Getting Out There. Pt.3, At Last, Oh At Last

I haven't been up for a proper walk on t'Moor all year.

Shock.

Horror.

It definitely wouldn't do, so - having failed the day before - I got myself up [only an hour behind plan] and went to...

Well, where do you think I'd go first??

Moonrise

Oh, wait, that's the last bit...

Oops?

 

Where to? Where else?

Oh yes.

:D

Wild Tor.

One of the true Tors of t'Moor, you just can't cheat it* you've got to walk. And cross water, bog, and large pieces of scenery. There are views, there's always somewhere to sit out of the wind... What more do you need?

 

 

Views from an amble.

Trees and fields, fields and trees

Scorhill Circle

Kestor Rock

Hameldown Tor

The White Moor Stone

The White Moor Circle

Yes, that's Hay Tor behind Kestor.

Onward, and you've seen this shadow before,

View from;

Yes, West Mill, East Mill,

Row, Steeperton, Belstone ridge

The Hangingstone,

on the eponymous Hill

Slice of the vast view

from the top;

West Mill to Cosdon Beacon

Time for a close-up!

Heath Waxcap

If you know, you know.

[I've photo'd that close up, once upon a time, if you realllly want to go archive binging]

Taw Head Mire

Fur Tor!

Black Hill,

East Dart Head

Castle Drogo,

The Thurlestone at

Watern Tor

View from,

including Drogo and the Belvedere

The Pole Bridge

over Teign

A bit - just a little bit - deeper than last time [when I forded the river.!], would have been over my knees and it's dropped quite a way from where it was...

Wildlife time.

Grazing with the sheeps

Hello...

 

..Told you.

 

 

Is he looking at me?

 

 

 

Yup, he's looking at me.

 

 

Wow.

:D

 

 

Sunset. Clapper bridge over Teign.

 

...and Walla.

Only a slightly different walk than that last one [also a case of 'I'll see how I feel... Ouch.'], with 20km of rather damper scenery covered.

 

Now to the good bit.

[Wait, what??]

Birds.

 

Oh yes.

 

 

We start en route, with a couple of Brambling in with a Chaffinch flock near Highbury Bridge. The high Moor was in standard winter state, with a lone Golden Plover seen near Wild Tor and decent-sized flocks heard but not seen [calls carried on the wind from the south], and totals of 3 for both Mipit and Skylark! Despite the paucity of small birds, a female Merlin was hunting over Metherel Hill [I almost got a photo!], while more expected Buzzard [2] and Raven [3+]  patrolled from higher up. A small party of Red Grouse were flushed by a couple with a dog [which was on a lead, shock] from 'somewhere on Dartmoor'** while I was chatting to a local - to our mutual "Grouse!" - and two Snipe were put up by myself whilst traversing Taw Head to get to Cranmere [that camera just laughed at me... :( ].

Best wader on the way home though, as a Woodcock was by the roadside just north of Chagford Bridge and went zipping along ahead of me for 20 yards like a Sprawk before flicking over the wall!

And of course there was that stag.

Sometimes the Goddess of Birding [and indeed all Wild Things] smiles.

I still am.

Be Seeing You...

[[*Unless you've got a helicopter, and good luck putting one down there. Oh and you're in a live fire range, too.... o:) ]]

[[** Very rare breeding species,  you know the drill. ]]