(Excerpt) Lancashire’s coast offers a great plethora of habitats for sea creatures trying to find a home, here you may find wide expanses of sandy beach, mile-upon-mile of glutinous mudflat and salt-marsh, hidden rock-pools, secret coves and a bewildering variety of man-made structures including piers, groynes, jetties, and sea walls.
Tag Archives: #Lancashire
Dunsop Calling
Deep in the heart of the Forest of Bowland, standing in the corner of a tidy and well-kept village green that is reckoned to be the closest to the centre of the United Kingdom, stands an unassuming steel-and-glass telephone kiosk that holds a very special and unique place in British history.
Unnatural Histories: The Haunting Hounds of the North
Great Britain is famously haunted by phantom black dogs, a great pack of monstrous mongrels seemingly spread to all four corners of the realm, but while East Anglia boasts its Black Shuck, Devon its Whisht Hounds, the Isle of Man the Moddey Dhoo and Wales its Cŵn Annwn; the Dogs of Annwn, Northwest England possesses an especially chaotic catalog of spectral canines.
How to Spot the Orionid Meteor Shower in Northwest England (2026 Guide)
The Orionid meteor shower, one of autumn’s most reliable displays of “shooting stars”, remains active across British skies until the 7th of November this year. Its peak occurred on the nights of the 21st and 22nd of October, but activity continues (though at lower rates) for another couple of weeks, giving observers in northwest England more chances (if the weather cooperates that is).
Unnatural Histories: T’ hole in t’ Castle Keep
Up on top o’ yon rocky hill stands Clitheroe Castle, which I telt ye all about afore, it’s one o’ t’ smallest keeps in all England, an as’ stood theer for more nor eight hundred year, lookin’ out ower Ribble Valley. But on t’ side o’ that keep, just above t’ door, there’s a gurt big hole. Not a neat winder, mind thee, a proper jagged hole, big enough for a man to lean through, an’ it’s allus been theer as long as folk can remember.
Plecotus auritus, the Halloween Bat
Brown Long-eared bats emerge late, after full darkness, to hunt and their echolocation calls are very quiet to avoid being detected by prey (they are simetimes called “whispering bats”), so bat detectors only pick them up at close range (typically under 5m). They are very skilled at gleaning insects from foliage while hovering or flying slowly, as well as catching prey in flight.
Coprinellus micaceus, the Glistening Inkcap
(Excerpt) Glistening Inkcaps (Coprinellus micaceus) are one of the most common and easily recognised Inkcap mushrooms in the British Isles and are widespread and frequently encountered wherever suitable dead wood is present.
Born in Preston to Design the World, the History of BDP
The Building Design Partnership, known simply as BDP, is one of Britain’s most significant design practices, and its long history is closely interwoven with that of my family’s.
Today it operates as an international firm of architects, engineers, urban designers, landscape architects, interior designers and related specialists, with its headquarters in Manchester and studios across Britain and overseas.
