Our walk started at 10am from where the road ends near the top of Howden Reservoir.  We had been waiting for good weather for this walk of 10½ miles and hoped for good sightings of Goshawk which are breeding successfully in this area, so in sunshine and only a light breeze we set off down the west side of Howden reservoir towards the visitor centre at Fairholmes where we would have our sandwich lunch.  The first thing we noticed was the quantity of dead frogs which had been squashed on the road.  The road was about 20 feet above the level of the reservoir water and there were no ponds to be seen.  We assumed that the frogs were on the way down to the reservoir to mate and lay their eggs in the waters at the edge of the reservoir even though these did not seem to be good frog breeding areas. On the water apart from some Canada Geese and the odd  pair of Mallards birdlife was scarce.  In the air birdlife was equally rare and with no reason to stop we were making unusually fast progress.  After passing Howden Dam we came to the site where Birchinlee village used to be.  Built to house up to 1000 workers during the building of the Howden and Derwent dams from 1901 to 1916 it was also called tin town.  Further down the road we came across some birdwatchers with scopes and binoculars pointed across the Derwent Reservoir to where a pair of Peregrine Falcons were displaying in the air.  Ten minutes watching the Peregrines were most enjoyable but we disappointed that Goshawk and Buzzard were not to be seen. It was not far now to the Derwent dam where one of the towers houses an exhibition about the 617 Dambusters squadron which used both Howden and Derwent dams for training during the 1939-45 war.  Close to this spot was an inscribed stone commemorating a dog called TIP which stayed by the side of its dead master on Howden moors for fifteen weeks during the winter of 1953-54.  A few more yards and we reached Fairholmes visitor centre where we stopped for our sandwich lunch.  When sitting at one of the tables by the car park you always expect the usual car park Chaffinches and a few Mallards but our most persistent guest was a sheep which put its head on our table and was not deterred by mutterings of lamb chops and who has got the mint sauce.  Half an hour for lunch and we were off again.  One of our group had checked with the rangers and who told us that Mergansers and Pintail had recently been seen so a more thorough check of the reservoirs would be needed on the second part of our walk. Using the road which runs between the Derwent and Ladybower reservoirs just below Derwent dam we crossed to the east side of Derwent reservoir and turned to the north.  A footpath led us up to a good track that runs along the east side of the reservoirs. At the side of the track shallow pools only a few inches deep were filled with frog spawn but the pools were certain to dry out giving the spawn no chance to hatch. The sun was shining and we did keep a reasonable watch on the sky despite all the talking but still no sight of Goshawk. Across the reservoir we could see birdwatchers at the spot from where we saw the Peregrines but they were not using their scopes or binoculars so things were a bit quiet at the moment.  Passing Howden dam we were now walking along the side of Howden reservoir and here we spotted a male Goldeneye on the water.  Maybe just because we were looking we now also spotted Pochard as well.  Up in the sky a Raven flew across so things were looking up.  Eventually we reached the Packhorse Bridge under which the river Derwent flows before entering Howden reservoir.  This bridge was moved in 1959 from its original submerged site at Derwent and erected here as a memorial to a John Deppy.  Now turning south we were walking down the west shore of Howden reservoir to reach our cars at 3pm.  The strong wind had resulted in few birds and with no stops for flowers the 10½ miles had taken us 4½ hours which was a bit faster than usual but we were still definitely slower than the average rambler. No pub lunch today so it was straight home to a well earned rest.

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