Tuesday 9 June 2020

30 DAYS WILD : DAY 8 - WATER BESIDE THE BRIDGE

Stone bridge over Warley Moor Drain.
Another bridge on the same walk.
Photographed last year, June 20th 2019.


So there I was, walking along, when I came to a bridge - not the bridge in the picture, a newer one, further along the path. And I thought it might be time for a 'stuck foot post'. A stuck foot post is where you stand still and see what you can see. You can swivel and stretch but must keep one foot 'stuck' in the same place while you do your 'observing'.


Pattern on oily surface of the water in Warley Moor Drain.
Standing on the bridge and looking down to the 'drain' (where water runs in a channel from the moor to the reservoir) I could see oil had got into it. Whether it was natural or from a farmer's machinery I couldn't tell but it was very beautiful and for the most part a lovely, delicate shade of blue - with marks on it. Had the pattern been made by something just under the surface or had something very light walked on water? (It was about an inch wide. Possibly a bit more.)
Hare's Tail Cottongrass seed heads on Warley Moor (West Yorkshire) June 2020
I thought perhaps I would find out if I enlarged the picture at home. Nope. That didn't help. I took some other 'stuck foot' style photos, a fern in the wall of the drain . . . some white flowers, some heather . . . then walked to the other end of the short bridge. This meant I could take a picture of the moor. (The white tufts are seed heads of Hare's Tail Cottongrass - Eriophorum vaginatum.)

Possibly a water boatman. Warley Moor Drain. West Yorkshire. 8th June 2020
Pond Skater?
See the Wildlife's Trust's page on
Gerris lacustris for more info.
Or for even more detail see Wikipedia on
Gerridae
Then, looking back down at the water, I took a photo of the bits of grass and sedge or whatever that seemed to have drifted into the corner against the side of the bridge and the drain. I thought it might make an interesting photo of a pattern. It didn't really. But while I was looking around in it (enlarged) . . . . . . I came across this. Some kind of water boatman would you say? (Though to me it's the wrong shape. I hope one of you will come to the rescue! Hurrah! Graeme at Imperfect and Tense suggests Pond Skater. That looks much more likely!) Is this the solution to the first puzzle? Is this who walked on the oily water and left a pattern of footsteps behind?
Badge and Link to 30 Days Wild 2020
30 DAYS WILD
Today's Random Act of
Wildness is to
find an invertebrate.



In this post then, the eighth challenge for 30 Acts of Random Wildness in June can be to come across an invertebrate. (It's wonderful when you can make things up as you go along!) And in doing this, I realise I am also inventing another kind of post. There were the slug trails and the dandelion seeds and the bird which might be a lark or might have been a meadow pipit (opinion is divided) and before that there were the sycamore aphids. This new kind of post is a picture in a picture, a surprise in a photo, a 'Where's Wally' of the natural history world.

8 comments:

Granny Sue said...

I like the "stuck foot" idea. Will have to give it a try. I enjoyed your wander!

Imperfect and Tense said...

An interesting set of photos! The 'another bridge' suggests that the path is an old one and has been in use for a long time. I wonder what for? The animal tracks are a puzzle and it feels as though your photo has captured a very ephemeral moment. The insect looks like a pond skater.

Jo said...

I like this 'stuck foot' idea, it really makes you look around at your surroundings and see things you'd ordinarily miss.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hello Granny Sue. I used to to do a 'stuck foot post' once a month but haven't yet picked up on it after the gap, first because I was moving house and blog, then while I was ill. If you do decide to do a 'stuck foot post' let me know and I'll put a link from Loose and Leafy to it. If there's enough interest I might go back to putting a proper link box for stuck foot posts.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hello Imperfect and Tense. I imagine there was some kind of ditch here before it was formalised into a proper moor 'drain'. (It's now under the control of Yorkshire Water and runs down into a proper reservoir.) The path beside it . . . I could walk for miles further but have not yet done so. However, I think this track meets up at some point with one of the old pack horse roads - paved paths for horses carrying 'packs' across the moors. I read somewhere that Bramwell Bronte used to walk through this area too on his way from Haworth to work at Luddendenfoot School. (His Wikipedia entry does not mention this - just his time as a clerk at Luddendenfoot station. So perhaps I should just say 'on his way to work'.) This would have been a very long trek and I can't imagine he did it both ways daily but it does suggest a long history of pathways across the moors. You have to be careful though. There are cheerful yellow notices warning that one can sink in the mud with cartoons of someone waving as they sink under it!

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hello Jo. It is extraordinary what you can see while standing still. Perhaps next month I will announce in advance when I am going to do a 'stuck foot post' and other bloggers might like to join in?

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Graeme - ps. I should have written 'Branwell' not 'Bramwell'. Have never otherwise come across that name.

Flighty said...

Good post and pictures. xx