Longendale

Bottoms Reservoir 

It was a bright, crisp Autumn day and I didn't much feel like chasing after anything. I went and got my new monthly travel pass and decided that now I had it I should do something with it so I got the Hadfield train and had a slow wander along the Longendale Trail as far as Valehouse Reservoir.

Hadfield 

When the train arrived in Glossop there was a large brooding cloud and much rain over the hills. I rather hoped they were staying over there but as the train pulled into Hadfield it started raining. Quite heavily. The first stretch of the trail is pretty sheltered so I thought I'd assay that bit and see what the weather did then — it was looking like one of those afternoons where the wind was blowing four seasons per half hour.

Walking down the cut between Hadfield and Padfield Main Road was very quiet. A couple of chiffchaffs squeaked and a robin sang while woodpigeons and jackdaws clattered noisily overhead. 

Carrion crow and buzzard

It was a different story when I reached the open ground above Bottoms Reservoir. The sun shone brightly, flocks of woodpigeons, jackdaws and Canada geese fed on the grass and a swarm of swallows hawked low over the fields and paths. A few carrion crows spotted a buzzard minding its own business hunting for worms and decided to gang up on it until it eventually left and they could sit on fenceposts celebrating their victory.

This dunnock was put out that I happened to walk by as it was having a bath

The hedgerows were busy with dunnocks, robins and chiffchaffs, all letting each other know I was passing by. The goldfinches and great tits quietly got on with feeding in the hawthorns.

Bottoms Reservoir 

The Longendale Trail above Bottoms Reservoir 

Guelder rose 

The trees lining the path above Valehouse Reservoir were busy with robins, chiffchaffs and dunnocks while wrens, blue tits and great tits rummaged about in the undergrowth. I was tempted to carry on with the walk but the next cloud coming along was both large and dark and I didn't fancy my chances with it.

The Longendale Trail 

I hadn't gone far on the way back before it started raining. A soft tweet alerted me to a small flock of siskins in the trees above Bottoms Reservoir and they, in turn, led me to a mixed flock in the hedgerows. The goldfinches I'd already heard; greenfinches and a blackcap fed on hawthorn berries; chiffchaffs, great tits and blue tits gleaned from the leaves.

The walk back into Hadfield would have been dead quiet had it not been for a noisy and very friendly cat. I'd just missed the train back and would have had a half hour wait for the next had it not been cancelled so I got the bus to Stalybridge and got the train back from there. I saved all of two minutes but at least I was sitting out of the rain.

Looking over towards Bottoms Reservoir