New Brighton

Sketch map of New Brighton

New Brighton lies on the Northeast corner of the Wirral Peninsula, across the River Mersey from Liverpool Docks. There are more spectacular birdwatching locations but in Autumn and Winter it can be well worth the visit: seawatching from the promenade and around Fort Perch Rock and checking out the marine lake.

Herring gulls scrapping over a crab

New Brighton's the terminus for one of Merseyrail's Wirral lines. There are also plenty of buses from Liverpool and elsewhere on the Wirral stopping at the bus stop outside Morrisons' opposite the Marine Park.

Unusually for the Wirral the shore is rocky, making this this one of the best places in Northwest England for purple sandpipers. Having said that, there's no guarantee that you'll be lucky. The best place and time to look for them is on the wooden pontoon at the side of the marine lake next to the cafés at high tide between mid November and mid February. Waders roosting on the pontoon are usually redshanks and turnstones, this time of year there'll also be a lot of dunlins, perhaps one or two sanderlings or greenshanks and, if the fates are kind, a purple sandpiper or two lurking in a corner (up to half a dozen if you're really lucky). Failing that, it's worth scanning the rocks and sea defences around Fort Perch Rock (the little abandoned castle affair at the corner near the lighthouse).

New Brighton Lighthouse

Redshanks, a couple of turnstones and a purple sandpiper on the marine lake pontoon

Turnstones and dunlins on the marine lake pontoon

Redshanks on the marine lake pontoon

Perhaps the softest twitch ever was a few years back when you could sit in the window seat of a café by the lake and stare at a first-Winter laughing gull loafing on the pontoon.

When conditions are right the seawatching can be very good. The right conditions are when it's blowing a hooley from the sea straight into your face. If it's raining as well the right conditions are sitting in the window seat of one of the cafés (the birds may be more distant but your hands will be steadier and the lenses on your binoculars won't be streaming with water).

In Autumn passing seabirds may include skuas, phalaropes and Manx shearwaters, there's an outside chance of a Sabine's gull or possibly something scarcer. In September this is the place to look out for Leach's petrels as they pass through the mouth of the Mersey. Usually they'll just be distant dark dots skimming over the water. If the wind's right they'll be blown closer to shore, the best place to look is from the river side of Fort Perch Rock (not least because you'll get some shelter from the prevailing wind). On a high tide with a strong incoming wind the petrels will skip over this corner and you might get a very close view (the bird pictured below was one of half a dozen that came within ten yards of us over the course of an hour's watch).

Leach's petrel

The Dee Estuary Birding site is always worth checking before a visit.