Under 24 hour observation by RSPB volunteers, the nesting site in Dodd Wood, only a mile distant from us, is just visible from the Belvedere with a good pair of binoculars. There’s a good webcam too and much more on the award winning Osprey Watch site.

The ospreys are good news for local shops, hotels and small businesses as they attract visitors to the area, still recovering from last November’s floods. But they are not the only show in the valley.

There are other birds of prey which are fascinating to watch. Peregrines and sparrow hawks are frequently about and yesterday, walking with friends on Coledale Common below Barrow, I looked up to see 20 metre ahead of me, a kestrel hover in the wind, stoop down on a small vole and carry it off still squeaking to a nearby rock.

An hour later a buzzard was wheeling in huge circles high above Braithwaite Lodge and the nearby plantation, as we descended to the village. If you want some good bird watching, the Derwent valley and the northern lakes take a lot of beating.

We’ve also had this last summer holiday period interesting comments on the blog section and some eye-catching drawings and a photo. The small line drawing (top picture) shows The Larches from the south with the fellside and trees behind and was sent by the Reavley and Atkinson families visiting in August.

The second sketch by Nina Birnbaum is a small section of a larger colour acrylic painting showing Skiddaw mountain from the Breakfast Terrace. To see the full picture with a flower pot in the foreground see the Home section.

The third contribution from John Brookman is a photo (below) of the half-frozen rim of Bassenthwaite just beyond St Bega’s Church. This will form part of the photo gallery for this low level walk in the Walks section.

Many thanks to our contributors who’ve shown how User generated content (UGC) can enhance the lakelandbelvedere.com site! Please keep the contributions flowing as well as ideas of what else we should include on the website – just send an email to ian@lakelandbelvedere.com.

I’m heading through the birdsong for Bog House. A pheasant clatters up squawking, where six months ago a deer had leaped from the snow as I passed. There’s a rainbow over Keswick and the river’s full after rain, but it’s the sun that has the best hand this evening, moving round the Derwent Valley amphitheatre to spotlight one by one the big names.

Clough Head is first – a brilliant yellow with a rare quasi-lenticular cloud show above, then it’s Barrow’s turn, the dark green profile of its ridge sharp against the evening sky. Next Catbells – it’s an unusual shape when seen here from the north. The clouds slowly shift while I thread my way through a birch thicket. As I climb the river bank, to NNE below a clouded Skiddaw, Dodd and its woods are slowly turning a golden green and brown. The top is shorn of trees, but the lower sections retain a thick canopy.

This is osprey terrain now and I can see the position of the nest. The parent birds aren’t flying, but a blackbird sings her heart out to me for a full four minutes from the top of a field post. Only as I get back to The Larches at 9.45 does the sun’s spotlight on Dodd click off. What an evening of son et lumière it’s been. Who needs a home entertainment system, when the best show’s outside?

POSTSCRIPT: For a map and description of a longer variant of this circular walk and more photos see Walk No 2 of the Walking and transport section of the site.