Cal-der-Went Walk

THIS THIRTY MILE WALK starts at the River Calder at Horbury and heads south to Ladybower Reservoir in the Derwent Valley in the Peak District National Park.

'Why are you doing it?', people ask me, 'Are you raising money for charity?' As if walking wasn't something you'd actually do just for the fun of it.

The walk takes in a variety of landscapes;

• the western end of the belt of Country Parks between Wakefield and Barnsley
  
  
• Pennine pastures between Penistone and Langsett
• Heather and Bilberry Moorland
• The three Reservoirs of the Derwent Valley; Howden, Derwent and Ladybower

We set out at six in the morning, the sun's been up for an hour already, but there's still that dawn freshness in the air. A perfect day for walking. After emerging from the woods of Coxley Valley, and crossing Stocksmoor Common nature reserve, we soon cross the watershed to the Dearne Valley. We meet the first Curlew of the day which calls evocatively and circles around behind us. We see curlews in their wilder haunts throughout the day, but this one seems quite at home in a rather tatty field marked out for grass track motor racing.

A young Jackdaw stays sitting on a gate as we cross the adjoining stile near Cannon Hall. It still lacks the grey patch which the adults have on the back of the head.

Before we set out I asked Geoff Carr, who devised this walk some twenty years ago, if there were any problems along the route. He said that there were none as such . . . but walkers had reported that there were Ostriches in a field that the walk passes through on Cathill near Penistone. The pens were empty today but we came across a pair of Hares there in a newly mown field.

Up on Midhope Moors three young Red Grouse explode from the heather at my feet. There are dozens of Meadow Pipits, one or two of them giving their parachuting display flights.

We hear some piping alarm calls, which don't sound like curlew. A Golden Plover flies over to keep an eye on us from a tuft of heather. It's in summer plumage; dark beneath, mottled gold on top. They nest up on the moors but in winter I've seen them much nearer to home in the Calder valley. There have been flocks of several hundred at Pugneys near Wakefield

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'