Misbegotten Places

The Cheshire Lines Path follows the route of a railway that was closed in 1952. Towards the southern end near Sefton Lane the route diverts onto Old Racecourse Road which was the site of the original Grand National before it was relocated to Aintree (single tree). On these flat mosslands this sentinel would have served as a waypost for travellers or maybe it demarcated a boundary; whatever its former significance the name is now known all over the country. Travelling north from here you pass near The Withins where until 2005 the Waterloo Cup, a major Hare Coursing event was held. An inveterate gambler and what we would today term a sports promoter, it was Mr William Lynn who inaugurated both of these events in 1836. He was the proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel in Ranelagh Street and it was the meeting of sporting gentlemen here which conferred its name upon the hare coursing trophy. No doubt Mr Lynn had a keen eye to business and of course both of these events have over the years drawn enthusiastic followings and both have to varying degrees excited controversy. I do not intend to express a personal opinion on the well-voiced issues surrounding coursing or, indeed, National Hunt: these are matters upon which different individuals will always disagree; the reason I mention them at all here is that they formed in the case of one and continue to form in the case of the other an important part of local heritage.

Graffiti-adorned bridges which now incongruously take byways over the remaining track-bed are reminders of what once was. The flat mosses with their associated network of drainage ditches which the pathway bisects merge into the developed areas of Maghull and Netherton to the south and Formby and Southport to the north.

It is probably correct to assume that this area was far busier a hundred years ago than it is today. With urban sprawl the 'urgent need for more homes' which is possibly today's most depressing mantra, it gladdens me that this winter destination for tens of thousands of Pink-footed Geese is still on the edge and not yet swallowed up. 

Partridge, both red-legged and grey, Barn Owls and the occasional Red Squirrel have now reclaimed this place. Lapwings, corn buntings and yellow hammers also make this place their home. Marsh and Hen Harriers make occasional sorties as does the Merlin. In spring (not just Mad March) if you are lucky you may see Hares boxing. Contrary to what you may think, the main pugilist in these amorous pursuits is usually a doe in season who will beat off the attentions of rival suitors in favour of the most vigorous buck. In summer Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers chide walkers and cyclists as the pass. The ventriloquial Grasshopper Warbler is also a regular breeder; its call has been likened to the sound made by an angler's reel and the "reeling" can continue for minutes without a break.

This is perhaps a case of Edgelands in reverse and long may it so remain.

Links:

http://www.lancashirewildlife.org.uk

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/

http://cholseywildlife.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.uk-wildlife.co.uk/uk-wildlife-blog/

http://plus.google.com/+ColinMcIndoecolmacro48/posts

Welcome from Colmacro

So What Are Edgelands?                                                                                          

This term first coined by Marion Shoard in 2002 describes land which is neither town or country; possibly areas of post-industrial dereliction, fragmented low value agricultural land, abandoned railtracks, neglected cemeteries or those intermediate areas where suburb blurs unhappily into green belt. In fact for the many who live in towns and cities it is those places all around us which are largely ignored and uncared for: scruffy and offensive to some but recognised by others as increasingly valuable refuges for wildlife; wildlife which can find no place in our cities and which is becoming more and more marginalized in our shrinking, depleted and sanitized countryside. Edgelands is the evocative name she gives to those places we have all met previously but never been formally introduced to before.

What I hope to do in this blog is to enthuse people to get to know a little more of their own Edgelands as these exciting places are freely available to us all and, excusing the cliche, are on our very own doorsteps.


Although "Edgelands" is a fairly recent term I believe that those places which we now describe this way have existed in one form or another for all of my lifetime and no doubt for a long time before. Growing up as I did in the 50s and having been born just three years after the war's end only a mile away from Gladstone Dock the legacy of WW2 was all around. The "Top Field" and "Bottom Field" where we would build huts and light our campfires were both bomb sites where only a few years before family homes had stood. When I tell you that back then these areas supported a lot more butterflies, bees and ground insects such as grasshoppers I hope you will understand that this is not misty-eyed sentimentality: there really were. In the early postwar years insecticides and herbicides were not widely used so wild flowers and the creatures that thrived on them were everywhere. And of course here we are only talking of the base of the food pyramid.

One of the great things about Edgelands is that they, like some Hegelian Dialectic, are in a constant state of flux: they never stand still but constantly evolve from one transient state to the next. So some get used for housing or retail parks but others replace them when allotments are converted to wet woodland, landfill sites are landscaped or factories close and get hoarded off. These raggedy unkempt places might well be on the edge but open your eyes and attune your ears and you will find that there is a lot more to them than you may first have suspected.

I mentioned above of some of the adverse changes that the last decades have witnessed but there have been a number of improvements too. The Mersey is now far cleaner and so is the Alt and the Leeds and Liverpool canal: there is evidence of the return of Otters for the first time in generations. House Sparrow and Starling numbers are down but Magpies and Carrion Crows, rare in my urban childhood, are ubiquitous, as are Collar Doves and Wood Pigeons. The former were not even a British breeding bird then and Wood Pigeons would never breed in town centres. Peregrines are also now a familiar sight to those who take the time to look for them while Sparrowhawks and Kestrels are easily spotted. Buzzards too.

Remaking the Landscape is the title of Shoard's seminal work. For the first time sharp focus has been put upon that awkward and slightly embarrassing interface where wildspace rather than greenspace meets urban order. What I hope to do in this blog is to use my particular Edgeland as a medium for taking a closer look, armed only with keyboard and camera, at the natural world sometimes clinging on, but very often flourishing, in Sefton's margins. If you find me digressing now and then or the occasional  indulgence is allowed to creep in I hope you will not hold it against me as this is intended to be a personal view and not in any sense a study.