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