Relaxing Sea Fishing at Rossall, Lancashire

Last night we had a quick trip up to Rossall near Fleetwood, Lancashire to see if we could snare a few fish before Christmas and to get away from the mayhem that seems to arrive at this time every year.

The weather was by no means ideal and when we got there the sea was flat calm with a mist rolling in. It's always a bit strange being on a beach during the night but with hardly a ripple on the sea and visibility down to 100 meters it was a little odd, but damn it was good to be out sea fishing after so long.

Hi-tide was about 1 o'clock so we fished from about 10.30pm through to 2.00am.

Bites were a little slow in coming to me during the run up to high water but Wendy was getting plenty of interest in her lug worm baits but just couldn't connect with any fish. Then as high water arrived she started landing a few Whiting then proceeded to show me how it's done by catching 2 at once.

It was another of those sessions where I was out fished by Wendy, 6 fish to 3 although I did manage a Flounder as well as 2 of the smallest Whiting I've ever caught. I'm beginning to get used to it but it didn't matter and all too soon 2 o'clock came and it was time to pack up.

Another great session sea angling on the Lancashire coast and just what we needed, a bit of peace and quite, the sound of the sea gently lapping against the promenade and a few fish - fantastic!

Tags: beach fishing, fleetwood, flounder, rossall point, sea fishing, whiting

Winter Storms and Christmas Cheer

Isn't Christmas great?

There was no fell walking, sea fishing or birding last weekend, as it was Christmas tree buying weekend! As usual we ended up chopping over a foot off the top of it to get it in to the house - it happens every year but we just can't help it. It is now in position and decorated with lights and baubles. It looks great and smells wonderful.

On Sunday we went up to my parents to get some Holly for the table decorations where we had a good chat, a wonderful diner and a drink or two which was very relaxing.

But what about the weather? The wind along the Lancashire coastline these past couple of weeks has been unbelievable and, looking at the forecasts for the coming weeks, is set for some time.

During the Christmas break we're hoping to go sea fishing up towards Fleetwood as well as do a bit of fell walking so hopefully the weather isn't going to be quite as bad as predicted.

If nothing else the storms are good for birding as all sorts gets blown of track and ends up a little closer to land than is usual so we'll probably have a couple of trips out to the coast without fishing rods.

Now that will make a change!

Tags: beach fishing, birding, fleetwood, hiking, lancashire, sea fishing, walking

Wild, Windy and Wet - No Sea Fishing This Weekend!

Well I can definitely say that the winter storms have arrived here in Lancashire this week. The weather has been awful and it looks like it's going to continue into the weekend. Damn!

We were hoping to go out on a boat trip (fishing a match with the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society guys again) onto the River Mersey but neither myself or Wendy are fantastic on boats in dodgy weather so we've cancelled - I hope they have a good time on Sunday - if the boat goes out!

The garden is now devoid of leaves and underwater so there's nothing to do there, so what to do over the weekend?

Christmas shopping has been done but I'm sure we're missing something...

The Christmas Tree!!! Yes, this is the weekend that we get our tree, a real one of course and kick-start Christmas off with putting up the decorations, and maybe a glass of wine or two...

Tags: boat fishing, lancashire, river mersey, sea fishing

A Rarity on our First Birding Quest

After purchasing the scope on Friday we were eager to try it out on something a little more challenging. There had been sightings during the previous month of a very rare bird to the UK so flasks were packed and like proper birders off we went in search of our quarry.

The destination was Fluke Hall, Pilling on the Southern side of Morecambe Bay. The weather was, once again, very windy and just to make it worse, showers were frequent and cold. I thought I'd spotted our target on the drive to the car park but wasn't sure until a very kind man confirmed our suspicions.

We came out of the woods a little apprehensively, would it still be there? YES! You could see it with the naked eye, closer with the binoculars and through the scope it was amazing. A Glossy ibis! So rare a visitor to the UK there have only been 87 sightings between 1958 and 2004. It's not even on the RSPB web site. Just as I pulled the camera from my pocket it flew behind the trees but just to see it was fantastic - a truly exotic bird in Lancashire - amazing!

It's likely that well be doing a lot more birding now that we have the scope so below are a few links that will keep the avid bird watcher up to date.

birdguides.com A free map with sightings or register for more in-depth details.
birdformum.net A massive resource for all things birding, from sightings to equipment reviews - to get started try looking in the section for North West England.

And last a link to rockyroaduk.com - views and stories from the saddle of a mountain bike, mainly around Lancashire. Some great photos and stories from Chris.

And the photograph above? Well, we had to go and have a quick look at the Little egrets at Marshside. I couldn't get a photograph, it was a bit dark but the moon was just visible as these Lapwing flew past.

After all - we've a scope now and it seems we've become birders...

Tags: birding, fluke hall, glossy ibis, lancashire, lapwing, marshside, pilling

A Couple of Birders Reborn - Martin Mere Revisited

I took a few days off work at the end of last week to do a bit of sea fishing but the weather once again had different ideas. A little wind we want but 45 mph gust onto the shore is a bit much by anyones standards. Fell walking was out of the question so where to go?

As Martin Mere is only a few miles from our front door we decided to pay another visit to this fantastic bird reserve owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

I've mentioned in previous posts that sometimes the birds are just too far away to see or photograph. Well on Friday we finally did it - we purchased a fieldscope (small telescope) from the very helpful Andy at the In Focus shop, it really does make a huge difference being able to set up many 'scopes' onto the same subject at the same time so that you can compare them. We ended up with an Opticron GS665 with a 20 - 40x magnification eyepiece, a tripod and a clamp for using it within a hide. After using it until the light failed we are both very pleased so far with our purchase.

The photo of the Great spotted woodpecker was taken as an experiment - I focussed the scope onto the bird then took a photo through the eyepiece of the scope using our digital camera. Not brilliant but not bad for a quick trial. After searching round the internet I've found this is called 'digiscoping' and there are brackets made for holding the camera in place so I might give that a go eventually.

Tags: birding, digiscope, great spotted woodpecker, lancashire, martin mere, wildlife