The first of the Yellowhammers seen today.
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On one of the better field paths.          
Walk stats: Distance: 9.3 miles. Climb: 489'.
Time: 5 hours 8 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h. (2.7 m.p.h. on the newest GPS). Overall walk average: 1.9 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Roger, Mike sand Celia.
Weather wise this was a good day for walking, pleasantly warm at times, no rain and a little sunshine.
Crossing farm fields is never that exciting, but at least today we had the delight of seeing and hearing Yellowhammers and Skylarks. This is the first time that I have seen Yellowhammers for quite some time.
We arrived at Clive just about at mid-day, and headed for Corbet Wood where we noticed a picnic site was located on the OS map.
This turned pout to be a good choice where four large stones made perfect perches as we had lunch, at the same time enjoying views through the trees to the village of Grinshill below.
After lunch we set off downhill on a path that took us through the old quarry, an interesting place to explore had we the time to do so.
At Clive we visited the local parish church, where one of the local parishioners gave us a brief history of the church and its links with the Bibby family as well as telling us about recent restorations that had been made.
Our afternoon trek started well, but soon turned to a trudge across a very muddy-clay field, that did very well at sticking to our boots.
This dampened our enthusiasm a little and we completed the walk by opting for a longer stretch on the B5476, but including walking through the delightful village of Tilley with its many old black and white timbered buildings. Tilley was a bonus that had we kept to the planned walk we would have missed completely.
Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Collared dove, Blue tit, Great tit, European robin, Common blackbird, Great spotted woodpecker, Wood nuthatch, Goldfinch, Common buzzard, Common pheasant, Skylark, Mallard, Bullfinch, Winter wren and Yellowhammer.
This had been a low level walk that had challenged our leg muscles more than we expected - possible a dry Summer day after a period of no rain would have made our experience of certain places a little better.
After wealk drinks were enjoyed at the Horse and Jockey at Grindley Brook, where Weetwood's Cheshire cat and Ruddles Best were two of the beers sampled from the six that were on offer.
Believe or not we were even home in time to watch the Boat Race if we so wished!
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