Last month I took a little time off from my books and visited Lincolnshire. As a bird watcher from my youth I had to visit Gibraltar Point a great place to see migrants as they pass up and down the east coast of Great Britain in spring and autumn.
It also produces surprises any time. A Little Egret, once a very rare visitor to the UK preened itself in the salt marsh. Avocets skipped about on the mud, once only seen regularly in Suffolk and a barn owl slowly flapped its wings and glided a metre or so above the salt marsh before disappearing into a wood.
The daily information board tells you what birds have been seen and what to look out for. I tend to think of it like an arrivals board at an airport.
Daily information board
An information board tells you about the plants and animals found on the reserve and about the action of tides and the wind in forming the habitat.
Information board
A view of the salt marsh as we walked towards the sea.
The salt marsh
We were surprised to see these sheep on the reserve.
Sheep on the reserve
An information board told us how the sheep were being used to maintain the diversity of the habitat – a great example of conservation in action.
Information board
Cowslips – one of the species benefiting from the grazing of the sheep and a favorite of mine from my childhood in the Yorkshire Dales.
Cowslips
Gibraltar Point is just one of six nature reserves managed by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Find out more about it and Gibraltar Point at http://www.lincstrust.org.uk
