Visiting Reddish Vale Country Park

In the last couple of weeks we have made the short journey from home to a local beauty spot – Reddish Vale Country Park.

Despite Reddish Vale being described on the official web site as ‘spanning 161 hectares along the River Tame in the heart of Stockport’, it really isn’t a place where you ever feel that you are too close to the heart of any built up area – at times it feels as though you could be miles from anywhere.

Of course like any ‘open space’ location, and especially during the difficult times the pandemic has brought it’s always going to be busier at peak times than it might other wise be. In many ways it has to be a good thing that more folk are getting out and enjoying what is on their doorstep – but my wife and I prefer to be out early and to be able to really enjoy the quiet of an early morning walk.

Reddish Vale Country Park itself is actually less than five miles by car and about half that on foot from where we live, so it really is very convenient for us to get to.

I last blogged about ‘the Vale’ in February of this year and in August of last year (2020), so I wont spend too much time adding information about the location in this post.

A click on either of the two links (in the previous sentence) will take you to those earlier posts or alternatively clicking here will take you to the official Reddish Vale web site.

Our visit last month was superb, and we able to grab stacks of great pictures including dozens and dozens of a kingfisher, which was very much the highlight of that particular visit.

We have been back a few times recently and really enjoyed our walks around the place as well as meeting plenty of very pleasant people to stop and chat to – some just out wandering and others who are keen photographers, and like us out and about looking for decent picture ‘opportunities’

Two sets of pictures – and the sight of nature at work

There are two picture sets in this post. Sets 1 and 2 from our two recent visits respectively. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves but it is definitely worth a look at the pictures of the heron in Set 2 … but probably best not to be in the middle of eating your breakfast or lunch whilst looking at them.

The heron was in a small pond on the edge of the wooded area, an area that is a haven for wildlife. On this occasion the heron chose to breakfast on (at least) a couple of toads.

At the same time as not being ideal to watch it was actually pretty compelling.

The technique used by the heron once he had secured his prey was fascinating. We were sort of spellbound to watch as he dropped the toad, picked him up, then dipped him back in the water a few times before eventually and after quite some time, devouring him in one piece!

Because it was such a compelling sight I have included quite a few pictures of this activity and you will find these in the second picture set below. My wife also blogs and like me she was there to witness the cycle of life being played out in front of us and you can see some of her great pictures at this link: patriciaburns.uk

You can see my most recent Reddish Vale (picture post) at this link.