At first, as we approached the mere, no birds were visible under the bank, for the turf, worn into tiny inlets and bays by winter storms, rose, a line of miniature cliffs, above the narrow sandy beach where the broken mussel shells shone like silver. Suddenly a nervous redshank flew out with a loud cry of alarm, immediately followed by a larger and darker bird and the clear, ringing “choo, choo” of the greenshank. As the two flew together, calling repeatedly, we noted the striking differences between these closely related birds. Apart from call and size, the general appearance differed; the greenshank’s darker wings showed no white border, so noticeable a pattern caused by the redshank’s white secondaries, and when they settled the pose was distinctive, the larger bird’s body being held almost at right angles to the long green legs. Certainly migration has begun when a greenshank appears on a Cheshire inland water.
Ragwort, thistle, sorrel, dock, and goosefoot do their best, and do it very well, to convert waste places into interesting and even beautiful botanic gardens, and a fine weed with long graceful spikes of yellowish-green flowers has joined them in the Northwich salt area; dyer’s rocket, a wild mignonette, is now exceedingly fine on some of the most uninviting tips of chemical waste. When the Cheshire Flora was published this plant was hardly known away from the coast, but evidently the soil and conditions of the salt country approach those of the marshes and sandhills of the shoreline.
