After my travels of last week to Shropshire, https://bowlandclimber.com/2024/08/10/the-telford-t50/ I’ve kept local this week with a few trips up onto Longridge Fell. Bank Holiday Monday I certainly won’t be travelling far. The family are here and we usually take the dogs up there for some exercise.
If you remember I started photographing the vegetation in Cowley Brook Plantation on a regular basis to watch the variation with the seasons as the year progressed. This is an opportunity for an interim review, just over halfway through the year.
There is little brightness in the sky today, no two days alike this year, but after some hearty soup we drive up the fell to our usual parking place. The dogs can’t wait to get out and sniff their way into the trees. The obvious change over the year so far has been the surge in vegetation. The newly planted trees; mainly oak, birch and mountain ash have had a growth spurt. The self seeded larch and spruce are competing with the deciduous for dominance and I think they may win out. Perhaps some better forest management would thin out the pines to allow the young deciduous to thrive.
On the ground, heather is blooming and perfuming the air. Blackberries are rampant this year whilst bilberries are coming to the end of their season. The Rowan berries are reaching their brightest red. Higher the bracken has reached head height and the path can hardly be made out, although the dogs seem to know the way.
Its good to see some fungi newly emerged, I must try and improve my identification skills this autumn.
We have had a storm this week, I’ve forgotten its name, and there are trees blown down or snapped off. All part of evolution of the woods.
Here are some pictures of the day, all self explanatory.
Water always attracts the dogs and the humans.
Anyhow a good update, a good romp for the dogs and some country air for my city bound family. 
And then there are the idiots of this world…
The content of those last two photos is probably the responsibility of the same person.
I wondered that. Who takes spray paint on a country walk?
There always has to be someone to spoil things. Otherwise, a lovely walk.
We took our ‘doggy bags’ home.
A nice walk apart from the last two photos – I fail to understand the mentality of some people.
Thanks for the update. Looks like fun was had by all. Hmm, the power of the meme. Tech billionaire insults the PM, next thing you know it’s written on a log up Longridge Fell. 🤔 Sadly the dog bags no longer surprise.
It’s true the berries are good this year
All the rain we’ve had up here helps.
Nice vegetation, as always it is a shame about the last photos
It has become ‘my go to’ short walk whenever I want a quick fix. A lovely mix of trees, flora and fauna.
I need to do a litter pick next time I’m up there, its only 10 minutes from home.
Heather a highlight for me, and the impressive dogs.
I receive an email notifying me of new comments on your blog. I clicked on the recent one from Paul and was taken unknowingly to your post from September 2019 and a sizeable circuit around Rylstone. It took me a few moments to I realise that the comment related unusually to a much older post, and I thought you had been off on a good one, but sadly not the case.
Was it really as far back as 2019?
The fells are resplendent with heather at this time of year.