A familiar view...

Having successfully completed our work, we had a day to explore the local area. Our first stop was Arnside Knott, a very important wildlife area and one with which I'd become familiar through the excellent journal Arnside and beyond. It was rather surreal to stand at the viewpoint and look over the Kent Estuary, with the railway viaduct striding across it and the Highland cattle grazing in the foreground. Unfortunately it was very grey and misty, and it wasn't possible to see very far into the Lake District.

The Knott itself held some surprises in terms of the variety of plants and it's topography. I hadn't realised there was quite such a mosaic of limestone and acid grassland and I enjoyed refamiliarising myself with blue moor-grass after a gap of over twenty years, as well as photographing wild juniper berries and Lancastrian whitebeam, the latter a new species for me. I also hadn't realised that the south side of the Knott had a very steep scree slope, which Pete persuaded me to climb. Great views but scary in places!

We then moved on to Silverdale, and had a pleasant walk along the shores of Morecombe Bay, although by now the sky was even greyer. The tide was falling to reveal acre upon acre of glistening mud, a rich feeding ground for redshank and black-tailed godwit, not to mention a large flock of shelduck and a scatter of curlew and oystercatchers.

From here we headed inland again to visit the limestone pavement at Gait Barrows. Just as we parked, the promised rain arrived with some gusto. We thought about heading back to the hotel, but it seemed rather too early so we donned our waterproofs and bravedthe slippery clints, which were surrounded by deep and treacherous grykes, with visibility severaly hampered by the almost torrential downpour. I couldn't use my camera, but that only slightly dampened my enjoyment at seeing the remains of dark-red helleborines and angular Solomon's-seal.

By the time we'd finished our walk we were soaked to the skin, literally! A hot shower at the hotel soon cheered us up, though I found a tick on my stomach, which was a bit worrying but was quickly removed by Pete. Another splendid meal followed, a prelude to an excellent night's sleep!