Sky Watch: Tails and Trails

This week's "Sky Watch" image shows a couple of horses grazing in a field at Tonguebottom on the slopes of Hartshead Pike.

The horses are posing in such a way that their tails cannot be seen. However, that is more than made up for by the aircraft trails in the sky.

One recent vapour trail is still clearly seen, with another starting to spread out. Some strange atmospheric quirk that afternoon meant that trails from earlier in the day, rather than vanishing, had spread out into thin curtains.

The tower on top of Hartshead Pike can be seen in the centre of the image. Tongebottom, where the photo was taken, is the upper part of the valley in which Knott Hill Reservoir is situated. Before Knott Hill Reservoir was built to supply Ashton with water, a small reservoir (of which there is now very little trace) was situated at Tongebottom (or Tom Bottom, as it was known at that time), behind the present Hartshead Inn. Eventually the catchment area of the valley was not great enough to satisfy Ashton's demand for water, and the supply was pumped through from Brushes Valley and Swineshaw Reservoirs in Millbrook.

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See Bird's Eye View of this location.

Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!