16th August
On heather moorland my case is that it's only now that it repays us for the dullness of the rest of the year. Burbage is a case in point. Never a tree to be seen and only when a special feature is present does it show any character at all.
In the case of Burbage it's the Ox Stones seen here looking across Blacka and Houndkirk from Wimble Holme Hill. Large boulders like these and others on various moorlands across the Dark Peak assume their special significance because of the absence of other features and particularly because there are no trees, kept off the moor by policy and management decisions.
18th August
Animals on the ground are often spooked by hot air balloons. This one came over the top of the pasture land and caused a mad panic of sheep there. I don't know if there are any regulations or restrictions on this. It's of course the roar of the gas flame that creates alarm. The image of apparent idyllic silent progress is complete fiction. I guess that farmers could be concerned that vulnerable animals might be harmed in some way. A recent news item referred to cattle alarmed by a fire engine trampling and killing a farmer. Recent experience suggests that the people most likely to complain would be conservationists and the bird lobby. If I were to raise an objection it would be on the simple grounds of destroying tranquility. I doubt that it's been considered in SWT's Cattle Grazing Risk Assessment, how people should react when meeting cattle on a narrow enclosed track that have just been panicked by sudden noises of this kind.
The photos were taken from half a mile away near the Piper House entrance. The sheep had been hurtling across the grass.
But also a brown animal on its own was dashing in a different course. It finished up over the fence on the skyline. This was the first stag seen for several weeks and judging by its antlers a really big one.
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