The Joy Of The Moor

I spent Hen Harrier Day not driving all the way to Arne and back [the country stops at Brizzle, dontcha know..] but actually up on a moor. One of the few where harriers don't have to worry about low-flying shot. [Pity they can't breed there, but that's another rant story]



Ah, Dartmoor on a wet, windy, and generally 'orrible day.. ::Fond sigh::


Except it wasn't really. Some lovely hill fog, which lifted mid afternoon. One shower. Even some sunshine. Quite a lot of warmth. Oh, and a brisk sou'westerly. :)

I packed for everything from blazing sunshine to sideways rain - it was that sort of forecast - and got a humid 20° with aforementioned ah, 'breeze'.



Quite an interesting dichotomy starting from Fernworthy; close if not muggy, as I yomped up through the plantation to the Hornbeam Gate, then out into the wind and.. woo! You'd think it was October, maybe late September. Certainly not August with all that hillfog.


Anyways, after diverging from a party of Happy Hikers who'd arrived at the same time as me, I wandered over to the Grey Wethers, before on up to Sittaford Tor, then out to the rediscovered circle beyond. And very nice it is too; 30 stones plus a dinky outlier; quite similar to White Moor. I've heard they're going to leave it as it is, but I must admit I'd prefer to see it back up. I know the victorians were, well.. the victorians with other circles, but we can put it up properly, so what's the harm, really? Excavate properly first, then put them up as they were.


Cue pictures;

The Grey Wethers.

Cosdon Beacon in the distance, 

the cloud base just skimming the higher hills

Inside the Sittaford circle, looking at the outlier

A few of the 30 stones,

they've been cleaned up and so are easy to see..

..though some are buried deeper than others

Anyways, as I was enjoying the circle, the cloud base dropped on cue and even Sittaford Tor vanished!

I do so love it when the moor does that. It didn't quite get to '40 foot bowl', but still..



After a quick cuppa out of the wind at the Tor, I pressed on to Quintin's Man;

Looking towards White Horse Hill from Quintin's Man

[there's a hill in there somewhere..]

Then on up White Horse Hill, where even in some very nicely dense mistyfog, I found an unmarked-on-the-OS hut circle;

Just a wee one

Then up over the top via the old way to Hangingstone Hill and onwards [passing the Happy Hikers for the third time!*] down to my main stop of the day.


Yup, favourite tor again; Wild Tor.

Approaching Wild Tor from the south

Evidently the coobeasties' favourite too, as they had been emptying their bowels all over it..
Muttering "Steaks and mince, steaks and mince.." I eventually found somewhere out of the wind to have a lazy and [as usual] late lunch. I don't consider it a proper break unless you stay put for at least an hour, and you need a good amount of time - especially on somewhere as 'desolate' [[::coughsniggercough::]] as t'Moor - to see what's about.

Wheatears, for example.

And this youngster;

Never seen one of these there before!

Eventually the sight of a distant but closing horde prompted me to move over the Walla Brook to Watern Tor, where there were even more Wheatears! Including a very fluffy just-fledged juvenile [awww...]. It didn't sit and pose for a photo, and I was too busy cooing anyway.. [Ahem]


I closed the loop via Teignhead Farm - no Wheatears, surprisingly - and met a juvie Redstart in the plantation on my way back.


My last encounter was definitely my least enjoyable; a frickin' horsefly sp. waiting for me by my li'l car! Not the usual clegg, though it had the patterned eyes and wings, this one was a bit longer and had white between eyes and mouthparts [if it was a dragonfly, I'd have said frons] and flew with an ominous hum. It was also typically persistent and forced me to perform an 'emergency unload and dive into car while fending off attacking fly' manoeuvre that would have been most amusing for any witnesses..


On my way out I stopped off to check the reservoir for any passing waders, it being nice and quiet along the exposed shore, what with the weather. Not to be though, as I drew a blank. There were at least 30 Swallows hawking over and 2 Cormorants in the water, however.


All in all, it was a cracking day out [eh, Gromit?] and well overdue.



Saturday... Well, after dark female and male Tawny Owls called. I darned yet another bit of the big bumbleshoot [which got bent in July and I'd only just noticed on my last seawatch..], and not a huge amount else of note happened.


Ditto Friday, but without the brolly repair.



Ooh! I did add a new species to my [very short] feeder list! House Sparrow! Get in!!

:D




[[*The second was at Sittaford, as they came up the other side as I was leaving to look for the circle. Small Moor, eh?]]