St. Bees Head, Cumbria

The Cumbrian village of St Bees lies approximately fifty miles south of the Scottish border and has been a popular holiday destination for over 150 years. The Norman Priory dates from 1120 and is dedicated to Saint Bega, the legendary daughter of an Irish king who is reputed to have washed ashore in a small boat after fleeing to avoid an arranged marriage.

The long sandy beach of Seacote stretches away to the south while to the north are the red sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head, the most westerly point of Cumbria. This area is the only designated Heritage Coast between Scotland and Wales and is an important seabird reserve.

 This anchor is from the SS Izaro, a Spanish steamship which was shipwrecked in fog on the rocks below the cliffs in 1907.

Fortunately the crew were able to scramble to safety and the cargo of iron ore was successfully unloaded before the ship finally broke in two.

The South Head is known locally as "Tomlin" and dominates the beach.
During the Great Depression of the 1930’s  local mines closed and unemployment rose. Rather than sit idle, many of the men who had lost their jobs undertook a project to build an outdoor swimming pool in the rocks at the foot of Tomlin.
The project was led by Isaac Spedding, an unemployed marine engineer. Land was leased from Lowther Estates, and work started in 1933 to remove 600 tons of rock with the aid of explosives. A rectangular pool was constructed which could hold 80,000 gallons of sea water and even had a diving board.
The pool was opened on a hot sunny day in July 1934 and was maintained by the St Bees Unemployed Mens' Club. Pensioners and the unemployed had free access, children paid a penny and adults two pence. Sadly, by the end of WW2 the pool had silted with shingle and rocks and was never used again. The remains of the structure can still be seen.
 
The footpath hugs the edge of the cliff, affording walkers spectacular views in all directions.
 















On a clear day the panorama includes the Lakeland Fells...

                                               



 ...the Isle of Man (a little misty out to sea on this particular day) ...










 ...and the Scottish hills of Dumfries and Galloway.

The sandstone cliffs are 200 million years old and home to a diverse array of flora and fauna. The RSPB reserve is home in the nesting season to Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Razorbills, Cormorants and Puffins to name but a few. It is also the only nesting place in England for the Black Guillemot.

Kittiwake

At the time of our visit the vast majority of birds had raised their young and departed, with just a few remaining in the area.

Wheatears are spring and summer visitors to the UK, spending their winters in Africa.

Wheatear

The cliffs drop dramatically to the sea below; a flimsy fence being the only safety barrier. A pinnacle of rock named Cloven Barth leans precariously away from the main cliff face. This is known locally as Lawson's Leap after a character who thought, fatally, he could make the jump across. The gap is not wide, though the crevice is very deep.

The path drops steeply down between the North and South Head to reveal the lovely shingle beach at Fleswick Bay. Accessible only on foot or by boat, Fleswick Bay is enclosed by towering cliffs and is a popular area for rock climbers and boulderers to hone their skills.

There has been a lighthouse on the North Head since 1718. This coal fired lighthouse was the last of its kind to be used in Britain. It was destroyed by fire in 1822. A new lighthouse, this time running on oil, was built in 1825 and still operates today.

Birkhams Quarry, still in use today, is thought to have produced the stone which was used in the plinth of the Statue of Liberty. Situated as it is in an important SSSI, the owners work with local geologists and a nature consortium to ensure sensitivity is maintained.

If the abundance of butterflies, birds and wildflowers is anything to go by, they appear to be upholding their responsibilities.

Wall

Small Whites

Small White

Painted Lady

Gatekeeper

Peacock

Linnet

Stonechat

Kestrel

Our circular walk now took us back in the direction of St Bees, although there was a temptation to keep walking all the way to Whitehaven which could be seen in the distance.

Scafell Pike

Rainclouds descending over the Isle of Man

Back down to St Bees, to catch our train home.

Thanks for visiting my blog; I hope you've enjoyed the photos!

Close encounters of the natural kind.

It's been a while since I've felt I had anything to update my blog with as this Summer has been a bit of a damp squib round these parts. Interesting nature walks have been few and far between, unfortunately. However I have recently had one or two lucky encounters with barn and tawny owls, a fox, hare, stoat and a beautiful but menacing sparrowhawk which has been stalking my bird table.
Apologies in advance for the poor photo quality. These were taken either through windows (dirty ones!), from long distances and/or in the failing light of evening. A more professional photographer would have captured clearer images I'm sure; I'm not going to worry about that though!
 

I came across the hare whilst crossing a field on a little used footpath. It was my first sighting of a wild hare and I watched him grazing for some time before he suddenly seemed startled and headed for a nearby wooded area. The unmistakable loping gait confirmed he was indeed a hare and not a rabbit.

I didn't manage to get photos of the Fox, as it was a very brief encounter and too dark for my camera to handle.  



Nor did I manage to photograph the Tawnies which have been calling to each other every evening around the area where I live. I first heard them when I was putting food out for my nightly hedgehog visitors. Turning around to come back into the house I was very surprised to see two of them, sitting side by side on my television aerial; so exciting! I haven't heard them calling the last couple of evenings as I've had my skylights shut because of the rainy weather. I'm hoping they'll be back though.

I often go out on "owl patrol" on summer evenings, in the hope of spotting my favourite, the Barn Owl. On one such evening I was on my way home with my family after an unsuccessful search and feeling a little disappointed when I spotted one as I was driving past some derelict buildings. After watching for a while we left, but returned a few evenings later to see if we would be in luck again.
Imagine our excitement when we saw not one, but two Barn Owls hunting and bringing prey to what was evidently their nest site.
I must stress here that it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb barn owls at an active nest site with eggs or young or before eggs are laid, or to disturb the dependent young.   Legal status...
With this in mind we positioned ourselves well away from the nest site and waited, binoculars at the ready. Before too long the parent birds came with food for their young. Even at a distance we could hear the unmistakable hissing of the chicks.

Barn Owls prey mainly on Field Voles, Common Shrews and Wood Mice. There was evidently a good supply in the rough grassland and fields in this area, as the parents brought back prey at regular intervals as we were watching.
An adult will eat 3-4 prey items per night, if weather conditions are favourable. Their silent hunting ability is a double edged sword however, as they are unable to store much in the way of fat reserves and their feathers are not waterproof. This means that they can't hunt in rainy weather and that in turn means any young they have don't get any food either. In prolonged rainy spells the older and therefore bigger and more dominant chicks sometimes resort to eating their siblings in order to survive.
Happily though, this appeared to be a successful year for this owl family. We counted four well developed chicks, but there could very easily have been more.

 

 

It's been several weeks since I've seen any sign of the Barn Owls; fingers crossed they all managed to successfully fledge and have dispersed to their new territories. 

I had a completely unexpected but nevertheless delightful encounter with a very inquisitive stoat, which popped up out of the undergrowth right next to me while I was waiting to take some sunset photos one evening. The lovely little creature soon disappeared again, but two minutes later it was back to check me out. I was amazed at how close it came to me, less than two feet away. 

Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you've enjoyed the photos!