Dipper

The dipper is one of my favourite birds. Something about their neat, plump shape and the way they bob up and down as if on springs always makes me smile.

Dipper

Dippers live by the swift, clear, rocky streams and rivers of the uplands in northern Britain. You don’t necessarily have to go far into the wilds to see them; one of the best views I ever had of a dipper was in early spring along the River Brathay on the edge of Ambleside, right beside the pavement and the busy A593 main road. This dipper was not far from the shore of Ullswater.

 

Classic dipper habitat: a rocky upland stream

The dipper is a round, chunky-looking bird about six or seven inches from beak to tail, mainly dark brown and black with a pure white throat and breast, rather like a smart shirt front. It typically perches on a rock in or beside a stream, bobbing constantly up and down as if its legs were made out of springs.

Dipper perched on rock in a stream

Dippers eat aquatic insects and larvae, which they find by plunging into the water and walking along the stream bed or using their short strong wings to swim. You can see that the dipper in the first photograph has a bright yellow grub in its beak; evidently it had just had a successful foray. It flew off shortly afterwards, perhaps to take the grub to feed chicks.

Skiddaw

Skiddaw from Keswick.  The central peak is the main summit and the peak to the right is Skiddaw Little Man

Skiddaw is one of my favourite hills in the Lake District.  Its graceful outline, rising elegantly above the lake of Derwentwater, is one of the classic views of the north Lakes, especially lovely in late summer when the heather clothing the slopes is in flower.

Skiddaw is one of the four summits in England that rise to a height of 3,000 feet above sea level (the others are Helvellyn [see earlier post on Helvellyn and Grisedale for some photographs], Scafell and Scafell Pike).

Skiddaw stands in the north-west of the Lake District, just north of the little town of Keswick at the foot of Derwentwater.

Map link

Zoom out to see the hill in relation to Keswick and the surrounding area, and use the arrow keys to move around.

The most popular way to climb Skiddaw is from Keswick (or from Gale car park at the road-end behind Latrigg, about a third of the way up from Keswick).  The bridleway, now a well-engineered path, climbs steadily up the south side of the massif above Whit Beck and then across Jenkin Hill.

Looking up Whit Beck and Jenkin Hill. The path is the clear grey line zig-zagging up the slope in the distance

I like to use the Jenkin Hill path as the descent route, so I can gaze at the lovely view south over Derwentwater to the central Lakeland fells all the way down.  For an ascent route, I like to walk around the eastern side of the massif and follow the track up the Glenderaterra Valley to Skiddaw House.  This route takes in the lonely country known locally as ‘Back o’ Skiddaw’ – behind Skiddaw as seen from Keswick.  This area of rounded heathery hills is in complete contrast to the dramatic rocky scenery of the central Lakeland fells, more reminiscent of the Southern Uplands or the Grampians of Scotland.

Back o’ Skiddaw

The contrast is due to the underlying geology.  Unlike the fells of central Lakeland, built of hard volcanic rocks that form dramatic crags and rock faces, Skiddaw and the surrounding hills are built of a metamorphic rock, Skiddaw Slate.  Laid down some 500 million years ago, the slate weathers into smooth slopes of grass, heather and scree.  The only building in the area is Skiddaw House, tucked under the eastern flank of the Skiddaw ridge in a small stand of sheltering trees.  Originally built as a shooting lodge, it was later used as shepherds’ and gamekeepers’ cottages, and is now a youth hostel.

Skiddaw House

From Skiddaw House, a path climbs over the rounded hill of Sale How and up to the summit ridge of Skiddaw.

View north-west from Skiddaw summit over Longside Edge and Bassenthwaite Lake to the Solway Plain, with the Solway Firth in the distance

Its height and position make Skiddaw an exceptional viewpoint, even by Lake District standards. East, south and south-west is a panorama of Lake District hills, with the Pennines in the distance on the eastern horizon.  The view north-west extends across the Solway Firth to Criffel and the Galloway Hills in southern Scotland, and west to the Isle of Man and even, on exceptionally clear days, as far as Northern Ireland.  It was somewhat hazy on the day I took this photograph, though, so Scotland is under the line of clouds on the horizon.

Skiddaw Little Man has a magnificent view over Keswick and Derwentwater, with the central fells in the distance.

View over Keswick and Derwentwater from Skiddaw Little Man

The name ‘Skiddaw’ (pronounced ‘Skidda’) is probably Norse.  The second element is probably from Norse ‘haugr’, meaning ‘hill’.  The first element is subject to debate, and could be from ‘skyti’ (‘archer’), ‘skuti’ (craggy ridge), or ‘skitha’ (firewood, kindling).  Skiddaw is distinctly short on craggy ridges, so the first or third seem most likely – either ‘archer’s hill’ or ‘the hill where firewood can be found’.

Evening light on Skiddaw