Nightwalk and a new web page

Well true to form I've devoured Nightwalk - which those of you who follow us on twitter or facebook will know arrived yesterday (2 days early!).
Naturally I had to interlude last nights reading with a nocturnal wander, where I discovered that bones become very visible at night time and I was able to add a nicely bleached wood pidgeon skull and keel bone to my little museum of natural history specimens.
I've also been playing around with recording the sounds of the lakeside, so I recorded a few nocturnal noises. If I get round to doing something with them I'll share them with you.
The book is absoloutely superb, another classic for the Yates canon and an elequent discourse I'm sure to return to time and again! I hope we'll be seing more nature writing from Mr. Yates soon.
If you haven't already get hold of a copy.

In other news I've added a new page to the website called "Downloads".
At the moment this is pretty sparse with pdf's of our conditions of booking and fishing rules, a site map, and more interestingly a checklist of some of the bird species (over 60) that you might see during your visit.
So if you or someone you know is a budding bankside birdwatcher why not print it out ahead of your visit and see how many you spot?
I'd love to see how you get on.

I'm hoping to build on the Downloads page very soon, by adding a list of baits we stock onsite complete with pre-order form. This way you can have your baits paid for and ready and waiting for you in your accomodation!
Keep checking as other items (perhaps desktop images) will hopefully be appearing there soon too...


To return to our homepage click: www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

Eagerly awaiting Nightwalk!

We're eagerly awaiting the publication of Mr. Yates new book (nature writing rather than specifically angler oriented) Nightwalk. 

Dad and I have a copy each pre-ordered, and reading through the blogs I follow the other day I was treated to an extract on Caught by the River.

You can head over to the excellent Caught by the River blog and read the extract by clicking this link

It'll be out on Thursday (April 26th) in hardback and as an ebook (snazzy but I'm not a kindle girl myself). 

My own night walks are few and far between to be honest and usually centred around specific annual events at the park - toads and frogs spawning, the first outing of baby hoglets, and the apearance of our breeding Tawny owl pair calling, all get me outside after dark.

Something tells me I'll be out alot more with a little inspiration from Mr. Yates though!

Whats the best nocturnal nature moment you've had at the park?

We'd love to know so please eave a comment below or on our facebook page!

To return to our homepage click: www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

Out of the Blue

I finally managed to track down a hard copy of Chris Yate's Out of the Blue last month!

It's not a long book, and I devoured it hungrily in the land-locked state of my 'veterinary' existence whilst working very long hours at a small animal hospital.

The book begins the chronicle of Yates' return to sea fishing and was just as captivating to read as a soley coarse angler as any of his other books. 

In fact I was inspired to head out from my landlocked position at the next suitable weekend, and threw my spinning rod, some of Dad's old sea tackle, and two friends and two tents into my little Jeep (in roughly that order too actually).

We headed off to Wales around the area of Llandudno, to attempt to fish at pretty much the wrong time of year, from all the wrong places (why fish a pier when a cliff is so much more isolated?) 

But we had a fantastic time. 

Christian caught some Scorpion fish on the first evening using bait on some gigantic hooks, whilst I failed to tempt anything (unsurprisingly) with my 99p illuminous squid lure. I'd spotted it in the tackle shop and as it was the most ludicrous lure I'd ever seen, of course had to test it! The next day we traveled over toward Angelsey and found a beautiful beach to fish from, and where I managed to lose the lure I had found on a beach in Australia. I hope it washes ashore and some other angler picks it up...

On the beach I caught a herring, with my bare hands! (The herring was rather unwell, but still it counts)

And what has this got to do with coarse fishing at Lonsdale? Well sea fishing seems to lack alot of the refined finesse of coarse angling and has made me really appreciate my home waters, but the energy and unknown involved have me thinking about Allonby (a beach I've written about before, one of the most beautiful in Britain and one of my favourite places to be) and Silloth which is only about 25 miles away.

Anyone who's read Out of the Blue, and wants to tag along with me would be most welcome - I have alot to learn and I'm sure many of our regular visitors have never managed to explore Allonby which really is worth leaving Lonsdale for (honestly!).

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk