Week 58 26/02/2015

Photo Blog Week 58 - Thur 26 February 2015

Thursday morning delivered torrential rain which, fortunately for me, ceased as I drove to The Park. In the car park it felt quite mild and I almost left my coat but I did leave my gloves and wooly hat which I briefly regretted later. Descending from Bowstonegate Farm I was face into a 20 minute squall of freezing wind combined with rain which had a core of ice to each drop; forehead hurting, I was very glad to reach the shelter of Knightslow Wood at which point it promptly stopped! Everywhere was very wet under foot and tumbling gurgling water filled all the streams.

Signs of Spring

Spring greens are appearing all over the Park and there are beautiful snowdrops at the entrance and by the Stables. In amongst the bracken the tips of bluebell leaves are poking through and down by Westparkgate, the wild garlic leaves are uncurling out of the ground next to Poynton Brook.

Before the undergrowth gets going I have been walking boundary sections recently and today tackled the most inaccessible, the far side of Deer Clough. The ONLY reason to go here is a boundary check, there is no path and progress involves steep very slippery slopes full of tangled brambles and low spiky holly.

route: Main Car Park; Estate Office in the House (sign-in; collect litter picker); Ranger Office in The Stables (collect radio)

Major work taking place on the main car park which has deteriorated badly with weather and wear

If you wonder what the inside of the Stables building looks like, here it is.

If you are a John Deer fan, the Rangers have a smashing green and yellow tractor.

(Seasick Steve, are you out there?)

route: The Stables; East Lodge track; Caters Slack boundary wall; Lantern Wood boundary wall; Park Moor Eastern boundary wall; Bowstonegate Farm park entrance.

Very wet ground

A sight that goes unnoticed through the trees south of East Lodge track

Brand new stile. Nice wide solid footplates and a sturdy post to grip

The Park Herd are comfortable in their sanctuary today

'Scrapes' are being created in the Red Deer sanctuary.

These Scrapes will fill with water providing muddy areas for the Red Deer to wallow and encouraging a more diverse wildlife including birds such as Lapwings

Looking over the boundary wall toward Windgather Rocks

When laying the foundation level of a drystone wall, 'Ugly Stones' are used up.

Ugly stones are larger, odd shaped stones which can be settled into the ground odd shape down with the best building surface facing up. Being larger and therefore heavier they bed in well to provide a good foundation

Undulating grassland of Caters Slack

Murky distance beyond Cage Hill

Meandering path through the small pines high in Lantern Wood

Spring Green appearing as plants stir into new growth

Walkers heading up the Moor boundary wall above Lantern Wood

When repairing drystone walls, the stone is sorted as it is extracted for ease of rebuild. Here we have a row of larger flat stones suitable as coping stones on the top of the finished wall. At 90 degrees there are several rows of stone organised into sizes.

route: Bowstonegate Farm park entrance; Bowstones track; Knightslow Wood; Car Park; Mill Pond; Timberyard Complex

Bowstones track Winter Deer Feed Station

Excuse me ladies, bit of a 'bum' picture

Oh, hello dear!  

('dear', get it? 'deer'... no, not that funny I guess)

Nature's Artwork:  Green

Afternoon

Drive from Main Car Park to the Knott Car Park

route: The Knott car park; Westpark drive; higher Deer Clough path; Cluse Hey; Middle Moor Wall

Evergreen Pines get whipped by the wind and hold heavy snow resulting in shedding bows in the winter

Steep sides of Deer Clough

A fair bit of rain this morning means that this normally easy crossing point has become a wide ford

Cluse Hey bottom out toward The Moor

looking back into Deer Clough from bottom of Cluse Hey

Brilliant Spring Green patch of grass amongst the dry bracken

View out toward Manchester and the plains over Deer Clough which is a steep sided valley with Poynton Brook running along the bottom down to Westpark Gate

view from summit above Cluse Hey across the Moor to Knightslow Wood

route: Middle Moor Wall; Western Boundary Wall; top edge Deer Clough (rough ground); cross Poynton Brrok at Westparkgate; Westpark drive; The Knott Car Park

A good looking repair by our volunteer wallers in this 8ft wall

A random Snowdrop.

This area has garden refuse from houses above which will explain.

Tree with a massive stress split.

Well away from paths and normal public access.

Bridge over Poynton Brook by Westpark Gate lodge

Sign of Spring as the Wild Garlic (Relums) leaves unfold

There was plenty of water in The Park today

Barren ground where rhododendron have been stripped this year.

It will be interesting to watch this area as it gets chance to restore natural woodland.

Bluebells pushing through next to Westpark drive.  Spring is on its way

Nice view of the House with gentle sunshine finding its way through

The sun appears as I finish

Snowdrops outside The Stables

Today's track and profile

provided by runkeeper.com Android phone App.

morning

 

afternoon

 

total: 6.9 miles (11.04 km)  5 hr 15 min

This Time Last Year

Have a look at This Time Last Year  

Week 14 19/02/14 - Sun, Half-term and Deer

'This Time Last Year' is actually a week out of sync due to me taking a week off both years a week out of sync'.

Week 57 11/02/2015

Photo Blog Week 57 - Wed 11 February 2015

Looking back from a sunny Sunday as I write this, Wednesday was a dull day this week with low lighting and limited visibility with flattened dark hillsides where the snows had melted.

My first call of the day was to help the rangers and the farmer finally get the remaining cattle packed off home for the winter. Half a dozen of them spent the summer in Cluse Hey and the Western part of Park Moor where they seem to have forsaken their farm heritage and become feral learning to live and roam with the red deer. The stock fence put in to separate the Moor proved to be no obstacle to them as they noted that the deer could jump it so they saw no reason why they couldn't... and did!
The had finally moved into Turfhouse Meadow so it seemed straightforward, however, they had other ideas including jumping the fence into the archery field at one point, crashing through it at another and even trying to run through deer fences. Rather than being herded as people approached they took to their hooves and accelerated through the line of people.
So, to cut a long story short... they are still there. Next time maybe?

Odd chunks of snow litter the park where giant snow balls or snowmen stood.

While the undergrowth is dormant I decided to cover two parts of the boundary which are difficult to access later in the year with brambles, long grass, low hanging branches and flies. These were along the top wall of Crow Wood and the Top of Haze Bank both of which offer difficult terrain, especially the latter. My shins and calves were a mess of red scratches that evening even with good walking trousers.

Delta-Ged is away next Wednesday. See you in a fortnight!

route: Turfhouse Meadow - cattle drive

A dull lit and wet Turfhouse Meadow

 

The errant cattle heading across the bottom of Lantern Wood at the top of the Meadow

 

route: Turfhouse Meadow; East Drive; Coalpit Wood; The Cage; Timberyard

 

Visibility not good today looking across the reservoirs

and no sign of the Kinder Plateau beyond East Lodge

Snowman graveyard on Cage Hill

Several Shades of Grey

 

route: Timberyard; Crow Wood (all paths); Crow Wood Boundary; Turtle Brew

 

Moorhen on ice on the Mill Pond

Edge of the ice receding as in melts

Bluebells appearing through the leaves in Crow Wood

Fungi fest'

Steep boundary wall and fence at end of Crow Wood

and a very boggy gateway

Wall repairs going on at the very top corner of Crow Wood. Getting stone up here must be a pain.

Fungi fest': amazing brilliant red. I've never seen these before.

over the top of the wood to the Cage

Nature's Artwork: Larch cones and bare branches against the sky

Timberyard complex and the pond from above the Playscape

a see through tree

route: Turtle Brew; The Knott Car Park; Haze Bank (Top Boundary); Westpark Drive

heading out to Four Winds

Through Stones in wall climbing Haze Bank Wood

The sort of terrain I'm making my way through, hence the scratched legs.

Nature's Artwork: In a moment of sun, which I missed with the camera, this resin shone a bright red like a stained glass window

View from the top of Haze Bank across Pursefield to Park Moor

..and Paddock Cottage at the end of the ridge

Unfortunately, I came across this.

 

This break in the boundary wall is low enough in the middle not to be stock proof. It was probably knocked over by an animal on the farmland the other side.

When I say our role is as eyes and ears for the Ranger Team, this is the sort of thing we can report back.

 



route: Westpark Drive; Pursefield (bottom); join drive from The Knott; Main Car Park (end)

Bilberry is one of the few green stems continuing through the winter on the lower slopes of Pursefield

This dead flattened bracken will be full of beautiful Bluebells in the spring before the bright green curls of the young bracken reappear

heading back to the car park from The Knott

piles of snow and gravel remain in the car park from the Rangers' ploughing keeping the Park open as much as was humanly possible during the snows

Today's track and profile

provided by runkeeper.com Android phone App.

7.5 miles (12.1 km)  5 hr 45 min

This Time Last Year

Have a look at This Time Last Year  

Week 13 12/02/14 - Wind and Early Closing