Wednesday 3 April 2013

All doom and gloom...

I would have loved to bring you photos of the fells covered in snow whilst the sun shone on the beach, or the volunteers erecting a fence whilst Barrow off shore wind farm towered above them.  Instead our camera has become clogged up with sand and the lens now refuses to move, so I can’t.  This is a regular hardship we have to endure working on a beach!

This time last year I would have been writing exciting news about our emerging natterjack toads, however this year there is no sign of them.  We have just put in our dams to raise the water levels in the artificial toad scrapes but they have been frozen ever since.  We have a natterjack guided walk on the 19th April and I’m starting to get a little nervous that there will be nothing to see.
Birds are a strange one too.  Many of our winter waders have disappeared but with the exception of an early Chiffchaff on the 19th March, we can’t bring you news of the arrival of any of our summer migrants.
Flowers remain dormant.  Only in the sheltered dips with full sunlight will you get a glimpse of our dune pansies and even then in small numbers.

Easter remained fairly busy for us though, as a constant stream of people visited for a quick, bracing walk along the beach taking in spectacular views across the estuary.  We put on a display along the boardwalks about some of the creatures you might find washed up on the beach.  The high tides usually bring in some gems but unless they were keeping quiet, no body found anything note worthy.

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