Bleaklow

Sunday 6 May.
Made the easy ascent from the top of the Snake Pass.The weather was mild but a very strong westerly dragged the temperature down a few degrees.

A month with little rain had left the moor drier than I can remember seeing it. Billowing clouds of dust (sand and dry peat) blew around, getting into important places - eyes, hair, sandwiches.

I followed a brace of Mountain Hares up to the edge of Shelf Moor, where the remains of the USAF Superfortress that crashed in 1948 are still strewn around. The hares were mostly grey, having lost much of their winter coats. With less snow each year now the poor things things really stick out against the dark peat in winter. I think this is as far south as they breed in Britain and it makes you wonder how long they'll hold out if the winters keep getting milder.

I'm very fond of hares and have used them (Brown Hares, that is) in a couple of e-cards already. I've an idea to use a Mountain Hare, in full winter coat, but will get round to that later on.