Birks

Birks is often treated as a mere stepping stone on the climb to St Sunday Crag from Patterdale. However, the grassy summit provides an excellent platform for viewing the length of Ullswater, offering a much more intimate perspective of the valley than the higher peaks.

• •The name 'Birks' is a dialect variation of 'birch,' originating from the Old Norse word birki, indicating that these slopes were once heavily forested with birch trees.
• •Geologically, the fell is composed of rocks from the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, specifically the Deepdale Formation, which consists of volcaniclastic sandstone and tuff.
• •Birks is officially classified as a Wainwright, a Hewitt, and a Birkett, standing at exactly 624 metres on the long northeast ridge of St Sunday Crag.
• •The fell overlooks Glenamara Park to the north, a historic medieval deer park that still contains several ancient 'veteran' trees and traces of early enclosure walls.
• •Many hikers descending the ridge from St Sunday Crag mistake the summit of Birks for the final drop into Patterdale, only to find there is still a significant, knee-crunching descent left to go.