There Are Those Who Question My Sanity

In all manner of circumstances, but yesterday's one was in relation to my fondness for going up on t'Moor in shall we say, less than optimal weather?

Personally, with the sun threatening and 20° on the thermometer in the morning at Postbridge, I thought this was nutty, but there you go.


Of course, higher up is another world, and the weather had some fun in mind. The thing about hot humid weather is that when the rain is warm, it's much harder to notice it slowly picking up until it's soaked through your troosers...

Anyways, I toddled up to Fur Tor and back, saw not a soul past the first hill - ok I couldn't see much more than whatever hill I was on.. - and even met some birds. Many of these were heard only, but not all.

Rather than blabble on a story I've told more than once, here are a few piccies;

Blue sky! Rainbow!

[That Bleeping Hill...]

 

 

Past Bleeping Hill*, things changed...

 

 

 

The Waterfall

 

 

Grey Wag

Busy narfing craneflies, mostly

 

Not everyone was enjoying the weather..

Fur Tor

[Did I just hear something howl...?]

Big Shear Weather

But not a Cory's to be seen.

It is blowing hard left to right and in fact slightly up in this shot...

Winner in category 'Random Moor Artifact' 2016

Yes, that is a garden chair. Quite a fancy one, with all the cast iron and hardwood and everything. It is sat up at Fur Tor, yomped up by I know not who. Whoever it was, I thankyou, twas a very comfy place upon which to sit my behind. :D

Navigating in the mistyfog is not easy..

 

 

 

Unless you remember your waymarkers

[yes, there is a path there]

 

 

 

Though some are easier to miss than others

 

 

 

"You again?!?"

 

 

Two frontal systems in quick succession had put a lot of water up there, though it hadn't sunk in so the ground was fairly firm. Quite splashy, though.

The rivers were all up - usual safety cautions, folks - as were the wet bits in the bogs and so on.

Mipits were well in evidence, flocking up for Autumn - biggest being a decent 41 - and the Skylarks have started getting scarcer as they move off earlier. The close visibility and lack of other people [one group ahead of me - tracks only - was it, it seemed?] helped perhaps in the multiple wader contacts; though all but one were calls only. The 'but one', though.. Dunlin, juvenile. Maybe even a local??? I can hope.

Also a couple of random flypasts - Redpoll and Whinchat [on the high moor? were they lost??] and a few miserable-seeming Black Darters and Common Hawkers - mostly muttering rude things in Insect after being flushed from their attempted-basking spots [oops].

Yes, I got a bit soggy. Ok very soggy, but not at all cold. In fact it was so warm I was very glad I'd taken my big water bottle [I was half-expecting blazing sunshine]. And it was so good to get up there properly, just me and the wind and the sideways rain...

Be Seeing You..

[[*Not the proper name, but it is invariably met with 'oh not that ____ing hill...'. Steep and long is the climb, often with an attack of coobeasties**.]]

[[**This time they were right up the top, accompanied by calves and sheeep, and the bull was astride the path waiting for me..***]]

[[***As I had no madly-barking LBD with me, there was no problem at all; he just gave me the eye as I went by]]