Burscough – Rufford

Enjoy the wildlife on this easy walk that passes Martin Mere

- Walk devised and described by Bob Clare

This year The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Reserve at Martin Mere is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. The trust was the creation of Sir Peter Scott (1909-1989).

From here the WWT expanded to manage nine centres in total including Martin Mere. One of his many legacies is the survival of the Hawaiian Goose or ne-ne. By 1952 this had been reduced to 30 birds and was on the brink of extinction. Thanks to the work of the WWT the stock was built up to a point that in 2004 it was successfully re-introduced into the wild. Martin Mere itself is a remnant of what was a much larger lake-thought to have been the largest in England and linked with the tales of King Arthur as the place where he was handed the sword Excalibur by the mysterious Lady of the Lady.

Place names offer clues to the watery past - Mere Brow indicating the northern limit of the lake; Holmeswood-a wooded island and Sandy Lane pointing to the underlying geology.

The walk described passes the WWT Reserve at Martin Mere, crosses Tarlscough Moss and arrives at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust Reserve of Mere Sands Wood. Here the lakes have a different provenance from Martin Mere in that they were created after sand was quarried and then allowed to flood with rainwater to create another haven for waterfowl.

Start: Burscough Bridge Railway Station L40 0RZ

Finish: Rufford village centre