Winter strips the moor back to its structure. Without the heather in flower or the bracken up, you can see the drainage, the old peat cuttings, the lines of the grouse butts and where the ground is starting to dry out.
That visibility is why most of the real management work happens now — cutting, blocking grips to hold water back, and planning the burning rotation for the season ahead.
It is cold, unglamorous work, and it is the reason the moor looks the way it does in August.