Scammonden Motorway at Dusk.

 Just a single shot picture for this post taken on the 4th August 2018 using a Nikon d3300 SLR.

Taken from Scammonden Bridge looking eastwards towards the reservoir - Leeds bound motorway direction. This was a first attempt at long exposure by me, I think it turned out ok

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The picture remains the copyright of Colin Green.

Baitings Reservoir Now Very Low 24 September 2022

Baitings Dam is a reservoir built to supply Wakefield with fresh water, completed in 1956 it is the higher of the 2 dams that block the flow of the River Ryburn here, the lower being Ryburn Dam. Construction cost around £1.4 million and took 8 years to complete, it involved flooding a small hamlet known as Baitings and sub merging the old packhorse bridge that provided a road link between Lancashire and Yorkshire, the bridge still stands and is revealed every time the water level is low. The bridge was replaced by a concrete structure called Back O'th Heights Bridge which gives a good indication of how high the dame is when full by the time marks just underneath the road level. When full the dam can hold over 113,000,000 cubic feet of water, or approx. 703,858,407 gallons.

Baitings is fed by runs offs from the local moorland and is the start of the River Ryburn that flows down the valley eventually reaching the River Calder at Sowerby Bridge approx 6 miles down the valley. It also flows in to the Ryburn Dam a little lower down the valley and built in 1933, also to supply water to Wakefield.

The dam must be somewhere near a historically low level now, the bridge completely uncovered and recently a sluice gate has appeared. I am assuming this was to regulate the flow in to the Ryburn Dam prior to Baitings being built. There was a footpath bridge between this sluice gate and the dam head but the water hasn't got low enough yet to reveal wether this is still there. Maybe a couple more weeks of low rainfall and it might appear if still there.

These pictures were taken on the 24th September 2022 using a Nikon d330 SLR camera, they can be seen below and on Clickasnap full size, resolution and un-watermarked.

The packhorse bridge appearing from beneath the water has gone from a once in decade or so event to every couple of years.

Whilst it's likely that levels have been low enough before for the original dam and sluice gate to appear, this was the first time I had seen them.

The original packhorse bridge, often submerged seen through the legs of it's modern replacement.

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Sunrise at Baitings Dam (Single Shot)

Baitings Dam has featured in our local newspapers quite regularly during the recent hot weather, due to how low the water level has dropped. Reading some of them online, they have claimed that the bridge which can be seen in the foreground of the picture has been unveiled for the first time in over 50 years. This is incorrect, whilst it used to be perhaps a once in a decade event the water level dropping so low that the bridge appears, it is now every couple of years. I took a set around the bridge in September 2019 with the level similarly low in the dam, and I believe it has happened again since then.

Baitings Dam is a place I regularly walk my dogs and it was whilst out walking them a couple of days ago I thought i'd try and get up there early and picture the dam and bridges as the sun was rising. The following picture is the first of the set, the others to follow in a few days. The picture can also be seen on my Clickasnap account full size, resolution and un-watermarked.

The picture was taken using a Nikon d3300 SLR on the 19th August 2022.

The bridge in the foreground is the original packhorse bridge that crossed the River Ryburn before Baitings Dam was completed in 1956. Its replacement bridge Back O'th Heights seen behind, the water level at it's highest a couple of feet below it. The sun is rising in the distance with the dam head wall just visible beyond the higher bridge.

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The picture remains the copyright of Colin Green.

Fly Flatts, Warley and Ovenden Moors October 2013

Warley Moor is an area of open land approx. 6 miles north of Halifax on an old road route to Haworth, another 3 miles north of Warley Moor. The area lies just above the village of Wainstalls in an area known locally as Top Withins. The area is stunning and there have been many times I have been there and it seems to have it's own climate, it lies approx. 1440ft above sea level and I have known it sunny and calm when I have left my house down the valley at Sowerby Bridge and rainy and stormy when I have arrived at Warley Moor. The area is known locally by a number of different names, Them being Fly Flatts, Top Withins and Ovenden Moor.

As well as the outstanding moorland giving unbeatable views across the Calder, Hebble and Oxenhope Valleys, the moor is also home to Warley Moor Reservoir and Ovenden Moor Windfarm.

These pictures were taken on the 5th October 2013 using a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, they can be seen below or on Clickasnap full size, resolution and un-watermarked.

Warley Moor Reservoir

Completed in 1872 after a near 8 year build Warley Moor Reservoir or Fly Flatts as it is also known was built on behalf of the Halifax Waterworks Extension Scheme. When full it covers 68 acres, has a depth of 45 feet and holds approx. 193 million gallons. It is known owned and maintained by Yorkshire Water and the home of Halifax Sailing Club, established in 1959 the reservoirs high elevation makes them the highest sailing club in Britain.

Ovenden Moor Wind Farm

Opened in 1993 at a cost of £12 million, they site had 23 turbines when completed. Controversial when opened due to the turbines being in an area of outstanding natural beauty overlooking Bronte Country, and the Calder & Hebble Valleys the original turbines were expected to have a life span of 25 years and generate enough power for approx. 5500 homes. These were decommissioned in 2015 and replaced by 9 turbines with the power to generate more electricity, an estimated 11000 homes can now be powered from here.
  

The video below shows a number of pictures taken around the moor on a number of visits including this one on the 5ht October 2013.

 

 

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All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green. 

Winter at Willow Hall Dam, Sowerby Bridge

I haven't posted for a while despite having loads of pictures and videos available, just been busy job hunting. I think that that problem is now addressed so I thought I would post today about a set of pictures I took a year ago at Willow Hall Dam, Sowerby Bridge. Last years winter seemed to be the  winter that kept on giving and looking back now after a normal UK mild winter I have no nostalgia for how bad the weather was. I know it was only a few inches at worst but in the UK any weather that is deemed out of the ordinary seems to bring the country to a standstill, we as a nation are just obsessed by it.

Willow Hall Dam is actually 2 dams, with the lower used as a fishing lake and the upper mainly feeding it and looking overgrown. I'm not sure what the dam's original purpose was, there were a number of mills nearby which have long since disappeared so I assume it was to help drive power to one of those. The dam is surrounded by woodland on 3 sides and is popular with locals walking there dogs. Dam Head Road runs across the head of the dam and there is terraced housing either side of the dam head. These pictures were taken using a Nikon d3300 SLR camera on the 18th March 2018, they can be seen below or on Clickasnap un-watermarked.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the Clickasnap version.

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Baitings and Ryburn Reservoirs

Baitings and Ryburn Reservoir is a set of pictures taken around the 2 dams in July 2018 with a Nikon d3300 camera.

Ryburn Reservoir

Built in 1933 and surrounded by ancient woodland and rural fields, Ryburn Reservoir was built to supply the people of Wakefield with fresh water. Found to the south of the A58 on the outskirts of the village of Ripponden there are many walks around the dam and you can climb up the valley to the higher Baitings Reservoir.

Baitings Reservoir

Built to supply Wakefield, Baitings Reservoir opened in 1956 and is further up the valley from Ryburn. Fed by a number of small streams it's main supply is the River Ryburn with the dam sitting at the head of the Ryburn Valley. During times of low water levels the original bridge crossing can be seen, and although it was covered on this visit I managed to picture it on a later visit which I will upload another day.

All the pictures can be seen below and on Clickasnap un-watermarked. Simply click any picture to see the Clickasnap version in another window.

The pictures above are Baitings Reservoir.

The previous 6 pictures were taken. at Ryburn Reservoir.

Baitings Reservoir in the distance from Ryburn Reservoir.

The previous 3 pictures are Ryburn Reservoir.

Ryburn Reservoir.

Baitings Reservoir.

Baitings Reservoir.

Baitings Reservoir.

Back o'the Heights Road Bridge.

The previous 4 pictures are taken around Baitings Reservoir.

The rest can be seen on Flickr and Clickasnap. There is a video slideshow from YouTube as well

You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to see more videos like this, as well as different sorts.

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All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.