ZOE Entwistle, aged 12, wrote to me from Hoddlesden asking for help. Her letter was dated July 13, but these were the only details she sent.

Zoe's friends did not believe in the usual bird which she spotted. Her field notes, however, were so accurate that I had no trouble in identifying the bird.

"It was as big as the Canada Geese, had greyish white feathers, yellow webbed feet, a beak that was a bit bigger than that of a goose but was yellow with a rounded bit on the end of the upper beak. It had red skin-like stuff on the head. It sounds impossible but I swear it is true."

RON'S REPLY: Well done, Zoe. You stick to your guns! You saw a Muskovy which occurs in Russia and Asia. It has been kept in large gardens and estates since Victorian times and since then some have escaped into the wild.

FROM Winnie Whitaker, of Haslingden Road, Guide.

This letter was dated July 10 and it concerned my request for sightings (and sounds) of the cuckoo.

"You can still hear the cuckoo on Caton Moor and Whitmoor. When I was a child living at North Farm, Roughlee, you heard the cuckoo every year. The sand martins used to come in large numbers to nest in the sandbanks at the sides of the stream at Watermeetings, near Blacko.

"We also had a pair of redstarts that used to visit us every spring. The barn owls also nested and had young every year. Our fields had many birds on them including snipe, curlew, lapwing, kingfisher, yellowhammer and dipper.

"Every Easter time and holiday time people from nearby towns used to walk to Roughlee to visit Winces. Here there were swing boats, ponies to ride on, a boating lake and a shop."

RON'S REPLY: Following Winnie's letter I went to Roughlee and found Maurice Wayne, whose family ran these entertainments.

He told me of how he helped to look after the donkeys and how the row boats were kept in good order. The lake is now a trout fishery and the old grounds are now part of the village community hall. I put Winnie and Maurice in touch and found that they had many relatives in common.

The bird life has also changed. This set me thinking about how other villages in East Lancashire have changed. If you have a memory like this, why not drop me a line?

* AUGUST is the month when the first friends of autumn are seen in our hedgerows.

The first friends to ripen are the bright red apple-like berries of the rowan.

Also known as the Mountain Ash, the Rowan was planted around houses especially in the North of England. The red berries were said to be a safeguard against being bothered by witches or being struck by lightning. I love to see Rowan but I'm not too happy for it to be a sign that the days are shortening. Let us hope for an Indian Summer.