Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy

HAPPY New Year. This is my wish to readers but it is also a comment on the wildlife of Lancashire, which enjoyed an excellent year.

I'm sure that all naturalists will remember their special days and here is my list.

Last winter I remember a day around Foulridge where I found a holly tree which was so heavy with berries that it seemed to be on fire.

Within days a flock of 25 waxwings discovered the berries and the tree was stripped bare.

Above the reservoirs I first heard and then saw a flock of more than 100 Canada geese and all save one sailed gracefully down to land on the surface of the water.

A large flock of birds hitting the water created an impressive splash.

The bird which selected an alternative landing point almost collided with me and landed within two metres of my feet.

It even ignored me as I pointed my camera at it. My summer memories also involved a day at Foulridge when I watched a sedge warbler among the reeds on a glorious morning.

By the afternoon I had reached the Yorkshire Dales and above the old lead mine workings at Grassington I saw one of the most beautiful flowers in Britain - the mountain pansy.

The mountain pansy is quite a rare plant but one of the most common plants in East Lancashire is the bluebell.

They looked at their best in late May and June and there were marvellous displays at Spring Wood, Whalley, a stretch on the old railway line between Great Harwood and Read at Martholme and at Mitton.

Late summer saw me take a trip to watch seabirds in Scotland and I enjoyed photographing the chicks of Manx shearwater which were so fluffy that they looked like a child's cuddly toy. The late 1990s seem likely to see a comeback for the Manx shearwater, which was once more common in the North West.

In Victorian times they earned their name by breeding in large numbers on the Calf of Man, a little islet off the main island. The colony was destroyed by rats but these have now been removed and the shearwaters are beginning to increase in numbers.

I'm going to visit the Isle of Man next year and see how the seabird colonies are faring.

The word Shearwater indicates that the birds fly close to the waves and actually cut (shear) the water.

My diary proves that the weather does not have to be perfect to be memorable.

On a September day which was heaving with rain, and so dull that it was almost dark, the scent of honeysuckle was so strong that I did not want to leave a hedgerow on the slopes of Pendle, near Downham.

Although it was wet it was quite warm and the insects were flying so low that I was able to sit on a damp bank and watch pipistrelle and long-eared bats catching their early supper.

Bats catch their prey by a sort of radar which is so high-pitched that it cannot be detected by the human ear. The sound, however, was within the range of my black labrador whose ears twitched continuously as the bats fed greedily. This has been a year when bats have had their fair share of the headlines.

For several years now they have been protected and are increasing in numbers, apart from a few of the rarer species.

This has led to some people suggesting that the protection should be removed.

It should not and people can be assured that even their droppings are free from both water and from bacteria.

The improvement in the quality of the Lancashire air and lower levels of pollution in our rivers and canals means that 1997 has maintained the steady improvement of recent years.

This is why I look forward to 1998 with interest and I am sure that the first set of recordings by our Nature Spies will be of interest.

Why don't you make a resolution to add your records to those of our regulars?

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