Pretty deep snow up on the hill even though theres been a bit of a thaw down in the valley.
Heres a couple of shots of my hiking poles, before and after.
The 2nd joint on my poles shows the snow to be about 14 inches deep, on the path, some of the drifts were about 3 feet deep!
I found these fox tracks on the virgin snow. You can see where its brush has marked the snow too. Also found tracks of rabbit, hare, grouse and tiny mammal (shrew/vole/mouse) tracks too.
A few humans had been up here too....
No birds to be seen at all after pendleside farm until I found a single Golden plover on the path to scout cairn. Red grouse were heard constantly but never seen.
I stopped at Scout cairn for some warm soup and a turkey sandwich and then headed back along the ridge above Downham. At last I saw the Snow buntings. The flock was flying below me, silently. I quickly counted about 30 birds before they disappeared over a wall, not to be found again.
On the way back over the summit, the masses were out in force. When I started todays walk at 10 am, there were 2 cars in the lay-by and only a couple of other folks on the hill. By 2pm the trig point looked like it was on a busy street, loud groups wearing wet jeans talking loudly on mobile phones. No more chance of any wildlife sightings or solitude.
