Redcurrant Jelly, from bush to plate in a day.

The currant bushes have done exceptionally well this year, they seem to thrive on the wet weather and lack of sun.

Large tangy sweet berries.

Rowan loves helping.

Into the pan.

A pair of the wife's tights to strain out seeds  an stalks.

The finished produce. 

Set just in-time for dinner, mmmmh. 

Happy St George's Day!

Just a little post to say Happy St George's and to mention how proud I am of my wonderful wife who delivered our second son Evan James today at 2.22pm a healthy 9lbs. I am the luckiest man alive to have such a great, loving family, what more could a man want? A happy day indeed.

Feeding the Ducks.

Not really been out since December, everything has been pretty hectic lately with real life things so not had much time to update the blog ect. Me an my wife are due our second child, he was due yesterday but still no signs and things have been full swing around the the house and garden.

Me and my son went for a short ride today, after heavy rain this morning it brightened up after lunch so we decided to get out an go feed the ducks at a local pond.

My son was made up to find a female mallard with her brood wandering around the pond when we got there.  The pond is a man made one in a local business park. There is always ducks, geese an swans here and also koi and goldfish that catch any food that escape the birds.

Not far from the park a group of travellers are camped up and have there horses tethered on the grass verges so we rode up and my son fed them apples and carrots, the travellers have been in the area for the last 2 months and keep being moved from there camps. They have caused no problems but they do leave the camps an extreme mess when they move, rumour has it that they are trying to stay till the Appleby Horse Fair, then they will move on, one thing is for sure, they aren't very happy with our hospitality in Warrington.

When we got home the weather was lovely and Rowan was straight in the garden checking on his tadpoles.

Climbing hydrangea,  apple with wild strawberry's an forget-me-nots at its base planted behind pond.

 
I found this small moulded pond dumped last year and took it home, after checking if it was water tight (which it was) we came up with a plan where to put it in the garden. I had always wanted a wildlife pond, as there has always been frogs in the garden but now they have somewhere to spawn. We built the raised area out of old sleepers that I got of a friend who found them buried in his garden when he moved into a new house. It has attracted an abundance of wildlife, in its first year we have seen Damselfly's mating and laying eggs and birds drinking from the water. Dipping we have found smooth newts, great pond snails, water boatmen, Waterlouse, and many other tiny creatures. I even got the video below of a male common frog calling to a female.

Rowan then helped me clean out the chickens house and give them fresh straw.

We have 2 chickens a Light Sussex and a Warren, we had a Rhode island red cockerel  but had to get rid of him as the council were on our back because of his crowing, he now resides on a local fishery and have 50 acres to strut his stuff. The 2 hens give us a dozen eggs a week and cost very little to feed, there straw and droppings makes great compost for the garden, they eat lots of scraps and most of the weeds from the garden and do a great job at clearing beds for me.

The hen house was bought second hand from someone in the area who got rid of there hens because they didn't have time to care for them, I cleaned it then painted it red an white trying to go for a american barn look! The run was made mostly from wood found in skips and from demolition sites, the roof came from a carport that had been taken down in the local area. The only parts that where bought where the sheet of wood for the back and the wire mesh.

Fresh eggs daily mmmh

A ride to Moore Nature Reserve

On Tuesday, since the weather was so nice me an Johnny decided to go for a ride. Moore nature reserve has to be one of my favourite places to visit in Warrington.

The journey took us through Warrington town centre onto Slutchers lane by Bank Quay train station, the picture above was taken from the back of the RSPCA centre looking at a railway bridge crossing the river Mersey. This to us is where the best part of the journey begins, from here on there's plenty of wildlife to be seen.

Johnny heading down the banks of the Mersey

We saw a pair of cormorants along the river but the pictures didn't turn out great. Just before we got to the bridge we stopped so I could look at some Jews ear fungi growing on a old Elder, I noticed a few loose bricks and upon investigation I found a geocahe by complete accident.

Reading the rules on geocaching.

Under the bridge there was some good graffiti, Johnny particularly liked the one with a Aum ॐ. 

Then a short distance down the banks another railway bridge across the river, this one has a footpath that we used to cross.

Over the bridge, along a service road an through a few gates and we are nearly there, head to the first bench to have a cup of tea, and sandwiches made from Christmas dinner leftovers mmmh cant be beat.

Love this path, looks lovely no matter what season.

Tea an Butties Mmmmh!

The reeds on the left are growing out of a old disused canal (Leeds-Liverpool I think), this is where johnny spotted a brood of young long-eared owls sitting in a tree above him a few years back.

This path leads out onto the Arpley Landfill site, the whole of Moore nature reserve including the moss woods are privately owned by the Waste Recycling Group but are open to the public, there have been many petitions to close the landfill.

There are 5 lakes as well as several smaller ponds, grassland and reed-beds at Moore. These areas provide an ideal habitat for a large range of wildlife, there was even a bittern spotted last month.
Sighting's at Moore.

Wetland with colony of gulls from the landfill!

From here we carried on around to the entrance of the reserve where we locked the bikes up and proceeded on foot. We think we saw a Hen Harrier on the grassland facing fiddlers ferry but are not 100% as I managed to scare it away, clumsily trying to get closer to get a pic.

Fiddlers ferry power station.

There was some lovely views around the reserve, and the good weather made them that much better here's a few more photos of things we seen on the way around.

Lovely Day.

Johnny at a bench.

There were owl pellets everywhere.

Johnny at another bench, looking over a lake.

Moss an Lichens, I know, I'm a geek.

Wildfowl watching from hide on lake.

Squirrel? Vole?

After a good walk around and a few cups of a tea we headed of home, was a good day out and some good exercise to burn of all the food over christmas, Thanks for looking, J

A ride up to rixton claypits

Today me and my good friend Johnny took a ride out on the bikes to a local nature reserve Rixton Claypits. This area was once farm land, then in the 1920's they began extracting clay which left several deep pits. In 1965 all work stopped at the site and nature was left to take over, the pits filled with water and it became a magnet for wildlife. In 1990 the whole site became a S.S.S.I. (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and in  2000 became a S.A.C. (Special Area of Conservation) site due to having large populations of Great Crested Newts. 

Looking back at Thelwall Viaduct, from the banks of the Mersey.

We took the scenic route there along the banks of the River Mersey, as you can probably tell by the photo the day was a bit miserable, cold and damp due to the mist, but riding kept us warm.


There are now sheep at Rixton Claypits, these are Hebridean's owned by Cheshire wildlife trust, and are used for 'conservation grazing' more info can be found about them HERE as a PDF download on page 3. 

I also got a few photos of some fungi.

Cramp Ball or a young bracket fungus?

Bracket fungi.

Peek-A-Boo!

I enjoy photographing different fungi and have far to many pics to show on here. Johnny spotted the one below growing on dead grass stems that I find very interesting, if anyone could help with an ID it would be much appreciated.

Fungus on grass! 

Thanks for reading the first post on my new blog.  J