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 Avocet from Morecambe Hide 1sr March sees Meteorological Spring and Bittern are booming in the reed beds at Leighton Moss. There are some nine males, a warden tells, and each bird has a unique voice print- if one has the skill to distinguish it. Their booming calls resonate and carry three miles on a still day. Once they are feeding young they may become more visible as they fly to and fro carrying food. Bittern are secretive birds and far more often heard then seen.
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 Chiaroscuro from Scout Scar No fells today. The western skies are dark, the distant fells are hidden and the woods below Scout Scar escarpment are plunged into darkness, only a glimmer of light on the nearest trees. Sunlight floods down from the blue onto the escarpment, turning it winter gold.
Skylark sing and a green woodpecker calls. Someone has seen stonechat but they are silent and do not show for me. The cloudscape is wonderful and this chiaroscuro landscape with darkness to the west and the escarpment cliff-top in full sunlight.  South Ribble Orienteering Club kite where skylark breed!!! A skylark sang in display flight for several minutes. They return each year to Scout Scar to breed, establishing territories, finding mates, settling in. We were seeking skylark and I'd been asked by the Lake District National Park to check notices requiring walkers to keep all dogs on leads, from 1st March, to avoid disturbing ground-nesting skylark and meadow pipit. The breeding season begins in February so the date's too late, as I reported some years ago. Skylark conservation status is red, and with a huge decline in numbers and loss of habitat they need protecting.
 Snowdrops in Sizergh gardens The quest for snowdrops is a tradition I enjoy and they show well both in Sizergh Castle garden and along the woodland ways .
In the garden there's a mass of snowdrops, and aconites begin to flower. Witch hazel is colourful and lovely too. And there are shrubs with fragrant flowers. Perhaps the flora of this season is the most cherished because, this year, it comes after relentless rain interspersed with only a few days of fleeting brightness. The herb layer awakens and comes to life again.  Birch, its twigs tipped with tiny catkins Birch has elegance with an open structure and a cascade of fine twigs tipped with tiny catkins. The crown has a hint of amethyst in winter, a distinctive hue. Catkins flower in a golden-green haze when leaf-buds open. But they're a subtlety and you have to look for them.
Bewitching birch whose twigs can be made into besoms used by gardeners to sweep fallen leaves from grass. Birch twigs are seasoned for the broom and its handle is bound with hazel or willow.  Whitebeam and the distant Howgills Winter seems long, with relentless rain an interlude of snow and ice. Dawn comes earlier, with birdsong, but it's good to seize a day of sunlight and a degree of brightness.
WInd chill was significant on this day and streamers of high cloud converged on the sun. A couple of raven called and a song thrush sang. I'm still enchanted by a couple of scarlet elf cup fungi that appear in fine fronds of moss on a limestone outcrop, all that Story Homes have left of a wildlife corridor up on Brigsteer Road. |
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