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