I found this bird very soon after arriving at the start of the Edge early on Wednesday morning. I hung around for a while taking photos (before moving on after the other target for the day - Ring Ouzels); it's been a few years since I saw a male bird in breeding plumage.

I opted to use the 500mm f4 hand held on my first visit to Stanage this year, to combine IQ with mobility in the broken ground, but the weight made it a bit challenging and I had to bin many shots through camera shake. Fortunately, I got a few that were OK!

Thank you for your comments and faves, much appreciated.

I'd walked along below the Edge to an area where Ian Bollen and I had found Ring Ouzels feeding on 14 April, but nothing was stirring in the cold and shade of this section of the Edge, before the sun got further round and higher. So I went back to the sunny SE end of the Edge and then slowly repeated the process.

I spotted Wheatears characteristically standing up on heather as before, I managed a few shots before this one was joined by a Meadow Pipit, decided it didn't like the company and found an alternative perch, further away.

Thanks for you faves and comments.

I'd been tracking a female Ring Ouzel feeding in open ground below the Edge with a male bird in close attendance, obviously a pair, but I'd lost track of her as I lay in wait for her to come into view for a shot.

I scanned the immediate area and found this, the male perched up on this heather clump, looking good, so crawled up to get closer, which was quite tricky in such open ground with only clumps of marsh grass, heather and the slightly uneven ground for cover. He must have been sat for 10-11 minutes all told as I closed in as far as I could and then watched him sit quietly looking around, scratch, preen, stretch various limbs, have a little flap and survey his world again, before he decided it was time to rejoin his partner foraging. A super experience.

Thank you for the comments and faves, out all day today and now knackered!

I'd been tracking a female Ring Ouzel feeding in open ground below the Edge with a male bird in close attendance, obviously a pair, but I'd lost track of her as I lay in wait for her to come into view for a shot.

I scanned the immediate area and found this, the male perched up on this heather clump, looking good, so crawled up to get closer, which was quite tricky in such open ground with only clumps of marsh grass, heather and the slightly uneven ground for cover. He must have been sat for 10-11 minutes all told as I closed in as far as I could and then watched him sit quietly looking around, scratch, preen, stretch various limbs, have a little flap (here) and survey his world again, before he decided it was time to rejoin his partner foraging. A super experience.

Thank you for your comments and faves. Much appreciated.

I nearly didn't get up when the alarm went off at 5 am, but the weather forecast looked good and I couldn't resist another trip with another early start, though I was still a little hampered a bit by the ME triggered by my last visit on Wednesday.

Some great moments and I was really glad I did go.

It was beautiful up there, not another soul around for the first hour, under blue skies and early morning sun with the frost on the ground, with only the sound of Red Grouse and Curlew to break the silence.

I'd been tracking a female Ring Ouzel feeding in open ground below the Edge with a male bird in close attendance, obviously a pair, but I'd lost track of her as I lay in wait for her to come into view for a shot. I scanned the immediate area and found the male perched up on this heather clump, looking good, so crawled up to get closer, which was quite tricky in such open ground with only clumps of marsh grass, heather and the slightly uneven ground for cover. He must have been sat for 10-11 minutes all told as I closed in and then watched him sit quietly looking around, scratch, preen and stretch various limbs, before he decided it was time to rejoin his partner foraging. A super experience.

Thanks for your faves and comments, appreciated.

Looking rather haughty, in a pause between foraging and feeding on the slope below the Edge; in amongst the marsh grass and heather, and the dead remains of last year's bracken.

There was very little cover out in this open area where the birds were largely to be found, so I had to get down very low to get close and not disturb the birds. To all intents this is an uncropped image, with slight trimming at the edges. I originally went for a tighter crop on the bird, but I liked the wider perspective with the context and foreground, the bokeh from which creates a sort of vignette around the subject.

Thanks for your faves and comments.

Stanage Edge overlooks the Peak District. This view is back the other direction, and I thought worthy of a shot. There is a small fenced area in the middle of the shot.

HFF!

One from last spring when I had a tiring but interesting day looking for these birds, tiring thanks to lugging the 500 f4 all the way up from the car park below the eastern tip of the Edge, instead of walking across level ground from the road at the top... This female was quite wary as I tried to stake out the birds, but the male she was with proved much more elusive.

Thanks for viewing and thank you for your faves and comments

I found this bird very soon after arriving at the start of the Edge early on Wednesday morning. I hung around for a while taking photos - it's been a few years since I saw a male bird in breeding plumage.

This shot was taken when I was hiding behind a rock and he heard the shutter release and came closer to investigate, in the end so close here, that he filled the frame vertically. Funnily enough I'd just added the 1.4x converter to the lens, as I was having trouble closing in to a good distance, up to this point.

Thank you for your faves and comments, appreciated.

Colourful sunsets have been a little scarce lately in my part of the world. It seems to be either complete cloud cover or clear blue skies. But I managed to capture this fiery glow the other day from Burbage Bridge, looking south down the Burbage Brook towards the ancient hill fort of Carl Wark. On the right horizon near the setting sun is the gritstone escarpment of Stanage Edge, the famous rockclimbing location.

This was taken on Saturday evening near Ringinglow on the boundary of Sheffield and Derbyshire. I had to turn around and head back to Sheffield; even 4-wheel drive vehicles were struggling to get through the drifts created by the strong wind whipping snow off the moors and dumping it on the road. At least 8 vehicles were abandoned overnight. I managed to get a few images as the sun went down. The soft focus look is created by the snow being blown over the moorland.

Stanage Edge, or simply Stanage is a gritstone escarpment in the Peak District, England, famous as a location for climbing. It lies a couple of miles to the north of Hathersage, and the northern part of the edge forms the border between the High Peak of Derbyshire and Sheffield in South Yorkshire

Standing sentinel in typical fashion, on the top of a clump of heather. He has clearly part turned his head and has his eye on me, but was relatively unconcerned.

Thank you everyone for your comments and faves, all much appreciated.

Always nice when the birds pose on roadside fences like this male Whinchat did for me early this morning.

Peak district national park

Abandoned millstones on Stanage Edge, Derbyshire Peak District.

Areas of Stanage were quarried in the past to produce grindstones, and some can still be seen on the hillside—carved, but never removed.

Stanage Edge is a gritstone escarpment in England's Peak District National Park. It is the largest and most impressive of the many gritstone edges in the area. Situated on the moors north of Hathersage, and visible from miles away down in the Hope Valley, it stretches for a length of approximately six kilometres (3.5 miles) from its northern tip at Stanage End to the southern point near the Cowper Stone. At about is mid-point the edge is crossed by Long Causeway, the old Roman road from Navio (Brough) to Doncaster. It is a famous location for rock-climbing and a popular spot for walkers. Its highest point is High Neb at 458 metres (1,503 ft) above sea level.

Areas of Stanage were quarried in the past to produce grindstones, and some can still be seen on the hillside; carved, but never removed. The grindstones pictured here lie near the southern tip of Stanage Edge, where they've been for over 100 years. With the gritstone cliff edge behind the camera, this view looks south east towards Higger Tor and the Iron Age hill fort of Carl Wark.

A Brown Hare in a sea of buttercups at Overstones Farm below Stanage Edge, Derbyshire.

A burst of warm colours amidst an otherwise frozen scene on Stanage Edge, Derbyshire, yesterday morning.

Some great lighting conditions over Stanage Edge on Sunday, with heavy rain and dark cloud to the north and east and clear skies in the west.

There was a decent fall of snow over the higher ground of Derbyshire last night. When the clouds cleared this afternoon, I headed out towards Stanage Edge. I couldn't resist taking some images of these famous abandoned millstones. The only marks in the snow n the stones were the footprints of a Red Grouse.

An intrepid climber standing tall above one of Stanage Edge's many popular routes.

Perhaps the most photographed abandoned millstones in Derbyshire! This shot was taken last week during a few fleeting moments of great light before the low sun descended behind a bank of cloud.

I was lucky to come across this Woodcock at the side of the road this evening. I just managed to get alongside it to get an image before it popped down behind the wall.

The old millstones at Stanage Edge in the Peak District National Park

This is the landscape I love, wild open spaces which stretch for miles and miles.

116 in 2016 # 55 Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder.

Autumn mists over Hathersage Moor seen from Over Owler Tor looking towards Higger Tor, Carl Wark and Stanage Edge.

Taken from below Stanage Edge, Derbyshire

It was surprisingly hard to get the shot I wanted but eventually I managed to get into the correct location to silhouette a climber against the rising moon over Stanage. I've reduced the exposure in post processing; in reality this was taken in bright conditions.

I managed to get to a spot where I could set this Red Grouse against the outline of a snow-covered Mam Tor. I wish I'd used a smaller aperture to get more detail in the backdrop but the moment had passed before I could get the ideal settings.

Peak District

Derbyshire

The view of Overstones Farm and beyond from Stanage Edge

There's a storm on the horizon, and it's heading my way, it's fair to say I was glad for that cup of tea in a dry tearoom.

An image of the much-photographed abandoned millstones beneath the Eastern end of Stanage Edge, Derbyshire

peak district national park

An image taken back in December from below Stanage Edge in Derbyshire during a spectacular sunset. The famous abandoned millstones at the south eastern end of the edge provided the foreground silhouette. Not sure how long it will be before I can get out an visit this location again.

The scene looking southwards from the top of Stanage Edge.

For our none UK friends you might often hear us talking about 'trig points.' Essentially these are white markers at the highest point of our hills and traditionally were used as triangulation points for mapping and distance purposes.

In the normal way of all things UK based, not every peak has one but it has become a popular past time for hikers and walkers to tick them off, and of course tap their hand on the top of them once there. This one is on Stanage Edge in the Peak District, one of the UK's National Parks.

A view from the road between Hathersage and Higger Tor as the banks of clouds that caused a dull start to Sunday started to break.

This location is quite accessible from the road and can get quite busy. In the wintry conditions last week the roads were blocked and it was only reachable after quite a long walk. I arrived to find a pristine covering of snow. Where it had drifted against the rocks it was waist deep and it proved quite a challenge to get to the location from which I took this image.

This shot was taken from pretty much the same location and at the same time as the last image I posted but this was at 70mm rather than 24mm to capture the details of the light and shadow across the North Lees Estate below Stanage Edge.

Another image taken some time ago. This was from one of those early mornings where the rain was making way to sunshine.

Another image from last summer. This was taken from Over Owler Tor on a July evening, just before sunset. The view is towards Stanage Edge. The winding road, known as The Dale, runs from Hathersage to Ringinglow Road at Upper Burbage Bridge.

The weather over the weekend changed within seconds, and it's safe to say I got very wet.

An early morning encounter on the local moors.

A view across farmland and moorland towards Stanage Edge. The area in the foreground is managed for wildlife and is full of wildflowers and insects.