As part of the Black Combe Walking Festival, there will be a chance to take a walk with the RSPB and enjoy the excitement of spring at their Hodbarrow Nature Reserve, near Millom on Tuesday 31 May.
This free and easy guided walk will follow the trails through the reserve, which at this time of year have an abundance of singing birds in the bushes, butterflies fluttering around and flowers in full bloom.
Hodbarrow is a fantastic place to enjoy some of Cumbria’s best wildlife. Our staff and volunteers have been working hard over the winter to keep the place in ideal condition for the wildlife which thrives here. The walking festival is a great opportunity to explore the local area and enjoy nature along the way.
Hodbarrow is home to many breeding birds that visit for the summer, and they can be heard singing to defend their territories in spring. Nature lovers will be thrilled to see blackcaps, whitethroats and the rarer lesser whitethroats. The browner birds like sedge, reed, garden and grasshopper warblers and chiffchaffs are a challenge to tell apart, but have fantastic songs that provide a lovely background chorus.
Along the walk, wardens will also point out some of the more unusual plants that grow in the grasslands, from bee orchids and dark red helleborines to the rare pillwort. They hope to spot some grayling and dark green fritillary butterflies too.
This walk is a great introduction to anyone who fancies finding out more about Hodbarrow and it’s wildlife, as well as being of real interest to more knowledgeable naturalists. We hope you’ll join us.”
The walk starts at 10.30 am at the car park at the end of Mainsgate Road. It will last around two hours and will cover around two miles.
Norman Holton, senior site manager.