Stormy day......
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:34 pm
Today Big Andrew was off work so we decided to take Chiefie to the beach at the North Wirral Country Park, onto Leasowe Bay which about 15 minutes from home, through the tunnel.
Anyway, we got over the dunes eventually as Chiefie was playing "let's roll in the fox poo" and whollop....the wind hit. Now, I love a beach in winter but i love a beach in winter during a storm even more. It was a magnificent, majestic, defiant, thundering ultra high tide of hypnotic beauty. The gale was blowing in off the Irish Sea, the waves crashing onto the beach defences throwing foam into the air.
About 200 yeards off the beach defences, going towards the water, there is a man made breakwater of huge rocks. Sheltering in front of the rocks were around 200 oyster catchers. They comprised of around 80 adults standing in a circle and protecting about 150 chicks from the gulls that were hovering around. They must have been waiting for the wind to die down before carrying on to Martin Mere which is about 6 miles down the road.
We stood and watched the antics for half an hour, whilst still throwing the ball for Chiefie with his flinger.
We then walked along towards Leasowe Lighthouse which was just emerging through the gloom and came across a very large bouy that had been washed ashore. These are the ones that are usually found about 5 miles out at sea to mark the shipping lanes. It must have been really rough out there for it to have lost its anchor. In the distance, the P&O Ferry had stopped as had another 2 vessels. What looked really strange was, almost in a horizontal line, the clouds had parted showing bright blue sky with a triple rainbow that just shimmered. It was fantastic.
Anyway, we walked further along but couldn't get to the lighthouse as, about half a mile further down the beach, the wind around the corner was just too much so we turned back.
As we got towards the dunes some of the oyster catchers took off and others landed to surround the little ones again. The way that they flew was incredible. One minute you could see all these birds, the next they had turned and seemed to vanish into thin air. A really remarkable sight.
Anyway, that's me done now. Just thought i'd share a wonderful day and try to describe a beautiful sight.
Anyway, we got over the dunes eventually as Chiefie was playing "let's roll in the fox poo" and whollop....the wind hit. Now, I love a beach in winter but i love a beach in winter during a storm even more. It was a magnificent, majestic, defiant, thundering ultra high tide of hypnotic beauty. The gale was blowing in off the Irish Sea, the waves crashing onto the beach defences throwing foam into the air.
About 200 yeards off the beach defences, going towards the water, there is a man made breakwater of huge rocks. Sheltering in front of the rocks were around 200 oyster catchers. They comprised of around 80 adults standing in a circle and protecting about 150 chicks from the gulls that were hovering around. They must have been waiting for the wind to die down before carrying on to Martin Mere which is about 6 miles down the road.
We stood and watched the antics for half an hour, whilst still throwing the ball for Chiefie with his flinger.
We then walked along towards Leasowe Lighthouse which was just emerging through the gloom and came across a very large bouy that had been washed ashore. These are the ones that are usually found about 5 miles out at sea to mark the shipping lanes. It must have been really rough out there for it to have lost its anchor. In the distance, the P&O Ferry had stopped as had another 2 vessels. What looked really strange was, almost in a horizontal line, the clouds had parted showing bright blue sky with a triple rainbow that just shimmered. It was fantastic.
Anyway, we walked further along but couldn't get to the lighthouse as, about half a mile further down the beach, the wind around the corner was just too much so we turned back.
As we got towards the dunes some of the oyster catchers took off and others landed to surround the little ones again. The way that they flew was incredible. One minute you could see all these birds, the next they had turned and seemed to vanish into thin air. A really remarkable sight.
Anyway, that's me done now. Just thought i'd share a wonderful day and try to describe a beautiful sight.
