Читать книгу The Dales Way. From Ilkley to the Lake District through the Yorkshire Dales онлайн

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As the Dales Way enters the Lake District, it explores a vast area of rocks known as Silurian Flags and Shales formed (435–395 million years ago) during a prolonged period of continuous sedimentation, overlying volcanic rocks. These rocks produce a gentle, rippling landscape that rather disguises the 500 million, often-violent, years it took to create the Lake District. In a few places, Carboniferous limestones appear, often rich in fossils; these are especially noticeable at the eastern fringe of the District and in isolated patches north and northeast of Kendal.

Plants and wildlife

The predominant species of tree are ash, birch, hazel, hawthorn, yew and rowan, while the limestone is favoured by a wide range of plant species such as alpine cinquefoil, lily-of-the-valley, valerian and angelica, as well as bird’s-eye primrose, butterwort, bedstraw, dog’s mercury, wood anemone and wild garlic.

Almost 250 species of bird have been observed from red grouse, snipe, golden plover, stonechat, whinchat and redstart to great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, tree creeper and woodland visitors such as chiffchaff, willow warbler and garden warbler. Goosander are often seen on the Wharfe as are large numbers of mandarin duck that have grown in number since this book was first published.