Late Glacial Period c 11000 BC

The Late Glacial landscape is frozen and barren. Frost heaving of the surface is widespread, creating a patterned ground of 'stone polygons' and there are permanent snowfields on the Bowland Fells. Shallow freshwater ponds have formed on the lowland from the melting glaciers that by now are isolated bergs of thawing ice; around which, grasses and pondweeds struggle to gain a toehold in the wet gravels and mud. Below the uplands, extensive breaks in the snow cover occur, especially on south-facing slopes, and pioneering vegetation such as dandelions and colourful herbs like Jacob's-Ladder have begun colonising the raw soils.