Dusting off the Camera at the River Douglas

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All sorts of ducks on the River Douglas

After some fairly dismal weather these past couple of months I finally managed to get out for a walk along our local river, the Douglas, and as I’m a bit (understatement of the century) rusty I took out my camera just to check it (and me) is working as it should.

There wasn’t really much to see exfcept a lot of ducks including some Widgeon (which make the amazing whistling noise), Teal, Shelducks and the usual suspects of Mallard and Oyster catchers. I tried to get some pictures of them in flight but a small Duck is very very fast so I gave up.

Spring was certainly in the air today though as i saw a few lambs on my way down to the river, thankfully the boys below didn’t have any as it’s best to stay out of the way of sheep at lambing time so as not to distress the ewes and their newly birthed lambs.

"The Managment" of the banks bleats "non shall pass"

They do look a bit like the mafia though and I felt like i was trespassing on their field…

Hopefully, now the weather seems to be changing for the better I’ll get out fishing, it was almost this time last year that we fished this very river and caught a few Flounder – there were a few people fishing today but nobody had caught anything. It seems the seasons are a bit late this year, but i seem to recall someone saying that a cold winter heralds a hot summer – so here’s hoping…

Three Things I do to Enjoy England

As most people who blog I constantly scan the web for articles of interest and I came across a feature on the Guardian’s website called Enjoy England so I thought I’d make a list of three of my favorite things to do in England, except of course I’m including Wales.

Sea Fishing – rocks, estuaries, beaches, everywhere…

Fishing on the banks of the River Douglas

It had to be the first thing I mentioned.

England, in fact the entire UK and Ireland coast has some of the best sea angling in Europe, if not the world, and we’re lucky enough to live very near the coast so we try to get out and wet a line as often as possible.

We’re not always hugely successful in our quests but the scenery and wildlife more than make up for any short comings in our angling ability.

Our most notable catches have been from Anglesey, but the fishing up here in Lancashire and its neighbour Merseyside, on the right day, can be truly stupendous where anything from Bass to Thornback Rays or Cod to Smoothhounds can show up to the skillful or lucky angler.

As we’re approaching winter all angling eyes will be firmly fixed on the weather reports hoping for some good westerlies to churn the sea bed up and a good drop in temperate. This should bring in the larger Whiting and following close on their fishy heals will hopefully be some large Cod. I’ve yet to catch one of the monster Cod that we know are caught around the Fleetwood and Liverpool area, 2.5 lbs is my biggest, but I’m an angler, and as long as there’s a line in  the water, there’s always a chance.

Hiking, Fel Walking, Rambling – whatever you want to call it.

Looking out to the Three Peaks

With the Lake District and the Three Peaks only an hour away, The Lancashire Fels even closer and North Wales only about 2.5 hours away it seems almost inevitable that loving the outdoors, we’d make the most of the hills and mountains surrounding us.

We’ve ambled for miles and miles around the surrounding countryside, in all weathers and at all times of the year but by far the best and most satisfying was when we went up Fairsnape in the middle of winter. As we climbed higher  we ended up walking through pristine snow covered hillsides until we reached the top to find a landscape that was so perfect it could have been a painting.

Bird Watching – another excuse to be outside.

Avocet in profile

England is truly blessed by the bird gods as all twitchers (as more dedicated than I am birdwatchers are called) will tell you.

Due to our sometimes less than predictable weather some very rare birds can be found almost anywhere in the UK.

Up here in Lancashire we have some of the best wetlands and salt marches anywhere in the world for migrant species such as Pink Footed Geese and when winter falls, the Ribble estuary is home to literally thousands of these birds as they escape the cold of more northern countries.

The RSPB have a couple of very notable reserves in the area. Leighton Moss at the top end of Morecambe Bay has a very respectable breeding population of Bitterns as well as a number of Marsh Harriers. Marshside near Southport, Merseyside is a terrific area to watch the huge flocks of geese during the winter as they move inland onto the salt marshes to escape the incoming tide.

As well as these two fantastic reserves we have WWT Martin Mere almost on our doorstep which has been host to BBC Autumn Watch in previous years.

So with so many brilliant opportunities is it any wonder we go bird watching. It’s another good excuse to get outside and most of the time we can combine it with sea fishing, walking (some of our fishing is a long way from the car) or both.

So… what are your three favourite things to do in England?

Are you like us and anything outside is good or do you enjoy going to see live bands, see new cities or go out to the pub. Whatever it is I’m sure you’ll agree, England, the rest of the UK and Ireland has it all.

Scoping Out South Stack

"Hiding in the Daisies"

As the wind continued to be a bit blustery we decided to go and visit South Stack lighthouse with the cameras and spotting scope to see what bird life we could find. This time we climbed down the cliff path (all 400 steps of it) and went across to the lighthouse where the Lesser Black Backed Gulls still had chicks.

The views back towards the cliffs of the sea birds coming and going were astonishing and we saw all sorts of birds including Guillemot, Razorbill, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed and Greater Black Backed Gulls, Kittiwake, Chough and finally managed to get views (although a long way off and not suitable for photography) of Puffins.

The above juvenile Kittiwake was just sitting by the path, not a care in the world, and with the abundance of small fish in the sea below who can blame him.

It was a struggle to get an in-focus shot of the gulls as they flew past, I never realised just how fast they are until I tried catching on on camera. After spending a few hours just watching the busy cliffs and sea below we trudged back up the cliff, stopping at every bench we could find to catch our breath and continually looking at the cliffs as we ascended a path (yep – all 400 steps going up as well) that seemed a lot steeper on the way up than it was coming down.

Lonely Razorbill with Guillemots

It was well worth a visit but undoubtedly the star attraction of the South Stack area are the cliffs down which the path runs, the lighthouse island is good for sea watching and during the spring and summer has an RSPB presence on it, but if you want to see the birds keep stopping on the way down and just take a few minutes to wonder at the huge number of birds nesting on every conceivable ledge.

A Windy Visit to Red Wharf Bay

Looking west along Red Wharf Bay

Again the wind played havoc with our sea fishing plans and to make matters worse it was one of the few days of ‘proper’ rain we had during our stay on Anglesey so we went for a drive around the eastern side of the island, mainly the Llandonna / Red Wharf Bay area to see what we could see.

"Alone and grounded" - Afon Nodwydd Estuary, Red Wharf Bay

After a while we moved ‘up’ the coast a bit to the section of the bay nearest to Pentraeth where I got out and had a look around while Wendy watched me (and read) from within the car as I battled the elements.

Little Egret, Red Wharf Bay, Pentraeth

It took me a while to notice them but I spotted a few Little Egrets searching for food in the small river near the car park so I quickly grabbed the camera and after much swearing and watching the little buggers fly away from me, managed to get a reasonable photo.

It was only after getting back into the car, a little windswept to say the least, that I noticed the Egrets were all down the river as it meandered it’s way toward the sea through the beach.

Typical.

Anglesey – it never ceases to amaze you with it’s wildlife.

Fly Fishing in the Rain at Llyn Alaw, Anglesey

Our first fish on a fly - Rudd

Ah, I remember what we did on Monday now. We went for an explore into the center of the island, mainly to find where to get day tickets for the massive man made reservior Llyn Alaw.

We’d not really been in this area before and I was amazed at just how rugged it is in the open spaces. We kept seeing a Buzzard on telegraph posts in front of us but no matter how sneaky we were I couldn’t get a good shot of it.

We arrived after paying at the visitor centre car park and made our way over to the opposite side of the lake and set up our 6 weight fly rods with floating line and a few flies that looked like the bugs in the lake – I’m sure they have proper names but I’ve no idea what they were (the flies or bugs). We’d learned on Monday from another angler that it fishes best from 8pm onwards so the plan was to go from about 7:30 till 10pm.

After about an hour and a half of what I’d like to think of as casting practice (catching trees, my hat, etc.) the weather payed us a little visit and it hammered it down for a good half hour. Thankfully we were wearing waders and waterproofs tops so it didn’t matter that much but it was odd standing in a lake, in the dimming light, in the rain.

Finally the Buzzard sat still

Not long after the rain stopped I heard Wendy yelling from a bit further down the lake. I’m sure they could here her all the way up to Holyhead.

Rushing back to shore, or as ‘rushing’ as is possible in waders, I grabbed the camera and dashed over to grab a picture of her prize.

Not a trout but a small Rudd (or Roach – I think it’s a Rudd). Did it matter to Wendy that it wasn’t our target species for the evening? Did it hell! This was our first ever fly caught fish and although the weather had been a bit pants we were elated.

Happy with our first successful catch we made our way back to the cottage for a well earned brew.

We drove up that way a few more times in the couple of weeks we stayed on Anglesey but the best photo I could get of the Buzzard is still not very good – but at least I got him.

Catching a Few at Cemlyn, Anglesey

Sandwich Tern returning to chicks with a Sandeel, Cemlyn

We arrived on Anglesey with two weeks of doing anything except work in mind and thats exactly what we did. Sea fishing, walking, photography and bird watching, Anglesey has never disappointed us and these past two weeks have been no exception.

Sunday started with blue skies and after discovering that there was a supermarket just up the road from where we have stayed for years we made some sandwiches and went for a short walk at Cemlyn Bay to see if the Sandwich Terns were still there. As you can see from the above photo not only were they still there but they were still flying backwards and forwards feeding their young.

There were hundreds of them and even when we walked around the headland you could still hear them calling and see them diving into the sea in search of Sandeels.

Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey

The bay itself is fairly steep and covered in shingle rather than sand which keeps away all but the most hardcore sunbathers so we almost had the place to ourselves. As you can see – hardly a ripple in site and we decided to come back later and have a go at fly fishing in the sea for the first time, more on that later.

Six Spot Burnet Moths on Ragwort

All along the edge of the beach and cliffs the Ragwort was flowering and covered in both the moths and caterpillars of the Six Spot Burnett (Zygaena filipendulae), the caterpillars look identical to the Cinnabar Moth ones I’d spotted in Bolton during the previous week (yellow and black stripes) but where the moths have a red stripe and a dot the Six Spot Burnett has six spots on each wing. Sometimes the simple beauty of our countryside and wildlife amazes me and this first proper day on Anglesey was turning out to be one of the best yet.

A small whiting for me

Later that evening we came back to Cemlyn for a spot of sea fishing.

The fly fishing, although not a total disaster proved a bit troublesome in the evening breeze but we’d brought our light beach / bass gear with us and as the sun set cast a couple of juicy crab baits to the ‘gutter’ formed where the shingle meets the sand which in theory is where food is washed by the tide and hence the fish are to be found.

A lad fishing down the beach from us told us his father had had a few Bass there the previous evening but as per usual this was not ‘last night’ and the Bass didn’t show for us or him.

I managed to save a blank with a greedy little Whiting then a darkness settled we made our way back to Ty Cristion.

Photography Practice and Avocets at Marshide

Avocet at RSPB Marshside, Southport

As the weather has been so good this week we went for a quick walk to RSPB Marshside, Southport, to see if we could spot the Avocets and chicks that have started breeding on the marshes in recent years. As per normal we took almost every piece of optical equipment we owned assuming the birds would be miles and miles away.

Shock of shocks! There birds were on the rapidly drying up pond as close to the road as they could possibly be so our walk quickly became a good excuse for me to practice with the Canon EOS 450D I purchased a couple of months ago. The chicks were to far away to get a good photo but I managed to get a few others.

Although I prefer the top image of the Avocet it was a tough decision as the reflection of this other one and the birds profile go together so well.

Black Tailed Godwits being boisterous in their summer plumage.

After spending some time just watching the birds from the hides at the reserve we walked round the old sand reclamation plant where I did my best to take a few photos of the smaller birds that seemed to tease us where ever we went, eventually getting a shot of a male Linnet in the evening sun. I tried to get a few photos of the young rabbits but they were just too fast – even though there seemed to be hundreds of them.

After driving past the sands works so many times it was great to walk round it for a change. The amount of birds, animals, grasses and flowers that thrive on the marshes in the area is astounding and I’ll bet most people who drive past have no idea of the fantastic diversity on their doorstep.

Sometimes something as simple as grass can make an impact. Looking towards Blackpool in the distance.

Even more grass - I like the vibrant green vertical stems on this one. Camera practice - adjusting depth of field.

A Weekend of Westerlies, Weed and Escaping Bass

The 'Bay' to the Right of Stanley Embankment (A5), Anglesey, Looking North East

We set off on our Bank Holiday journey just before noon last Friday and after stopping off at Colwyn Bay promenade for some lunch called in to Anglesey Tackle Centre to have a quick chat with Gareth and pick up bait for the long weekend ahead. Needless to say after wishing for good weather it had turned a bit blustery but we were fairly sure we’d find somewhere to fish.

Our first stop was to have a go at Broad Beach, we’d been told it would be too windy to fish it but decided to give it a go anyway. It was just on the side of manageable as we fished the tide up but after a while, and after loosing a fish as it snagged me round a rock I’d previously tripped over (yes – I know!!!!), we grudgingly agreed that it was indeed far to weedy to fish.

Anglesey 1, Stuart & Wendy nil.

Saturday morning greeted us with bright sunshine and yes, you guessed it, yet more wind. After quickly working out wind direction we decided to drive down to Aberdaren, at the far end of the Lleyn Penninsula – this turned out to be one of our more stupid choices due to a few reasons;

1. We’d forgotten about the major roadworks between Caernarfon and Trefor where the speed is limited to 30 mph.
2. We got stuck behind the worlds slowest driver on one of the narrower B roads, which meant,
3. We arrived at the mark with little time till high water.
4. The wind shifted and seemed to gain in strength blowing more weed at us.
5. The weed… I’ve never not been able to wind in due to weed before and after both of us loosing gear to rafts and rafts of the stuff we made our way back to the cottage.

2 nil to Anglesey…

We woke early on Sunday, quickly ate breakfast, made our lunch and headed towards Ty Croes where we would fish the tide 2 hours down to low water and 2 hours back up. It looked a little choppy as we drove past Cable Bay but at least from the rocks weed shouldn’t be a problem. We parked up and made our way to the mark only to find we’d obviously not got up early enough! A few guys had beaten us to it, damn! There aren’t really many snag free marks here so we quickly back tracked to Cable Bay where we’d seen from Ty Croes that the mark was empty of anglers. After a short hike we got to the mark and yep, there were people there, double dammit! They’d arrived in the 10 minutes it took us to get from Ty Croes to Cable Bay.

Sod it, lets go for a walk.

We dumped the gear back at the cottage and drove to across the A5 to Penhros Country Park but after looking at the tide flooding into the bay and the lack of weed or wind, we quickly went back for our Bass gear. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours and did actually see some fish swirling on the surface, either Mullet or Bass and then it happened. BANG! The rod tip didn’t just twitch it arced over as a fish took my Peeler crab bait. I struck and I felt it shake it’s head as it dove into the rocks, then after about 10 yards of mayhem I felt it come off as it dived through the weed. I was a little upset as you can imagine and we fished ‘hard’ for another hour but to no avail.

3 Nil to Anglesey.

On Monday the weather showed us that it was not yet summer. The temperature dropped dramatically as the rain and wind lashed the island making fishing anywhere almost impossible, or at least very uncomfortable and potentially dangerous. We spend the day reading and drinking hot mugs of tea while praying for a break in the clouds that never arrived.

Tuesday dawned overcast and still windy as we bid our farewell to Anglesey until we return in a couple of months and after a final brew and slice of cake at the Penmon Lighthouse cafe we made our way home.

Did we enjoy it even though the fishing was, to say the least, a bit rubbish? You’re damn right we did. There is hardly anywhere else I know that instills such calm and rest as Anglesey and missing those few fish just makes us more eager to go back and even the score.

A Long Rest From Blogging

Small Whiting

Well… that was a bit of a long gap between posts, I don’t know what happened or why I stopped but I guess it was something to do with the the fact that we haven’t really been fishing properly since last summer. We’ve dabbled a bit but I think we were both a bit run down after the disappointment of our Devon trip and just couldn’t get motivated. But thats all over now!

The tackle has been cleaned, line replaced on the reels and all those bits and pieces you loose either while fishing or down the back of the sofa have been replaced.

Our first venture of the year was to Anglesey during the first of the May Bank Holidays in search of Bass where we stayed at Ty Cristion Holiday Cottages. As it happens we we’re too early even though May has been one of the hottest on record the proceeding months hadn’t been warm enough to encourage the Bass to move up the coastline to North Wales.

Wendys' first Turbot

We had a fantastic time though – the weather and countryside we fantastic and although the bass didn’t show up we managed to snag a few fish, one of which was Wendy’s first ever turbot. We’ve already booked another weeks visit for later in the year.

My latest fishing trip was a bit of the spur of the moment thing with a few of the lads from wirralseafishing.co.uk and involved a quick drive down to Formby. Once again Bass were the target but as I couldn’t get down to the beach in time to gather some black lug for bait I purchased some from our local tackle dealer, Waynes Tackle, Preston, which as usual was very good quality.

I arrived about 2 hours after lo-water to see a group of about 12 intrepid anglers eagerly awaiting a bite. After the usual banter I was offered more fresh black lug than I have seen in a long time – the bait collection by the guys had been stunning and I beleieve Dave W managed to get over 100 in about an hour.

Quickly setting up I joined them as the tide gradually pushed us back up the beach, filling in gullies behind us. This is why when fishing here it is essential to go with a group and preferably wear chest waders – there have been many cases where people have been cut off by the incomming tide and safety is much more important than anything else.

A Formby Bass for Kev

As per usual (how does he do it) Kev was the first into a fish, a Bass of just under 2 pounds caught on peeler crab.

As darkness fell it was starting to look as though this was to be the only fish caught until, to our left, we spotted Shaun playing a similar sized fish in the surf.

Hi-water arrived and still only 2 fish between 12 anglers – it wasn’t looking good until I spotted a slight knock on my rod. I waited a while, saw it bounce again and struck into the fish.

After the initial pull on the line it it went ‘light’ and I thought I’d lost it. I kept winding in, hoping against hope that a nice shiney Bass was running towards me, eager to see that glint of silver in the beam produced by my light.

Finally the fish became visable, a lowly Flounder, but a fish is a fish and it saved a ‘blank’. First outing in a long time, was it worth it for only 3 fish amongst a dozen anglers? Damn right it was!

A Flat Formby Flounder

It’s fantastic to be in good company, on a beautiful clean beach with the prospect of a fish or two.

I’m fired up ready for a week on Anglesey soon so look out Bass, here we come.

A Rarity on our First Birding Quest

An Evening of Lapwings

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…