Author Archives: solwayshorewalker

From ‘killing field’ to wetland and woods: Watchtree Nature Reserve, Cumbria

Posted on February 17, 2016 by solwayshorewalker

From the hill at Watchtree Nature Reserve you can look across to the upper reaches of the Solway Firth, the Borders and, to the East, the Northern Fells. It’s early February and the snow-coated top of Skiddaw is glistening  in … Continue reading →

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Some things I didn’t know about sand-ripples and the sea

Posted on February 8, 2016 by solwayshorewalker

‘ … the tide holds back from the flat wet sands / That darken from tawny to brown, where little pools / Are stranded like starfish in the rippling ribs’.  Norman Nicholson, The Bow in the Cloud (I am grateful … Continue reading →

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The eagle and the pine-cone: the story of Sarah Losh and Newton Arlosh church

Posted on January 30, 2016 by solwayshorewalker

The newly-restored church of St John the Baptist at Newton Arlosh was consecrated in July 1849: it had previously been a wreck for about 250 years. As John Curwen wrote in 1913 (in a paper that ‘was read on site’), … Continue reading →

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Snippets 7: Why are the best low tides always at the same time of day?

Posted on January 6, 2016 by solwayshorewalker

I’m starting to plan my 2016 guided shore-walks at Allonby Bay and Beckfoot, on the southern shore of the Solway. As a ‘low-tide guide’ (the title bestowed on me by BBC Radio 4’s Open Country) I work through the Silloth … Continue reading →

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Sandstone, ‘smooth as walnut turned on a lathe’

Posted on December 3, 2015 by solwayshorewalker

“Fine sandstone is quite silky, you get a crisp image, the maximum sculptural effect. With sandstone there’s no reflection of light to distort what you see.” Sky Higgins, sculptor. “Red St Bees’ is a fine-grained stone, dull red in colour… … Continue reading →

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What price the Solway’s undersea coal?

Posted on November 5, 2015 by solwayshorewalker

The last coalmine under the Solway Firth, Haig Pit at Whitehaven, was closed in 1986. A note in the Haig Mining Museum states that hundreds of millions of tons of coal remain, up to 10 miles offshore and for two … Continue reading →

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Barrages, ‘breakwaters’ and ‘bridges’: three proposals for harnessing tidal power in the Solway Firth

Posted on October 26, 2015 by solwayshorewalker

It’s the ‘Energy Coast’ – but where do West Cumbria’s priorities for the county, the country and, more importantly for the long-term future of the planet, lie? We have onshore and offshore wind power-generation (Robin Rigg), an Anaerobic Digester near … Continue reading →

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Snippets 6: ” ‘Tis the voice of the lobster’ I heard him declare…”

Posted on October 21, 2015 by solwayshorewalker

Cumbria isn’t just about the National Park and Herdwick sheep, but even on the Solway coast, it sometimes helps to have ‘Lake District’ in your title. The Lake District Coast Aquarium at Maryport is a little gem of an aquarium … Continue reading →

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Ship’s-keel scaur: but whose keel?

Posted on October 6, 2015 by solwayshorewalker

On a warm, calm evening in May, at a low Spring tide, Ronnie Porter led me along the shore at Allonby. As we walked, he showed me the various rocky scaurs and boulders, and he told me their names. Near … Continue reading →

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Snippets 5: Angels, salt and shroud-pins

Posted on October 2, 2015 by solwayshorewalker

Pat Bull unlocked a peeling black door and showed me into a small brick-walled room. On the plain wooden table which almost filled the space were small polythene bags and boxes, labelled in black feltpen with numbers and letters. At … Continue reading →

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