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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: Kestrel

The Cat and Fiddle

25 Tue Oct 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, holidays, plants, Rural Diary, walking, wild flowers

≈ 70 Comments

Tags

Bird's-foot Trefoil, Cat and Fiddle pass, Cat and Fiddle pub, Cladonia pleurota, Common Cottongrass, Common Hawker dragonfly, common knapweed, common ragwort, conifer plantation, Crosswort, Derbyshire Bridge car park, driven grouse shooting, eyebright, Goyt Valley, harebell, Harlequin ladybird, heath bedstraw, heather, Kestrel, Knotted Pearlwort, Lesser Stitchwort, Lousewort, Meadow Crane's-bill, milestone, Mountain Pansy, old coach road, Peak District, River Goyt, Shining Tor, Sneezewort, tormentil, Upright Hedge Parsley, walking, yarrow

On the third day of our stay in the Peak District we decided on a slightly longer walk than usual and took a picnic with us.  We drove towards Buxton but just before entering the town we took the A54 road off to the right and then a minor road off that road and parked the car in the Derbyshire Bridge car park.  This is a pleasant spot and is used as a picnic area.

p1010128ladybird

A ladybird on our rather dusty windscreen

p1010129ladybird-larva

A Ladybird larva on the car.

Unfortunately, both ladybird and larva are Harlequin Ladybirds which have now outstayed their welcome in this country.  I wish that those in authority were more wary about using introduced insects to control other insects.

We were delayed at the beginning of our walk by the car beeping an alarm whenever we tried locking the doors.  After disturbing a couple who were having a picnic with their little grandson we decided that we ought to look at the car’s manual.  We found that the car was telling us that we were locking the spare key inside the car and that it would rather we didn’t.  I took the key out of my handbag which I had left in the boot and we were then able to start our walk.

p1010132infant-r-goyt

The first part of the walk was along a path beside the infant River Goyt.

p1010133dragonfly

I saw this Common Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea). It was typically wary and didn’t settle where I could get a good photo of it.  Only its head and wings and a little part of its thorax/abdomen can be seen here.

p1010134flower

Upright Hedge Parsley (Torilis japonica)

p1010137river

The Goyt was running along merrily

p1010138flowers

Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)

p1010135flowers

Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and Upright Hedge Parsley

p1010140river

A bridge across the water

p1010142view

A view of the surrounding moorland

This is a typical sight in moorland where driven grouse shooting takes place.  The patches on the hillside show where the heather has been burned to promote new growth shoots for the grouse to feed on.   I have recently signed a petition to have this sport banned as I think that instead of conserving wildlife these estates try to eradicate any creatures that may be a threat to their grouse.  All raptors, including the scarce Hen Harrier and Golden Eagles are considered a threat and are regularly shot or poisoned illegally by some, not all, gamekeepers employed on some of these estates.  In Scotland hundreds of thousands of Mountain Hare are culled every year.  I’ve signed another petition about this too!  I feel very strongly about this as you no doubt have realised.

p1010143heather

The Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was in full bloom

p1010145path

The path across the moor

At this point we turned onto another path which rose up towards a plantation.  We entered the forest through a gate.

p1010146path

The forest path

p1010147wall

Inside the forest were walls and the remains of buildings

This reminded me of the stone walls that Allen from New Hampshire Garden Solutions  finds in his local forest.  In this case the land that was originally farmed for sheep was subsequently acquired by a company or organisation that planted conifers but didn’t bother dismantling the walls.

p1010150weir

A weir we found halfway through the plantation

p1010151bridge

Richard on the bridge over the river

p1010152bridge

The simple bridge

p1010153river

The barrier just up-stream from the bridge and weir

p1010155flower

Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica)

This was a flower I had never seen before.  It is very small and the leaves are tiny!  It is semi-parasitic on other plants’ roots.

p1010156view

We could see one of the local reservoirs from the path that went up by the side of the plantation.

p1010157path

Our path….

p1010158path

…. got rougher and steeper

p1010161lichen

I think this lichen may be Cladonia pleurota

p1010163plant

Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile)

p1010164insect

I cannot identify this tiny bug. It marched purposefully across this rather bleak landscape.

The three photos above were taken while we rested and ate our lunch.  This last part of the walk I found exhausting as it was a continuous uphill climb and on very uneven and rough paths with large, loose rocks to walk over.

p1010166view

This is the view I saw when I looked up from my seat on a rock

The weather was cloudier and cooler than earlier in the week.  We were glad of this!

p1010167cotton-grass

There was still plenty of late Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium) in amongst the Heather

p1010168lichen/slime mould

This might be a slime mould but I am not sure!

View from the path
View from the path
View from the path
View from the path
p1010171kestrel

A Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) hovering high up in the sky

p1010172lichen

A veritable garden of lichen and moss on top of a stone wall.  It’s a pity the photo isn’t any clearer.

Shining Tor from a distance
Shining Tor from a distance
Shining Tor close up
Shining Tor close up

We had thought we might go up Shining Tor but we changed our minds when we had got to the top of the stony path.  We were too tired.  Why is it called ‘Shining Tor’?  I don’t know.

p1010176view

This is another view from where we were standing.

The visibility wasn’t great and the distant hills were lost in haze but the sky above us was clear and blue now.  We began to descend towards the Cat and Fiddle pass (I expect you were wondering why this post was called Cat and Fiddle) and the Cat and Fiddle pub.

p1010177pansy

An out of focus photo of a wild pansy growing next to the path. I think it may be a Mountain Pansy (Viola lutea)

p1010178pansy

More pansies

p1010179pansies

and even more pansies!

p1010180pansies

Just one more!

p1010181view

I eventually looked up and noticed the view. The road you see in the middle distance is the Cat and Fiddle Pass.

Harebells ( Campanula rotundifolia)
Harebells ( Campanula rotundifolia)
Tormentil (Potentilla erecta)
Tormentil (Potentilla erecta)
p1010184cat-and-fiddle

The Cat and Fiddle pub (on the right of the photo)

p1010185cotton-grass

I saw more Cottongrass next to the path but this was definitely past its best!

p1010187mile-stone

I then saw an interesting-looking stone just to the left of the path

p1010186mile-stone

On closer examination I found it was an old mile-stone and realised that the path we had been walking on since Shining Tor was part of the old coach road.

p1010188old-road

I looked at the path and saw that it looked very much like an old road. Richard is ahead of me here as usual and is near where the path joins the new busy road.

p1010189orchid

I found a very late orchid in the grass. It was faded and I couldn’t identify it.

p1010190cat-and-fiddle

We were disappointed to discover that the pub was shut and we weren’t to get a drink after all.

It does seem sad that the place that the pass was named after should be shut and empty.  We walked past the pub.  Through the windows we could see everything had been left as it was on the day it had shut months before.  There was even a menu board extolling the virtues of a meat pie!

We soon turned off the main road onto a narrow road that would eventually bring us back to the carpark.  I saw many different plants on the way.

p1010191flowers

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense)

p1010192cotton-grass

Lots more Common Cotton Grass

p1010193flowers

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) and Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

p1010195flowers

Yet another poor photo I’m afraid! This is another flower I had never seen before – Knotted Pearlwort (Sagina nodosa)

p1010197flower

A very pink Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

p1010198flower

Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica)

p1010199flower

Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis agg.)

p1010200flower

Crosswort (Cruciata laevipes)

We found the car, drove back to our caravan and made ourselves a nice cup of tea.  We were quite tired after our long walk and found it difficult to stay awake.  We had arranged to have lunch with my brother-in-law the next day so Richard booked a table at a local restaurant and phoned his brother to let him know when and where we were to meet each other.

To be continued….

Thanks for visiting!

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I talk about what it's like living in a quiet part of Suffolk. I am a wife, mother and daughter, a practising Christian and love the natural world that surrounds me. I enjoy my life - most of the time!

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