Kath Smart

Life on the Northern Fells. Plants, creatures, seasons. Just small stuff.

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

@RestIsPolitics @RoryStewartUK @campbellclaret @RichardEngel Fascinating episode please have Richard back to talk more about Prigozhin and how Putin’s world works, how he built power and manages violent criminals and organised crime mafia - high wire act - can he stay on top ?

[Hugh Harrop Wildlife @HughHarrop]

Two minutes of aerial footage from Wednesday as the 27s Orcas headed along the east coast of southern Shetland delighting our @ShetlandWild group.

@SumburghHead @whalesorg @SeaWatchersUK @Britnatureguide @mcsuk @kazcustard @kasmunro @marcrileydj @NLFerries @SaversSea

[Simon Knott @SimoninSuffolk]

'The Skylark', by John Clare, on his 230th birthday:

'The rolls and harrows lie at rest beside
The battered road; and spreading far and wide
Above the russet clods, the corn is seen
Sprouting its spiry points of tender green,
Where squats the hare, to terrors wide awake,
Like some brown clod the harrows failed to break.
Opening their golden caskets to the sun,
The buttercups make schoolboys eager run,
To see who shall be first to pluck the prize—
Up from their hurry, see, the skylark flies,
And o'er her half-formed nest, with happy wings
Winnows the air, till in the cloud she sings,
Then hangs a dust-spot in the sunny skies,
And drops, and drops, till in her nest she lies,
Which they unheeded passed—not dreaming then
That birds which flew so high would drop agen
To nests upon the ground, which anything
May come at to destroy. Had they the wing
Like such a bird, themselves would be too proud,
And build on nothing but a passing cloud!
As free from danger as the heavens are free
From pain and toil, there would they build and be,
And sail about the world to scenes unheard
Of and unseen—Oh, were they but a bird!
So think they, while they listen to its song,
And smile and fancy and so pass along;
While its low nest, moist with the dews of morn,
Lies safely, with the leveret, in the corn.'

My daughter lives in Brighton. One day last month we climbed up into the Downs, and all the way we saw and heard the skylarks rising from the fields around us. I'd told her it was my favourite John Clare poem, so when we reached the top of Black Cap we stopped, and read this poem aloud to them.

[Alison Fisk @AlisonFisk]

An ancient amber bear. Carved about 10,000 years ago, this magical find washed up on a beach at Fanø in Denmark from a submerged Mesolithic settlement under the North Sea. National Museum of Denmark. 📷 my own

#Archaeology

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

@lindseyhilsum Thankyou

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

@HayleyhHoward Same. Tried not interested but they kept coming. Blocking them now

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

At the pond this morning sedge warbler and meadow brown butterfly

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

Foxgloves next to a little beck still running despite weeks without rain Caldbeck Thursday #wildflowerhour

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

A beautifully hidden pipit’s nest only reason I know is because I saw her leave

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

@Oatway @wildflower_hour @BSBIbotany @WildHaweswater @leeinthelakes Thank you !

[Alison Fisk @AlisonFisk]

Good dog! 🐾🐕😍

An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian mechanical dog. This leaping hunting dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking by using a lever below its chest. Beautifully carved from ivory. Photo my own.

#Archaeology

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

Lark descending with bit of curlew thrown in

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

@Twesticle @herdyshepherd1 @RoryStewartUK Yes I agree. I would like to hear James on Leading please if he is willing. You haven’t included northern feet on ground voices and leadership. Our food and environment and landscape is critical issue now

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

Heaven after the heat of the hilltops - irresistible sound of a shady beck

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

Summer on the hill near home cranberry and hares tail cotton grass Northern Fells Wednesday #wildflowerhour

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

Looking over fields of flowers towards the Solway

[Carim Nahaboo @CNahaboo]

A new Stag Beetle in the works, this one is a homage of sorts to the famous Stag Beetle of 1505 by Albrecht Dürer 🙏🏼

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

Sunset over the Solway Firth

[Kath Smart @KathRSmart]

Now heath bedstraw flowers join the heath milkwort and tormentil. Ground looks like a starry sky #wildflowerhour