Walk 10- Tideswell
-
3.5 miles 3.30pm - 6.30pm. It’s been so overwhelmingly hot recently that we looked for a short walk in a wood. We found one next to Ladybower reservoir and set off in 27 degree heats from Manchester only to find ourselves driving in to fog and 16 degrees as we got closer to our walk. We stopped outside Edale to test what that felt like and realised we had not dressed appropriately for these temperatures and that we would freeze if we continued on this walk! We did some rapid replanning using met office to check local temperatures and discovered that although Tideswell was not very far away it was several degrees warmer. We set off there and used our OS maps to make a short walk up since it was already 3.30 when we arrived! We walked through Tideswell dale and above Millers Dale on the Monsal trail. Tideswell dale was FULL of wild flowers, lots that we hadn’t see before. There was also a small stream which made it difficult to hear the bird song but there was one obvious bird that we heard all the way through the walk. The things we saw and named on sight were: Willow, Common Alder, Lime, Hawthorn, Ash, Elder, Sycamore, Hazel, Goat Willow, Horse Chestnut and Beech Trees. We saw blackbirds, a buzzard, thrush, crow, grey wagtail, spotted flycatcher, moor hen, bullfinch and house Martin. We heard (and recorded) a wren alarm call (I'm staring to think that it is us they are alarmed by since we keep hearing this!) There was a cherry-like leaved tree that we couldn't ID (pictured) and a weird growth on a rose bush that we didn't know where to start looking to ID!