Two Rivers

This is the Arkle Beck above Reeth. Downstream it flows into the river Swale, which is shallow and fast-flowing in summer but has a reputation for rising very rapidly after rain and quickly becoming a  dangerous raging torrent.

The view southwards, across Swaledale, from the beck-side path between Reeth and Langthwaite.

Much of the land around here on the steep valley sides is very rough sheep pasture - where sometimes you find these large puffball toadstools - this might be Lycoperdon utriforme. It's about six inches in diameter and this is an old specimen that's partially disintegrated but still has millions of spores inside.

The most colourful flowers in the pastures at this time of year are the musk thistles Carduus nutans, identifiable by their nodding heads and backward-swept spiny bracts behind the flowers.

Wensleydale, the next Yorkshire dale to the south, and this is the river Ure looking very placid as it flowers through Wensley.

The riverbank footpath that runs westwards from the bridge across the river here has some very fine displays of wild flowers at the moment, including meadowsweet, meadow crane'sbill, yellow loosestrife, giant bellflower, harebells and marjoram.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is yellow loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris, leaning over the footpath, almost demanding to be photographed.

The riverside footpath leads out through woodland into pastures and in one we found this magnificent, solitary patch of musk mallow Malva moschata. The whole field was full of dull pasture grasses except for a broad pit in one corner, that might have been excavated for gravel at some point but now acts for a refuge for plants that must have been here before the pasture was 'improved'.

One of the finest patches of musk mallow I've ever seen, at the peak of flowering.

 Musk mallow makes an excellent late-flowering addition to a wild flower garden, that can hold its own amongst showy cultivated plants and doesn't become invasive.

It provides a good supply of pollen and nectar for bees. This one has empty pollen baskets and seemed to be after the nectar, but must have been almost blinded by that dense covering of pollen it's picked up on its head.

The Knuckle Bones of Allen Banks

In today's Guardian Country Diary there's an account of a visit to Allen Banks - the spectacular wooded gorge that flanks the River Allen in Northumberland, before its confluence with the River Tyne, west of Hexham. It was only our second visit there and I've been kicking myself ever since for not visiting more often - especially at this time of year, when it's a terrific place for finding fungi. This magnificent specimen of what I think is common puffball Lycoperdon perlatum was growing amongst last year's decaying beech leaves............



..... while this, which I think is sulphur-tuft Hypholoma fasciculare was sprouting from rotting beech roots.

 

Perhaps the most curious feature, though, was a strange artifact that can be found on a high bluff at the end of the path that climbs up the west side of the valley, before the steep descent down towards the river, in the green patch of  moss visible in the left foreground in the photo above. At this point the view ahead and far below, of the densely wooded gorge that leads upstream to Plankey Mill, is truely stunning but .....

.... if you can take you eyes off the view for a moment and happen to glance down at your feet you soon realise you are standing on something rather strange......... 

.......... a platform made of sheep knuckle bones, hammered into the path and worn smooth by passing feet. Does anyone out there know more about this weird and slightly macabre feature of this woodland walk?