DURING my wanderings this week, I enjoyed the sight of not one, but two magnificent rainbows.

The first was while walking along the Lancashire Coastal path which runs from the Ribble Estuary to the Lune Estuary. As I walked a stretch of the Lune near Lancaster, my birdwatching was disturbed by a short, sharp, and very cold shower, with very heavy hailstones driving from the east. The next minute the threatened storm abated, the sun shone, and the rainbow curved its colourful path across the river. Among the stony gravel on the edge of the estuary, a number of turnstones were feeding. Early March is the perfect time to see turnstones. They do not breed in Britain and during March they set off on their long migratory journey to their nesting area in the Arctic. They obviously derive their common name from the fact that they find their food by turning over stones and eating the crustaceans which hide beneath.

From Bolton, the best coastal birdwatching places, apart from the Lune Estuary which I have just described, are as follows:

1. The Ribble Estuary at Southport - this is an English Nature National Nature Reserve.

2. The Fairhaven Lake Bird Hide and Information Centre - funded by North West Water and run by the RSPB. 3. The Wyreside Ecology Centre at Stannah on the banks of the River Wyre - run by the local authority.

March to the end of April is the best time to enjoy these areas.

My second walk was along the Ribble Way close to Stonyhurst College at Hurst Green. It was here that I saw my second glorious rainbow, and this time I had the added bonus of seeing a kingfisher which can be described as a living rainbow.

Alongside the River Hodder, which is an important tributary of the Ribble, is the Hodder Woods. This area is a sheer delight in the early spring. The essence of these woods was captured by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1899), who was a Jesuit Priest teaching at Stonyhurst. Inspired by this scenery many of his poems describe the wildlife of the area indulging the kingfisher and the kestrel. The kestrel is known locally as the wind-hover, a very accurate description.

I love strolling in the Lancashire countryside at any time, but early spring is the most optimistic period of the year. The rainbow is an added bonus, and to have a couple on successive days has set me up for the rest of March!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.