Keeping an eagle eye
Haweswater is synonymous with Lakeland’s most enigmatic bird of prey, the golden eagle. The return of this magnificent bird to its ancient breeding ground in the late 1950s was headline news. Since first nesting in 1969 three males have held tenure of this wild corner of the Cumbrian mountains producing 16 young, though the female has changed several times over the period. The latest female some 28 years old, successfully reared nine young, but sadly went missing this spring; the RSPB are quietly confident that a new female will arrive soon to fill the breach. On the last count 420 pairs inhabit the collective British eyrie, Riggindale being their only clawhold in England. The water catchment land owned by United Utilities includes a partnership with the RSPB to manage specific habitat issues, the golden eagle is pre-eminent. Every year the RSPB carry out a round-the-clock guard on the eagles and organises public viewing of the birds from a viewpoint sited at a safe distance in Riggindale valley, open during the breeding season April to August between 11am to 4pm. Ornithologists are encouraged to show due deference when observing the bird in the hope that nature will reward the solitary male’s vigil. Intriguingly there are two crags on the shadowed north face of Rough Crags named on OS maps as Eagle Crag and Heron Crag, the latter derives from the Norse term ‘erne’ identifying the sea eagle, as distinct from the golden eagle implied by the former!  High Street from the Straits of Riggindale Anyone who has wandered in the verdant pastures of Kentmere or Longsleddale will know just how beautiful the valleys of the Far Eastern Fells can be. The product of generations of farming; the stewardship of nature and man. But step north over Nan Bield or Gatesgarth Passes and witness an austerity that only municipal water extraction can bestow. Mardale, prior to the building of the dam in 1937, must have been equally as enchanting. Thus ‘the valley of the mere’, derivation of the name Mardale, became Manchester’s second Lake District dale drowning, supplementing Thirlmere. The tiny farming community of Mardale Green had exist at the foot of Riggindale, centred on its church and pub. The Dun Bull Hotel evidently taking its name from the droving of dun-coloured Shorthorn cattle through the valley. It might be noted that the reservoir was the second challenge to the valley’s integrity. Prior to this railway engineers had eyed the narrow valleys of Longsleddale and Mardale as a prime route for the west coast main line, tunnelling under the Gatesgarth Pass. In hindsight this would have saved the valley from drowning... heads or tails which would have been better? Making stridesLeave the car park via the kissing-gate and, as the path makes a three-way fork, bear right with the wall. Descend via a further kissing gate and two footbridges, the larger spanning Mardale Beck, infused by the out flowing becks from Blea Water and Small Water. Draw round the head of the reservoir and along the popular roughly made path leading above The Rigg conifer plantation to reach and cross a broken wall, des-cending off the Rough Crags ridge. Bear immediately left following this wall as it mounts the ridge, initially pleasingly adorned with birch, but soon the path threads through the wall as the ridge makes a sudden rise. With handsome views to the head wall of Harter Fell and down upon the lake head car park, pass casual cairns in climbing back up to the ridge-top, now keeping the wall to the right. At the point where an old wall arrives from the left Eagle Crag lurks under the eastern edge, unseen and unseeable from the ridge. Nonetheless, from here on it is smart to keep an keen eye out to spot the solitary male soaring from his eyrie and wheeling in the sky. The resident ravens frequently pestering him to make evasive sweeps across Riggindale, a stirring sight as I witnessed on my own visit (see the image in the gallery, backed by the reservoir and the Cross Fell range across the Eden valley). This is an excerpt from Mark's original PDF. To see the full article, you will need to download the PDF using the link below  Download complete PDF (346KB)
© Mark Richards 2006 |
