-296 CE from Britain but someone using the same name & recalling a British emperor 1/2👇

Had to visit the place & the replica Cantiorix stone (the original is in Penmachno Church) which carries the earliest inscribed mention of the fledgling kingdom of Gwynedd (as latin Venedotis) in the 5th-6th c CE. On old maps this spot is Beddau Gwyr Ardudwy - Graves of the men of Ardudwy. 1/2👇

A walk along the Snowdonia Slate Trail from Penmachno to the Conwy Falls and back before it gets too hot.

They had secondhand books going for a donation in St. Tudclud’s Church in Penmachno today and appropriately, given the wealth of Welsh history within the church and chuchyard, this 2007 revised edition of John Davies’s A History of Wales has found a home 🙂

If you look closely you should be able to see what is known as the ‘Roman Bridge’ over the Afon Machno. It is festooned in Ivy high above the gorge & difficult to see at first. It is more likely to be a 16th/17th c pack horse bridge despite lying on the Sarn Helen Roman road route.

The 16th century Pont Tai Hirion bridge on the Migneint. It is the forerunner of the modern B road that crosses from Bala to Llan Ffestiniog.

Thought I had spotted the Gwiber on the Afon Machno this morning, but no, it’s just a slate ghost 🙂

This was a good lightweight travel book published in 1990 that I read while exploring the Eden Valley. It’s amazing how much things have changed in just the 36 years since it was written.

Missing the fantastic limestone flora of Westmorland already but the woodland & heath flora of the Breidden is always changing…Enchanter’s nightshade (surely one of the best wild flower names 🙂), vivid blues of Tufted Vetch, Wood Sage, Harebell, Bell Heather. Nice when you meet the Fallow Deer too.

Some iridescent clouds around tonight

Good to see Flowering Rush spreading along both sides of the Montgomeryshire Canal near Four Crosses this year - perhaps helped by the dredging in winter 2024/25 #WildflowerHour

The Nab, Wild Boar Fell

Devonians were horrified to learn last week of plans for a massive AI data centre near Great Torrington, north Devon. The proposals from company XLinks Ltd would cover 850 acres of farmland. But who owns the land? I decided to investigate. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Castle Folds Iron Age/ Romano-British settlement in the Great Asby Scar Nature Reserve. An unusually heavily defended and remote Brigantian site with apparent evidence of hostile action to collapse the outer wall face. Whether attacked by a Roman force during a revolt or internal strife is unclear.

Thought I would give this Italian film a go tonight. Based on Vivaldi’s historical involvement with Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, a foundation designed to care for abandoned & orphaned children, & the all female orchestra he worked with in 1716. The fictional Cecilia is the historical Anna Maria

Latest medieval period historical fiction read…

A 16km walk along the River Eden from Outhgill to Kirkby Stephen & back passing the Pendragon & Lammerside castles. Pendragon was restored in the 17th century by Lady Anne Clifford as well as the local church & numerous other castles in the area. Sadly her successor was less conservation conscious.

On the show this week: @belovedofoizys.bsky.social celebrates the launch of her book 'Gladiators in the Greek World: How a Roman Blood Sport Took Ancient Greece By Storm' with a gladiator themed episode: over a dozen internet 'facts' about gladiators, all demolished in under an hour!

Out on the limestone common near Nateby today. Always nice to see the dusty pink variety of Yarrow (Achillea) rather than the usual white. Also lots of Betony, Marsh Woundwort and Ground Elder.

There are still signs for horse drawn vehicles in these hills 🙂

A natural bonsai shaped by the weather on this limestone outcrop at Birkett Common, Nateby.

The massive culvert under the Settle and Carlisle railway embankment at the back of the cottage. You can walk into that without bending.

Footpath find - 1870 penny

Out on one of our favourite walks over Smardale Fell to Smardale Bridge & back round to Waitby on the disused railway over the viaduct. Amazef at the variety of limestone loving plants in the old quarry. First time I have seen Fragrant Orchid 😍 Lots of Rock Rose, Scabious, Bloody Cranes Bill & more

River Eden below the cottage, Outhgill. Lovely spot on a hot day

262 Mallerstang

Shap

A bumper day for the farmers discarded energy feed buckets in open countryside series of photos. These are the round Crystalx variety.

The limestone walls on Smardale Fell are awash with fossil corals

Always a fan of a lime washed church tower which really makes the stand out in the landscape as they would originally have done. This is the 16th c. tower at Orton, Cumbria

A search for what remains of the once impressive Shap stone avenue. Largely obliterated by 19th c. clearance for agricultural enclosure & improvement only 4 large stones remain in fields W of the village. Such a shame this great asset has gone. It would have been a major attraction for Shap now.

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A return to the top of Wild Boar Fell after 30 years. We were swamped by atrocious weather in 1996 and had to retreat but always intended to go back. Nice to fulfil that and see the cairns on High White Scar.

The remains of the Late Neolithic Kemp Howe stone circle at the south end of Shap. It was originally the southern terminus of a large stone avenue that extended NW for 2km, but is now almost wholly destroyed except for 8 stones in fields west of the village. The circle stones are local Shap granite

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Lovely 17km walk from Outhgill to Glaisdale & back. Every ruinous farm looks like Top Withens 🙂 Great fun exploring the numerous small limestone gorges which often have caves. Mobbed by Lapwings and Curlews all the way, which was nice as there aren’t many places left where that happens.

Lime kilns are such a ubiquitous feature of the landscape round here due to soil improvement and other lime uses in the 18th-19th c. Mallerstang and Abbotside Common .

The Gamelands Stone Circle near Orton. Probably middle to late Neolithic it retains 40 stones but has lost some after land improvements and enclosure in the 1860’s. The stones are all pink Shap granite erratic boulders with the exception of one limestone pavement fragment & all gathered locally.

High Dyke