Dusting off the Camera at the River Douglas

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.

Walking Cemlyn Bay to Carmel Head

Racing the tide infront of The Skerries

As the wind continued to be a little severe we sacked sea fishing off for and went for a walk along the cliffs between Cemlyn Bay and Carmel Head. The scenery was stunning, with great views of ‘The Skerries’ over the sea to the north west.

There was an amazing variety of wildlife on show not least being a huge number of Green Veined White butterflies, feeding on the cliffs out of the wind. At least I think that’s what they were – I don’t think ‘Small Whites’ show the veins in their wings as much (I saw some today in Bolton in the park) and ‘Large Whites’ are, well, larger.

We past a couple of huge concrete / stone pillars called “The White Ladies” which are used as a navigational aid as when they are lined up with the marker on the small isle offshore, “West Mouse”, help get a bearing into Holyhead.

As well as the usual sea birds we saw a juvenile Buzzard but as per usual it stayed just out of camera range – damn thing.

The walk was about 6.5 miles and was fairly easy going and easy enough to navigate, although the paths are a bit vague towards the end of Carmel Head. We started at a car park just east of the National Trust owned farm of Mynachdy, headed north east(ish) to Hen Borth then went anti-clockwise along the coast to Porth y Dyfn, came back over Penbrynyreglwys, and headed along the track, through the farm and back to the car park.

An Evening Walk at Cemlyn Bay

Cemlyn Bay Lagoon

As the wind got up to ‘dangerous’ speeds and made a lot of our favourite marks unfishable we decided to have an evening walk around the headland at Cemlyn bay. This is turning into one of our favorite spots as it seems to be virtually deserted and area is blessed with wildlife of all types.

The last bit of daylight lights up the cliffs at Hen Borth

We picked up a book on circular coastal walks around Anglesey, “Coastal Walks Around Anglesey” which is very good and the short walk we did started at the western (left) end of the reserve, wound it’s way along the coast in an anti-clockwise direction to Hen Borth then headed inland and back along seldom used country lanes.

Dramatic sunset at Hen Borth

We timed it perfectly, for a change, and managed to get to see the sun set over the Irish Sea just as we headed inland. Even this small section of lanes was wonderful in the evening light and all sorts of insects made an appearance as the light began to fail.

This small spider is a female Candystripe (or Polymorphic) Spider (Enoplognatha Ovata) I think although I’m willing to be corrected, and was guarding her eggs which were in the base of the roled up leaf.

A lovely stroll of only about 3 miles or so but still well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

A Lazy Day Photographing Around Point Lynas

Labyrinth Spider at home in the Gorse.

After Tuesdays late night fly fishing excitement Wednesday was another day for walking around the coastal cliffs in our never rending quest for the perfect picnic spot. Point Lynas comes very, very close, no people, fantastic views and blazing sunshine – yep, almost perfect.

Another good excuse to take out the ‘big’ camera where I spotted a few Labyrinth Spiders (Agelena labyrinthica) which people (myself included until recently) mistakenly identify as Funnel Web Spiders. Labyrinth Spiders aren’t harmful – they just look a bit mean sitting in the entrance of their web in the Gorse.

A few photos of the stunning wild flowers around Point Lynas, all taken using the standard ‘mini zoom’ that came as part of the ‘kit’ with the Canon EOS 450D, the Canon 18-55mm IS.

Sea Thrift on the rocky cliffs at Point Lynas, Anglesey

A few half decent shots – now I’m getting the hang of using an SLR again, all be it digital, I’m finding the quality of even the cheaper Canon lens optics far out perform any compact style camera for close up work although I’m still a bit reluctant to take it when I go fishing.

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.

Queens Park, Bolton – Amphibious Assault

Frog spawn at Queens Park, Bolton

It looks like Spring is in the air up here in Lancashire as I spotted this clump of frog spawn in a small pond while walking through Queens Park, Bolton, during lunch time today.

Not many birds visible but you could hear them calling in the trees. The weather forecast is for a drop in temperature in the next few days but the signs are there for all to see – spring is on the way.

ICE – In Case Of Emergency

I was sent the following information in an email today – completely unrelated to the weekends drama but very timely.

ICE – In Case Of Emergency. Most of us carry a mobile phone with names and numbers stored in its memory. If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn’t know who to call.

The following advice was provided by the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. The ‘ICE’ (In Case of Emergency) Campaign aims to rectify this. The concept of ‘ICE’ is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. All you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name ‘ICE’ (In Case of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents there were always mobile phones with patients but they didn’t know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognised name for this purpose. In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialling the number you have stored as ‘ICE’.

For more than one contact name, simply enter ICE1, ICE2, ICE3.

No Sea Fishing or Walking – Decorating Takes Precedence

Parlick, Bowland Fell, Lancashire

After two weeks of living in the spare room we finished decorating at the back end of last week so we’ve moved back in too our bedroom – it’s weird but it felt like I was on holiday it, new colours, new bedding, new cupboards, in fact almost new everything except same old me of course.

I almost managed to get out today, not fishing exactly, but the BLAS (Blackpool and LAyton Angling Society) guys had a sea fishing match at Blackpool but just as I was about to go I managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder tidying up of all things so that messed that up. Looks like they had a good time though as you can see from this report; Sunday 1st Feb – Blackpool North Wall.

Nuthatch

I did manage to do a bit of walking last weekend thought when we spent a bit of time up at my parents ‘dog sitting’. Only had time for a quick stroll up the road as Megan (black labrador), at 11 years old, is no longer as young as she was and now saunters rather that charges up the hill but I did manage a quick snap of Parlick as we meandered up the lane.

What never ceases to amaze me though is the wealth of bird life in that area. Whether it’s the food Mum puts out for them or just the fact that they live in the country – the garden is constantly full of the sounds of all kinds of birds. There is certainly no evidence of decreasing bird life up in Chipping and after standing watching for a while I managed to snap this photo of a Nuthatch – as per usual, upside down.