Birks (Lake District)
Encyclopedia
Birks is a fell in the English Lake District
situated two kilometres south west of the village of Patterdale
in the Eastern Fells
. The fells summit sits on a shoulder of the north east ridge of the higher and better known fell of St Sunday Crag
, by which it is dominated, walkers often pass over the top of Birks either climbing or descending from the larger fell. The fells name means a place where Birch
trees predominate.
Birks is regarded by guide book writers as an unspectacular fell, it has 19 metres of prominence
from St Sunday Crag and therefore qualifies as a Nuttall, while Alfred Wainwright
gives the fell a separate chapter in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
because "it is sufficiently well defined to deserve a separate name".
s of the Blind Cove Member. The flanks carry andesite
sills and volcaniclastic sandstone.
.
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
situated two kilometres south west of the village of Patterdale
Patterdale
Patterdale is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in the Eden District of Cumbria, and the long valley in which they are found, also called the Ullswater Valley....
in the Eastern Fells
Eastern Fells
The Eastern Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Centred on Helvellyn they primarily comprise a north south ridge running between Ullswater and Lakeland's Central Valley.-Partition of the Lakeland Fells:...
. The fells summit sits on a shoulder of the north east ridge of the higher and better known fell of St Sunday Crag
St Sunday Crag
St Sunday Crag is a fell in the English Lake District, part of the Fairfield group in the Eastern Fells. It is a prominent feature in the Patterdale skyline, with a distinctive rounded shape...
, by which it is dominated, walkers often pass over the top of Birks either climbing or descending from the larger fell. The fells name means a place where Birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
trees predominate.
Topography
Birks reaches a height of 622 metres (2041 feet) and is characterised by a grassy summit ridge which has precipitous craggy slopes to the north and west which fall away to the valley of Grisedale, its southern flank is steep and grassy and ends in the valley of Deepdale and to the north east the main ridge descends towards Patterdale over Black Crag and through Glemara Park.Birks is regarded by guide book writers as an unspectacular fell, it has 19 metres of prominence
Topographic prominence
In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...
from St Sunday Crag and therefore qualifies as a Nuttall, while Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...
gives the fell a separate chapter in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells of the Lake District in northwest England...
because "it is sufficiently well defined to deserve a separate name".
Geology
The principal rocks of the summit area are the pebbly sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
s of the Blind Cove Member. The flanks carry andesite
Andesite
Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
sills and volcaniclastic sandstone.
Ascents
The fell is always climbed from the Patterdale valley, with no other starting point being viable. The ascent is a pleasant walk through the wooded Glemara Park along a footpath which leaves Patterdale and follows Hag Beck and then a ruined dry stone wall to the summit. An alternative route goes via Thornhow End and finds a way through Black Crags at attain the top of the fell. Most walkers who climb Birks will continue on to St Sunday Crag which is a comfortable climb of about 240 metres with a few small dips on the ridge.View
The highlight of the view from the summit is a good view of the lower reach of UllswaterUllswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being approximately nine miles long and 0.75 miles wide with a maximum depth of slightly more than ....
.