On Friday 26 May, 15 members of the Let’s Go group met up with John Dempsey of Green Sefton, for a second Green Beach Walk in Ainsdale. We were lucky again with the weather, with bright sunshine and just a very light breeze.
We’d not long left the Discovery Centre when John brought our attention to the Common Blue butterfly that was around. During our walk we also saw Cinnabar Moths as well as a few others. We spent some time searching for Rough Clover, that grows in the car park near the beach. There are at least 120 species of wildflowers that grow in and around the Green Beach. Examples are Yarrow, Mint, Yellow Wort and Sea Holly, to name just a few.
During our walk John was pleased to be able to show us the various orchids that grow here. The examples we saw were Early Marsh and Northern Marsh Orchids. We were not graced by the Bee Orchid as it was still a bit early to see those.
John also pointed out a variety of birds that were around, including Skylarks, Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit.
For a while the group were distracted by some very noisy flying objects above us. We had a great display by the Lancaster Bomber, which was later joined by a Spitfire and a Hurricane, on their way to Liverpool for a fly past down the Mersey for the Battle of the Atlantic commemoration.
As well as all the above, we were entertained by darting dragonflies, mainly Four-Spot Chasers.
We had a wonderful morning, we all learned a few more interesting facts about our local area. John Dempsey has so much knowledge.
A big ‘thank you’ to John for yet another interesting guided walk.
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