A Moorland Miscellany
Another patchy round up from walks over the last few weeks. All images taken with the Nikon Z8 and either 24-70 f/2.8S or 70-180 f/2.8 or 100-400 f/4.5-5.6S.
Summer Solstice at Round Loaf
This year the summer solstice fell on the 21st of June at 09:24. Typically, the exact time of the solstice (the moment in time where the sun pauses in its travel along the horizon before starting to move back in the opposite direction) is at some impractical time of day (for me at least) so I typically try to visit my local Bronze Age burial barrow known as Round Loaf at sunset on the day instead, but in this instance, 09:24 seemed quite achievable, not to mention early enough to avoid the worst of the day's heat, so we decided to go for it, heading out onto the moors around 08:00 and arriving at Round Loaf just after 09:00.
Even setting out that early, it soon became a bit of a slog as the heat rose quickly to uncomfortable levels. Worse, the moorland insect population seemed to be on high alert, attacking anything that moved. A bit of Smidge on exposed areas warded off the worst, but I'd already been badly bitten in several places leading to my right hand swelling up like a balloon by the following morning and needing antibiotics to get it back to its usual shape and functionality.
The rough moorland grass was looking particularly lush as we made our way along Limestone Brook, following upstream before climbing the bank to reach the open moor.
Eventually Round Loaf came into view. Surprisingly no other hikers had laid claim to it (probably driven away by the heat), so we had the ancient site to ourselves on this occasion.
The summit cairn on Round Loaf, with Winter Hill / Rivington in the background. One year when I came up here for the solstice, the cairn had been completely destroyed, with all of its stones flung some distance into the ground surrounding the site. A few of us spent some time reassembling it on that occasion, so it was good to see it intact this time round as I wouldn't have had the energy to rebuild it.
One last look back to Round Loaf as we head back towards Limestone Brook. The green ditch in the foreground is a partly dry stream that crosses the moor. I say partly dry as the section where the path crosses it is always wet, which is kind of typical. I like the way the colour and type of grass changes surrounding this stream, clearly marking its path as it weaves its way across the moors.
Wild Wild Life
With temperatures subsiding to more normal levels this last week, I took a couple of walks on the moors. Earlier in the week I had a wander up to Healey Nab. Hopeful that I might see some deer or birds of prey, I took the 100-400. My first animal encounter turned out to be a pair of cosplaying horses, which was a little disappointing.
As I exited the Nab woods, I spotted a female Roe deer on the opposite side of a tree from where I was stood. Not wishing to startle her by moving too much, I bent my neck and upper body so I could get a better look at her. Amusingly she did the same thing to get a better look at me, allowing me to grab this shot and making the effort of bringing the 100-400 seem a bit more worthwhile. After a few seconds, she decided she'd seen enough of me and trotted off into the ferns, not to be seen again during the rest of the walk.
I wandered around to Blue Water, hoping to see a Kestrel amongst the crags. Sitting down at the top of the crags, I failed to notice a female Kestrel perched just off to my left, but she noticed me and before I could say "bloody useless Nikon autofocus" she was in the air and away. On the plus side, I had seen a Kestrel, but on the downside, I didn't even get to shoot a single blurry picture of it.
Anyway, as I sat awaiting her return, a Damselfly settled in the grass near my feet, allowing me to grab a couple of shots of it with the 100-400. What strange alien looking things they are. There was a sizeable Dragonfly doing laps around the far from blue waters below, but it never got close enough for me to take a shot of it.
The Kestrel also did not return.
A Walk To Great Hill
Finally, to round off the week, I took a walk across Heapey Moor up to Great Hill. Despite packing a lunch for this trek, I completely forgot to pack any water (the bottle I'd brought along was sat mocking me in the boot of the car when I returned from the walk) and so I was somewhat exhausted by the time I reached Great Hill.
Sadly there wasn't much that I found inspiring and haven't shot before in better light during this walk, although I quite like this shot of the windswept trees just East of Great Hill farm. I usually take route up the side of Great Hill, which puts me above these, but on this occasion, not fancying the steep climb, I decided to walk around the base of the hill and go up the other side, which achieves the same thing, but seems to require less effort.
Still, it was a nice walk and I made it to the top in a reasonable amount of time, even if it wiped me out for the rest of the day.
