Over the hills and far away

After a couple of days at home, I was looking forward to getting out today. Unfortunately my photography class teacher has flu, so that class was cancelled. I decided to drive up to the moorland fringe to the west and have a bit of a wander to see if there was anything around. Sheep. Grouse. That was about it. In spring, this area resounds to the sounds of snipe drumming, lapwing piping, mipits meeping and that plaintive cry of the curlew. In the early morning you can see brown hare in the fields and mountain hare on the heather banks, if you are lucky, and water voles munching away by the stream. Today there was an icy wind and sheep and grouse. It was too cold for my poor frozen fingers to change lenses so this telephoto shot shows the far side of the valley. You can just make out a little bit of the moorland at the bottom of the shot, and a view to the North East at the top, but the bulk of the shot shows the rough pastures to the North of the Snake Pass before it descends into the Derwent Valley prior to passing Ladybower Reservoir.