Highfield Moss

Couldn't resist another visit to this site today. Having just spent 6 hours on Hilbre from early morning, a 20 mile round trip bike ride to Lowton perhaps wasn't the best idea, but at least I felt fit and healthy at the end of it!

Black Darter (left) and Devil's-bit Scabious. I was really pleased to get such a nice photo of the darter, which has always eluded me in the past.

Spot the difference


Gorse (left) - a big bushy plant with grey / green spikes and branches, and lots of twiglets coming off the branches. Western Gorse (right) - a small plant with yellowy green spikes and branches, and no twiglets. Oh yeah, and one's in full flower whilst the other is in seed........

Highfield Moss, Lowton

A little known site in the north west is Highfield Moss at Lowton, just behind the Travellers Rest pub, and frustratingly 200 yards outside St Helens! It's only a small site, but has some excellent mosssland, with the star attraction being the nationally scarce Marsh Gentian, of which I found about 35 flower heads. In previous years I have counted up to 115, but it seems to be declining at the site.
But it's not just about gentians, and there are lots of other interesting plants, such as the fly eating Round-leaved Sundew, Western Gorse, Goldenrod, Devil's-bit Scabious, Cross-leaved Heath and lots more, as well as a couple of nice looking dragonfly pools.

Marsh Gentian (left) and Round-leaved Sundew (right).

Emerald Damselfly. A largish damselfly, which tends to sit with it's wings spread rather than along the body, which accounts for it's other name, Common Spreadwing. Notice also its eyes, which are seperated, unlike most dragonflies where the eyes touch.

A gem of a site! On the right, Goldenrod.

Western Gorse (left), flowers between July and October. All of the commoner gorse was in seed and is a much bigger plant. This was the only plant in flower, and it was in full flower! On the right is Cross-leaved Heath.

Sankey Valley, Cambourne Pond

Kingfisher 1

Eccleston Mere

Marsh Harrier 1 probably juv. flew south over fields.
Scoter sp. 4 flew over north east, presumably Common.
Shoveler 1
Teal 1
Buzzard 1
Pochard 1 f

Frustratingly I couldn't say what the Scoter were for sure, but there was no doubt about the harrier, which although it was in view for just a minute or so before it disappeared over the trees, was without question Marsh!

Silver Howe and Blea Rigg, Grasmere, Cumbria

Despite the poor summer, it was yet another beautiful day to be in the Lake District, so it seemed a shame not to visit Grasmere once again. Some really spectacular views across Langdale, and in the opposite direction Helvelyn and Fairfield.

Star of the day, Golden-ringed Dragonfly. We saw two, a male a female flying along a small stream high up on Silver Howe. A beautiful location to find Britains largest dragonfly. My third new dragonfly species this year.

On other pools we saw several Black Darters and a few Common Hawkers, but no Keeled Skimmers this week.

Male Golden-ringed Dragonly (left) are quite a bit smaller than the females. Black Darter (right), a lot smaller than either male or female Golden-ringed, in fact probably about a third the size!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly habitat (left) on Silver Howe, and Common Hawker and Black Darter habitat (right). Now own up, it's a bit more scenic than either Bold Moss or the Sankey Valley! In the left hand photo you can see Fairfield in the background, in the right, Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and Harrison Stickle.

A dragon at Seaforth and 3 Wood Sands at Martin Mere

For the third week running we started off the day at Seaforth and ended it at Martin Mere. Seaforth was fairly quiet, but we did see this magnificent Common Hawker dragonfly.


The close up photo on the right shows not only its amazing eyes, but also most of the features which identify this as Common Hawker, as opposed to Migrant, Southern or even Southern Migrant! The eyes are blue above and brown below, the thorax (side of the body) is brown with two yellow stripes, the antehumeral stripes (the yellow stripes behind the eyes) are long and thin, there is a yellow leading edge to the wing. On the left hand photo, you can also see the "pinched" waist.

At Martin Mere, there were now three Wood Sandpipers showing nicely from the Ron Barker hide, with a Water Rail, two Marsh Harriers and a handful of Ruff.

Quail Rainford bypass

Just had the bizarre experience of biking it along the Rainford bypass, alongside a Quail which ran alongside the bike for about 3 yards, before flying off into cover. Between Dairy Farm Road and Siding Lane.