Snow Buntings are true Arctic specialists, thriving in barren, open habitats with sparse vegetation. They breed in high-latitude tundras but undertake impressively long migrations southward during winter to avoid the perpetual darkness and sub-zero temperatures.
Tag Archives: #Lancashire
The Controversial Practice of Controlled Burning (v2)
Version 2 of an article originally published in 2023, looking at the land management practice known as controlled burning, heather burning or muirburn, updated and amended with latest research, data, policy and regulations
Tommy Stroo’s Ghost by John Charles Twist
Th’ moon wur sheignin’ rare, an’ breet,
An’ stars wur twinklin’ o’er mi heyd,
When aw wur walkin’ deawn th’ owd street,
Wi’ Tommy Stroo’s ghost bi mi seyd.
Unnatural Histories; The Crier of Claife
For generations, ferrymen operating the historic crossing betwixt Ferry Nab and Sawrey knew better than to heed these unearthly cries after dark, for they knew that these were no ordinary pleas but rather the desperate howls of a damned soul.
The Common Inkcap, Coprinopsis atramentaria
As the autumn rains soak our countryside, the fruiting bodies of fungi sprout forth, bewitching us with their bewildering multitude of forms.
One of the most bizarre of these is the Common Inkcap.
Unnatural Histories; Burnley’s Boggarts
Lancashire’s misty moors and ancient lanes are inhabited by all sorts of weird and eldritch beings; witches, spectral dogs and highwaymen have haunted these parts for centuries. Yet few of these mythical entities evoke as much intrigue and trepidation as the boggart.
The Common Redshank
Regarding the Redshank, Tringa totanus, its Ecology, Conservation and Occurrence on the Coasts of Northwest England
Unnatural Histories; The Tragic Tale of Private Patrick McCaffery
In the latest addition to my Unnatural Histories collection I return to a part of Lancashire I grew up in to look deeper into the background of a ghost story we heard many times as children.
It is a tale of murder, trial, execution and haunting, and was made even more chilling for us as our tall red-brick town-house directly faced the black gates of the barracks it occurred in.
Northwest Nature and History 