Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy

VISITORS to Overton feel entitled to ask why the church should be situated so far from the village.

Because of the change of the shape of the coastline, with erosion in some areas and the deposition of silt in others, the village buildings had to be moved.

This left the church of St Helen, constructed on a mound and overlooking the Lune estuary, in splendid isolation.

It has been suggested, although without proof, that Overton is Lancashire's oldest church, but close examination shows why this theory arose.

The doorway is Anglo-Norman and has been dated to between 1050 and 1140.

The West Wall is even older, being possibly 9th century and is quite likely to outlast the rest of the church as it is more than four feet thick.

The area of saltmarsh around the church is a spectacular place for birdwatching.

Redshank, curlew, shelduck, knot and dunlin are all regularly seen while in spring migrating greenshanks are a feature. Whooper Swans are also often seen in winter.

No doubt the birdlife hereabouts inspired the one-time landlord of the Ship Inn in the village to gather together one of the most comprehensive collections of stuffed wild birds and eggs. These are still there, perched on shelves and gazing down from the bars.

The walls are lined with oak cases which have glass fronts and are full of specimens.

This cross between a pub and a museum annoys many conservationists but they should remember that Victorian naturalists gathered lots of valuable information on nature history.

This was without the benefit of high quality binoculars and cameras.

Their specimens were obtained for study by shooting and there was a saying "What's shot is history while what's missed is mystery."

There is no mystery about the wildlife in this area.

On the day of my visit there seemed to be rabbits everywhere.

Last week there was a report that a gassing programme was to be put into operation to keep the population down.

In my view the only way to control rabbits is to shoot them.

Gassing not only kills rabbits, but other forms of wildlife as well including stoats and weasels which are their predators.

I have often seen rabbits infected by myxomatosis and this is also far too cruel. The less we interfere with nature the better I like it!

The berry thing to beat witches and lightning!

I HOPE by the time you read this that our part of Lancashire may have had just a touch of summer!

Whenever I see rowan berries in the hedgerow I start thinking of autumn.

Here we are well into August and the red apple-like berries are already ripe.

Rowan berries were once thought to be a deterrent against witchcraft and lightning. Country folk used to plant rowan (also known as Mountain Ash) close to their houses in order to gain protection.

This is why the tree is often found next to high and often disused hillside farmhouses.

The berries ripen early and they are an important item in the diet of thrushes including the fieldfares and redwings which arrive in October.

By that time however, most of the rowan berries have been eaten by mistle thrushes, blackbirds, song thrushes and even starlings and wood pigeons join in the feast.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.