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I went for a nice mixed grill and treacle pudding lunch with Katy in the King's Head in Allendale, followed by a sunny afternoon's walk up Finney Hill and on to Stobb's Cross to compensate.

We watched and listened to many lapwings, curlews and grouse singing and flying about. You can hear lapwings here and curlews here. I've never seen more than one curlew at one time before. They have become quite rare in Ireland, but I saw about ten today. We also saw several hares running away from us.

The weather threatened to change for the worse while we were crossing some moorland. The sky clouded over and it got very windy. It's a little boggy up there still, though it has been a dry winter. Many of the paths through the moorland look like they would be fun for mountain biking.

We came across the gruesome evidence of a farmer killing moles. He had recently strung 20 of their dead bodies on the barbed wire fence around his field. Presumably as a warning to other moles?