I visited Hesketh Out Marsh with Chorley NATS this morning. Although it's not far from where I live, I've never been there before. One of the advantages of joining a local group is that you find out about such places and another is that there are more people to notice sightings.
This morning's highlight was a stunning male hen harrier quartering low over the marsh. We also saw a merlin and managed quite a close look as we walked along the embankment. We also saw a small group of golden plover, a brown hare, redshanks and way in the distance huge flocks of lapwings. It was interesting to compare the herons and egrets fishing at fast flowing inlets; the herons poised still, the egrets plodding around.
The hedgerows were also worth exploring and rewarding with 20 fieldfare, long tailed tits and other common species. Although I wished I'd worn my thermals, the wildlife seemed out of synch with the cold; we saw a painted lady butterfly, the larks were singing and dandelions along with red and white clovers were in bloom.
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from the field book
An inspiring gift for anyone who enjoys watching nature.
5 comments:
Sounds a lovely walk Carol. We get merlin here. Once one hit our kitchen window and broke its wing. We put on our gardening gloves and caught it in a strawberry net, put it in a box and took it to the vet but its wing was so badly damaged that he put it down. So sad. When it looked at us it was the wildest look I have ever seen.
sounds like a lovely walk with a good list of birds. I had a hen harrier almost fly into me once. I rarely see them but it's always pretty close when I do!
Hesketh Out Marsh has good potential Carol. I had arrangements to visit there recently but had to cancel but looking forward to getting there soon. The male Hen Harrier is a particularly stunning creature but equally so are the Little Egrets.
We get a lot of Little Egrets on Gower: I have never thought of them plodding before! I think of them in one of my sonnets as slimline saltmarsh brides (& grooms, too, presumably!).
Certainly the best way to learn new paths & places, plus the bonus of good company.
Hope the reading went well.
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