March on

St David's day, March 1st marked the return of education  work on Cuerden Valley Park. It was a sunny dry if slightly cool day and we were delivering River Studies. We usually divide into two groups so that one can look at the geography and the other the biology. I usually take the young folk to discover biology. We use a kick sampling method and then examine our catch in the trays.

We managed to catch water mites, mayfly nymphs, cased caddisfly larvae, a bloodworm and a bullhead.

Sat March 3rd I decided to look for some geese round the Pilling moss area. The tide was out when I got to Lane Ends but there were still hundreds of pinkfooted geese on the saltmarsh. I then went towards Pilling village and passed some Whitefront geese feeding in a field nearby. Then being so close to Knott End I decided to look for the black redstart that has been there all year. It was very confiding, constantly flitting from the building site to a small boat upturned on the shore. There was also some coltsfoot in flower at this site. 

Total now 223