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

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Bearded tit

Occasional rare visitors, like the osprey, promote great excitement on the grapevine for ‘twitchers’, and Leighton Moss is invaded by keen bird watchers from a wide area. There is a public hide on the Causeway; access to the reserve hides is free to RSPB members, but a charge is made to non-members.

Walking seasons

Walking in the Silverdale and Arnside area can be enjoyed throughout the year. Springtime, with its abundant flowers, and the colourful displays of autumn are especially rewarding. Summer is the busiest time, with the greatest influx of human visitors. In winter vast flocks of birds can be seen in Morecambe Bay, and the weather is often good for walking here when the nearby Lake District is shrouded in mist and rain. The woods can also provide sheltered walking in strong winds.

Every season holds a special charm. Perhaps most rewarding is late spring, when the trees are bursting to life with delicate fresh green leaves, and flowers carpet the floor of the woodlands in a spray of colour – whether it is purple violets, white wood anemones, yellow primroses or daffodils or the pink of herb robert. Almost all year round the woodland carpet is dog’s mercury. Its early shoots accompany the earliest flowers, and its leaves hide the ground providing a backdrop for more colourful flowers during the rest of the year.