NOBODY will forget the foot and mouth outbreak and enough has been said and written about the disease. It is now time to reflect upon the few positive features of the outbreak.

All sensible ramblers and naturalists kept away from the countryside and this allowed the birds and mammals to get on with their lives without disturbance.

The sightings of grey wagtails, dippers, kingfishers and sand martins around bridges, suggests that successful breeding populations were established.

I missed one of my favourite summer walks along the riverside but there is no doubt that however careful we are, we do disturb many birds trying to roost, feed and breed in an area.

Obviously foot and mouth did not affect the islands around the coastline where huge numbers of sea birds spend a few hectic months before returning to the open sea, which always has an abundance of food.

The highlight of my year was a visit to Bass Rock, an island off the coast of North Berwick near Edinburgh.

More than 20,000 pairs of gannet breed on the rock.

The gannet, with its wing span of almost six feet is Europe's largest sea bird.

It feeds by catching fish which it surprises by diving from heights of up to 100 feet head first into the water.

This puts tremendous strain on the neck of the gannet and recent research has shown that the vertebrae in this area are specially strengthened.

They work just like shock absorbers and it goes to show that nature is indeed the mother of invention.

Many naturalists think that wild flowers will have benefited from the reduction of visitors to meadows and woodlands.

Perhaps in 2002 we will appreciate how important wild flowers once were to our ancestors.

They had no chemists shops and they therefore had much more herbal knowledge than most of us.

During the summer I spent some time photographing plants which have been important to human health over the centuries.

Burdock was used as a tonic and so was dandelion which was excellent for "flushing out the kidneys."

We still drink dandelion and burdock to this day. Meadowsweet flowers and willow bark both contain salicylic acid, which we know better as aspirin.

The year 2001 seems to have produced one of the most attractive displays of autumn colours.

I particularly noticed this because I visited Canada in what North Americans call their fall.

The colours are always wonderful there, but when I arrived home I found that if anything the colours in Lancashire this year were even better.

The fruits and seeds were also impressive, especially the red berries of lords and ladies.

I regard this plant as something very special because its leaves appear in early spring. The flowers are fascinating in the summer and the red berries of autumn are truly beautiful.

We are very lucky in Lancashire because in winter the birdwatching is the best in Europe.

I looked at my diary notes for January 2001 and noted that I visited the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve at Martin Mere, Southport.

There I watched more than one thousand whooper swans and 15,000 pink footed geese, along with lots of other wildfowl and waders.

As you start to recover from eating and drinking too much, you may well face the need for some gentle exercise. Martin Mere has a comfortable restaurant and shop as well as an extensive nature trail covering nearly 400 acres.

On cold winter days the hides provide protection and the sight of thousands of wild birds is guaranteed.

We must all hope that the foot and mouth outbreak fades into history. Let us try to make 2002 a good one for farmers, those involved in tourism and those of us who love the countryside.