• Two members decided to make the most of a better forecast after all the gloom and rain and take a walk along the river.
  • It happened to be the 3rd Thursday of the month so in other years this has been our usual meeting.
  • At Linton the noise of the Falls was almost deafening and the river looked spectacular. The path was predictably muddy but at least the sun was shining.
  • This seemed to have brought out lots of walkers including 2 groups who, noticing our binoculars, told us to look out for a Kingfisher and an Otter further downstream.  We were , sadly, unlucky.   However, we did spot some interesting birds.  As we stopped for our picnic at Loup Scar we heard and then saw a large group of about 10 Long tailed Tits and later saw 2 further  groups, always a delight to watch and hear them as they flit through the trees.
  • In front of us on the river was a pair of Mallard and swimming and diving very close to us 2 Goosander, either female or juveniles. They stayed nearby for a long time.  I’ve never seen them so unafraid and seeming to socialise with the Mallard.
  • We also saw 2 Dipper, a large flock of Starling, Blackbird, Robin, Blue tit Black headed Gulls and, surprisingly, 7 Oystercatchers . Perhaps they didn’t fancy the trip to Morecambe!
  • Near Hebden we bumped into 4 UWFS members and had a pleasant chat discussing, among other things, fungi which we noticed on a lying and rotten tree trunk further down stream.
  • It was a lovely walk and celebrated, as on other Christmas walks, with some Stollen but no sloe gin this time.
  • Let us hope that we will be able to resume our monthly outings before too long.
  • We send you our best wishes for good health in the coming days.
  • Win and Christine.