The Earth. It’s tempting, for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, to choose lush woodland, productive farmland, dramatic peaks, crashing ocean breakers, or a charming cottage garden crammed with colourful flowers, and on Earth Day, show it at its striking best.
Instead, I want to take you to Colsterdale in Yorkshire. The soil is thin, acid, peaty. Bitter winds scythe across the hilltops, bending to their will those hardy trees that make it to maturity. Brackish ditches lurk below the juncus grass to catch out the unwary hiker. The hills, though beautiful, can look barren, apart from the heather which blushes an extravagant purple every August.
But Earth is clever. This unpromising countryside nurtures thousands of sheep and lambs. Curlews, plover and geese wheel through the sky. Songbirds spring from the heather. There is so much hidden wildlife that much of the area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Today is Earth Day 2017. I’ve chosen to celebrate the hidden dale so close to where we live. Follow the WordPress Photo Challenge link to see what others have chosen.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
Very beautiful.
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It’s a lovely dale.
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hurrah for the moors
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Hurrah, hurrah!
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Wonderful views.
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They are indeed. Lucky us.
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This part of earth is as important, or more so, than all the lush, pretty-as-a-picture parts! And, oh, those lambs!!
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They’re rather wonderful, aren’t they? And they live in a pretty beautiful place, in my opinion.
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Stunning. And wonderful photographs, Margaret. I feel like I’m striding those empty trails alongside you 🙂
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Hope you’ve got ba woolly hat then!
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Colsterdale is one of our favourite walks – rarely see anyone apart from the local farmers.
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So many walks, and all so different. I love Colsterdale too.
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Good choice, Margaret! Your photos are excellent and I was interested in the Yorkshire Water link describing a number of innovative projects going on to improve the area. I love the curlew’s call!
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So do I. The bird’s supposed to be on the endangered list, but it seems pretty common here still.
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I don’t hear it as often as I used to in my travels.
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😦
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Love these pictures…can’t wait to return to your part of the world one day!
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Oh, I hope you can come soon!
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Beautiful photos for the earth theme, Margaret!
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Good choice as your pictures show a harmonic interaction between human activity and the landscape. The photos are also a reminder of how little of England may at first glance look pretty wild, but is also partly the product of centuries of human activity.
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In this part of the world, man and sheep have teamed up to modify the landscape: sheep by nibbling all greenery down to the quick, man by keeping them in place by drystone walling. And for many, flooded valleys are the increasing consequence. What next I wonder?
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