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February 2008 Archives

Can you see me, mother?

Posted by Cliff Birchall on February 20, 2008 3:29 PM

While it was not a pea-souper this morning, it was certainly the worst fog of the year so far.
Going past Farmer Ted's I realised how far-sighted cattle breeders had been more ways than one.
The Galloway is a neat little cow, black as coal just like the Irish Dexter, but it must have presented problems when it came to Border farmers finding them in the fields after dark or before dawn.
Coloured like that, they simply melt into the night.
So they bred the Belted Galloway and solved the problem. With black head and shoulders and haunches and legs, its white back and stomach stand out like a flag when you see it in a field in the dim light.
Farmers were easily able to spot their beasts thanks to this colouring, and Farmer Ted has a couple in his field which illustrated the point perfectly this morning.
Similarly, I have heard the same reason for gypsies having taken to their familiar coloured horses and ponies. In their case, it was said, they were able to turn them out into a farmer's field if there was poor grazing on the verges. Of course, they wanted to claim them before the farmer found out and having the white and coloured blazes made it easier to separate them from the farmer's own stock in the early dawn light before they were harnessed up and on the way, possibly the farmer the none-the-wiser.
Next time you're passing Farmer Ted's, have a look out for the little Belted Galloways. You can see them whether it's a clear day or not!
Galloway.jpg
Belted Galloways at Farmer Ted's

He ain't heavy, he's my heron

Posted by Cliff Birchall on February 14, 2008 10:50 AM

IT must be the time of year but herons are everywhere.
After spotting two of them in the field by Farmer Ted's yesterday morning, I spotted one of them flying over the field in the twilight as I went home.
Is a flying heron a graceful sight? It's certainly eye-catching. With head and bill drawn back into its shoulders and its long legs trailing behind, and wings beating with slow, deliberate movements, it always reminds me of a Lancaster Bomber, which just appears to hang in the sky hardly moving if you've been lucky enough to see one in flight.
Which got me thinking to how some other birds fly.
Pheasants explode from the roadside like a gaily-coloured Exocet, capable of colliding with anything which gets in its way, launched as it is in fright and without any care for where it's going.
Rooks cruise around like destroyers around a battleship, looking very slow and threatening, until they surprise you with amazing balletic displays near nesting time.
Woodpigeons are another bird which explode into the air. The enormous clap they make with their wings is always a wonder to hear.
Lapwings are always a joy to watch as they dive and soar, twist and turn in huge aerial displays in large groups. The Red Arrows couldn't do much better.
And I know that we shouldn't be anthropomorphic about animals and birds, although no-one seems to mind Henry Williamson doing it with his family of characters. Mind you, my favourite writing of his is The Village Book, something you'll only find in second hand shops if you're lucky these days. Worth a read if you find a copy as it's full of character portraits from a couple of Devon villages of the 1930s.
And a snippet from my emails today:-
Would you like to have your voice recorded for future generations to listen? The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire will be finishing making recordings for its Herbal Heritage project by the end of March and needs 6 more people to interview about their experiences and memories of using plants in the home.
“You don’t have to be an expert with herbs or any plants” explained Kim Coverdale, Senior Projects Officer with the Wildlife Trust. ”The project is about recording people’s memories and experiences even if you have no direct experience but can remember a relative using something like comfrey or knitbone, we would like to hear from you.”
Anyone taking part will receive a free copy of their recording and a free copy of the compilation CD which will be produced at the end of the project this year. The recordings will be stored at North West Sound Archive for future generations to listen to. The Herbal Heritage project, which will be completed by the end of this year, is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
If you wish to participate and share your experiences of plants in the home, please contact Kim Coverdale at the Burnley Office of The Wildlife Trust: Rachel-Kay Shuttleworth Building, ELVSRC, 62-64 Yorkshire Street, BURNLEY telephone 01282 704605 or e-mail kcoverdale@lancswt.org.uk

Heron update

Posted by Cliff Birchall on February 13, 2008 9:27 AM

After wondering about the sex of the heron yesterday, it could have been answered.
There were two in the field by Farmer Ted's this morning, so one imagines they could be a pair.
They were certainly animated, looking in the same part of the field as yesterday, althouth the gulls were in a different part of the field.
And in the field next to it, it looked as though a pair of rabbits were intent on making a new home for themselves.

The Shadow returns

Posted by Cliff Birchall on February 12, 2008 9:38 AM

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about the heron I had seen standing silently in the shadows of a hedge by the old Cheshire Lines.
He [or she] was out in the open this morning.
While sheep and gulls warmed up in the field immediately before Farmer Ted's, the heron was very active. It was walking about in a brisk fashion, keeping its eyes on the grass very near to the roadside and not at all bothered as traffic sped past.
Quite made my morning.
Further down the road, as the double bend drops down on to the flatlands, there was debris in the field and a giant hole in the hedge. An articulated lorry had turned over on to its side in the field yesterday afternoon, having come off the road as it came round the second bend. As ever, the farm lads made quick work of righting the cab with a tractor. The trailer would have been harder work, I imagine.
Music on the moss: given that last paragraph it should have been the late Clarence White's version of Truck Stop Girl from his time with The Byrds, but it isn't. It's still the first week of Lent so rock n roll is banned. Instead, we have Sr Marie Keyrouz, a Paris-based nun from the Melchite Church of Lebanon singing some exquisite Lenten chants and hymns.
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A nice study of a heron at Ince Blundell by Formby Times photographer Gavin Trafford

Syllabub sky

Posted by Cliff Birchall on February 11, 2008 9:10 AM

This morning's sky reminded me of a syllabub, that olde English dessert which separates into its component parts once it has been made.
There was a thick blue horizon which then shaded with a violet tinge, all the while losing its intensity of colour.
It grayed out until it hit the sky proper, a brilliant daylight blue which betrayed exactly how many airplanes fly over this part of the world, the frosty air capturing their vapour trails high up in the sky, forming long battalions of imitation clouds.
There was not much in the way of birdlife. Pheasants seem to be sensing that spring is around the corner and I saw cock birds starting to round up little feathered harems.
A couple of moorhens were sauntering through the winter wheat near to Great Altcar Parish Church.
It might seem cold outside first thing but the effectiveness of the early morning sun, thin though it may be, was demonstrated along Broad Lane. Fields of tussocky grassy on one side still held the frost while the short shoots in the field opposite were clear.
Music on the moss: It's Lent, so we've given up rock n roll for the time being. Instead we travel with John Taverner and the Tallis Scholars' performance of his Great Ode of St Andrew of Crete. Lovely music, seasonly solemn and with a message for all of us.

Hare today?

Posted by Cliff Birchall on February 5, 2008 4:47 PM

HAVE you noticed that there is one creature seemingly missing from the hedgerows and fields at the moment.
I’ve not spotted a brown hare for weeks.
Perhaps there is a special location where they go in the winter, keeping away from the roadside and verges.
I often wonder just how much difference the coursing ban has made on the hare population in these parts. Last year, when the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group was holding a special one-day course to train volunteers to help it survey brown hare populations in the county, I did ask if there was any record of what had happened to the hares around Great Altcar and Formby.
Unfortunately, no-one had enough data to make a reasoned guess. And with the land roundabout all being privately owned, it was difficult for anyone to survey the area.
I asked Jane Ashley , Lancashire Biodiversity Manager for the Wildlife Trust at the time if she had any idea if the hare coursing ban had made a difference. “I agree it would be interesting to look into changes, if any, in hare populations at Altcar since the end of the Waterloo Cup coursing, but the limitations in my particular survey prevent this,” she said.
“A substantial bank of data from Great Altcar and surrounding areas would be required, from both before and after the hunting-with-dogs ban, to draw any meaningful conclusions about its local effect. To the best of my knowledge, there is no such data set.”
So, we’re none the wiser. But another month and we should see the Mad March Hares again. But where have they been in the meantime?
Music on the Moss: some solid Chicago-style blues and soul-tinged R&B from Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, neighbours of Bruce Springstein and somewhat overshadowed by his success. Not to be ignored nonetheless, with some stinging guitar from Little Steven and hot harmonica from Johnny Lyon
hare.jpg
A Great Altcar hare running for its life before coursing was banned on the West Lancashire Plain, along with the rest of Britain

This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Man on the Moss in the February 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

January 2008 is the previous archive.March 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the home page or by looking through the archives.