This thread is making me reminisce now, I remember spending the whole day once on the moors watching the mountain ponies and finding an adder basking on top of one of the walls, I also remember lots of Buzzards but very few red kites in fact the only time we saw one was on the way home one day coming back through Devils Bridge, it was just sitting on top of a fence post large as life and my dad pulled over so we could just look at it for a while.
We also used to fish for trout in the stream just down the lane from where we stayed, my brothers and I used to sit under the bridge and try to 'tickle' them lol till my dad showed us how to catch them properly
Oh gosh I also remember the old boy my dad was friends with, lovely old man, Will Bach who had a cottage next to the moors he was ancient but used to have such a love of his home and his accent was wonderful, he showed us a harvest mouse nest one day complete with tiny tiny baby mice. His little cottage was so cosy, full of welsh blankets and wooden things, and he always had a pot of tea on the Aga and some fresh bread and butter as a treat for us kids.
Last time I went back down there I cried when I saw Will Bach's cottage, just because it had been such a long time since I'd been and I knew old Will wasn't there any more and it just felt like I was going home, what a sad sentimental old bird I am. Sorry for the ramblings.