[ChrisJB]

Scout Moor? More like Scout wasteland now. Scout Moor used to be great for upland birds and prior to the wind-farm a place I oft' walked over since I was a lad. I would set off from Lanehead and go over to Waugh's Well, Whittle Pike and Knowl Hill. In early May, dotterel always stopped off at Top o' Leach, golden plover and dunlin used to breed up there, as did twite on the mooredge. I last visited last year, going up Knowl Hill and I could've wept. Instead of blanket bog, moss and peat groughs, the expanses were criss-crossed with service roads and all seemed to be rubble. A moor had passed away into memory. The only birds I saw were a few crows over and the odd meadow pipit on the periphery.

Regards, Chris