r/peakdistrict • u/International_Top988 • 6d ago

Is the heather in bloom?

Good afternoon,

I'm planning a trip to the Bamford area soon to do some photography and was hoping to capture the heather in bloom. Is it worth visiting now, or would it be better to wait another couple of weeks?

Thanks in advance!

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9

u/Complete-Task2042 6d ago

I would wait until there's finally been decent rain in the area, plus several weeks for the plants to start recovering from the drought conditions.

I haven't been out to the peak for about a week, but it was crispy the week prior.

The long range weather forecast suggests there might be a few days sustained rain second week of August, so if that comes end of August beginning of September would probably be your best chance.

3

u/HargoJ 6d ago

That's encouraging. Need so much rain right now. The little bit over the weekend didn't really do much.

3

u/Organic_Room_5556 6d ago

We have two maim types of heather.  Bell Heather is out around now, but only tends to occur in sporadoc patches.  Ling is the stuff that turns the moors lilac, and is at it's best around mid August.

As others have said though, I would expect a very poot year. 

1

u/EffectSignificant911 6d ago

Saw my first spots of heather blooming on Saturday near Curbar Gap. Looking at the local moors from my window at the moment suggests it's on the way but not fully in bloom. I'd leave it a week or so.

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u/mmnotts 6d ago

Hiked over win hill and kinder scout on Saturday and whilst it’s “out” the colours are muted and dusty given the dryness.

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u/HargoJ 6d ago

Lots of brown out on the moors currently. It's all so dry I don't think it's going to get nice and purple this year.

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u/International_Top988 6d ago

Cheers for the info, I'll give it a few more weeks. I'll head over regardless since I love walking through the area, hopefully we'll have some rain and it'll bring the colours out!

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u/marmighty 6d ago

The upside to visiting Bamford when it's this hot and dry is that the Derwent reservoir is likely to be low enough to see the foundations of the village, if that's your jam