Читать книгу Walking on the West Pennine Moors. 30 walks around moorland Lancashire онлайн

7 страница из 40

The main valleys are consumed by large reservoirs constructed in the mid- to late 19th century to supply water for Lancashire’s urban population. Evidence of this Victorian landscape is found in the form of mixed woodlands, styles of architecture and dressed stone walls. Along the valleys, the landscape is characterised by farmland pasture and meadows enclosed by drystone walls, built from the sombre gritstone that pervades great parts of the moorland area. Species-rich grassland is restricted in both area and distribution, mostly to steeper valleys or cloughs.

Approaching White Coppice (Walk 6)

It’s worth keeping your eyes open in the woodlands…

The valleys are very rural in character, with large areas of grazing land and broadleaved woodland and plantations, notably around Roddlesworth and the Turton and Entwistle reservoirs, which enable them to absorb high numbers of recreational visitors without feeling overcrowded. It is a curious paradox: you may always be able to see someone, or a farm or villages, but yet feel very isolated up on the moors. Although native broadleaved woodland is a habitat restricted almost entirely to valleys, there are fine examples of oak woodland, ash woodland, and wet woodland dominated by alder or willow, such as at Longworth Clough SSSI.