Kestrels distinct hovering that appears as a flickering of wings whilst the body remains motionless (as if held by an invisible thread!) is a common sight on open moorland. Using infra red to pinpoint prey such as field voles, the sudden drop or relocation can be missed it is so quick
(text to come re pigs and roundhouse life)
life in the Celtic roundhouses (as the Romans would have seen them) perhaps. key to such long-standing existence (roundhouses go back well over 5,000 years) was familiarity with plant lore and the wealth of botanical and mnemonic association in adherence to natural seasonal cycles.
Victorian engineers made a succession of these towers (and pillars) that denote the line of water pipes they built coming all the way from the Talla reservoir, an astonishing feat
(image and better text to come)
Arriving in mid February, with their wild, acrobatic flight and haunted cries… as Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of the lapwings (peewits/ peewees) and the curlews (whaups) and his Pentlands home
…Hills of home! and to hear again the call;
Hear about the graves of the martyrs the peewees crying;
And hear no more at all.
In the early September skies, the first of 40,000 Pinkfoot geese begin their journey back from the Arctic tundra to arrive here at West Water reservoir, where they overwinter. With their wild, clarion calls at dawn and dusk as the vast skeins travel (at nearly 40mph) to and from their feeding grounds, the village can witness a natural dramatic wonder right on hand !