Читать книгу Walks in Silverdale and Arnside. 21 easy walks exploring the AONB онлайн

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Many walkers who are not especially interested in birds do not realise the significance of the intense activity which takes place on the estuary and the moss. It is of international importance. Many birds use the estuary as a staging post on a long migratory journey, such as greenshank and whimbrel on their way from the Arctic to Africa. White wagtails pass in spring on their way to Iceland, while pink-footed geese fly over from their breeding grounds below the icecaps of Central Iceland. It is worth a special visit to the coast in winter to see the vast flocks of dunlin, knot, oystercatcher, blacktailed godwit and redshank which gather on the edge of the tide. In spring many of them migrate northwards, to Scandinavia and Russia, to breed. Shelduck, a colourful bird which finds its food in the estuary mud, is often seen in large numbers. They breed in the area, often inland in rabbit holes, and make a strange moult migration to Heligoland in Germany, returning in mid-September.

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