Heather Moors

I had a chance for an extended wak on the moors today, which was a good way to mark the return from ten days down south.

The heather is more or less at its peak, so that had to be the theme of the day's photo, but I seemed to take 172 pictures on a four hour walk, so selecting one has proved tricky.

In the end, I've gone for one that shows the wide expanse of purple, looking almost due north from the furthest point of my walk, at Lanshaw on Burley Moor, across Wharefdale to Blubberhouses Moor and beyond.

There is a lot going on in the picture apart from the heather, and the sheep on the gritstone outcrop.

In the near distance are grouse butts, and thankfully there were plenty of Red Grouse on the moors today that survived the slaughter of the 12th.

In the middle, just before Wharfedale opens up beyond, is Little Skirtful of Stones, a Bronze Age cairn.

On the far skyline, over the other side of Wharfedale, sit the golf balls of Menwith Hill, the US electonic monitoring (aka spy) base.

As always, there was plenty of wildlfie on the walk, including a surprising number of Peacock and Red Admiral butterflies feasting on the heather on the high tops. I also saw (and photographed) my first Speckled Wood and Wall Brown butterflies of the year - I will be organising my butterfly pictures into a Flickr set shortly.

bronze age cairns ~ US spy base ~ just another day ~ on the heather clad ~ Yorkshire moors