The Wildlife of the Lune Region A Beginner’s Guide (the beginner is me, not you) John Self The Wildlife of the Lune Region John Self 2013 - 2016 Drakkar Press Limited, 20 Moorside Road, Brookhouse, Lancaster LA2 9PJ http://www.drakkar.co.uk [email protected] Copyright © Drakkar Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form by any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or information and retrieval systems - without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 978-0-9548605-5-4 DRAKKAR PRESS The Wildlife of the Lune Region Contents 1. Curlews on Green Bell 11 2. Snails on Sunbiggin Moor 16 3. Orchids on Great Asby Scar 21 4. Trees in Edith’s Wood and Greta Wood 25 5. Cinnabar Caterpillars near Heysham Moss 32 6. Marsh Gentian on Keasden Moor 37 7. Small-Leaved Lime in Aughton Woods 40 8. Eels in the Wenning 44 9. Cattle on Fell End Clouds 50 10. Pink-Footed Geese in the Wyre-Lune Sanctuary 55 11. Purple Saxifrage on Ingleborough 63 12. Sand Martins by the Lune 69 13. Fell Ponies on Roundthwaite Common 74 14. Cuckoos in Littledale 80 15. Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries on Lawkland Moss 86 16. Kingfishers by Bull Beck 93 17. Himalayan-Balsam on the Upper Lune 97 18. Juniper on Moughton 106 19. Wolf-Spiders by the Lune 111 20. Hen-Harriers in Roeburndale 117 Map for Sections 1-20 123 21. Sitka-Spruce in Dentdale 124 22. Dippers in Barbon Beck 129 23. Alpacas in Rawtheydale 134 24. Hares at Winmarleigh Moss 140 25. Lesser-Black-Backed-Gulls by Wolfhole Crag 146 26. Red-Deer in Wasdale 152 27. Buzzards at Wandale Hill 156 28. Ferns on Leck Fell 160 29. Yellow-Horned-Poppies at Middleton Sands 165 30. Badgers in Lawson’s Wood 171 31. Salmon in the Lune 178 32. White Stoats on Caton Moor 187 33. Rhododendron at Kitmere 193 34. Lapwings on Swarth Fell 198 35. Belted-Beauty-Moths at Sunderland Point 203 36. Bluebells on Middleton Fell 209 37. Swifts on Gragareth 214 38. White-Clawed-Crayfish and Red-Squirrels around the Upper Lune 218 39. Red-Grouse at Ward’s Stone 224 40. Wrens in Our Garden 233 Map for Sections 21-40 243 On-line Sources 244 Index 248 Preamble he Wildlife of the Lune Region is a sort of sequel to The Land of the Lune, first edition 2008, second edition 2010, on-line at: T http://www.drakkar.co.uk/landofthelune.html. The Land of the Lune provided a general review of Loyne, which is the shorthand I use for the region within the watershed of the River Lune in northwest England. The scope of Loyne is shown in the map on page 10. The Wildlife of the Lune Region is focussed more narrowly, as the title says, upon the wildlife of this region. It is not concerned only with the wildlife of the River Lune itself. It considers the wildlife of the rivers, fells, moors, woodlands and valleys of the whole region within the Lune catchment. In The Land of the Lune I included topics that I found interesting, in the hope that any reader would find some of them interesting too. Consequently, the text flitted between the history, geology, flora, fauna, people, buildings and so on of the region. This had the virtue that if a reader was not interested in one particular kind of topic then they could be assured that another kind would be along very soon. A reader of The Wildlife of the Lune Region has no such assurance. If you are not interested in the flora and fauna of the region then, apart from the occasional diversions, you will find little relief in the following pages. However, if you consider yourself relatively uninterested at the moment then perhaps you will persevere and become more interested. I was not so interested myself until recently. Like most people, I appreciated the wildlife that I saw but did not think too much about it. As a result of writing The Land of the Lune I became aware that there were people who had spent a lifetime becoming expert in the various topics that I glibly skated over. I felt a fraud writing about, say, the bog bush cricket when I wouldn’t recognise one if it came up and bit me. I became involved in the activities of the Lune Rivers Trust, a group of volunteers with the enthusiasm and expertise to oversee the ecology of the Lune river system. I was humbled by the little that my ignorance could contribute. I therefore embarked upon The Wildlife of the Lune Region not as an expert but as a newly-enthused amateur. This document is a description of my attempt to find, understand and learn about the local wildlife and the conservation issues that arise. It is not a detailed, technical, academic description of that wildlife. It describes a learning journey that I am happy to share with any other enthused amateur that may wish to accompany me. I began writing these words in 2013. I envisaged slotting the words into the structure that had served me well in The Land of the Lune, that is, one based upon an imaginary journey down the River Lune, interrupted by journeys down its major tributaries. I embarked upon a series of expeditions, starting at the headwaters of the Lune, intending to write about the wildlife that I encountered. However, I soon found that my expeditions should not be based upon the details of the Lune river system. The seasons dictated where I needed to be, in order to see what I hoped to see. Also, I needed to tackle first those elements of the local wildlife that my ignorance allowed me to. So, in the winter of 2013 I re-organised the words into a more straightforward, chronological narrative - or diary, if you will. I dated those words according to the original expeditions. And then I resumed the narrative in early 2014, aiming to write about a suitable wildlife topic every once in a while. As a result, I hop, seemingly at random, around Loyne. Maps after every twenty sections and towards the end of this document may help you to determine where we are. If more information is needed on the places themselves then I cannot do better than refer you to The Land of the Lune! As will be obvious, the comments and opinions expressed in this document are mine alone. As always, if any reader has any comments on or corrections to anything please let me know (at [email protected]). A Note on Pronouns hope that the switches between ‘I’ and ‘we’ are not too disconcerting. The ‘we’ includes my wife Ruth, who joined in Ion some expeditions (and encouraged me out of the house for the others). Photograph Acknowledgements n The Land of the Lune I got away with amateur photographs taken on an ordinary digital camera. The photographs were, Iin fact, an afterthought. All that I had written before The Land of the Lune were academic papers and books, where photographs were a rarity. It was an eye-opener to me that the photographs in The Land of the Lune impressed readers much more than the text. It was also somewhat deflating, as many more hours of labour had gone into the latter. Clearly the photographs created a reader’s first impression - and, I suspect, in some cases the only impression. Therefore in a document on wildlife I must include photographs. Unfortunately, wildlife photography demands expertise and equipment that I do not have. Fortunately, there are many fine photographers keen to share their photos via on-line photo-sharing systems such as Flickr. I have in The Wildlife of the Lune Region liberally borrowed (or stolen) from such sites. I hope that I haven’t violated the spirit of these open access sites by including their photographs here. If any photographer should come across any of their photographs here and disapproves then I will gladly offer them a percentage of the income from this free publication. If that is insufficient mollification then I will offer my fullest apologies and remove the offending photographs forthwith. The captions of all stolen photographs refer to a footnote giving details of the photographers, most of whom have excellent portfolios of wildlife photographs that can be seen at the web address indicated. I am very grateful to them all. Photographs that do not have a footnote were taken by me. The photograph on the first page is looking north from the source of the Lune on Green Bell. The photograph on page 5 is of The Calf from Castley Knotts in the Howgills. The photograph on the last page is of the Plover Scar lighthouse from Sunderland Point, where the Lune disappears into Morecambe Bay. Orton Harrop Pike ▲ • B River Lune or ro Newbiggin-on-Lune w • Be • ck Tebay Whinfell Beacon ▲ ▲ Green Bell ▲ Wild Boar Fell y ▲ e th The Calf w a R r Sedbergh e v i • R ▲ Baugh Clough River Fell River Dee Dent ▲ Great • Knoutberry Great Hill Coum ▲ Whernside ▲ ck Be k ec L Kirkby Lonsdale • ▲ Ingleborough River Greta • Ingleton e • Bentham un River W L r • enning ve i Hornby Halton R R iv e • r H Caton R in • i d Lancaster ve b r R u rn oe • bu ▲ Bowland Knotts rn er d ▲ White Hill on Ward’s Stone ▲ ▲ C er iv Wolfhole R • Galgate Crag r Cockerham e k c o C • r e v i R Pilling • Scale: 10 cm to 35 km 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 kilometres 6 The Life of Loyne, http://www.drakkar.co.uk/thelifeofloyne.html, 2013 - ??, John Self 10 11 1.