Rufford & Mere Sands Nature Reserve

Our 4.7369 miles (7.6233 km) route today, has been saved and is available at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6755456

We started from the car park, in Meadow Lane, next to Rufford Station.
As you can see from the map, we headed back towards the canal and joined the towpath, heading South towards Lock Number 7.
Large Fungi, growing on grass cuttings were spotted very soon after joining the towpath...

 ...and then, on the opposite bank of the canal, what appeared to be a jackdaw on a goose's back...

It turned out to be a goose with a damaged wing!
After the lock, just before the swing-bridge, two swans came to see if we had brought any food...

 They were very quiet...

 ...and came very close to us...

 ...sadly we hadn't brought any food for them.

Poor planning.
We were impressed with the new path, just after Brick Kiln Lane, along the edge of the stream...

 ...it made it possible to look around far more than we were able to in the past.
Lots of sightings of black birds, a thrush and robins...

 Eventually we reached Mere Sands Nature Reserve and, as predicted by the weather forecast, the sun came out.

 Entering, the Nature Reserve...

 ...we walked clockwise around the edge, until we reached the exit, near Woodlands Animal Sanctuary.
We saw a lot of birds, including...

• Ducks,
• Robins,
• Blackbirds, 
• Gold Finch,
• Great Tits,
• Blue Tits,
• Tree Creepers,
• Moorhens and
• Coots,

We also saw two large Grey Squirrels as well as a large carved, wooden one...

 There are some leaves hanging on but most have carpeted the woodland floor...

 We crossed a number of bridges on our walk, including one next to a small, man-made waterfall...

 The reflections of autumnal trees and blue sky, in the meres, was very pretty; I took a couple of pictures from one of the bird-hides...

 There were quite a few waterfowl on the meres but the geese, in the main, could be heard on the fields around and about...

 Bracket Fungus on Silver Birch was also spotted...

 On leaving the Reserve we walked past fields of leeks...

 ...and other crops.
There were lots of options for walks as well, with footpaths heading off in various directions...

 Eventually we looped back to the canal, crossing Town Meadow Swing-bridge to head back towards the car...

 As planned we called into Fettler's Wharf for lunch; the, what was a Coffee Shop, was now Tastebuds Cafe...

...which provided us with a very nice lunch.

"Another enjoyable Sunday Meander on a cold but sunny day! Well worth following our steps, if you can!"

Like busses this is the 4th & I've caught-up!

Today I've been catching-up with walks covered during December.

Todays 4.5627 mile route is available at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6162053
It's the fourth I've posted today.
If you've read them, I hope you've enjoyed them.
Today we returned to Rufford, in part due to an article in the Lancashire Walks and Wildlife Magazine.
We didn't stick rigidly to the route as it would have been almost exactly the same as one we've done in the past. So with a few tweaks, we  set off from the carpark, over the River Douglas and along Meadow Lane.
To say the path was muddy, was an understatement.

 Again we've been luck with the weather, the sun shining but a cold wind. The Wind farm dominates the horizon...

 ...for most of the first third of the walk.

 With the low position of the sun at this time of year, visibility was often through squinting eyes or, because of the cold wind, through tears from weeping eyes.

Walking along side the stream...

...as we headed towards Black Moor Road, it was important to avoid low branches.

Horses, in their purple coats, turn their rears to the bitter wind as we headed down lanes eventually crossing a swing bridge. Skiens of geese often disturbed our walk, encouraging skyward glances.

Many of the meadows were flooded with sheep crossing streams/full ditches to reach the greener grass on the other side.

After an enjoyable sunny, albeit windy walk we returned to the car and headed off to the Olde Barn for lunch and to purchase local grown vegetables.

Barn Owl, Kestrel, Buzzards and more!

Today was very much a bird watchers dream. Setting off from the car park near Rufford Station, it wasn't far into the walk when both Chris and I saw the Barn Owl ahead of us.

I don't think we saw very much for sometime as we constantly looked at the hedge row and railway bank where (s)he headed. We were lucky as we caught two or three glimpses.
Our 5.9163 mile route can be viewed at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6145659. 

At the Sluice,don't make the error that I made, follow the map and don't continue straight on but turn right over the second bridge. 

Turning left at the end of the next field. The path is then very obvious as you turn right. Along here we disturbed a roosting Kestrel.

The three wind turbines dominate the skyline with Winter Hill and the TV masts on the horizon. Teasles were a big attraction for Yellow Hammers and GoldFinch. Looking at Parbold Hill, Harrock Hill and Winter Hill brought back fond memories of our journey along the Lancashire Trail.

Turning left where, if you are observant, the Mawdesley Jubilee Trail Signs are visible on broken fence posts.(http://www.mawdesley-village.org.uk/pdf/mjt.pdf)
We headed along a farm track to Carr Lane.

Across a field on the left of Carr Lane, we cut through to the junction of Drinkhouse Lane and Drinkhouse Road. Along here we passed some houses with the traditional Vaccary Fence.

3 miles from the start and we were briefly on Moss Lane before cutting right to cross the Ormiskirk to Preston Railway Line. 

Currently there are no trains on Sundays.

It was along this part of the walk that we first heard their call  and then saw the Buzzards.

Passing Fours Wood

and a large pond 

we crossed a bridge

into field full of sheep who, once one of them set off at a gallop, all ran to group together. 

Out onto Meadow Lane (the A581) we crossed the road bridge, over the River Douglas and sharp left onto the raised flood defence bank.

Even this far inland, the Douglas is tidal.

The car park of Rufford Old Hall, viewed across the fields and the Rufford Arm of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, was busy and smoke could be seen rising from the Hall's chimneys.

Back under the Railway we emerged,next to the Fishing Lake, onto Station Road the B5246.

We'd decided,out of the options available to us, to have lunch at Fettler's Wharf Marina

at Thowd Boatman's Cabin.

Very enjoyable and, even if you don't want to do the walk, well worth a visit.

Back to the Car park brought our walk to its conclusion.

Rufford - Mawdesley: revisited

Today we revisited the Rufford - Mawdesley walk covering 6.2857 miles; the route can be seen here http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5995385.

Route

The walk took us through the Douglas Valley and the lanes around the two villages and the Rufford arm of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

Bridge Number 5

If you decide to do the walk, note that the car park, at the station, is near to the National Trust's Rufford Hall. That could also be a starting point.
We started the walk just off the A59 at the car park just mentioned. Please be aware that, at the time of writing this, there are no trains on a Sunday.
Some of the paths were a little overgrown, as can be seen here.

Damp legs from the tall grass.

Although a hot sunny day, we got damp legs!
I didn't tell Chris about the bridge...

...over River Douglas

... but she coped very well. From memory, she didn't the first time we did the walk.
We saw a wide range of different wild flowers, 

birds, 

5 cygnets

(including man-made art work)

Jay art-work

butterflys and other wildlife.
The colours and patterns of growing crops also add to the beauty of this walk.

Potato flower

We also saw many domesticated animals, sheep, cows, horses and this star of them all...

All in all an enjoyable sunny walk that included a number of options for refreshments. 
We had an ice cream and a drink in the marina just before we got back to the car. And very good it was as well.