(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: #Southport
The Vikings still Speak
In Lancashire’s west where the salt winds roar, the Vikings left names on the sand and the shore. Formby the farmland that Forni did claim, Ainsdale the valley that carries Einulf’s name.
Ring O’ Clogs
What ses Lancasheer to thee,
is it Blackpoo’ by the sea?
Is it wet ond muggy days,
ships on t’Mersey through the aze,
blackpuddings on a plate in’t shops,
is it shawls or whippet dogs,
or is it just the ring o’ clogs.
Northern Shores: The Common Tern
Adults are very smart and distinguished in their breeding plumage, sporting a silvery-grey back and upperwings, a clean white underbody, and a distinctive black cap. Their bill is long and orangey-red with a black tip, while their legs are short and red. In flight, they show a buoyant, floating style with narrow, angular wings, often hovering before plunging to catch prey.
Northern Shores: Ammophila arenaria, Aeolian Architect
Marram grass, Ammophila arenaria, also known as European beachgrass, is one of our most iconic and ecologically important maritime plant species. A tough, perennial grass it thrives in the harsh, windswept conditions of coastal sand dunes, where few other species can survive.
Northern Shores: Bladderwrack
Bladder wrack, Fucus vesiculosus, is a familiar sight to anyone who has wandered our coasts, a member of the brown algae family, it is easily identified by its flattened, leathery fronds that branch repeatedly in a dichotomous pattern, splitting evenly into two like a fork.
Northern Shores: Mermaid’s Purses
If you walk along almost any beach from the Mersey to the Solway after winter storms you may find the curious leathery pouches known as “mermaid’s purses” washed up on the tideline.
Tarleton Then and Now
A Condensed History of the Lancashire Village of Tarleton, Spanning from its Viking Origins to the Modern Day At the heart of West Lancashire’s fertile mosslands, roughly 19 miles northeast of Liverpool and 9 miles southwest of Preston, sits Tarleton, a quiet and pretty village that owes its existence to the fertility of the surroundingContinue reading “Tarleton Then and Now”
