The estuary blues
Winter has truly set in this week, below zero temperatures nipping at your cheeks and numbing your ears in the cold air. On arrival at Fairhaven Lake , you're immediately greeted by a colony of gulls stood like statues on the frozen lake, whilst ducks and swans make the most of a small patch thawing in the sun. Even the odd Redshank forced from it's preferred hang out on the estuary taking its chances on the lake edge. These 'sentinels of the marsh' usually the first to baulk at the approach of a human now seemingly relatively relaxed in search of critters on the lakeside.
The estuary mudflats are once again home to a myriad of over-wintering waders and wildfowl. Shelduck filtering countless numbers of tiny Hydrobia snails from the mud whilst the longer billed waders probe for other shellfish such as Baltic Tellin and Peppery-furrow Shells, their empty shells easy to spot on the beaches. Murmurations of Knot are a frequent sight at this time of year, every bit as fabulous as the perhaps more well known Starling ones. Shimmering and twinkling their pale underwings in the sun's reflection as they fly, seemingly as one body across the glistening blue sea and sky.
Turnstone, often one of the closest onshore wading birds, doing exactly as you would expect. Uncovering and turning stones over on the beach in search of hidden morsels. Blink though and you might miss them, their camouflage works so well for them I have witnessed many a person walk right by them, totally unaware of their presence. Being less flighty than Redshank, they do tend to tolerate company on their patch slightly better.
Our wader walk with Ribble Bird Tours on Sunday 3 December, saw us observing some of the waders we would expect to see on the estuary actually on Fairhaven Lake itself! Walking from the Visitor Centre our eyes were drawn to some small statuesque waders standing on the lake, which turned out to be Dunlin, two of these tiny waders were then spotted right on the lake edge, providing fabulous views of a wader usually seen from a much greater distance. It really allowed us to appreciate their tiny size and revel in amazement as we chatted about their long distance migrations.
Our Christmas walk is also now live which is our final walk of 2023 and has proven very popular over the last few years. Taking a slightly longer route from Lytham Windmill to Lytham Quays on 29 Dec 9.30-12.30. Booking is advised.
Fairhaven Lake shop
As Christmas edges ever closer we have some great sustainable ideas in the form of wrapping paper, cards and crackers. Avoiding glittery paper, which is non recyclable we have wrapping paper that is sustainably sourced and made out of recycled paper and even the shrink wrap is fully compostable. Similarly Christmas cards are also produced on sustainably sourced card and are also fully recyclable as are our crackers. Instead of wasteful plastic gifts our crackers contain more useful and eco friendly gifts. My favourite being the pin badge crackers. The RSPB have been selling pin badges to raise funds since 1990 and this year's Christmas crackers contain 6 unique Christmas versions.
Why not pop into the shop to see how you can make your Christmas more eco-friendly?
See you soon
Jo
Dunlin stood on a frozen Fairhaven Lake, Redshank on ice and a selection of Christmas products on display in the Visitor Centre by Jo