Growing trees and clouds at Whinlatter

Today reminded me again why I love working in the forest so much. I spent the morning outdoors walking the 'Window On Whinlatter' trail  after its closure over the last few months for forestry works. Some of it is unrecognisable as familiar glades and thickets of trees have been thinned or felled. On the plus side new views over the valley have been opened out. And some, like this view of Grisedale pike and Masmill have remained much the same. Although of course, like all good views it is constantly changing with light and moisture.

 Further around the fell the marsh below was alive with wildlife. Over the week both male and female osprey have arrived from Africa and were perched on their nest getting used to each other after their winter apart.  Five red deer were grazing amongst the scrubby willows watched by a grey heron from its nest in the branches above. Swans and greylag geese drifted along the lake edge, occasionally overflown by mallard landing in a big splash by the reeds.

I checked the squirrel boxes from last year on the way round, and oh dear! found two of the trail cameras still in place. They looked damp but ok with just a couple small slugs sheltering behind them. When I got them back to the office I put a new set of batteries in each and tried them out. As I was re-setting the second one there was a faint fizzing sound and the screen went blank. I suddenly realised that the casing was very warm indeed and when I pulled the battery housing out it was too hot to touch and a ghastly smell of burnt plastic filled the room.' Throw it out the window,' yelled my colleagues. This seemed a very sensible idea. When we retrieved it a while later 2 of the batteries had completely split and were leaking. I suppose the damp had got inside and shorted it out, or maybe there's a fried slug somewhere sitting on a terminal. Terminally dead, like the camera.