A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'O' Ouse, Otter

There are several British rivers named Ouse from the Sanskrit word for water. The Great Ouse is the longest at 160 miles but it is the North Yorkshire Ouse with which I am most familiar.

This is a continuation  of the River Ure; the Ure/Ouse combination at 129 miles makes it the sixth longest in the UK. Tributaries include the Aire and the Nidd (earlier Challenge entries). Its catchment areas drain much of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorks Moors.

Map of the River Ouse and its catchment area

The Ouse and the River Trent combine to form the Humber Estuary (see A-Z 'H'.)

As the city of York knows to its cost the Ouse is prone to severe flooding. York is a place that we know well but again I have only one decent photo of the river as it flows through the city.

River Ouse in York - 2006

There are many bridges over the river that give great opportunities for photography.

The Ouse from Skeldergate Bridge with the Ouse Bridge in the background.

Shame I haven't taken any.

I have chosen the Somerset/Devon River Otter because of its name. It's only c20 miles long from its source to where it runs into the English Channel at Lyme Bay on the Jurassic Coast.

River Otter near Otterton

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1771-18340 wrote the 'Sonnet to the River Otter'.

Dear native brook! wild streamlet to the West!

How many various-fated years have past,

What happy, and what mournful hours since last

I skimmed the smooth thin stone along thy breast,

Numbering its light leaps! yet so deep imprest

Sink the sweet scenes of childhood, that mine eyes

I never shut amid the sunny ray,

But straight with all their tints thy waters rise,

Thy crossing plank, thy marge with willows grey,

And bedded sand that, veined with various dyes,

Gleamed through thy bright transparence! On my way,

Visions of childhood! oft have ye beguiled

Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs:

Ah! that once more I were a careless child!

I wonder if he wrote that today whether he would also sing the praises of the beavers that have reappeared in the river in recent years. The Otter is the only river in England known to have a breeding population of this industrious animal.

Mouth of the River Otter at Budleigh Salterton

The pebble beach and cliffs at Budleigh Salterton are part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

Photo attributions:

• River Ouse - catchment area map: 5 March 2014 ex Ordnance Survey OpenData by Nil j Fanion - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence
• River Ouse in York from Skeldergate Bridge: 30 September 2007 by Chris Wood - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence
• River Otter near Otterton: 30 July 2008 by Liz Moon - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
• Mouth of River Otter at Budleigh Salterton: 18 March 2012 by Barry Lewis - CC BY 2.0 licence,

A-Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'D'

D - Duke of Burgundy Fritillary

I didn't expect to have trouble so early in the Challenge, 'D' proved harder that I expected until, that is, I found the Duke of Burgundy - the Fritillary that isn't related to the other butterflies with that name.

The Duke of Burgundy, no-one knows how that name came about, is the European representative of a family of tropical butterflies. It's the only member of the genus Hamearis in the family Riodinidae.

Duke of Burgundy Fritillary

It is found in Southern England but rare elsewhere with isolated colonies in the Lake District and on the North Yorkshire Moors, close to where I live.

It's a small (1" wingspan) springtime butterfly, frequenting sunny chalk and limestone grasslands, and sunny  woody clearings. You may find it in woods where cowslips and primroses grow.

Cowslips on a grassy bank in North Yorkshire

It lays it's eggs on these plant as it's slug like caterpillar only feeds on cowslips and primroses.

The male Duke of Burgundy is brown with tawny (orange) spots, the females slightly paler. The underside of its hind wings have rows of white spots.

Duke of Burgundy Fritillary - underside.

The adults feed on flowers of the bugle, buttercups, hawthorn and wood spurge. I have to confess that I had to look up the bugle and the wood spurge as I would not recognise either of these.

Wood Spurge

I shall have to look out for it.

Bugle

I know where I can find some of these, but I did not know what they were called before.

The Duke of Burgundy Fritillary is one of the most rapidly declining butterflies in the UK. Fortunately conservationists are coming to its rescue as this short video shows.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight

Photo Attributions:

• Duke of Burgundy Fritillary (Hamearis lucina): April 2007, by Hertonicus - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Duke of Burgundy Fritillary - underside: June 16 2006, by Mnolf - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Wood spurge: 1 May 2006, geograph.org.uk, by Bob Embleton - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Bugle: 17 May 2009, geograph.org.uk, by Glynn Baker - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Video: Rescuing a rarity - National Trust.

Power - Thematic Photography

I was surprised how many of my photos would fit the 'Power' theme although that was not the reason for taking them.

The latest that have come to my attention stand at least four miles away with the North Yorks Moors behind them.

Wind Turbines

The eagle-eyed among you may just make out the line of pylons part of the electricity power grid. Just to make it easier for you here is a shot of the moors to the right of the turbine photo.

Power Pylon backed by North Yorkshire Moors

As an example of power in use I just have to include a shot from our lounge.

Electric fire in use

Of course there are different forms of power; one of the earliest can be seen here.

Horsepower on Saltburn Beach

It's also possible to generate power using the waves, but beware that sometimes water takes control.

Waves from the Fowey Estuary in Cornwall very much in charge

River barrages, like the ones on the River Tees enable control to be regain of tidal waters as you can see here when the river is in flood and the flow to the sea is controlled.

One gate of the River Tees Barrage

No power shoot would be complete without a reference to the motor car. Of course the petrol companies try to get in on the act in their advertising campaigns,

V-Power Performance Fuels

For which they charge extra of course.

Missing from this power collection is nuclear power so there is a note to myself to go out a take a shot of our local nuclear power station at nearby Hartlepool.

When all else fails there are times when

Only Manpower Works

Not forgetting the woman behind the camera and behind the wheel.

The Driving Force - power on!

To see other power uses (and misuses?) check in with Carmi at Thematic-photographic-268.

Quarry Wood

A-Z Challenge – ‘Q’

Quarry Wood is the local nature reserve at Preston Park (see yesterday’s post for ‘P’).

As the name implies this area was once a quarry. Whinstone, a basaltic dolerite rock, originating from volcanic activity in the Tertiary Period 65 million years ago, was mined at the location from the 1830s – 1850s. The rock formed part of the Cleveland Dyke that stretched as far as the North York Moors.

The stone, used for road construction in the expanding cities and London was transported by barges along the River Tees. Once the Stockton- Darlington Railway was built, the stones were moved by train to the port of Stockton.

The pond in the centre of quarry wood is where the main shaft of the mine was located. The pond is believed to be no deeper than 10 metres due to the technology available at the time and the cost of extracting the stone. The pond is fed by rainwater from the slopes of the surrounding landscape; water cannot pass through the impermeable rock and so the pond is not connected to the River Tees

After mining ceased in the 1850s nature reclaimed the area which became a habitat for many species of trees and birds. In the summer the water may be clothed in a blanket of duckweed; this provides a haven for frogs, newts, nesting moorhens and mallards.

The mature woodland of beech, alder, ash, horse chestnut and oak provides for a wealth of wildlife and woodland flowers. You may hear the drumming of a great spotted woodpecker and at night the hoots of a tawny owl. Rabbits abound and foxes and even roe deer have been seen.

During the day dogs rule OK.