Hello Colin,
Congratulations on your very informative report. It sounds like a great birding area.
I have a couple of questions.
Firstly, is the area privately owned; you mention gamekeepers?
Is the property used for shooting game species?
And lastly, the more important one, I'd like to know exactly what is meant by "Rainforest Mossland"?
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Hello Nancy,
Rainford Mosslands NOT Rainforest mosslands! Raindford is a village to the north of St .Helens. Unfortunately, not even I would claim that there is a rainforest in St. Helens!
St. Helens is right on the southern edge of an area known as the Lancashire mosslands. This is a large area, stretching from Fleetwood in the north to Liverpool / St. Helens in the south.
It is a very flat area of drained peatland and is a very good area for farming. The most famous birding sites are Plex Moss, just inland of Southport and Martin Mere.
Typical birds are huge numbers of wildfowl, especially geese, and good numbers of raptors.
Red Squirrels are certainly increasing in St. Helens. I've spoken to farmers and gamekeepers who have lived in the area for 30 years or more, and they've never seen Reds so frequently. Over the past 3 years they've been seen at many sites where they had never been seen previously.
The land is private and heavily keepered for game, but there are many public footpaths.
Colin