Budworth Mere viewed from its Northern side.
The St Mary's and All Saints Church at Great Budworth and the stocks for sinners!
This is our lunch spot - on shore by a gull roost!
Looking over Pick Mere towards Great Budworth from our lunch spot.
One of the seven juvenile Mute swans on Pick Mere.
One of the adult Mute swans on Pick Mere.
On the towpath through the scenic part of Wincham!
Looking across Budworth Mere towards Great Budworth from the Southern side of the mere.
What can possibly be making this stick move in the still quiet waters of Budworth Mere?
Ignore any commentary by ?
Walk stats: Distance: 7.8 miles. Climb: 290'.
Time: 4 hours 19 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.3 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, David S and Paul.
This was the first of our Winter walks as today was the official start of meteorological winter. Taking that in to account this was a really good day for walking, quite crisp underfoot and pleasantly warm whenever we were in the sunshine. Budworth Mere had a thin layer of ice in places and in the morning very few birds were on the lake.
The field on the North side of the mere had large numbers of Eurasian Curlew, more than we saw on our previous visit.
Great Budworth village is a delightful picturesque village, although we only saw the parts West of St Mary's and All Saints Church and on along School Lane.
The section through the fields to Pick Mere is usually very muddy, but thankfully today the ground was still frozen, so cleaning boots when we got home didn't take long, a quick wipe on the uppers was all that was needed!
Lunch was taken near the landing stage on Pick Mere, which at that time was bathed in warm sunshine. This was a delightful spot for lunch with superb views across the Mere towards Great Budworth and lots of birds on the mere to entertain us as we had our lunch.
The section of the canal path from Wincham to the Lion Salt Works isn't one that stands out in your memory, but it does make you realise how important industry was in days gone by.
Rather than visit the Anderton Boat Lift today, we explored Marbury Country Park by taking the path through Black Wood and Big Wood to join the path on the Southern side of the Mere. There were lots more birds on the mere at this stage.
Just before the boat house our attention was drawn to first a submerged branch of a tree moving about and the just a few minutes later a post about 15' into the mere started to do the same. We watched it for several minutes hoping that we would see the perpetrator of the moving post. Unfortunately the identity of the "Marbury Monster" remains a a mystery. We would welcome any sensible suggestions or explanations for the moving post/stick.
Birds seen or heard today include: European robin, Blue tit, Great tit, Wood nuthatch, Black-headed gull, Herring gull, Great crested grebe, Tufted duck, Mallard, Eurasian curlew, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Common blackbird, Great cormorant, Mute swan, Wigeon, Coot, Moorhen and Lapwing.
After walk drinks enjoyed today were locally brewed Weetwood's Eastgate and Cheshire Cat as we sat in the pleasant and warm Farmers Arms at Kelsall.
Overall a really good walk, just about the right length for this time of the year.
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