These ammil icicles were formed on fallen tree branches along a lakeshore in northern Cumbria. Their structures are shaped by surging waves, splashing water and high winds, during freezing winter weather. There are many dialect terms for icicles throughout Britain. The word shuckle is used in Cumbria for some types of icicles, but ammil, a Devonshire dialect term, describes the coat of glittering ice that covers or ‘enamels’ grasses, leaves, logs and stones when freeze rapidly cycles with thaw.
John Macfarlane lives in Cumbria, with his wife Rosamund, another keen photographer. They are both patrons of Friends of the Lake District. His interests in photography include wildlife, travel, landscape, and subscape photography in the mountain becks, pots and falls of the Lake District and Scotland. He enjoys using images and video for visual story telling and lecturing.
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