Douglas Boatyard

After saying in my last post that the weather was a bit grotty, last Sunday afternoon the sun came out so I went for a walk down to the boatyard and along the banks of the River Douglas.

I’ve been walking along this stretch of our local river since I was a child (a long time ago) and my father used to keep his boat on a fixed mooring in a creek off the river.

I remember going out in the middle of the night fishing off Blackpool and not being able to come back until the tide came back in.

After getting to the boatyard I turned left and walked along the top of the embankment that keeps the flood tide out of the fields.

This tree stump has been here almost as long as I can remember. The tide floods the area I was stood on during spring tides so it must weigh a good few tones not to have been washed out to sea.

Continuing on, the river bends to the left and heads almost in a straight line until it joins the River Ribble which then meets the sea at Lytham.

I didn’t walk that far although it is possible to get fairly close to the Ribble where plans have been submitted by the RSPB to re-flood the reclaimed land and create a wetland nature reserve called Hesketh Out Marsh. This would be fantastic and would be a great addition to the RSPB reserve at Marshside, Southport.

You can see in the photos that the panorama that evening was stunning and I was almost alone for the entire walk except for a few Shelducks, Black-headed gulls, Barnacle geese and Swallows, all taking advantage of the lovely evening to grab a bite to eat.

Before heading back inland I came across these sheep, the land is continually grazed by both sheep and cows owned by the local farmers – these are, in essence, the managers of the river banks, keeping the plants manageable and fertilising them at the same time.

In the spring walkers need to be aware that the sheep will be lambing and dogs should either be left at home or kept on a lead. I used to walk my dog, a yellow labrador called Elsa, along hear about 20 years ago and apart from a few new boats at the yard it hasn’t changed a bit – long may it stay that way.

While I was there I thought I’d try out the Nikon 2200′s close up facility and as you can see by the results – it seems very good. This first picture is of the Apple blossom with the conservatory, blurred deliberately for effect, in the background.

The conservatory got a good soaking as per Mum’s instructions so I moved outside to check on Dad’s veg.

This got the same treatment and I was pleased to see that the carrots had started to show through as well as the onions and leeks and other seedlings so I must have been doing something right.

Then came the bit I’d been looking forward too and putting off until I’d done all the bits and pieces I was really there for. Every year the Swallows come and nest in the garage so I slowly opened the door hoping to see one sat on a nest only to be greeted by this little fellow and a couple of his friends.

As well as the Swallows a Robin (I think) had build a nest within a stack of old seed boxes an this year had managed to fledge at least three young. This was probably a lot easier this year as while Mum and Dad were away their cat, Woody (along with Becky and Megan – two gorgeous black labrador retrievers), had gone to a friends for his own enforced vacation.

I made one last circuit of the garden to check on the Moorhen and her chicks and took a few final photographs of the cherry trees for Mum and Dad just in case the blossom had fallen by the time the got back then, very pleased about seeing the fledglings, left for home.

The weather that week was fantastic and reports from Mum and Dad after they got back confirm that I didn’t manage to kill anything – in fact they say I did quite well, but it’s not exactly a hardship when you get to visit such a beautiful place and see such wonderful things.

Cherry in Bloom

At last it seems that we’re getting a bit of spring sun in Lancashire, although last weekend it rained almost constantly and flooded the garden once more. The picture is of one of the first cherry trees in our street, looking out of my front upstairs window. It won’t be long now until we can get some proper walking and sea fishing done. Sea fishing in the rain isn’t really a problem but fell walking in the mud isn’t much fun.

Hopefully this coming Sunday Wendy and I will be taking on Pen-Y-Ghent but it mainly depends on the weather staying moderately dry. I purchased some new boots a couple of weeks ago and still havn’t given them any challenges so before Sunday I’m planning on walking round the River Douglas marsh just to break them in a bit.

On another note I saw my first swallows of the year last Sunday. A group of about 4 flew past the back garden, heading North towards Blackpool and futher up the coast although with this cold snap in the weather I hope they’ll be OK. My parents,who live at the bottom end of the Trough of Bowland near Chipping told me yesterday that their yearly visitors have already arrived (they nest in Dads garage every year).