I believe so, David.

Good picture of the animal prints! I wonder what they are.

Stringy said
"The animal tracks could be a stoat or a weasel's"

How do you tell the difference?

Well ... Sorry, I'll get my cagoule.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 22.19hrs Wed 27 May 15 by paraffin.

Judging by the size (about 1.5cm) I think that the prints were probably weasel - apparantly stoat prints are similar but a bit bigger. I have seen animals playing on snow patches in the Alps so I'm pretty sure that was what had been going on. I have seen a stoat on Cross Fell in that area but I have read that weasels are present too on the fell.

Cough cough
Stotaly different
Weasily identified
Woosh

Helvellyn patches today 29th May. Brown Cove is the biggest approx 25m long. There are patches still on Browncove Crags (not the same corrie as the also named Brown Cove); the face above Red Tarn and below the summit of Nethermost Cove. I was on the fells above Wasdale Head last week and could not see any thing on the Sca Fells. Today however there was fresh snow on the Sca Fells above about 2800 feet. The Lakes will certainly last into June.

Attachments: 29May Brown Cove.jpg (427kB)   29May Brown Cove all patches.jpg (446kB)   29May Headwall.jpg (312kB)   29May Nethermost.jpg (398kB)   29May Sca Fells from Helvellyn.jpg (296kB)  

I was climbing on great gable today and saw no snow patches on scafell. Then again I don't really know the lakes well enough to know where to look.

Mike in Edinburgh
Assorted scottish pics - www.prog99.com

Hot on the heels of Smick's Helvellyn report from Friday, I have my own from yesterday. I'm pretty sure that I visited all of the snow left on the Helvellyn range (and therefore probably The Lakes). I walked from North to South and counted around 20 patches in total, although some of these were tiny. There are probably 12 or so that will last into June.

Brown Cove: As expected this is by far the largest and is bigger than I have seen it at the end of May. It is probably 25m x 10m x up to 2m deep. It has a distinctive convex bulge in the lower half which seems to be a result of the drifting during the winter (the shape can be seen on my photo from April 6th). There is also a thin patch over the ridge near Brown Cove Crags and 3 patches between the main patch and Swirral Edge.

Helvellyn summit headwall: 2 main patches (c. 10m x 10m x 0.75m? and 15m x 6m x 0.75m?) and a number of smaller patches lower down the slope.

Nethermost Pike: 1 small patch at the head of Nethermost Gully and a larger one near the summit c. 10m long).

Dollywagon Pike: 1 small but quite deep (c.1m) patch at the head of a deep gully and a small patch at the foot of the crag below the summit. This patch was the only patch I observed at the foot of something instead of cornice remnants. These 2 patches are also the lowest at c.800m.

Attachments: 1. Helvellyn view 30.5.15.JPG (155kB)   2. Brown Cove patch 30.5.15.JPG (209kB)   3. Brown Cove patch 30.5.15.JPG (310kB)   4. Summit patches 30.5.15.JPG (261kB)   5. Dollywagon Pike 30.5.15.JPG (266kB)  

Fantastic effort, stringy and smick. My spies tell me there is nothing left on the Scafells, and if there is any on Great End then it'll be tiny. Brown Cove will be the last in England for the second year in succession. No coincidence the last two winters have been dominated by westerly winds...

The question is: will it last until June 18th, which was 2014's final melt-date...



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 09.33hrs Sun 31 May 15 by firefly.

I think you are right about the Scafell area Iain. It was quite clear yesterday and I could not see anything; one of the most likely spots is at the head of Central Gully on Great End - unfortunately I have to head south again for a while today so will not get a chance to go and investigate, but maybe someone will go there.

I think that there is a fair chance that Brown Cove will make it to June 18th, I did not see it last year, but looking back at my old photos it really is very substantial compared to what I've recorded before.

I was on High Street, the hill not shopping, yesterday and there is a patch still on Fairfield

Well spotted! Can you pinpoint where on Fairfield? I was quite keen to head there after Helvellyn etc yesterday, but didn't have time. I could not see any snow on Fairfield from the hills to the North, but knew that I could not see into all of the gullies. I had also wondered whether there was any left on Dove Crag - there had been a very large patch there earlier in the Spring.

Well, even England had fresh June snow. Helvellyn on the 1st: [twitter.com]

^ Also lying snow on the very top of cross fell according to my neighbour. Nothing that I've seen but was certainly cold enough going by Great Dun weather station temperatures, and the sleety showers around 400m made me wonder if anything would fall as snow on the higher ground.

Anyway firefly - How long does snow have to exist to be a "patch"? Does what you have in your photo there count as a snow patch??

Friday evening jaunt up Helvellyn due to high winds forecast tomorrow.

Brown Cove: 10 m wide, didn't measure length but estimate 20+ m, but only 0.5 m thick at the top. Another week in it but I doubt two. Surface quite muddy so will not show up well in distant photos.
Helvellyn headwall: 4 patches seen, largest c 5x5 m between trig point and Swirral Edge, thin. Other patches small, will be gone in a few days. Not good visibitiy so there could be more small patches.

Firefly, I will email you photos when I am home on Monday.

Friday evening jaunt up Helvellyn due to strong winds forecast tomorrow.

Brown Cove: 10 m wide, didn't measure length but estimate 20+ m, but only 0.5 m thick at the top. Another week in it but I doubt two. Surface quite muddy so will not show up well in distant photos.

Helvellyn headwall: 4 patches seen, largest c 5x5 m between trig point and Swirral Edge, thin. Other patches small, will be gone in a few days. Not good visibitiy so there could be more small patches.

Firefly, I will email you photos when I am home on Monday.



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 21.04hrs Fri 5 Jun 15 by NeilH.