A post to deal with mid-September last year.
On a dull Sunday, after a walk around Jenny Brown’s Point with TBH, I went to Lambert’s Meadow and took a few photos of spiders and a lot of photos of snails. Do snails breed in September? I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one visit.
On the following weekend, the second Morecambe Poetry festival took place at the Winter Gardens. This time TBH joined me and we went to see the headline poets on both the Friday and Saturday nights; first Brian Bilston and Henry Normal, then Jackie Kay and Carol Ann Duffy. Fabulous.
The line up for this year’s festival looks every bit as enticing, hopefully TBH will join me again.
I saw Lemn Sissay at the first festival and years ago when I lived in Manchester and likewise, I saw Mike Harding live several times, but not for a very long time. This time, two BBC programmes – Loose Ends and The Verb – will be broadcast live from the festival. Things are on the up and up, both for Morecambe and for the Winter Gardens.
On the Sunday of that weekend, TBH had a mission to perform.
She took me to Heald Brow with a hand drawn map she’d been given by a colleague.
The map showed the location of…
I’ve heard about this impressive fossil a few times from friends in the village, but have never actually managed to find it. With the aid of TBH’s map, we found it this time almost immediately. It’s hard to spot because it’s generally covered with a piece of turf which you’re supposed to replace, although I’m not sure why.
Later, I was out again for a wander to the Cove and across the Lots.
After years of not putting out food for the birds because our cats were a bit too interested, we’ve now realised that our one remaining cat is too old, fat and slow (I sympathise) to do any harm anymore. I snaffled a number of feeders from my parents a while ago and since TBH strung them all up (the feeders, not my parents!) from the Silver Birch by our kitchen window they have been giving me a great deal of pleasure ever since.
Expect a lot more photos of our very varied visitors as I catch-up (ho ho) with the intervening six-months or so.
Beating The Bounds 
We have also put feeders back and front. So far blue tits, coal tits, sparrow, goldfinch, and blackbirds and wood pigeons picking up the leftovers down below. Early days yet. We haven’t tried the mealworms, a few starlings would be welcome so off to Carr Bank nursery to re-stock. We look forward to hearing more of your sightings.
Ours are really busy at the moment – sunflower seeds are the most popular. We’ve had a plethora of finches: goldfinches, siskins, greenfinches, on the feeders and chaffinches and bullfinches on the floor beneath. We also briefly had a solitary long-tailed tit, as well as blue, great and coal tits. Robins and sparrows visit occasionally as well as blackbirds and dunnocks on the ground. Magpies were frequent visitors to the fatballs for a while but that seems to have stopped.
I gave up feeding the birds in the garden due to a number of reasons – when we move in the autumn I’m hoping we will be able to restart. I used to enjoy the feeders on the farm – the only time I’ve had a Reed Bunting on a feeder.
A reed bunting! I’ve never seen one on a feeder.
The main feeders on the farm were set up on the edge of an area containing grazing land and small trees (which were the start of the new woodland). Even so, I was surprised to see a Reed Bunting – it didn’t seem wet enough.
Wow, such a variety of talking points in this post! Lovely cottages. Amazing theatre. Next year’s program including Pam Ayres. Recently watched her TV visit to the Cotswolds. Fossilised Nautiloid! Just spent time googling that. Soooooo old! Concluding with a skein of geese birds at the garden feeder. Such a different world to here.
I didn’t ‘get’ Pam Ayres when I was younger, but have really come to appreciate how funny she is, so really looking forward to that in September.
Ditto
Attracting some wild birds into the garden has been on my to do list for years and I just never seem to get around to it. I really must put that right.
Thanks for showing us the Nautiloid – we were very impressed!
We went again on Sunday, to show B’s other half.