Moor Like Usual Service

Including awful puns and long delays between events and posting.



So, after a day of not going out and having fun, I resolved to a) get some exercise and b) maybe see some more dragons for the year. The two may be combined at a nice Black Darter site I know, which ought to have Small Red Damsel too. Maybe. Could have Small Red.  Worth a look anyway.


Forecast said sun then a band of showers then sun, and not too much wind, which seemed reasonable.

But the Moor has its ways, and you never know what cliche you're going to get.  So, expected sun means actual rain. And oh look, hillscraper clouds, drizzle and gunk! Wooooo....


Knickers.

Good for spiderwebs, at least

So, spoiler; I saw not one odonate all day.

But hey, what can you do? Amble up a ways, sit down out of the weather, and see what mood it's really in. I mean, at least the nasty gunk was keeping the grockles [and the horseflies!] off.. :)

Let's play time lapse;

10:55

11:00

11:05

And now you know where I was.. Avon Dam. Water's down a bit. A Grey Heron was working about the edge, didn't seem to be having much luck, with another sat in a tree [you can see it in the distance. Maybe.] Otherwise, usual moorland spp., but not even a Mallard on the water. Ho hum.

Avon Dam

But Ho! there... Here came even sunshine. I went back down to the mire to look for dragons and found only grockles. Oh well, the wind had picked up, too. So I went to plan B and wandered uphill a bit.


A bit being the hard way to The Sub, where lunch was munched out of the wind. The view was looked at, but the wind wasn't giving up. So I took an ambling route back to Shipley [they have a very fancy scran van there now, fyi]

The Sub

You could hang that view
in the Tate

Wheatear!

Looking back;

Ryder's Hill over The Heap of Sinners

Settlement

Creeping Thistle

Spear Thistle

Lesser Hawkbit

Grey Wagtail

In a tree!

Dipper!

With bling!

L; Gr over metal

R; Or over Or

[EDIT: While I know there's a Dipper colour ring scheme in Devon, I was unable to find it on the CR-Birding site, so have had to report it to the BTO's service via generic form. I will update when [if] I hear back from anyone.]

That was a very obliging Dipper, but the light was not helpful and my camera did its very best to not give a sharp shot. Oh well, you can see what it is!


I will be back that way when weather [er, if weather] obliges, with probably a longer mission up to The Heap. This will need a longer day, but hey. And it was lovely up there for long spells, with an amazing amount of solitude for the Moor on a Sunday in August [I did feel faint when I thought too much about it..]. Location did help, though, as the next ridge over [Ryder's to Puper's] was covered in runners.!


Anyways, I shall

Be Seeing You...