Burns’ Night celebrates the life of Scotland’s National poet, Robert Burns, and falls on his birthday, January the 25th, he is famous for penning, amongst many other works, ‘Auld lang syne’ and ‘Address to a Haggis’. This is a recipe for the traditional Burns’ night dessert of Cranachan, as I’ll always do with my recipesContinue reading “Northwest Recipes Cranachan, a traditional Burns’ night dessert”
Author Archives: Northwest nature and history
Halton’s Mechanical Elephants, or The Polish-built Petrol-powered Pachyderms
Halton’s heritage Just up the river Lune, a couple of miles from the city of Lancaster, sits the historic village of Halton, once a bustling hub of industrial activity powered by the waters of the Lune. In the area’s hay-days, which lasted from the 17th to 19th centuries, the water-wheel powered mills, the oldest ofContinue reading “Halton’s Mechanical Elephants, or The Polish-built Petrol-powered Pachyderms”
The Emperor of the moors, Saturnia pavonia
The Emperor moth, Saturnia pavonia is one of the most spectacular insects you could hope to see in the British isles and the only member of the Saturniidae family to be found here. The large ‘eyes’ on its wings give this moth its scientific name; ‘pavon’, which is Latin for Peacock, and it is indeedContinue reading “The Emperor of the moors, Saturnia pavonia”
Lichens, and how they can be used to measure air pollution
Lichens There are many rare and exotic species of Plants, Lichens and Bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), which call the British isles home and they all have their charms and important roles to play in our ecology, for me one of the the most interesting families has to be the Lichens. Lichens are not what youContinue reading “Lichens, and how they can be used to measure air pollution”
St Hubert’s at Dunsop
St Huberts The Gothic, and slightly Moomin-like, Roman Catholic church of St Hubert’s sits just outside the village of Dunsop Bridge in the Langdale valley in the Forest of Bowland. It was built to the design of English architect Edwin Pugin and opened on the 2nd of May 1865 by Bishop Richard Roskell of NottinghamContinue reading “St Hubert’s at Dunsop”
The Old Moon
Tomorrow night, given that the weather forecast is a bit sketchy, you might be able see the full beauty of the January full moon or the ‘Old moon’ as it’s also called. The British Isles has many dark sky discovery sites which are largely free from light pollution, making them perfect places to observe astronomicalContinue reading “The Old Moon”
Baa, Ram, Ewe! An A to Z of sheep terminology
This is a basic A to Z of sheep terminology, it’s by no means exhaustive though as there are hundreds of obscure and technical terms that farmers and shepherds use, let me know if you can think of any that aren’t here. Aries The sign of the sheep, and the second half of its scientificContinue reading “Baa, Ram, Ewe! An A to Z of sheep terminology”
Yain Tain Tethera
Yain Tain Tethera ‘Yain Tain Tethera’ is a rhyming system of counting historically used by shepherds in the Bowland area, it is the local dialectic version of an ancient counting system with many variations around the British isles collectively known as ‘Yan Tan Tethera’, here is the Bowland version; Yain=1Tain=2Eddera=3Peddera=4Pit=5Tayter=6Layter=7Overa=8Covera=9Dix=10Yain-a-dix=11Tain-a-dix=12Eddera-a-dix=13Peddera-a-dix=14Bumfit=15Yain-a-bumfit=16Tain-a-bumfit=17Eddera-a-bumfit=18Peddera-a-bumfit=19Jiggit=20 Most of these ways ofContinue reading “Yain Tain Tethera”
Northwest Nature and History 