When I was up in Bleasdale the other week I noticed signs to a ‘Nature Trail’ with an attached map.
Time to investigate.
A sunny Saturday afternoon was perfect for a gentle stroll. I park at the church as usual and there is the first finger post directing me alongside Church Wood, recently replanted. The woods are alive with birdsong – a good start. Chiffchaff, Robin, Bullfinch, Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Wren, Redpoll and Song Thrush. I only see half of them. 
What a backdrop of Fairsnape and Parlick.
Not many people have come this way as yet, there is no path through the reedy fields. Occasional wooden posts sign the way and new gates have been installed at important junctions. I take a wrong turning or two, not always sure which side of a fence I should be on.
The occasional Pheasant struts across, the call of the Curlews is in the background and Lapwings put on a display above me. The floral display is only average – Lady’s Smock here and there, a confusion of sedge, reeds and grasses. Buttercups, Speedwells, Stitchwort and Mouse Ear.
At the seat I aimed across rough ground to reach the edge of Bluebell Wood with Beacon Fell straight ahead. The Bluebells were past their best.
There are some owl boxes on the estate but then along the edge of the wood, spanning the ditch is one of those awful small mammal traps aimed at killing stoats or weasels, possible threats to breeding pheasants. In my book you can’t have a nature trail if you are killing the nature on it, totally incongruous. And what will the owls feed on if the small mammals are trapped? I don’t like it when shooting estates pay lip service to conservation.The trail map even features a stoat as one of the animals to be seen. 
Moving on. I cross the access road to Lower Fairsnape Farm and take a short diversion to visit a bird hide marked on the map. It is a shed with a few observation slots looking out onto the fields. Information is provided about the area. The farm is working alonside the RSPB to improve the environment for wading and ground nesting birds.
View from the hide.
I backtrack to regain the trail which follows close by a branch of the infant river Brock. A heron flies away as I approach. I follow an old enclosure wall away from the stream.
Is that a hare pricking its ears up in the field ahead? It is and then there are two. 
That has almost made up for the mammal trap. I walk back up the lane past the school in a better frame of mind. 
This is a trail in the making, if needs more footfall and less animal persecution. But what a backdrop with the Bleasdale Fells.
***
