Blooming Hot Orchids in Lancashire

Bee Orchid on the edge of a lake at Mere Beck

The weather here in Lancashire has been truly fantastic this last week and even though we’ve had a few very heavy showers we’ve managed to get out a couple of times. One mini walk round Mere Sands Wood nature reserve where the Marsh Orchids were flowering in the ‘meadow walk’, not much bird activity as I guess it’s too hot for them.

The other trip was last Saturday evening where we went to Mere Beck to have a quick practice with our new fly fishing gear.

With the weather being so hot and humid we were convinced there would be a hatch of all kinds of bugs on the lakes but it was strangely quiet – almost as if it was too hot even for these tiny creatures.

I did spot this beautiful Bee Orchid on the edge of one of the smaller lakes and although I only had the smaller camera with me I still manage to get a pic before the light faded completely.

I’m sure most of photography is being in the right place at the right time – better equipment cannot make an image that you didn’t take, it’s can just make a better image. Obviously there is a skill in ’seeing’ the image in the first place and the technical aspects of getting the image into the camera but my moto is still “be in the right place at the right time”.

Marsh Orchid in 'The Meadow' at Mere Sands

Not sure what we’re doing this weekend, the paving at the back of the house is almost complete so I’ve the side door in the garage to replace but I’ve a sneaky feeling we may go fishing, just for a change…

Learning to Fly (fish) at Mere Beck

First View of Mere Beck - The Pond Outside the Shop

With the weather being so fantastic it was time for Wendy’s birthday present
- a bit early but what can you do?

It’s not every girl that wants fly fishing lessons for her birthday and who was I to argue, so after a bit of last minute day off juggling with work we went to Mere Beck Fly Fishery which is just up the road from where we live for a bit of tuition and an afternoon of fly fishing.

On arrival Gordon had already set up one rod then explained what goes where while setting up the other. The kit we would be learning on wasn’t cheap and was in great condition. We had a quick natter about the line, rod and reel rating (which is all to do with the ‘weight’ of the line) and flies then headed down to some water where we would have a go.

I’ll not go into all the details of learning to fly fish but after about an hour or so we changed the dry flies we’d been practicing with (dry flies float and imitate surface bugs – we were using them so we could see what we were doing) to ‘wet’ flies which would sink and imitate swimming fly larvae of all types. It took a while to get used to not seeing the fly in the water but after a bit of practice we could judge approximately where it would land and by the time we stopped for lunch we’d got the hang of it.

Wendy Showing Me How it's Done

After finding a beautiful spot next to one of the lakes at the far end of the fishery we sat for a while and just watched the wildlife do it’s thing in front of us while we had a bit of a break, a bite to eat and a can of pop. And the wildlife at this time of year here in Lancashire is stunning.

We saw a Stoat, numerous Water Voles, Kingfisher, Kestrel and all the usual suspects such as Moorhen, Chaffinch and Canada Geese. And that was just the big stuff – there were hoards of butterflies and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Common Blue Damselflies.

Fisherman's Cabin - Great Place for a Brew

Throughout the afternoon we tried many different types of sinking and floating flies, all made to look like specific types of aquatic life but the fish weren’t feeding.

To be honest we knew the chances of catching something on this trip were slim to non-existent as the trout would be tucked away at the bottom of the lakes or under some reeds, waiting for the light to dim and the temperature to drop. It would have been great to catch something but it wasn’t realy the reason we’d gone.

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post the main reason we wanted to have a go at fly fishing was to see if it was something we could learn as a new method of sea fishing, primarily to target Bass during the summer.

Did it succeed? You bet it did. When I picked up the rod which weighed less that most of the leads I cast into the sea my instant thought was

this will make roaming around the coast a damn sight easier.

All you’d need would be a reel, spare spool, rod and flies – compared to what we normally carry this would be almost weightless! In my head I’ve already got a few marks sorted where I’d like to try for Mackerel, Pollack and of course, Bass.

In fact it’s got us so fired up that we’re thinking as well as getting a set of gear each for salt water we’d get another lighter set for ‘normal’ fly fishing for those days when weather, tide times, bad timing or just plain bad luck mean you can’t fish in the sea no matter how hard you try. I know there are some fly fisheries very close to where we stay on Anglesey.

As for what gear we’re going to get that going to take a bit more looking into – the information is out there, I’ve been looking at the United Kingdom Saltwater Fly Fishing and the Nick Hart Fly Fishing website,  it’s just going to take a while to sort out what we’ll need – rather than what we want…

Time flew and it seemed the afternoon just vanished so we handed back the gear to Gordon and after a chat and a cold can of coke from the fridge in the shop left just as a few people started to arrive, the ‘peak’ time at the moment being fishing into dusk. Until now we’d had the place to ourselves – probably because the fishing was poor during the heat of the day but we didn’t care – learning something new is easier without an audience.

Will we go back even though it’s not sea fishing? Hell yes!

Wendy Getting the Hang of the Roll Cast

A New Angle to Try, Fly Fishing at Mere Beck

Mere Beck Fly Fishing, Lancashire

We’ve always wanted to have a go at Fly Fishing but it’s always seemed out of reach for some reason, maybe because up here in Lancashire you always hear tell of the best streams being ‘down south’ or the famous rivers being in Scotland but there’s a growing community out there of people who are applying this method of angling to our local salt water species of which one of the main sources of information is the website of UK Saltwater Fly Fishing.

So, the question remained, where to go to ‘have a go’ and learn the techniques?

Looking Down the Ponds, Mere Beck

And after much searching on the internet we quickly eliminated the paid weeks tuition up in Scotland (a bit too expensive) and came across Mere Beck Fly Fishing, you can imagine my astonishment when I found out it’s 10 minutes drive from my house and with the weather today being so good we went to have a look round.

After having a chat with a very knowledgeable lady who ran the reception / tackle shop / everything, we spent a good hour just walking round the many ponds that are fed a constant flow of water creating a slight current for the fish to thrive in. Tuition can be arranged and tickets for fishing can be bought from 3 – 8 hours. It looked fantastic and I got that feeling that this was exactly what we were looking for to get a feel for fly fishing and to ‘have a go’ and see if it is something we want to persue.

The next stage is to book a day of work, sometime in May I think, that coincides with Wendy’s nursing and arrange to go for the day.

I also had a look at our Snowbee catalogue which I got hold of to have a look at waders just to see what fly fishing tackle is all about and start to learn some of the lingo (are there any anglers out there who don’t look through tackle catalogues at all the new tackle they can buy?) – it seems very simple and lightweight compared to our usual stuff but as per normal there doesn’t seem to be a top limit to what you can spend so a little restraint is going to be called for until we’re sure.

As for sea fishing with a fly rod I think most of the methods are the same as for trout but the tackle is slightly heavier, protected against the salt and the flies bigger.

Canon EOS 450D

The other thing I did this week was finally purchase an SLR camera. I had one a long time ago when I worked in a camera shop but sold it to purchase my first Apple Mac about 15 years ago and have since had increasing more complicated compact cameras of which my current one is a Canon Powershot A640 which has served me well and no doubt will still take the majority of my sea fishing photos’.

My new camera is a Canon EOS 450D (Not Canons top model but not the bottom one either) with the ‘kit’ lens which is an 18-55mm zoom plus a larger 55-250mm zoom. I haven’t got the more expensive lenses as I want to make sure I’m going to use it enough to justify the expense but first impressions are good.

I just need to remember some of the photographic techniques I picked up and have now forgotten, at least everything is now digital and I don’t have to pay for film to be developed while I re-learn how to work the thing.