Lockdown Walks: A Retrospective. 5th May. Four Trigs.

 Apologies for the long delay in getting back to blogging, all good things must come to an end, including the longest summer, and I have now returned to work.  So the blog posts will remain relatively infrequent, but will continue. 

So, here goes. 

5th May 2020 Spring Wood, Carsington, Black Rocks, including four Trig Points. 

On a cool breezy day, I strolled out of Wirksworth toward Sprink Woods, at the time an unofficially accessible patch of woodland just across the fields to the South of the town. The trees were very quiet, but the woodland floor bloomed, especially in the patches of felling. Yellow Archangel, Forget Me Not, Wild Garlic, Red and White Campion, and Herb Robert all bloomed in the patches of sunshine. Unfortunately there was also a little litter, something which may have inspired the landowner to close off access to the wood a few days after my walk there.

I reached the Callow Road and proceeded to the Stainsborough Farm trig point, accessible across fields by two open gates. I descended toward Carsington Water, on the way encountering the distressing sight of a newborn lamb stuck fast between two barbed wire fences. I managed to lift out the tiny, wobbly creature, which was as light as one of my cats, and return it to the field from which it came. It doddered about and bleated. I did not see it reunited with its mother, and just got sheep milk poo on my hands and a bit emotional. Online approaches were made to find the farmer, such is the glory of technology, and hopefully the animal was okay.

RAF Hercules fly past. 

Great Northern Diver, Distant but distinctive. 

From the lamb I made my way down to Carsington  Water, by now bathed in sunshine after an overcast morning, and listened to the rhythmic, foot tapping stylings of Reed Warblers at the foot of the Reservoir.  The calm was broken by a very low flying RAF Hercules transport aircraft, whirring through the valley.  The Great Northern Diver, a juvenile which had spent the winter at Carsington, gave wonderful close views, showing its Hulk-like proportions, and the diagnostic neck markings which separate it from the other two species of Diver.  This is the same species of bird referred to in North America as the Common Loon, a reference to its haunting breeding call, a sound we do not hear at these latitudes. This wintering individual would soon return to the Northern sea lochs and fjords in which they breed, places to which the summer comes late. A Willow Tit also at Carsington was my first sighting of this declining woodland species, which thrives at the site, of the lockdown walks. 

Carsington Water from Carsington Pastures. 

I climbed up after my brief flirtation with the lake shore, through the hummocked fields of Carsington Pasture. A grumpy landowner was evidently keen for me to keep to the footpath, having made careful use of signage, and a muckspreader to dissuade me from leaving the path to have a sit down. The views from here were extraordinary, however, vast, across the reservoir. Skylarks and a beautifully plain Garden Warbler sang. Higher still, through the edge of Brassington Town, where people suspiciously eyed the stranger out in Lockdown, I climbed, to a picnic site where Orange Tip butterflies patrolled banks of vibrant blooms, then turned into a field where Early Purple Orchids bloomed, and my first Dingy Skipper butterfly of the season was on the wing.

Orange Tip (male)

Dingy Skipper

Early Purple orchids and Cowslips

The factory which sits beneath Harborough Rocks was noisy again, in contrast to earlier visits in Lockdown where it had been silenced. Meadow Pipits and Skylark were in attendance around the trig point, the second of the day.

St Mark's Fly (Bibio marci)

I returned to the High Peak Trail and, with evening fast approaching, I enjoyed the sight and sound of plentiful Whitethroat and a glorious male Redstart once again close to the turning for the Middleton trig. As I walked away from it to reconnect with the footpath, Meadow Pipits took off in fright but did not leave the area, suggesting the proximity of nests on the ground. I will avoid the area in future so as not to risk disturbing these birds. I reconnected with the Wheatear pair behind Middleton Top Cycle Hire. The light had really begun to fade now, but the possibility of four trigs held rather more pull than perhaps it should, and I yomped to the fourth Trig at Black Rocks, even breaking a sweat, something I usually avowedly avoid while out strolling, to achieve my objective. I reached it with just enough light for a final selfie.  Bats flew in the gloom. I got back to my front door in darkness.

Harborough Rocks Trig Point. 

Moonrise over Middleton

Birds Seen: Canada Goose, Greylag, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Great Northern Diver, Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Tawny Owl (Heard only) Swift, Kestrel, Magpie, Jack, Rook, Carrion Crow, Raven, Coal Tit, Willow Tit, Blue Tit, Swallow, House Martin, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Robin, Wheatear, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting. 

Butterflies: Peacock, Green Veined White, Orange Tip, Brimstone, Dingy Skipper. 

Mammals: Brown Rat, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit, Pipistrelle.