This Evening, In Haigh Hall...

...As the sun went down, the night closed in, bringing the creatures and sounds of the darkness...

We saw a fox as it scaled the wall near the disused railway track in Leyland Mill Lane...

A Tawny Owl hooted in the cold bare trees, close to the canal...

A scuffle in the trees, as a wood pigeon bolted in the gloom...

A Heron majestically swooped across the dark freezing pond, just off the woodland track...

All this in one hour, and just under a mile from Wigan town centre...

Lovely winter evening...with spring just around the corner...

...And then we joined the throng of modern life...

The traffic was bumper to bumper down Caroline Street...

Buses, packed with weary faces, sped past...

Fast food everywhere; orange street lights; Asda, packed; an ambulance, blue lights flashing, weaved its way through the dusty cars, and headed down Warrington Road...

We collected our Doner Meat and chips, and joined in...

So technically speaking, not really an evening in the hall?

Roll on spring.

And bats.

Trust you...

The evening you described was just short of bats at dusk.

Too cold for Bats...

I know. Was the place misty by the river?

...Misty, cold and full of ghosts...

I know the temperature drops something shocking as you approach the yellow brook (as was) when walking down the main drive of an evening.

Ghosts?

Naaahhh. Seeing faces on trees etc. Spooky all the same.

An apparition appeared near Devil's Drop...

Devil's Drop?

You've lost me there. Do you mean Devil's Canyon? (Old quarry)

Yes...

And then another, near the railway track...

You don't want to be mooching around there in the dark.

It wont be apparitions that you see.

The place is full of history...

Here's a face in Devil's Canyon, Jarvo.

It is indeed.

No, Jo anne, it was lower down, and he was wearing a mac...I think...

Is that your own pic, Jo Anne? I've just had a google and found nothing, apart from a canyon in America.

I'm sure there were about eight of them to find.

Fairy Glen is quite near Devil's Canyon...

Anybody been there?

I don't think I've been to Fairy Glen, Jarvo.

The photo' is my own, Dostaf. We went to look in the Canyon after you mentioned the faces on WW. I think we only saw that one.

By the Douglas?

I know one or two of the lower carvings were vandalised, Jo Anne. Quite a while since I last saw them. The place must have been fenced and gated for around five years.

We found the Canyon gates open when we went to explore.

It's bugging me now, where I saw the info about the faces.

Not on the internet, or on an on-site info board. Possibly some pamphlet or other that I have since thrown away.

You certainly appreciate the beauty of this world jarvo. I always told my sons that no matter how busy they were to always have time to stop and smell the roses and appreciate the world around them.

Thank you, linma...The thread contrasts nature and modern life...But folk don't appreciate what is actually going on in the fields and woods that are just literally yards away from their homes...

Does Smith and his "regeneration" department know about this?. There could be all manner of nasties in those trees, what if one of those vicious animals of birds attacked someone, or a child could drown in damp leaves. Far better to have nice shiny concrete and flats for families, get the 'Dozers in