Limestone pavement, Selside

A snow-covered Pen-y-ghent from the limestone pavement above Alum Pot on the eastern flanks of Simon Fell, Selside, Horton in Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire.
Limestone is made up from the remains of small creatures that lived in the shallow sea that covered this area over 300 million years ago. During the last Ice Age glaciers scraped soil off the limestone and then acid rain etched gaps in the soft rock leaving us with the clints (upright blocks) and grykes (gaps in between the blocks).
The grykes in the pavement provide a micro climate in which wild flowers and ferns thrive.