Castlerigg Rook

The rook is perched on the highest of the standing stones in the Castlerigg Stone Circle outside Keswick in the Lake District.

The usual rule to distinguishing rooks from carrion crows is that if there are a lot of crows, they are rooks; and if there is one rook, it's a carrion crow. This one was an exception, he was fossicking on his own for worms in the grassland around the circle. As I was kneeling down on the edge of the Sanctuary about to take a photo of the largest stone, he flew up on to the top and posed for the camera.

Wifie and I had a day out together today. We went for a walk around Rydal Water, then headed towards Keswick to visit Castlerigg. I'm ashamed to say that in all the years I've lived in Cumbria I have never visited the Circle. I was always put off that it was too much of a tourist attraction, Cumbria Tourism says that it is the most visited Stone Circle in Britain (can that be true, even more than Stonehenge?). Anyway, Wifie loves stone circles, so today we went at last to see it. It was a penetratingly cold day, and the few other visitors didn't stay long after taking their photos. so we had the place to ourselves most of the time.

The Circle itself is impressive, 38 stones in all, thought to be about 4500 years old. What is really impressive though is its location. It is set on a low hill, but the hill sits in the middle of an amphitheatre of mountains, and the views through 360 degrees are stupendous. You can see why these Neolithic people saw something special here to site their Circle. This is a magical place.

I have posted 3 other pictures here.

This will be best viewed large.