Late January – time to blow off the Christmas and Hogmanay cobwebs!  Much of the country
hunkered down by one of the wildest winters ever, and the weather boffins in danger of running
out of letters of the alphabet with which to name our storms!
Meanwhile David Johnson, and a posse of nearly twenty doughty walkers, many of them fired up
by MaxWest Movies’ screening of the exciting feature ‘Spread Your Wings’, a dramatic retelling of a
French environmentalist’s search into the secrets of migrating geese, have opted to take their chance
with a ‘stroll’ around the RSPB’s reserve at Mersehead.
But not before hearty soup and chunky sandwiches at Carsethorn’s Steamboat Inn!
The mainly volunteer-staffed RSPB Visitor Centre and the Wetlands and Coastal Trails at Mersehead
are one of the jewels of the Solway coast. In wintertime especially, the place comes alive with thousands
of ducks, barnacle geese and swans coming to feed and rest by the pools. There are easy to negotiate
gravelled paths and two excellent hides to help you get closer to where the action is.
The coastal walk along the huge beach allows you to be as quiet and as contemplative as you wish. Our
afternoon visit was over all too soon, the weather stayed calm, and with the light fading many of us
were already planning when we might return to welcome the spring and summer residents – lapwings,
skylarks, yellowhammers, natterjack toads and wonderful butterflies. Mike Marshall