Celebrations in Derbyshire

We went to Hartington for our usual New Year visit a little later this year.  We timed our arrival to coincide with my borther's birthday and had booked to eat at the excellent Charles Cotton Hotel in the village.  One of the tings we like about our visit here is that the cars stay in the car park for the duration and our biggest decision is whether we do the walks clockwise or anti-clockwise.  Although it remained dry for most of the time the weather was generally overcast and gloomy apart from our final walk when we did see some sun.  Our peregrinations centred on the River Dove and the dry valleys on either side.  We noticed that the buds on the elders were swelling and would soon be breaking into leaf and hazel catkins were well out.  We saw buzzards and lapwings and dippers busy on the river along with several herons.  On our stretch of the river there seemed to be about 5 dipper territories and we found one singing its heart out with a beautiful, melodious thrush-like song..  Spring is on the way.

New Year, Hartington. Day 3

For our final day our Nephew and his wife along with their new daughter Sophie came to join us.  The ladies enjoyed a wander into the village shops and tea shop while the gentlemen indulged ouselves in our usual walk to Pilsbury Castle and back.  Out on the upper gritstone side of the valley and back high on the northern limestone with excellent views along the valley.  National Park rangers were repairing a gate and a raven cronked joyously overhead.  Ravens are one of nature's success stories; I remember a time when none were to be found in Derbyshire.  Although we thoroughly enjoyed the walk, the sky was so dull and grey the camera was not troubled at all.

An excellent three days.

New Year, Hartington Youth Hostel. Day 2

A frost greeted us this morning, the first we have seen in a while as the weather has recently been mild, grey and overcast.  Although cold, however, the promised sun did not appear and this and the following day were to be cold but still, grey and gloomy under the high pressure air.  The fields in Dovedale were frosted, though as we approached from the village.  Our walk today followed the river there and back (mostly) rather than the very steep variation up Gypsy Bank to Alstonfield and back down to the River and the awkward walking up Biggin Dale on the way back.  This is because I am under orders to take it easy as I am waiting for open heart surgery for an aortic valve replacement - joy!!
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Despite being circumspect, however, the walk was extremely rewarding on the wildlife front.  Herons were plentiful all along the river often paying us little heed.  Several dippers were showing well, all paired up and ready for the breeding season.

As we entered Wolfscote Dale we were surprised to see a crayfish by the side of the path aggressively waving its claws at us as we approached.  Judging by its size and bright red backs to its claws we identified it as an American interloper, the signal crayfish.  These are an invasive species and can destabilize riverbanks by their burrowing and carry crayfish plague.

Further along we came across a female goosander which we saw on a couple of occasions.  We were also delighted to have excellent views of a kingfisher as it patrolled its territory.  We particularly enjoyed watching it fishing and I ached for my 500mm lens.

As always the walk along the river continued to delight and I enjoyed photographing the waterfalls and dying vegetation.  The alder catkins were ripening and endowed the river bank with purple tinges.

Once back at the entrance to Wolfscote Dale we climbed up and then walked along beautiful green lanes lined with ancient stone walls back to the hostel, pausing to photograph an old and decaying railway carriage which at some time in the past has been pressed into use as a farm building.  I love photographing this type of subject which is very rewarding in close-up revealing beautiful textures, shapes and colours.  Although only 3 o'clock the lowering skies meant that the day was nearly over.

New Year at Hartington Hall Youth Hostel, Derbyshire.

At New Year we made our annual pilgrimage to Hartington Hall Youth Hostel in Derbyshire to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law.  We have been doing this now for about the last 15 years and it is a great way to see each other and have a second Christmas without any one having to cater and we love the bustle of life in the youth hostel.  Once we have parked the cars we don’t touch them for the next three days and we enjoy doing the same walks each year.  The biggest decision we need to make is which way round we do the walks.  This may seem a little ‘samey’, but the walks are not the same two years running.  The weather is always different, the underfoot conditions different and we never know what we will see on the wildlife front.  Already snowdrops were poking through the ground, some of them with the first white of flowers showing; daffodil bulbs, too, were showing through.  We saw large mixed flocks of winter thrushes: fieldfares and redwings which visit us each winter from Scandinavia and Northern Europe.  They migrate to our shores as our climate is milder and it is easier to find food.  Large numbers of them feed on hawthorn berries until the hedgerows are picked clean and then they move on.  Both alder and hazel catkins are showing on the trees now and it won’t be long before the long ‘lambs tails’ on the hazels will be shedding pollen.  We delighted in watching a large dog fox one day loping along the valley sides beneath us.  Although they are a regular sight in town, there is nothing like seeing them in ‘the wild’.  On the river Dove we saw herons, wildfowl, dippers and kingfisher.  Peter and myself were thrilled one day to watch and listen to a dipper singing from a rock in the river – wonderful.  On our final day we had a hard frost and I enjoyed making close-up images of frost crystals on bramble leaves and moss.

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