Stanton Moor 04/06/12

Stanton Moor is in the South Peaks and in an area of limestome stands out as a small island if gritstone.

We started this walk in the tiny market town of Winster, most noteable for a 17th Century Market Hall. The route took us out of the village and down into a valley and then we climbed through a small wood to reach farmland near Birchover. We walked past a busy campsite and then further upward to reach a small road. We wallked up the road for a 100 yds and then followed a path that lead up to Stanton moor. as moors go it is quite small and crossed with many paths. There are a lot of large rocks on the moor and many large Rhodedendrum bushes, also many tumuli, prehistoric burial chambers although they are cover ingrass and just appear as a small hump in the ground. At least 70 have been identified. We followed the path which skirted the moor and we soon had great views into the Derwent Valley and Darley Dale. There is a restored steam railway than runs through Darley Dale and we saw a  train in a station below us.
As the path turned around the eastern side of the Moor, we could see Earl Grey Tower which stands on the edge of the moor. This was built to commemorate the 1830 Reform act. We now moved away from the perimeter and soon arrived at the Nine Ladies a bronze age stone circle, the stones are all quite small and I had difficulty taking a photo that didn't show someone using one of the stones as a seat, this is a popular spot.

Our route now took us across the moor, and whilst stopping for a break we could clwarly hear a Cuckoo calling in a stand of trees behind us, sadly I was not able to catch a glimpse of the bird. I think it was the first time I have even heard a cuckoo. As I said, the moor is quite small and we soon reached the western edge, by a disused quary, one of many around the edges of the moor, another large rock known as the Cork Stone stands here.
We now followed the road towards the village of Birchover, before branching out onto a steep path which led down behind the village itself and emerged on another road opposite the Druid Inn.
Unusually for us, we decided to stop at the inn for a little refreshment. After a short break we continued down a track under Rowtor Rocks, an interestin group of rocks which we decided not to look at more closely, a shame really as they seem to have an interesting history.
We then followed the path which went around a farm and then down hill to eventually reach a road, which we decided to follow back to Winster.

Magpie Mine 27/05/12

We drove down to the pretty village on Ashford on the Water, on the river Wye. Once we found a parking space, we set off through to village crossing the river over the old bridge and crossed the busy A6.. After following the footpath a little way we branched off onto a minor road and soon cane to a path that led to the river.

We followed the river upstream heading towards an old derelict bobbin mill, as usual I kept my eyes open for birds but apart from a coule of Mallards did not recognise anything else. Although derelict the bobbin mill was quite interesting, only small but with two waterwheels. A little futher up the river was the weir presumeably built to divert water for the mill, the river above the weir is broad and still. A little further upstream and we came to a small lake, mallard and tufted duck on here plus a family of Coot, including several chicks.

We now left the river and began to climb up through a wood, lots of birdsong but nothing spotted, The path reached almost the top of the wood and then descended to reach the mouth of Deep Dale. We started to walk up the dale. As dales go it isn’t the most picturesque, a small stream meanders through it and there were lots of cowslips on the sides. Eventually we left the dale and climbed up the steepish side to reach farmland. We could now see Magpie mine across the fields and we headed towards the village of Sheldon, which was original home to the miners.

We followed a path from the village and after a short while we reached the mine. Magpie Mine is one of many lead mines in the area but is one of the few ,possible the only one, where a lot of the buildings and structures are still standing. It is surrounded by spoil heaps which have now been covered with grass and lead tolerant flowers such as leadwort.

Interestingly further investigation following the walk shows that the mine was in operation on and off right up tho the early 1950, so its not surprising that a lot of it remains.

On leaving the mine we set off to walk back to Sheldon and from there took paths that lead down past flower filled meadows to the River Wye and so back to Ashford.

It was a pleasant enough walk with a couple of quite strenuous but short climbs. The river Wye was lovely and the mine was interesting but we have certainly been on a lot nicer walks.

In search of Waterfalls

Time for the first walk of the year, delayed for various reasons. Having had a look around for a nice walk to start with I came a cross a long walk which mentioned a hidden waterfall. Although the full walk was beyond my walking friend and my own capabilities, a look at the map showed that a 5 miles ish there and back walk would take us up to this watefall. So off we set to Arncliffe in Littondale.

It was a nice drive, first towards Skipton, then up to Grassington past the impressive Kilnsey Crag and then up towards Arncliffe. When we arrived, the first problem was nowhere to park, a narrow road between limestone walls and no laybys. The only place was a camping site so I cheekily asked if I could park there, it was no problem, just a couple of pounds in the charity box, so we parked up and set off.

We didnt know the exact spot we were aiming for but we followed a bridal path heading up towards High Cote moor, a steep climb to start with as the path climbs just to the side of Cote Ghyll, a steep sided valley. I was on the lookout for wild life and was quite surprise to see a pair of Oystercatchers (not many oysters on the moors).

There were hardly any other people up here and it gloriously quiet as we continued upwards, there were several streams on the route up the hills and we kept our ears open for the sound of water, as the instruction was you will here the waterfall rather than see it. The only thing we could here were the sounds of birds and so continued upward. We reach High Cote Moor but no sound of a waterfall, one thing of note we did see was what looked like an arched mine entrance, now filled in, but three arches were visible indicating the downward slope of the mine entrance. A bit of googling when I got home however showed that in fact it was an old lime kiln

We decided to climb further and finally reached Top Lineseed, at this point we decided to call a halt to our outward journey, much further and we would have started descending towards Malham Tarn.
So, having had refreshments, we surveyed the landscape to try and work out where this well and truely hidden waterfall might be. We decided to walk along the top of the hill to see if there were any steep drops, there were several but not waterfalls. So we decided to start on our way back down and try to get nearer to Cote Ghyll, our last chance.

Finally we were rewarded, we could see the line of a stream descending and saw a ledge over a drop, just one problem, there was no water! We tried to imagine the water splashing over cascades and then tumbling over the ledge into a pool below but that was the best we could do. The photo at the top was what it should have looked like, this is what we was

Rather disappointed we made our way by to the main track and followed it  back down the hill to our starting point.

Despite not seeing the waterfall it was a lovely walk, quite strenuous for us, a climb of 900 feet on the 2.5 mile outward journey, but the return 2.5 miles were a pleasant downhill stroll. Apart from the Oystercatchers, there were several Meadow Pipits, and a  good number of Wheatear, a pretty little bird, several Curlew calling and flying overhead too.

Marshside

Today I went to Marshside RSPB reserve in Southport (or just outside) which is a great place to go to see waterfowl. There are 2 hides both overlooking loagoons and are very comfortable too.

The first hide  I called in gave very good close views of a good variety of duck, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Shovellers and Shelduck. looking past the lagood to the field beyond, there were Canada and Pink Footed Geese, Curlew and Black Tailed Godwits.



After spending quite a bit of time in this hide I moved along to the next, not quite as well appointed but again giving great views. Very much the same birds but also Pintails, quite a lot of gulls including the not so common, Common Gull, a large flock of Pink Footed Geese also flew in while I was watching and also the most suprising of all a pair of Black Swans, which all though there are quite a number wild in the UK are not yet listed as british birds.

I was intending to walk out onto the sands to see more waders but unfortunately I didnt have time today, still its a good excuse to return soon.

A few photos of the birds I saw today

A Group of Wigeon

Teal marching in line across the ice.

Pintail

Group of shoveller

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Swans

Moore - I saw an owl!

Having read a lot about Moore Nature Reserve near Warrington, I headed down there today, Its quite a big place by the side of the Manchester Ship Canal, with lagoons and woodland, so a chance to see a variety of birds.
Sadly, I am not very good at spotting and recognised birds I dont know and after a good hours walk I had hardly seen anything I could a name too. I finally arrived at a hide where 2 guys were sat. I had heard that there was a Tawny Owl that was regularly seen during the day and so I asked them if they knew where it was. One of them generously offered to show me as it was quite close to where we were, and sure enough there it was in the ivy on a tree trunk, just its head showing but clearly an owl. In all the years I have had an interest in birds I have never knowingly seen an owl in the wild so this was a big first for me and here he or she is.

I barely got round half the the reserve and am going to have to go back, hopefully with people who can spot and recognise birds.

Dunham Massey

Well after a few days stuck indoors due to the weather, I finally got out today and set off for Dunham Massey near Altrincham. it is a house, gardens and park managed by the National Trust and a place I have visited before. I was particularly looking for birds today and so I spent my time in the gardens and the park. The gardens are quite colourful even in january with snowdrops, crocus and daffodils on show, I spent most of the time scanning the trees, there were plenty of tits and nothing new until I spotted movement on one of the tree trunks, it was a Nuthatch, I have only ever seen one before so it was a nice spot, they are quite pretty being bluey grey on top and buff underneath and behave a lot like treecreepers. I tried to get a good photo but it promptly ran rounf the otherside of the trunk, but I did manage this.

I then had a wander around the park, there is a deer sanctuary and using binoculars I did see a small group of Roe Deer through the trees.

That was about it for interesting spots although there were plenty of Great and Longtailed tits, Jackdaw, tufted duck as well as the far more common birds.

Twitching

Since I have retired, I have taken to going out for  a bit of fresh air and exercise but going to places where I can expect to see birds. I thought I would these trips to my blog.
The weather has been excellent these last few days so here is a catch up on where I have been.

Thursday, I went for a walk around Worsley Woods, these are situated between the M60 and the A572 Worsley Rd. They start at The Delph, which is a pool where the old underground canals from the coal mines emerge to join the Bridgewater Canal. I had heard a Kingfisher is often seen here so I set off with high hopes of seeing on, although on a previous visit here I had failed. I had a good look in the Delph when I arrived but my quarry proved to be elusive and so I set off up the path into the woods themselves. After all the rain the paths were very muddy, but there were very few people around so it boded well. Parts of the wood are quite marshy and there is also a small man-made lake called old Warke Dam. I looked at every sign of movement but more often than not it was a Grey Squirrel, there must be hundreds here, although one movement did turn out to be a treecreeper, a first for me.
In the woods there were lots of birds. Great, Blue, Coal and Longtailed tits, Chaffinch, Jay, Crows,Magpies and a flock of around 50 Woodpidgeons.
As I got to the lake, I saw Mallard, Mute Swans, Teal and in the trees overlooking the lake 6 Grey Heron. There is an impressive house in the woods and the lake was built and stocked with fish, but apparrently isn't fished now except by the herons.
On the way back to the car I stopped again at the Delph and this timw I rewarded, the Kingfisher was perched on the branch of a dead tree in the pool, and I got a few pictures before returning to the car and home.

Friday

I decided to go to Dovestone Reservoir, near Oldham, the area managed by the RSPB so I was hopeful of some nice sightings but when I arrived the place was full of dog walkers and people with small children, it was very noisy, even the bird feeding station was full of feral pigeons so after a short walk to take a couple of photos, I drove a little  way up the road to a place call Binn Green, which over looks the reservoir. Here there was another feeding station but it was much quieter so I had a wander around and saw a good number of birds, all the usual tits there were at Worsley but also a lot of Goldfinches plus Greenfinch, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, the last two being firsts.

Sunday

I ventured farther afield and drove up to the Leighton Moss RSPB reserve with the hope of seeing a family of Otters. Having found out where they were likely to been seen I set off for one of the hides, most of the water was frozen but there were patches with plenty of birds, I enquired about the otters and yes they had been out all morning but despite a long wait they didnt not re appear  for me, however I did see several Bittern including one flying over, they stand in the reeds and blend in so well that it is diffult to spot them but no mistaking them in flight. Also I saw Marsh Harriers and Sparrowhawks covering the site looking for prey, there were also a couple of Snipe on the edges of the lagoon, also a Water Rail, another shy bird. On the water there were Teal, Tufted Duck, Shelduck, Gadwall (a first) and Cormorants, I then waited as it was approaching dusk for the starlings to flock, While waiting I saw a Glossy Ibis and several Little Egrets flying in to roost, both firsts for me. (someone pointed both these out to me). Then the starlings started to arrive, you could see flocks building up in the distant and merging together as they approached the reeds were they roost, there must have been thousands as the seemed to perform for the viewers flying right by the hide several times. A starling on its own is no big deal but seein g so many together is quite stunning, still photographs cant do them justice.

Monday

Off to Pennington Flash, a popular site for me being only 20 minutes away. The site is on what are flooded mine workings with a large lake ples small lagoons and reeds and also woodland all in quite a small area. In the big lake there were a lot of gulls, Black Headed, Great and lesser blackbacked and Herring, a bout a dozen Cormorants, loads of Mallard, Canada Geese Coots and MuteSwans after scraps visitors throw for them. I walked around the smaller lagoons again most were frozen but did see Tufted Duck, Gadwall again and Shelduck.
I then headed for my favourite place, a hide overlooking a feeding area, on the way there I was walking along a path the runs next to a golf course, when  I saw a flash of blue flying up the stream between the Flash and the golf course, another Kingfisher! The feeding area is  always popular with tits and finches I saw a lovely Bullfinch, plud a Reed Bunting ( a first), Moorhen, Dunnock, Pheasant, and Squirrels. I then returned to the big lake as the sun was setting to get a few sunset photos, also saw a Grey Lag  Goose.
On the way home I pulled into a layby to take some photos of the Headgear at the old Astley green Colliery.

Tuesday

Today I was very close to home on the bank of the River Irwell in Salford, suprisingly, it was a quiet area near Agecroft Bridge and on the walk I saw some nice waterfowl, especially Goldeneye and Gossanders (a first) I also spotted a pair of Green Sandpipers (a first) as they were disturbed several times and fly up and down the river.

So a lovely few days, several new spots and a total of 52 species of birds.