Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Friday, 24 January 2014

Lancashire: Southport to Tarleton 12/6/2004*


 

Early marsh orchid
 
The Crossens erratic (bottom right corner!)
 
From Southport pier we walked along the esplanade in a strong wind.  Saltmarsh began to creep in below the sands, but there were plenty of shells thrown up here and we made a good collection, including several pelican’s foot.  We walked beside the road north, passing several hides in the Ribble Estuary bird reserves.  A small roadside marsh had both northern and early marsh orchids, but there were to be few interesting flowers today.  One large RSPB centre had a glass-windowed lookout over the nesting avocets and other ducks, geese and waders, including shoveller.  It also had welcome loos, which did not appear to exist in Southport.  Lapwings, redshank and oystercatchers were all nesting across the grassy saltmarsh.  We had to follow the road round to the northern tip of Southport (Crossens) to a stream-crossing at Fiddlers Ferry, where there was a large granite boulder, an erratic from the Ice Age, brought all the way from Criffen in Scotland, where this particular rock type uniquely exists in situ.  We took a footpath out to a long straight embankment fronting the saltmarsh, although silting had produced quite an area of dry marsh, usable as pasturage, while inland of the bank were arable crops.  Near Old Hollow Farm we sat below the crest on the leeward side of the bank out of the wind, to eat our sandwiches freshly made for us this morning in Southport, while watching lapwings, shelduck, oystercatchers, swifts, martins and gulls using the fields.  A break in the embankment after 4km forced a return to the nearest road, to take its bridge across the stream, returning up the other side, a forced extension of 3km.  Some 3km of straighter embankment was made more difficult by the council having laid a narrow line of cement to mark the Lancashire Coastal Way (impossible to balance on and without room to walk beside). Val fell over at one place. In other places hampered by lack of upkeep, our progress slowed considerably.  This continued as the bank followed the curve of the river Asland, a tributary of the Ribble, but walking conditions gradually improved as we approached the village of Hesketh Bank, where we saw other walkers for the first time that day.  We followed the path beside a boatyard here down to Tarleton, where we returned to the main road south to catch a bus back to Southport near the centre.

 
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