Visit to Malham Chapel eco-garden Sunday service and floor.

November 5th 2023 and six members of Settle Methodist Church -members of their "Eco-group"  visited Malham Methodist Chapel. - Their aim:

To support a small rural church by bulking up the congregation to enable a "good sing"

To see the new Hope Garden - which replaces the patch of species poor grassland in the triangle next to the church. The Hope Garden began redevelopment in 2023 in collaboration with the Malham Environmental Group, a local garden designer, local farmer and other interested parties.

To see the fascinating floor in the church which illustrates the famous beauty spots within a mile of the village - and thus enables a "pilgrimage within a few steps".

Four members pose beside the church as they arrive early at 9am for the 9.30 service 

Local Preacher, ..Mr Murfitt arrives (left) and is greeted by Philip Taylor, normally the organist at Settle, who today will play the piano at Malham. 

We sing our praises and give thanks to God.  the congregation includes a lady from Oregon in America here on holiday.

After the service Sally (left) show us a table of knitted angels. People are invited to take one, and display it at home and leave a message in a book saying where the angel has gone.

Sally shows us the floor, the windows, and much more. we watch a short video explaining about the church renovations.

The group pose for a photo. See the picture of the chapel under Robin's feet (on the left)

  

After the service we walk round the garden. Sally shows us the "Bee house/  insect hotel".

Outside the chapel a rainbow was put up during covid. The children liked to see it when they pass it on the school bus, so they left it.

I would recommend other churches in the Yorkshire West District to come here and take part in a service.  With just a small congregation,  the chapel just has services every two weeks and is supported by the rest of the Skipton circuit.
The chapel is open the the daytime during the week for visitors so do PLEASE call in if you visit Malham and encourage your friends to do so.

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I used to attend Malham Chapel when I lived at Malham Tarn Field many years ago. 

Malham Chapel page on the Skipton Circuit Website

Justice for Palestinians Vigil in Settle on 4 Nov 2023

 Today, 4 November, I attended the Justice for Palestinians vigil in Settle.  We stood on the side of the market place from 12.30pm to 2.30pm

There were about 30 of us (But I read The Met Police estimate there were 30,000 in central London alone.)

The Israeli military says that 242 people are being held hostage by Hamas. And about 1400 were killed in the initial Hamas attack on 7 October.

Yet now within one month, 9000 - mostly innocent - Palestinians have been killed -but including some members of Hamas.  And the other million plus are living in the horror of the bombing, lack of food, water, injuries, loss of relatives due to death etc.

Two wrongs don't make a right. 

We cannot stand back and let the Palestinians undergo even more suffering.  (If for no other reason than "It will bounce back" - people in the future will look back and say "Why did you not help the Palestinians?")

Annie suggested at the beginning that we made a large circle and those who had something to say in turn could say it. Many very interesting points were made.

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On 18 November (two weeks time) there are to be two talks at the Friends Meetings House organised by the group "Three Peaks for Palestine" at their annual awareness/fundraising day, when they sell soup, coffee and  Palestinian Olive Oil and Dates.   I have been to some of these in the past and learned more how the Israelis are encroaching on the Palestinian land in the West Bank.  The Palestinians were there before modern Israel was formed 

Here is a useful potted history at History.com  

Sat 18  Nov
Palestine/Israel.

Three Peaks for Palestine

Quaker Meeting House Settle. 10.00-3.00 pm

Talks by

Robert Cohen

who used to live in Bentham with his wife, Rev Anne Russell and family. You may have heard him and remember what a clear, thought provoking and compassionate speaker he is on the complexities of relations between Israelis and Palestinians. Robert is chair of the Amos Trust. (amostrust.org)

11.00am Reflection on the terrible events in Israel & Gaza which began on 7 Oct - their   background and immediate consequences.  

1.00pm Suggestions how best Jews, Palestinians & their allies can work together.

All day: coffee, cakes, soup and sale of Zaytoun Palestinian farm products such as olive oil and dates.

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Climate Walk: Fungi, Flowers and Grass of Parnassus on 1 Oct 2023 at Attermire and Scaleber Foss

Graham, Jane, Geoff and I set off for a "First Day of the month Climate Walk" on 1 Oct

Geoff has been reading Frederic Riley's book of walks in the Settle area, written a 100 years ago and wants to see if some of the plants are still here. It is very warm and muggy.

Judith  (me) wants to see if we can find the part at the lower end of Attermire "Tarn" - flat area where it had be drained. (having heard Lee Schofield (author of Wild Fell)'s talk last week which included a section "looking for depressions which could be drained ponds.") Attermire was drained in the 19th C. says one internet source. 

I think Graham and Jane have just come for the walk..

We don't read from our Climate Prayer Sheet - because it is not yet online on 1 Oct.  (But for the record  just note 

- that September was the second warmest month we have ever had in the UK. (The warmest in England and Wales and in parts of Europe)

- that the State of Nature Report for the UK and dependent territories was published this week. The UK is now one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth. But I knew that. THe UK was bad 50 years ago- but it has got so much worse!

And we 

- that we still have lots of Red Admiral Butterflies, 

-That the Antarctic ice sheet is melting rapidly

-That there is controversy over the government decision to give the go ahead for the development of the Rosebank Oilfield, and last week that their law that all new cars would have to be electric from 2030 had been withdrawn. What will people be saying when they look back in five years??

We park near Scalebar Foss first. I explain  the walls by the road are made of a brick brown coloured limestone.. and that the road is parallel to a fault, parallel to and just south west of the road.

See discussion of geology here - 

The ordinary Geological survey map with its lovely shades of blue and turquoise for different limestone series that you can buy as a paper version can be viewed online here: 

We enter the waterfall area by the lower stile near the bridge so that we can look at the fallen log that is infected with a blue- green fungus - now called Chlorociboria aeruginascens - ( It used to be Chlorosplenium . but hey ho, the fungi names are changing as fast as the lichen and flower names). English name: Elf Cup. Because the wood is stained the beautiful blue-green colour it is sometimes used for carving. 

Elf cup - the cup is about half a cm across.

We descend down the slippery track beside the waterfall. 

The source of the river is from Stockdale (and the land below Pikedaw above Malham) and also from the stream coming out of Attermire. It is the source of Long Preston Beck.

Fungi on log near stream

 Geoff says that Riley said that "The laburnum make a splendid site in spring. "  We look amongst the vey tall beech, a few tall conifers (Larch?) and maybe self sown young hazel.. and do spy one laburnum struggling in the shade across the river. 

Geoff starts to make a list of plants in flower -  for the record -  Burnet Saxifrage and Ladies Bedstraw and lots of Yarrow on the verge by the road, a Harebell by the fence in Scaleber.

Now we are going to Attermire, part of the source of the river we have seen.

We drive back to the junction with Stockdale Lane and park there.

We walk through the field towards Attermire Scar. In this field we find three different waxcaps (Blackening, White, Slimy orange) and an Enteloma. 

Blackening or Conical Waxcap

I think that will give it the low score  that would give on  NEYEDC Yorkshire Waxcap survey (or the Plantlife 2023 survey) - I feel the area will have more waxcaps later in the season. Maybe I can combine the results with the next field where we found an extra waxcap-the slightly more nutritious Meadow Waxcap. Or look up species in the online waxcap key

This next picture is the inedible Egghead Mottlegill, and early coloniser of dung (sheep or cattle)  - but think- where would we be if there were no fungi to break down dung?

Panaeolus semiovatus - common on dung.

We reach the t-junction at the path just below Attermire 

Here there is the option of turning left - slightly uphill a tiny way to the "summit" above Settle and then descending by the long steep path down to Settle and a tea-shop - or
turning right  to go to the flush area where Grass of Parnassus might be found and continuing a little way, hitting  the Stockdale road, and walking back to the car.

Graham and Jane decided to go left. Geoff and I go right to look for the plants.

Geoff and I turn right towards Attermire Tarn. 
We have observed that the area is somewhat treeless,
considering the natural vegetation would be trees....

We find flush areas in the first two fields with sedges and some "Brown" mosses and even Selaginella -

Path through the flush. (Geoff top right of picture, but bottom of field)

Selaginella selaginoides

  But it was only in the third area that we search that we are rewarded and find a Grass of Parnassus - and - still in flower. Several. The bottom part of the field where the flush area was has been separated with a fence long ago (10 - 20 years) I think. I had visited this field with Mike Canaway and Craven Conservation Group ??? 20 years ago??? Glad to see it is still in reasonable condition. with lots of small sedges such as Carex dioica and Eleocharis quinquiflora. One piece of Stonewort.

Devil's-bit Scabious (and and Rough Hawkbit leaf in the foreground.

pointing to the Grass of Parnassus

The sun comes out briefly.

One late flowering Bird's-eye Primrose forgets it is October not June..

Then we remember that Jane will be waiting for us in Settle.. and set off home through another field and along a very, very long stretch of Stockdale Lane back to the car.  Fortunately Graham and Jane phone so we can say we are on the way.. but by then my feet, especially my toes are hurting.. I just can't find shoes/boots that fit.

We see a farmer gathering sheep with his dog, and a big flock of gulls. This field has been reseeded.

We find the drainage channel from the Tarn- put underground

Over the lichen covered wall we see another channel leading away.

Then it's back to the car and down the hill to Settle, and Jane.

Do join us on a walk on 1 November - I expect there will still be lots more Fungi around. 

Climate Walk and Lichens on Swindale Ridge on 2 Sept 2023 - before Wild Haweswater Talk by Lee Schofield on 21 Sept.

 On the 1st of the month (in this case on the 2nd ) we go for a walk which we call a Climate walk - (See more) see. We - being a group from Craven Conservation Group and from Churches together in Settle and District plus anyone else interested.  The weather on the 2nd September was excellent.

We are looking forward to hearing Lee Schofield come and talk on "Wild Haweswater" at Craven Conservation Group on 21 Sept (7.30pm St Johns Methodist Church) so we planned the September walk to go to Swindale, near Haweswater.

This involved driving up the M6 to Shap (lots more limestone ) and then turning into the Lake District.

We parked at the entrance to Swindale and set off diagonally up to Swindale Common. I was delighted to find excellent specimens of Lasallia pustulata (a lichen) at our first resting point half way up the bridle path to Swindale Common.

Lasallia pustulata in the foreground.

We wet the top half of the Lasallia - the pustules look even more obvious.

Candelariella coralliza

I wonder if the black dots on the Ophioparma ventosa are the lichenicolous fungus  Muellerella ventosicola

We saw some bracken management.

At the brow between Swindale and Naddle we enjoyed watching orienteers go back and forth.

We had considered descending into the Naddle valley to look for Lungwort Lichen we had been told about.. but realised if we walked downhill we would have to walk back up again. So we shelved that Idea for another time.  We walked south along the ridge. This is the view looking back north east, over the tree tops of Naddle.

At some point we would have to leave the wall be this path and head cross country ( uphill and cross heather and rocks and lumpy maybe marshy ground to aim to meet the Corpse Road (path) ready to descend back into Swindale.

There were some flushes with Sundew

This "cairn" turned out to be a boulder - with more good lichens

Bryoria  rufescens  (Don't get that at Settle)

Stereocaulon

Umbilicaria species.

Eventually we found the Corpse road and set of down back into Swindale

I have a few more pictures to add - of us resting by the steep stream down to Swindale.  

Then it was a two mile treck along the lane (not a single car passed us .. but then the lane only led to the one farm) back to the car.. 

On October the 1st we will be going on a much more gentle walk close to Settle. 

Lichens at The Yorkshire Arboretum September 2023

One of the hottest days in 2023 found myself and five participants  at the Yorkshire Arboretum "Discovering Lichens" 5 Sept 2023. this arboretum is next to Castle Howard

What did we discover?

We spent a pleasant morning session in the shade of the spacious new workroom with its big windows overlooking the grounds, learning the terminology for lichen structure. We looked at twigs I had brought in from near Settle.

Then a short walk to the nearest tree - a hawthorn. This  provided a wealth of specimens for beginners; (See classroom in the background)

Here is a list of English names of some of the lichensThe names I have made up have an asterisk as not all lichens have common names in Britain. I have taken the common names from the list provided by Ray Woods on the British Lichen society website). They are followed by their Latin Names:

1. Little Ciliated Lichen; 2. Golden Sunburst Lichen; 3. Ink Blot Lichen* 4. Abraded Camouflage Lichen   (or Brown Parmelia on Branches*), 5. Common Treetrunk Jam-tart Lichen,   6. Oak Moss   7. Mealy Ramalina (Or Dotted Ramalina) 8. Powdered Loop Lichen

1 Physcia tenella, 2 Xanthoria parietina,  3.Arthonia radiata, 4. Melanelixia subaurifera, 5. Lecanora chlaratera agg. (Now possible known as Lecanora hybocarpa)  6 Evernia prunastri, 7. Ramalina farinacea. 8. Hypotrachyna revoluta

By now it was lunch time.

In the afternoon we used the FSC chart "lichens on twigs" and listed those lichens which we had seen so far.