Out on the hills

Each quarter, a little group of us from the local Photo Soc go out to take monitoring photos for the local Wildlife Trust. A few years ago the Trust bought a hill farm just beyond Sheffield's northern edge. They're aiming to manage it for wildlife conservation, and - to their enormous credit - they're rigorous about monitoring their work.
A monitoring visit is no hardship... it's an excuse for a 2-3 hour walk around the farmland, taking photos from around 15 agreed vantage points. 
This morning was blustery but not wet, thankfully. Three of us went out together, mixing the photo-taking with some great chats.  Since we last visited, the Trust has planted a lot of saplings - you can see the protective covers in the photo.  The fields were also full of subtle colours, shades of green and russet and yellow. We could hear lapwings up above, and we thought we spotted a red kite too (though it was far enough away for us not to be sure of the ID). 
Phil and Michelle - my companions for the visit - set a brisk walking pace, and this made me realise that I'm still not back to full fitness after my various infections during the spring. I kept up, but I could feel the effort that it took. With luck this'll galvanise me to work on that a bit more...