The Handmade Parade is one of the highlights of the annual Hebden Bridge Arts Festival held in the town each June. Organised by a team of professional carnival artists, puppeteers, makers, musicians, stilt walkers and performers, the Handmade Parade brings together local schools and community groups from throughout the Upper Calder Valley in a vibrant and colourful spectacle.
Birds of many feathers flock together in the hills and dales around Hebden Bridge
Whether you’re a serious birdwatcher or simply enjoy observing garden birds, there’s a wealth of birdlife in the hills and dales around Hebden Bridge. Because of its hilltop location, Elmet Farmhouse is the perfect place for birdwatching. Surrounded by meadows, with woods and rivers in the valley below and open moorland on the uplands above, there’s an unusually diverse array of species in close proximity.
From golden plovers, lapwings and curlews up on ‘the tops’, to kestrels, swallows and pheasants in the fields, to woodpeckers, tawny owls and treecreepers in the woods and herons, dippers and grey wagtails by the river, there’s great scope for bird-watching in the Upper Calder Valley. These photos record some of the birds we’ve encountered locally in the last few years.
Blue Tit
Barn Owl
Black-headed Gull
Blackbird
Buzzard
Canada Goose
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coal Tit
Curlew
Dipper
Dunnock
Fieldfare
Gadwall Duck
Goldcrest
Golden Plover
Goldfinch
Goosander
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit
Green Woodpecker
Greenfinch
Grey Heron
Grey Wagtail
Greylag Goose
Guinea Fowl
Herring Gull
House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Jay
Kestrel
Lapwing
Linnet
Little Owl
Long-Tailed Tit
Mallard Ducks
Meadow Pipit
Mistle Thrush
Northern Wheatear
Oystercatcher
Parakeet
Peacock
Pheasant
Pied Wagtail
Raven
Red Grouse
Redpoll
Redshank
Redwing
Reed Bunting
Ring Ouzel
Robin
Rook
Sandpiper
Short-Eared Owl
Siskin
Skylark
Snipe
Song Thrush
Starling
Swallow
Tawny Owl
Treecreeper
Tufted Duck
Willow Warbler
Wren
For up to date news about sightings by keen local birdwatchers, visit Calderdale Birds
Emily Brontë was right. August is the time to head to the hills and immerse yourself in the glorious heather moorlands. Because the hillsides of the Upper Calder Valley are so steep, the carpet of heather on the plateau-like uplands is barely visible from down in the dales. It’s only when you venture up onto ‘the tops’ beyond the hay meadows on the shoulders of the hills that you encounter the purple haze.
Good spots for heather walks are Wadsworth Moor above Pecket Well, Midgley Moor above Luddenden Dean, Heptonstall Moor above Colden, and Walshaw Dean and Widdop Reservoir above Hardcastle Crags. On a hot summer’s day with the sweet scent of the heather and the bees buzzing all around as they gather the nectar for honey, it’s an intoxicating sensory experience and a visual spectacle not to be missed.
High Waving Heather Emily Brontë
High waving heather, ‘neath stormy blasts bending,
Midnight and moonlight and bright shining stars;
Darkness and glory rejoicingly blending,
Earth rising to heaven and heaven descending,
Man’s spirit away from its drear dongeon sending,
Bursting the fetters and breaking the bars.
All down the mountain sides, wild forest lending
One mighty voice to the life-giving wind;
Rivers their banks in the jubilee rending,
Fast through the valleys a reckless course wending,
Wider and deeper their waters extending,
Leaving a desolate desert behind.
Shining and lowering and swelling and dying,
Changing for ever from midnight to noon;
Roaring like thunder, like soft music sighing,
Shadows on shadows advancing and flying,
Lightning-bright flashes the deep gloom defying,
Coming as swiftly and fading as soon.
13 December 1836
High Summer on Midgley Moor
The moorland above Luddenden Dean is carpeted with heather, which blooms throughout the month of August and into early September. As the heather comes into flower, the moors take on a vivid purple hue, which becomes more and more intense.
These photographs were taken on a walk from Pecket Well to Luddenden Dean over Wadsworth Moor and Midgley Moor. Perched on the hilltop overlooking the Luddenden valley are two small reservoirs where the heather grows right up to the water’s edge.
Walking on the Wild Side at Widdop
Two hikes near Widdop above Hardcastle Crags in mid August with the heather in full bloom.
First walk along Great Edge, the ridge above Widdop Reservoir, early one sunny morning. Tramping through the heather via a series of rocky outcrops known variously as Slack Stones, Raven Stones and The Scout that lead up to Great Edge. Beyond, a sea of heather on Widdop Moor, sliced through in the distance by the blade-like rocks of Dove Stones.
Returning along a bridlepath by the shores of Widdop Reservoir. The low water levels revealing sand and rocks give the impression of a beach. Looming above, the sheer cliffs below Great Edge. Very few humans, just a solitary buzzard and a few skylarks.
Second walk starting at Widdop Gate and climbing up to Gorple Lower Reservoir via Low Moor and King Common Rough, looking down on the narrow gorge of Graining Water. Ascending over the tussocky slopes of Flask to Cludders Slack, a fine vantage point high up above Widdop Reservoir at 390 metres, with dramatic views towards Great Edge.
Circling the shores of Widdop Reservoir, then cutting across to Alcomden Water and along to Blake Dean at the top end of Hardcastle Crags. A blustery afternoon which started out with dark brooding skies but culminated in bright warm sunshine. Captivating light effects on the purple hills and the steep lush heather-covered slopes of Blake Dean.