Picture of the month
July 2012
Birkrigg Common
Comment:
Birkrigg Common, located two miles to the south of Ulverston, rises from Morecambe Bay to the east and affords magnificent views on a clear day: north to the Lake District mountains, west to the Isle of Man and south to the Welsh mountains. The photograph looks across one of the areas of limestone pavement which are well exposed on the common. Runnels and deep grikes in the Urswick Limestone Formation are widespread and occasionally an alien rock type of cobble or boulder size may be seen trapped down the grikes after being deposited from a passing glacier. Some areas of the pavement have been damaged in former times by the robbing of the upper surfaces for gateposts and wall-top decoration. The pavements are now protected by law. In the distance may be seen the industrial complex of GlaxoSmithKline plc.