Whooper swans and mute swans at Caerlaverock, 8 November 2016 The road wound beside the River Conder, through salt marsh and reed beds to Glasson Dock where we began our walk. South, through fields with a large flock of wild swans- mute swans and whoopers. Some half dozen whoopers took flight with that distinctive trumpeting call for which they’re named. At Caerlaverock in early November the whoopers were newly arrived from Iceland. They will stay on the marsh grasslands at Martin Mere and Caerlaverock through winter, returning to Iceland in March.
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Meeting the Lancashire Coastal Way, we headed north toward the Lune Estuary. The day was still and the calls of waders reached us on our path close to the shore. Mergansers flew over the sea and I could hear the whistling call of widgeon, the plaintive notes of redshank. Flotillas of ducks on the waves were too far out to identify but a small group of turnstones was feeding in the seaweed debris of the tide-line, close to our path. Their mantles are rich colours and beautifully patterned , their bellies bright white. Ruddy turnstone overwinter in coastal zones having come from north east Canada and Greenland where they breed in the remote arctic tundra.
We met the coastal path where Cockerham Marsh drains into Cockerham Sands and out into the Lune Estuary. The vaulted Chapter House is all that remains of Cockersand Abbey. I prefer its medieval name: Santa Maria de Marisco, Out Lady of the Marshes. The abbey traces back to an 1180 hermitage , becoming a hospital for the sick and for lepers, a priory and finally an abbey. Hard to imagine this coast in the late 12th century, this Chapter House in waterlogged fields that look across the estuary toward Heysham Power Station with the thirty turbines of the Barrow Wind farm visible out to sea.
We met the coastal path where Cockerham Marsh drains into Cockerham Sands and out into the Lune Estuary. The vaulted Chapter House is all that remains of Cockersand Abbey. I prefer its medieval name: Santa Maria de Marisco, Out Lady of the Marshes. The abbey traces back to an 1180 hermitage , becoming a hospital for the sick and for lepers, a priory and finally an abbey. Hard to imagine this coast in the late 12th century, this Chapter House in waterlogged fields that look across the estuary toward Heysham Power Station with the thirty turbines of the Barrow Wind farm visible out to sea.
North of the abbey lies a headland strewn with blocks of masonry we puzzle over. Out in the estuary is the skeleton of Plover Scar Lighthouse, wrecked last March when a ship ploughed into it. A nearby building- site tells that the lighthouse is being rebuilt. Was it a dark and stormy night when the accident happened- the wall of the light house keeper’s cottage is substantial and gleaming white. Vessels heading for Glasson Dock must locate the Lune Deep and follow the buoyed channel ( constantly changing) to the Dock. Timing is critical and navigation tricky.
We head inland above the marshes, by a sign to the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse with its traditional smoked kippers, smoked trout and shell-on prawns. A treat for another time perhaps.
An excellent walk and full of interest.
For a superb image of turnstone try ruddy turnstone Audobon.
Can it be the 28th December? A pair of pigeons mate on a frosty roof-ridge and a woodpecker is drumming, drumming to claim territory and to prepare for mating.
We head inland above the marshes, by a sign to the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse with its traditional smoked kippers, smoked trout and shell-on prawns. A treat for another time perhaps.
An excellent walk and full of interest.
For a superb image of turnstone try ruddy turnstone Audobon.
Can it be the 28th December? A pair of pigeons mate on a frosty roof-ridge and a woodpecker is drumming, drumming to claim territory and to prepare for mating.
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