Baildon Moor. 2 Apr 2026

One of the surprising things on this visit was the distortion in my photos caused by heat haze. The Sun was obviously causing quite a temperature difference. No way was it hot but the sunny side of the stone walls felt warm. I took quite a few photos of the Red Deer as it moved around. When reviewing them I was amazed at how the air had caused the view to shimmer. This isn’t a very clear photo but I had several of the identical view. The difference between one image and the next was surprising given that nothing other than the air was moving.

Similarly with the Little Owl. None of the photos were very sharp.

Things were a lot better later on with the Stonechat – male and female, with the female collecting nesting material, and the Meadow Pipit. They were a lot closer so there was a lot less air between us.

The model aeroplane, N126C, was taking off from the 13th fairway of the golf course and flying around. You can see one of the Skylark looking up at it in the photos below. I think it is an Eflite Carbon Cub. The full size version is a CubCrafters Carbon Cub FX which, if I am reading things right, is a self-build aeroplane.

Twice that afternoon I politely let pilots know that flying powered models from Baildon Moor was not allowed. One of them then seemed to spend some time looking at his phone, perhaps trying to find out if it was true. The other was almost pleading with me to let him fly because he had been waiting weeks to try it out. I told him that all I was doing was letting him know that it was not allowed, what he did after knowing that was up to him. He flew it, which I thought was a bit reckless because it meant he now knew his third party insurance would probably be invalid. Flying radio controlled gliders is allowed from up near Dobrudden and permits are available for pilots to park cars up there.

These were the stars of the visit to Baildon Moor. Skylark. The moorland essence of Spring. I heard a few flying high but these, here, were quite busy feeding on the edge of the 13th fairway. They tilted their heads a few times to look at the model plane flying above but didn’t seem too worried.

One of the things I check on every so often is how I seem to be affecting wildlife. I get annoyed when I see people and dogs oblivious to how they are disturbing wildlife so it would be daft of me to not to think about how I affect it. I spent some time watching the Skylark and was pleased that they seemed content to work around me. They looked at me a few times but seemed happy to get closer as they were feeding. I had some in front and some behind. A couple of times they wandered onto the short grass of the fairway proper but spent most of their time in the edge grass that was cut a bit longer.