Search
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
- aerial views
- Allonby
- archaeology
- architecture
- art and science
- artificial reefs
- bioturbation
- coal
- coastal heritage
- conservation
- crossings & waths
- dunes
- farming
- fishing
- Foot-and-Mouth epidemic
- fortified churches
- fossils
- Found Objects
- geology
- Guest Posts
- Hadrian's Wall
- haematite
- ice
- industrial archaeology
- industrial heritage
- LIMESTONE
- limestone and drystone walls
- limestone and haematite
- limestone fossils
- limestone limekilns
- limestone pavements
- limestone rock armour
- limestone scenery
- limestone, an introduction
- Marine Conservation Zone
- mud-shrimps
- mudflats
- peat
- peat, bogs and moors
- ports
- quarries
- quicklime
- renewable energy, tide & wind
- RNLI
- rowing
- Sabellaria, honeycomb worm
- salt
- saltmarshes
- sand
- sandstone
- sea-bed & undersea
- seaweeds
- shells
- ships
- slag-banks
- smallholding
- Snippets
- Solway Viaduct & Railway
- Spring & Neap Tides
- stones
- submerged forest
- The 'Energy Coast'
- tidal bores
- tidelines
- Uncategorized
- wetlands
- Writing
Author Archives: solwayshorewalker
Grazing and Growth on Rockcliffe Marsh
“At Rockcliffe [Marsh] it’s about the birds, it’s about the saltmarsh as a vegetation community; it’s about the geological interest in the development of saltmarshes. Many other saltmarshes have been enclosed and changed because of agricultural methods, but the Solway … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, saltmarshes, wetlands
Tagged creeks, grazing, levees, sediment
Comments Off on Grazing and Growth on Rockcliffe Marsh
The acronyms’ stories: imagine.
‘Alphabet soup’: AONB, EMS, MPA, MCZ, NNR, SAC, SPA, SSSI – how many more of these acronyms for conservation designations can you recall? Do you know what they mean? (If you don’t – and not many people do – you … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, Marine Conservation Zone, mud-shrimps, peat, bogs and moors, saltmarshes, wetlands
Tagged acronyms, conservation designations
Comments Off on The acronyms’ stories: imagine.
SACs, SPAs, SSSIs on the Solway Firth: Learning to love the acronyms
“Think of [the list] as not so much an inventory as a catalogue leading to compelling and interacting stories.” [1] Conservation designations: their borders aren’t marked by posts or buoys, but they are marked by lines on maps, and by … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, Marine Conservation Zone, mudflats, peat, bogs and moors, saltmarshes, wetlands
Tagged acronym soup, acronyms, Marine Conservation Zone, Ramsar site
Comments Off on SACs, SPAs, SSSIs on the Solway Firth: Learning to love the acronyms
“Look!”
“Look what I’ve found!”“Look at that!”“What’s this?” We do it automatically, hold out the treasure on our hand. For about 10 years I’ve been taking pictures of what people have found when they joined me for low-tide guided walks on … Continue reading
A Solway small-holding
Yesterday I stood leaning on the pitchfork by the glowing ash-pile, just looking around at the trees and the hedges and our sheep. Two weeks ago, on a blue, still morning, there had been a sound like a gun-shot from … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, farming, smallholding
Tagged pond, sheep, small-holding, springs, woodland
Comments Off on A Solway small-holding
Tidal Power proposals on the Solway: an update
When I first blogged about this topic, back in October 2015, I explained why the Solway Firth is being considered as a suitable estuary for the construction of tidal power schemes, and the basic ideas and technology behind the schemes. … Continue reading
Posted in renewable energy, tide & wind
Tagged electric bridge, NIMBY-ism, russell lagoon, ullman lagoon
Comments Off on Tidal Power proposals on the Solway: an update
Where ships meet …
Goldilocks would have liked the tanker Zapadnyy’s cargo: molasses, at just the right temperature, not too hot and not too cold. Transporting molasses is tricky – it must be kept fairly fluid, so heating coils warm it to 24oC in … Continue reading
Posted in coastal heritage, ports, ships
Tagged molasses, piloting, sandbanks, Silloth, Workington, Zapadnyy
Comments Off on Where ships meet …
Port Carlisle: canals and ships and trains
(September 2020: you can now also view two videos about Port Carlisle, made for the launch of my book The Fresh and the Salt. The Story of the Solway: links are on the website.) When the tide is out, Port … Continue reading
Posted in coastal heritage, industrial heritage, ports, ships
Tagged canals, emigration, memories, railway, steamers, wharf
Comments Off on Port Carlisle: canals and ships and trains
Tracking Triops, the elusive Tadpole Shrimp
In August, after the long weeks of cloudless blue skies, and heat that shimmered over the cracked mud of the merse, the rain came. The jet stream had looped into another orientation, and the rain fell day after day for … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, saltmarshes, wetlands
Tagged rare crustacea, serendipity, tadpole shrimps, Triops
Comments Off on Tracking Triops, the elusive Tadpole Shrimp
Recording the Solway’s amazing nature: a guest post by Deborah Muscat
Why we need to pay attention to the other living species with whom we share this area, and identify and record them. My thanks to Deborah Muscat, Manager of the Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre based in Carlisle, for writing this … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, Guest Posts
Tagged biodiversity, recording wildlife, volunteers
Comments Off on Recording the Solway’s amazing nature: a guest post by Deborah Muscat
Solway Shore-walker 