Exposed ground is frozen solid, Wood Pigeon and Blackbirds gather in the wood. Blue Tits and Great Tits are about as usual, their feeding habitat, amongst the branches isn't frozen over.
Five Snipe rise from the edge of the Strands. As we've disturbed five in this one corner, how many might be concealed amongst the rushes.
One day, many summers ago, a friend and I walked barefoot through the swishing rushes and warm squelchy mud of one of these valley bottom marshes. The Snipe didn't rise until we had almost stepped on them, I remember we flushed 20 or 30.
It is clear enough to see from the 20 plus wind generators on the horizon on the wind farm on the Pennine tops near Haworth to the chimney of Eggborough and Drax power stations on the Vale of York.
In
the evening a meeting took me towards a Pennine sunset over historic Castle Hill
at Almondbury near Huddersfield. A slightly saddle-backed expanse of moor was
ranged behind it from my viewpoint travelling on the Wakefield/Huddersfield road.Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail;'richard@daelnet.co.uk'
