Merlin on the moors


Today I've been down to Groves Bank (old CJS Office) to retrieve some bits out of the archive (Niall's deep litter filing system - works very well, he found the relevant pieces of paper remarkably quickly). The roads across the moors are madness, full of dawdling holiday makers it's only four miles but took over half an hour! Just to remind us not to grumble about visitors enjoying what we have all year long on the way down there flying alongside the car was a beautiful adult female merlin, she kept pace with us (at 30mph-ish) for a short distance then lifted up and over the car before flying ahead of us and dropping down into a disused quarry.
Some days are just magic.
(Picture from RSPB, click on it for more about merlins)