*** This Week Through Your Eyes 2025.09.20 ***

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Daneland
Members 1499 posts

Sept. 21, 2025, 7:19 p.m. Sept. 21, 2025, 7:19 p.m.
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@Woodsider79 has written:

Fruitfullness

It's been a very wet week - and that's before the rain warning came into effect...
But in a brief respite in the weather I took a short walk up to a nearby viewpoint.

There are bumper crops on all the fruit trees this year following the sunny spring. Blackberries and damsons are finished now, but hawthorns, sloes, apples, rose hips all laden with fruit.

From the viewpoint at Helsington church the view of the Lyth valley seemed to be mostly water. This area has pumped drainage (it's mostly only about 4m above sea level), and would otherwise be natural wetland with reedbeds.

That's lots of fruit :)
These tow are my picks.
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Daneland
Members 1499 posts

Sept. 21, 2025, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
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@NCV has written:

Val Venosta

It’s a lovely place to sleep, eat, and walk for days. :)
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Daneland
Members 1499 posts

Sept. 21, 2025, 7:49 p.m. Sept. 21, 2025, 7:49 p.m.
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@SteveMonks has written:

Drybones Woods

I've been itching to get into the woods with my camera for a while, but I've been struggling with very low energy levels and general weariness for quite some time which has made it much easier to just not bother and do something else instead (such as watching Youtube or sleeping, or both!).

After the prolonged dry spell we've had over summer, the heavens opened yesterday and it pelted it down pretty much all day and through the night, but I'd noticed the forecast indicated a fine day today (Sunday), so when I got up this morning and confirmed that it was indeed a fine day, I decided to forego my usual Sunday morning routine and head out with my camera.

My energy levels are still pretty awful and I didn't think I'd last more than an hour, so I went for the very easy option of Drybones Woods. This strip of woods wraps a section of the river Yarrow and sits adjacent to Yarrow Valley Park, a popular local park that's been built around the remains of Birkacre mill, well, specifically the lodges, the mill buildings themselves are long gone despite their place in history as the location of the first steam engine installed in a cotton mill, although probably not helped by the original mill being destroyed in the anti machinery riots of 1779, although I believe a larger mill was eventually built on the site and I remember several derelict buildings around the lodges when I was a child.

Anyway, local history aside, the location of Drybones Woods makes it very easy to get to (by car at least) and, seemingly, the dog walkers who frequent the park rarely venture beyond the weir at the far end of the lodges, which marks the start of the woods, so I mostly had the place to myself.

I specifically chose the Fujifilm GFX100S and my favourite combination of lenses for it (20-35 and 45-100) on this walk, using it mostly on a tripod.

Frantic Fish Ladder

The fish ladder on the far side of the weir was also taking a battering (no pun intended). I can't see many fish making their way up that in these conditions.

The Weir In Detail

This is about as close as you can get to the weir. I find the weir difficult to photograph in a pleasing manner, the overgrown trees surrounding it tend to be more in the way than helping to provide nice framing elements and you can't safely reach some of the vantage points that might provide better images, but I've included these just to show how lively the river was.

I hope you feel more energetic soon. Another nice set, and the weird detail is my pick. The fish ladder is something I never heard of, but I know very little about rivers and waterways.
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SteveMonks
Members 446 posts

Sept. 21, 2025, 8:18 p.m. Sept. 21, 2025, 8:18 p.m.
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@Wormsmeat has written:

@SteveMonks has written:

Drybones Woods

I've been itching to get into the woods with my camera for a while, but I've been struggling with very low energy levels and general weariness for quite some time which has made it much easier to just not bother and do something else instead (such as watching Youtube or sleeping, or both!).

After the prolonged dry spell we've had over summer, the heavens opened yesterday and it pelted it down pretty much all day and through the night, but I'd noticed the forecast indicated a fine day today (Sunday), so when I got up this morning and confirmed that it was indeed a fine day, I decided to forego my usual Sunday morning routine and head out with my camera.

My energy levels are still pretty awful and I didn't think I'd last more than an hour, so I went for the very easy option of Drybones Woods. This strip of woods wraps a section of the river Yarrow and sits adjacent to Yarrow Valley Park, a popular local park that's been built around the remains of Birkacre mill, well, specifically the lodges, the mill buildings themselves are long gone despite their place in history as the location of the first steam engine installed in a cotton mill, although probably not helped by the original mill being destroyed in the anti machinery riots of 1779, although I believe a larger mill was eventually built on the site and I remember several derelict buildings around the lodges when I was a child.

Anyway, local history aside, the location of Drybones Woods makes it very easy to get to (by car at least) and, seemingly, the dog walkers who frequent the park rarely venture beyond the weir at the far end of the lodges, which marks the start of the woods, so I mostly had the place to myself.

I specifically chose the Fujifilm GFX100S and my favourite combination of lenses for it (20-35 and 45-100) on this walk, using it mostly on a tripod.

Mist On The Water

Of course, having brought exactly the wrong camera (and certainly the wrong lenses) for bird photography, there was an interesting subject sat amongst the mist rising from the lodge. I'm not entirely sure what it is, I thought it was a Heron, but now that I look more carefully at it, it doesn't look a bit lacking in the long neck department.

That's a cormorant.
I like the waterfall shots a lot. I also like 'Clear Skies'.
I don't think I've seen a fish ladder like that. I've heard of some similar concepts. Have you ever seen fish on them?

No, I haven't, but then it's not a spot I've visited very often. According to this article in the Lancashire Telegraph, the fish ladder was installed in 2001 after a 6lb salmon was spotted by an angler while it was trying to negotiate the weir. The theory at the time suggested it was trying to return to the River Ribble to spawn, but had somehow got lost and ended up in the Yarrow instead. Apparently they sometimes see trout jumping the weir too.

I shot a few clips of video at the weir, nothing fancy, just a few static shots taken with the GFX on its tripod, but I think it conveys the power of the water much better than the still images do. It's certainly noisier.

Birkacre Weir on Youtube(1:19)
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Woodsider79
Members 1158 posts

Sept. 22, 2025, 9:39 a.m. Sept. 22, 2025, 9:39 a.m.
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@Daneland has written:

@SteveMonks has written:

Drybones Woods

I hope you feel more energetic soon. Another nice set, and the weird detail is my pick. The fish ladder is something I never heard of, but I know very little about rivers and waterways.

Fish ladders are quite an old idea I think, and common on rivers with migratory fish. There's a famous one at Pitlochry which I vaguely remember seeing as a child, so about 60 years ago.
www.google.com/maps/place/Pitlochry+Fish+Ladder/@56.6989485,-3.7427494,625m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x488602a45afc62a3:0xfd595509f041ca9!8m2!3d56.6989485!4d-3.7401745!16s%2Fm%2F026dl2x?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

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SteveMonks
Members 446 posts

Sept. 22, 2025, 6:37 p.m. Sept. 22, 2025, 6:37 p.m.
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@Daneland has written:

@SteveMonks has written:

Drybones Woods

I've been itching to get into the woods with my camera for a while, but I've been struggling with very low energy levels and general weariness for quite some time which has made it much easier to just not bother and do something else instead (such as watching Youtube or sleeping, or both!).

After the prolonged dry spell we've had over summer, the heavens opened yesterday and it pelted it down pretty much all day and through the night, but I'd noticed the forecast indicated a fine day today (Sunday), so when I got up this morning and confirmed that it was indeed a fine day, I decided to forego my usual Sunday morning routine and head out with my camera.

My energy levels are still pretty awful and I didn't think I'd last more than an hour, so I went for the very easy option of Drybones Woods. This strip of woods wraps a section of the river Yarrow and sits adjacent to Yarrow Valley Park, a popular local park that's been built around the remains of Birkacre mill, well, specifically the lodges, the mill buildings themselves are long gone despite their place in history as the location of the first steam engine installed in a cotton mill, although probably not helped by the original mill being destroyed in the anti machinery riots of 1779, although I believe a larger mill was eventually built on the site and I remember several derelict buildings around the lodges when I was a child.

Anyway, local history aside, the location of Drybones Woods makes it very easy to get to (by car at least) and, seemingly, the dog walkers who frequent the park rarely venture beyond the weir at the far end of the lodges, which marks the start of the woods, so I mostly had the place to myself.

I specifically chose the Fujifilm GFX100S and my favourite combination of lenses for it (20-35 and 45-100) on this walk, using it mostly on a tripod.

Frantic Fish Ladder

The fish ladder on the far side of the weir was also taking a battering (no pun intended). I can't see many fish making their way up that in these conditions.

The Weir In Detail

This is about as close as you can get to the weir. I find the weir difficult to photograph in a pleasing manner, the overgrown trees surrounding it tend to be more in the way than helping to provide nice framing elements and you can't safely reach some of the vantage points that might provide better images, but I've included these just to show how lively the river was.

I hope you feel more energetic soon. Another nice set, and the weird detail is my pick. The fish ladder is something I never heard of, but I know very little about rivers and waterways.

Neither do I, but they're quite a common sight around here (Northwest England), probably because a lot of our rivers were dammed to power mills back in the 19th and 20th centuries. There's another nice example a few miles further down the Yarrow at Pincock Weir in Euxton.

This one's quite a different sort of design, taking a more leisurely route before rejoining the river some way down from the weir it bypasses. I imagine that's less stressful for the fish working their way up it.

DSCF1981.jpg
JPG, 1.6 MB, uploaded by SteveMonks on Sept. 22, 2025.

Woodsider79 and Daneland like this.

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SteveMonks
Members 446 posts

Sept. 22, 2025, 6:48 p.m. Sept. 22, 2025, 6:48 p.m.
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@Woodsider79 has written:

@Daneland has written:

@SteveMonks has written:

Drybones Woods

I hope you feel more energetic soon. Another nice set, and the weird detail is my pick. The fish ladder is something I never heard of, but I know very little about rivers and waterways.

Fish ladders are quite an old idea I think, and common on rivers with migratory fish. There's a famous one at Pitlochry which I vaguely remember seeing as a child, so about 60 years ago.
www.google.com/maps/place/Pitlochry+Fish+Ladder/@56.6989485,-3.7427494,625m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x488602a45afc62a3:0xfd595509f041ca9!8m2!3d56.6989485!4d-3.7401745!16s%2Fm%2F026dl2x?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Wow, that's one hell of a fish ladder, no wonder it's a tourist attraction of sorts. The poor fish must be exhausted by the time they get to the top of that thing.
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SteveMonks
Members 446 posts

Sept. 22, 2025, 7:03 p.m. Sept. 22, 2025, 7:03 p.m.
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@Vahur has written:

@SteveMonks has written:

Drybones Woods

In weir shots I think that bit faster shutter speed would have been better, right now water seems too milky.

Unfortunately, I only took one close up shot of the weir as I needed to move on and get into the woods before the sun got too high. However, I did take the wider shot of the weir at a selection of shutter speeds. These are the uncropped images taken (from left to right) at 1/25th, 1/30th and 1/6th.

I think the faster shutter speed works better for the fish ladder and the basin below the weir, capturing more of the power and energy of the water, but I quite like how the longer exposure smooths out the water coming over the weir in the third shot.

weir-side-by-side.jpg
JPG, 3.7 MB, uploaded by SteveMonks on Sept. 22, 2025.