A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: Ribble

The Ribble has provided a few surprises for me while preparing for the Challenge.

I have always believed it to be a Lancashire river. However I now know that Yorkshire's so called three peaks - Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent in the Pennines - encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble. What's more it is the only major river in Yorkshire which flows westward.

The Ribble was known in Roman times as Belisama a goddess worshipped in Gaul. Although her presence in Britain is disputed the name means the 'brightest one.'

The 75 mile long Ribble flows through the Yorkshire village of Giggleswick, famous for its school and the town of Settle before passing through Lancashire's Clitheroe, Ribchester and Preston. It enters the Irish Sea on England's west coast between Lytham St Annes and Southport.

River Ribble downstream of Mitton Bridge, Lancashire

For those with an energetic disposition you may want to walk the 73 mile long Ribble Way from its mouth to the source. You may be more pleased to know that the walk is split into seven 10 mile long stages.

These days I'd rather admire the other West Yorkshire, River Ribble.

River Ribble above Swan Bank, Holmfirth

This must be one of England's shortest rivers - it's only c3 km long.

I enjoy seeing it regularly on TV in the reruns of the old comedy series Last of the Summer Wine.

Photo attributions:

• River Ribble downsteam of Mitton Bridge: 26 April 2007 ex geograph.org,uk by Alexander P Kapp - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
• River Ribble above Swan Bank: 5 November 2009 ex geograph.org,uk by Humphrey Bolton - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence

A-Z Challenger 2018 - British Rivers: 'H' Humber

Although recorded on many maps as a river the Humber is actually the tidal estuary formed by the River Ouse and the River Trent. At 59 km the Humber is quite small. It separates the counties of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire being 13 km across at its widest point,

It is spanned by the magnificent single span Humber Suspension Bridge.

Number Bridge panorama

And seen from the air - 

Aerial view - Humber Bridge

At 2220 metres long the bridge is one of the longest single span bridges in the world.

The output of freshwater from the Humber into the North Sea is the largest in Britain,

Hull is the largest city on the Humber and ferries leave there for Europe destinations like Zeebrugge.

Footpaths along the bank enable you to approach the bridge and watch the ships go by and to look out for seals,

Footpath (Wolds Way) North Ferriby, Yorkshire

Photo attributions:

• Humber Bridge panorama: 27 August 2011 by Yug08 - CC BY-SA 2,0 licence
• Aerial View: 1 July 2009 by Leo Jackson - Public Domain
• River Humber footpath: 7 April 2008 ex geograph.org.uk by Andy Beecroft - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence

A-Z 2018 Challenge: British Rivers - 'A': Aire, Axe

The problem with my researching British rivers is that it is easy to be sidetracked and this has happened immediately with both the Aire and the River Axe.

Horses cooling off in the River Aire

The river rises at Malham Tarn in North Yorkshire, and drains the central  Pennines to flow south-east through West Yorkshire until it joins the River Ouse. Its upper reaches are in the valley of Airedale - where the Airedale terrier originated.

But not this one!

After leaving the Pennines it crosses the Yorkshire coal field to be joined by its major tributary, the River Calder. Leeds is the principal city on its route.

The River Axe gets its name from an ancient Celtic word meaning 'abounding in fish.' I thought I knew where the river was located but now I've found there are two rivers with that name located in the South West.

One rises or rather emerges from the limestone caves at Wookey Hole.

Wookey Hole and mill leat

This flows westward and northward through Somerset, splitting into two Axes before reuniting and entering the Bristol Channel at Weston Bay.

My other Axe flows south and enters the sea on the south coast at Lyme Bay.

The river rises in Dorset but passes through Somerset and Devon. The photo taken in 2007 shows cattle standing within a meander likely to have become an island by now as the river eroded the neck. The houses are at the northern end of the town of Axminster (famous for its carpets).

Photo attributions:

• River Aire Close to Woodhouse Railway Bridge: 22 June 2005, ex geograph.org.uk, by Mick Melvin  ; CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence.
• Wookey Hole and mill leat: 18 Feb 2005, ex geograph.org.uk by Pierre Terre CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence
• River Axe (Lyme Bay): 17 May 2007, ex geograph.org.uk, by Derek Harper CC By-SA 2.0 Licence

A-Z Challenge 2017 - Houses, some real, some not - 'H'

H - Castle Howard

An ITV television production of Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited was filmed at Yorkshire's Castle Howard between 1979 and 1981. Castle Howard was used again for the later film released in 2008.

Castle Howard
(21 March 2008 - by Pwojdacz -uploaded at en.wikepedia - Public Domain)

The Hon. Simon Howard, who owns Castle Howard, has said:

“It is easy to see why Castle Howard was chosen as Brideshead when we hear the description Charles Ryder gives when seeing Brideshead for the first time: 

'Below us, half a mile distant, grey and gold amid a screen of boskage, shone the dome and columns of an old house.' ”

Evelyn Waugh's novel which opens during the Second World War, charts the life and loves of Army officer Charles Ryder. Arriving at Brideshead Castle for the first time in more than 20 years, he recalls his years at Oxford University, his relationship with Sebastian Flyte and his - ultimately - doomed relationship with Julia, Sebastian’s sister.

However Waugh’s Brideshead Castle was not a castle at all, but a house built of stones from a pulled-down castle a mile away. It was not in Yorkshire either, but was situated in Wiltshire. So you may gain the wrong impression if you have not read the book.

{Note: Chatsworth House (Pemberley), Green Gables and Castle Howard (Brideshead) all featured in my article in The Lady magazine in 2007, entitled 'Houses in Fiction'}.

A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'S'

S - Speckled Wood, Swallowtail

The Speckled Wood we see frequently in Yorkshire but the Swallowtail in the British Isles is confined to wetland areas of eastern England.

The Speckled Wood is another of those butterflies that visits our Butterfly Bush, As it always seems to be on the move its difficult to photograph, however I caught up with one elsewhere on a shrub in our garden.

Speckled Wood (Pararge segeria) on Euonymous bush

The Strumpshaw Fen nature reserve  in Norfolk managed by the RSPB is one of the few breeding sites for the Swallowtail.

Swallowtail (Papilio britannicus) at Strumpshaw

The Swallowtail is the largest resident British butterfly with a wingspan of 8 - 10cm.

I've yet to see one. Until yesterday at least; but the ones I saw at Butterfly World at Preston Park in Eaglescliffe where tropical Swallowtails.

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
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

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

Your laughter brings me sunshine
Every day is spring time

Photo attribution:

• Swallowtail: RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, geograph.or.uk, 11 June 2007, by Janet Richardson - CC BY-SA 2.0

A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies - 'R'

R - Red Admiral, Ringlet

The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) appears in Europe, Asia and North America. It shares our Buddleia bush with Peacocks, Tortoiseshells and White butterflies. 

My photos of it in Yorkshire are all on the golden yellow rose we planted for our 50th wedding anniversary some years ago.

Red Admiral

The one I photographed in Michigan in 2010 had to make do with the tyre on a tractor.

Red Admiral

There is no mistaking its striking dark brown, red and black wing pattern with orange bands crossing the forewings and on the outer edge of the hind wings.

Vladimir Nabokov, also an amateur lepidopterist, featured the Red Admiral in his novel Pale Face - I shall have to read it sometime.

The Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) is a brown butterfly found all over Europe. This female was photographed at a site of special scientific interest  (SSSI) - Hurcott Wood, in Worcestershire.

Ringlet Butterfly

I must confess that the few I've seen on brambles have been a darker brown than this.

Female Ringlet Butterfly

On the underside there is no mistaking the black eyespots rimmed with yellow. You are much more likely to see it like this as it rarely exposes its brown upperside.

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
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

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

Your laughter brings me sunshine

Photo Attributions:

• Female Ringlet at Hurcott Wood: 17 July 2008, geograph.org.uk by Max Fascione - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Female Ringlet: Sandy Bedfordshire, uploaded by innotata, by Ogangeaurochs - CC BY 2.0

A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'O'

O - Orange Tip

There really is no mistaking this very aptly named butterfly if you are looking at the male.

Orange Tip Butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines)

It's believed that the orange tips to its wings are a warning colouration derived from its liking for the garlic mustard plant and indicating that it is not palatable to predators.

The underside of its wings has a pattern of green blotches formed by a combination of yellow and black scales which provide the orange tip with excellent camouflage when its wings are closed.

Orange Tips mating showing the coloured underside

However when you see the female of the species you might think that it is just another white butterfly.

Female Orange Tip

Without the orange on the tips of its wings it is often mistaken for other white butterflies.

The caterpillars feed on the cuckooflower (as the female butterfly above), garlic mustard and charlock. The adult orange  tips sip nectar from bluebells, brambles, bugle, dandelion and ragged robin - all of which have flowers common in our area of Yorkshire.

I shall have to look out for the butterfly this summer. I can't say I've seen one before.

The BBC Springwatch programme is using the Orange Tip butterfly to map the progress of spring this year. People are asked to record and report the date on which they see the first one. 

There is an even more spectacular orange tip in Europe. The Southern Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides) is yellow in fact.

Southern (Yellow) Orange Tip

This one was photographed in Spain. I could go there or to the Alps to catch sight of one.

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
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside

Photo attributions:

• Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines): 15 April 2014 in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, Sharp Photography, by Charlesjsharp - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Orange Tips mating: uploaded by Entomolo, 17 April 2011, by hamonjp - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Southern (Yellow) Orange Tip: Male, near Higuera de Calatrava, Spain, 19 March 2008, by Joan Cales Hinojosa Galisteo - CC BY-SA 3.0

A-Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'N'

N - Northern Brown Argus

Before I found this butterfly I thought I would have to settle for 'Nymphalidae,' the largest family of butterflies with 6000 species around the world. However to help me with this challenge my wife found a nature guide for butterflies and moths. Tucked away in there was the Northern Brown Argus. 

Until then I thought the Argus was a local newspaper in different parts of the UK.

Northern Brown Argus

This specimen was photographed on a Bloody Cranes-Bill flower at the Pinbain Burn SSSI (site of special scientific interest). Pinbain is a rabbit grazed limestone grassland and coastal cliff in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Brown with orange spots on its outer wing edges, in Scotland most have the characteristic white spot on the forewing. In Northern England the spot may be dark brown or black.

Its foodplant is the Common Rock-Rose.

Common Rock-Rose

A very local butterfly in Scotland it exists on only a number of scattered sites.

Northern Brown Argus in Yorkshire

No white spot here, it seems brown/black to me. There are lots of different leaves and grasses in this calcareous pasture on the Kettlewell - Starbotton footpath.

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
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings

Photo attributions

• Northern Brown Argus on Bloody Cranes-Bill: Pinbain Burn SSS, 17 June 2007, geograph.org,uk, by Mary & Angus Hogg - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Common Rock-Rose: upload by Gary Dee, 12 May 2011, by Leonara King - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Northern Brown Argus in Yorkshire: 29 May 2009, geograph.org.uk, by Derek Parkinson - CC BY-SA 2.0

Bodies of Water - Thematic Photography

On some bodies of water you cannot see from shore to shore.

Lake Michigan  - empty shoreline

There's more chance of action at Grand Traverse Bay.

Fancy a yacht on this body of water?

Someone did around the Isles of Scilly.

Off Tresco in the Scilly Isles

Closer to home some bodies take to water.

Like a duck and these geese on the River Tees

While at Portrack Nature Reserve alongside the river you can also show your bodies off.

Herons and a lapwing on a Portrack 'island'

Not a wave in sight; meanwhile down the Yorkshire coast at Whitby

The barque Endeavour creates a ripple as in comes in 

But can you see the bodies 'in the water' back in Michigan?

What no dogs?

For other watery offerings check out the links where Carmi hosts the theme - Bodies of Water - Thematic-photographic-329

Columns and Rows - Thematic Photography

I was surprised by just how many of my photos could be interpreted as meeting the 'Columns and Rows' theme Carmi has set us this week.

For quiet contemplation where better to start than in the ruins of an abbey.

Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire - 2008

"Eureka! I've got it."

Archimedes Screws on the Tees Barrage - 2012

The four screws lift columns of water up the white water rafting course adjacent to the River Tees at Stockton.

There are other ways to get a lift.

"Up, Up and Away in my Beautiful Balloon" - Michigan 2012

In Cornwall's city it's peaceful to admire the- 

High Altar and Reredos, in Truro Cathedral -2011

Where you sit in rows and contemplate the columns of - 

The Nave, Truro Cathedral - 2011

If I have recycled some pictures from recent years this week a calendar for the future arrived.

Recycling Calendar

A magnet holds it to the side of the filing cabinet in my office.

Behind me a bookcase is made up of rows of books, the columns are the books themselves.

"Your face, my thane, is a book where men may read strange matters."  - Macbeth

For more strange matters link up with Carmi and others at Thematic-Photographic-318.

The Power of Three - Sepia Saturday

I was one of three brothers, my wife one of three sisters but I am unable to find a photo showing us together in our family groups. That's why this week's silhouette post left me in a quandary.

Those who visit my blog will not be in the least surprised if I used the dog as a theme.

But with three children of our own it would be remiss of me if I left them out. However over the years there have been few occasions when they have been photographed together.

Andrew, Rachel and Adrian - 1970s

That was taken at one of the many abbey ruins in Yorkshire, if only I could remember which one.

Shortly afterwards a visit to Sandsend near Whitby has them leaving the sea with you know who in charge.

When they were older still (1980s) we find the three of them at home in Yarm.

Of course they scattered far and wide after leaving school and university. When they reunited in Tresco in 2008, they told us that it had been 10 years since they had been together last.

Cromwell's Castle, Tresco, Isles of Scilly

We were all there, thanks to them, to celebrate our golden wedding.

Island Hotel, Tresco, August 2008

By this time the boys had children of their own.

Kai, Alby & Alana (Andrew's children)

In a less formal setting they appear to be having fun with their father and grandmother giving a helping hand.

Paddling pool at Gatcombe, early 2000s

Adrian's youngest son, Angus, is now sixteen but was smaller here in another group of three.

Alby (baby), Angus - right, his older brother Dylan - middle

My daughter has no children but has had dogs aplenty, including this gang of four.

I included these because three of them match our prompt with their noses in the air. Cody on the right, and Gem in the front have crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Gem went to join Cody while we were in Michigan 4 weeks ago.

The current three residing there are -

Lily, Scout and Gabby

Scout is only too pleased to show you he can raise his nose.

With or without a cup

Lily can crane her neck really high - unfortunately I don't have a picture of her in action.

The three of them have the power to make you throw tennis balls for hours for them to fetch. If only I had the power to keep up with them and to make them sit and wait patiently like these dogs from Kirklevington.

Jasper, Alfie & Duke

And that's not me with the stick.

To see what others have posted this week, check out the links at Sepia-Saturday-255.