Starling Dodd

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Starling Dodd
Starling Dodd, with Scale Force on the left, seen from Mellbreak.
Elevation	633m (2077 ft)
Location	Lake District, England
Prominence	60m
Topo map	OS Landranger 89
OS grid reference	NY142158
Listing	Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Starling Dodd is a fell in the western part of the English Lake District, located between the valleys of Ennerdale and Buttermere, on the ridge between Great Borne to its west and Red Pike (Buttermere) to its east. At a height of 633m/2077ft it is only of middling height by Lake District standards, and it is not one of the better-known or more popular summits in the area, as it is not visible from Buttermere and Ennerdale is a relatively little-known valley.

It does have a number of interesting features, however: on its northern flank is the Scale Force waterfall, believed to be the highest in the Lake District, falling over 20m. Its summit also has some slight interest, as the cairn is not made of stone, as might be expected, but of a tangled heap of rusted iron fence posts, from the high-level fence that at one time passed along the watershed of the whole of Ennerdale.

In addition, in his concluding notes in the seventh and final of his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, Wainwright wrote that Starling Dodd was the final fell he climbed during his research for the books. As such, some Wainwright-baggers save Starling Dodd to be their last Wainwright fell in honour of this.