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Hesketh Out Marsh

23/2/2019

 
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​Hesketh Out Marsh RSPB
Saturday 23rd Feb
Mild Sunny with slight breeze


A party of 17 members met one of the wardens plus a volunteer in the car park of Hesketh Out Marsh RSPB Nature Reserve on Saturday the 23rd of February. It was a fine day but there was a breeze.
A donation of £4.00 per person was collected for the RSPB.
The Reserve had been purchased in 2006 the section to the east being purchased later.
We set off west to the site of the screen, that got blown away last year when the beast from the east occurred, where we viewed the area.
We next started walking east along an embankment, that was not open to the public, to gain access to another embankment going out towards the Ribble Estuary.
At the end of embankment we went to the left to a gate. The embankment had been breached here to allow the Ribble ingress to flood the Marsh.
As it wasn't high tide we sat behind the embankment out of he wind to eat our lunch. This gave us a lovely views across the Ribble to Warton.
A female Merlin was seen perched just out on the Marsh, then it flew right in front of us and gave us fantastic views. It finally perched in the top of a tree in the inner Marsh. A male flew over the car park and perched on a hedge.
There was another embankment breach further along the embankment to the east so both sections of Marsh were seen to flooded at high tides.
After high tide at 13.45 we set of back along the embankment going south.  Both sections of the embankment were now covered in water. It was a spectacular sight.
On the way back could see small birds perched in the flooded bushes and hedge alongside the return path. Reed Bunting, Tree Sparrow and Stonechat.
Back in the car park a lone Marsh Harrier flew over as a climax to a lovely and enjoyable day.
Thank you Alex the Warden and Rob for making the day really enjoyable with lots of wildlife to view.
 
Thank you for images from
Sheila Roseman
Kevin Livesey
 
Graham Thomas Feb2019

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Churchtown to Nateby

2/2/2019

 
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​Churchtown to Nateby
Saturday 2nd Feb
Sunny but cold and frosty

A party of 8 members set off from the Horns Inn at Churchtown. It was a beautiful frosty cold day so being wrapped  up was a priority.
Walked through the Village and turned right at the old cross. Turned left at the main road. Crossed the road to walk up the access to Kirkland Hall Farm. Continued through several fields. There were flocks of Gulls including Black Headed and 3 Common Gulls. 60+ Lapwing and 50+ Starling.
Had a look in an isolated barn for an Owl without success.
Located a solitary Common Buzzard
Walked to Nook Farm House
Continued south down a lane then through the grounds of Popular Grove Farm. This was a large complex. Had lunch here before continuing south along track eventually coming to Hag Wood and Sharples Lane beyond. Turned left. After a few hundred yards came across a large pool on the right where gravel had been extracted. This pit had attracted many flocks of birds to the water including 60+ Mallard. 30+ Wigeon. 2 Shoveller.
Continued along Sharples Lane and watched a Brown Hare lolloping along in front of us.
Turned right at the main road to walk along the road for half a mile to an access on the left. A smallish brown bird  off from a post which could have been a Little  Owl but didn't get enough time to see it.
Found a path on the right that led to the River Wyre and the Wyre Way. Followed this  to the famous footbridge then the Church. Lots of Snowdrops in the churchyard. Walked through the Village to the cross then right to the pub.
Most of the day we had observed a large flock of 200+ noisy Pink Footed Geese flying around just to the west and south. Also some early Lambs in the fields..
All the party relaxed and had a drink in a very busy Horns Inn.

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Photos used under Creative Commons from Åsa Berndtsson, Stefan Berndtsson, hedera.baltica, Dun.can, Andy Morffew, rambomuscles
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