[I]f you enjoy listening for the ‘pinging’ call of the buzzard while you’re rambling or looking out for beautiful butterflies, you will enjoy a new series of Wildlife Walks published this week by Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
The six Wildlife Walks, which range from three to five miles long, feature some stunning Cumbrian scenery and habitats, many of them off the beaten track. They take you across fell tops, through woods and around the sea shore and several include visits to Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves. Even if you go walking regularly in Cumbria, you may well discover some quiet, tucked-away corners for the first time!
They include a shoreline walk on the scenic Solway estuary, with its barnacle geese and whooper swans and a dramatic clifftop walk at St Bees, with thousands of nesting kittiwakes and guillemots. You will find out where to go this summer to see beautiful meadow wildflowers such as the purple-hued devil’s bit scabious and betony, and a variety of species of dragonflies.
The Wildlife Walks have been created for Cumbria Wildlife Trust by Beth Pipe, local hiker, blogger and freelance writer. Each route is illustrated with photos by Steve Pipe and images by wildlife photographers.
Peter Bullard, Director of Cumbria Wildlife Trust said: “Beth has a wealth of rambling experience to offer and her Wildlife Highlights are a great feature of these walks. You’ll read about some of nature’s impressive spectacles, such as the red deer rutting season on the Martindale fells and the huge flocks of winter migrating birds found at South Walney Nature Reserve. We hope people will share their experiences of the Wildlife Walks on social media and tell us about their sightings!”
The six Wildlife Walks are free to download from the Cumbria Wildlife Trust website: www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk
