St.John's Chapel, Weardale

It was only a little over a fortnight since we'd taken our regular circular walk around St.John's Chapel in Weardale but, when we visited again on Saturday, the intervening period of almost dawn-to-dusk sunshine had transformed the landscape. All the early summer flowers, like the wood cranesbill, had run to seed and perfect haymaking weather meant that all the meadows had been mown. 

Even though this was only July, it seemed as though the summer is slipping by and it felt, as they say around here, 'proper back-endish'.

Harebells and crested dog's tail grass beside Harthope burn

Marsh woundwort in flower beside a ditch at the bottom of Chapel Fell

The frothy blossom of meadowsweet, once used for flavouring mead (the name has nothing to do with meadows, it refers to mead).

Monkey flower Mimulus guttatus in the gravel beside the river Wear. Thirty years ago, when I first saw it on this spot, this alien plant from the western United States was much commoner along the river than it is now - it seems to have gone into decline.

Rushes flowering on the slopes of Chapel Fell. For much of the year these are dull plants but for a brief period, when they flower, they look very attractive in the sunlight (double-click for a clearer image)

Timothy Grass Phleum pratense, flowering in corners of meadows that the mower missed. Very similar to meadow foxtail Alopecurus pratensis, but that flowers in spring and this flowers in mid-summer.

A most heartening sight - one of twelve freshly emerged small tortoiseshells on creeping thistles, on the flanks of Chapel Fell. These butterflies seem to be doing very well around here this year - we had seven at once on the Inula flowers in our front garden this weekend.

Spot the fish: a trout, keeping station in the sunlit river below a waterfall, catching whatever the river delivers and only given away by its shadow - the fish's back is a very close match for the colour of the underlying rock.

Up on Chapel Fell the lapwings have finished nesting and are now forming flocks with their juveniles.

A walk around St. John's Chapel, Weardale

These pictures were taken at the end of June, during a walk from St.John's Chapel in Weardale onto the slopes of Chapel Fell, then down into Daddry Shield and back along the river Wear to St.John's Chapel. It's a great circular walk, with splendid views, and when you get to the highest point the only sounds come from wind, water and birds.

Down in the valley, at Harthope Burn, hawthorn was still in peak blossom - incredibly late this year.

The path up onto the fell is along a wide, stony track fringed with drifts of wood cranesbill, lady's mantle and cow parsley - a natural perennial herbaceous border. Garden designers at the Chelsea Flower Show spend a fortune trying to replicate this.

In the foreground, wood cranesbill; in the background fields full of buttercups which have produced a memorable spectacle this year. Poor grass growth in the late spring prevented farmers taking an early crop, so the buttercups and cow parsley in the meadows have benefited from a stay of execution.

When we reached the highest point on the walk we were briefly surrounded by a flock of swifts that treated us to a display of aerobatics. 

The last deciduous tree on the path up - a rowan, in full bloom. Legend has it that these were planted around farm houses to ward off witches.

Meadow pipits are one of the commonest birds in the high pastures

The last flowery meadow - above this elevation the pastures are rough grass and rushes.

The views into upper Weardale from here are stunning.

The lapwings had chicks so were keen to deflect our attention.

Back down in the valley, at Daddry Shiield, burnet rose was in full bloom. This is the first wild rose species to flower here in summer and by far the most fragrant.

A haymeadow, along the footpath beside the river Wear between Daddry Shield and St. John's Chapel.

Hay rattle is the characteristic wild flower in these old meadows.

Marsh orchids, flowering on the river bank.

A young rabbit, wondering whether to stay put or bolt for cover.

Snow-in-summer Cerastium tomentosum, tumbling over stone walls in St. John's Chapel.

A perfect summer day.

A Quiet Walk.........

I imagine most nature bloggers have their favorite, regular paths on their 'home patch.' There are plenty to choose from in Weardale but for me one of the best is a circular walk that follows the path uphill from St. John's Chapel, alongside Harthope burn. It's  the subject of today's Guardian Country Diary. The burn descends in  series of cascading steps, cutting a ravine that's flanked by a larch plantation, where we recently watched what may well be one of the last red squirrels in Weardale. 

The path emerges through the trees onto the flanks of Chapel Fell, where .....

.... the view westwards towards the upper dale continues to improve as you climb further up the fellside. I'm always struck by how quiet it is up here, once you leave the sound of tumbling water behind. You suddenly become aware of the sound of your own breathing as you labour higher up the hill, and the sound of the wind in your ears. Quietness - or at least freedom from mechanical noise - is a rare commodity these days. There are, of course, plenty of  natural sounds here - the mournful calls of golden plover in spring (especially spooky if its a misty day and you can't see them), wild calls of lapwing and curlew in April, and last weekend...

... our attention was drawn skywards by the mewing of buzzards. No less than eight were circling overhead at one point, drifting slowly down the dale until they disappeared into the blue ....

Sometimes there are shepherds and border collies up here, rounding up sheep, and even falconers that bring their birds up here to train. 


There are other native raptors here too - last weekend, we watched a wandering hen harrier, slowly quartering the rough pastures. 

It's a tough place to farm, a weathered landscape ....

... bearing the traces of earlier generations of farmers ....

The view northwards across the dale reveals farms that are aligned with the natural springs that flow down into the river Wear ....

.... and when you get back down to the bottom of the valley at Daddry Shield you follow the river, through the hay meadows, until you reach the ford and turn back into St. John's Chapel. A perfect Sunday morning walk, in any season of the year.


More pictures of the same walk in another season  here and here.