Crosby Marine Lake and Seaforth Local Nature Reserve

Sketch map of Crosby Marine Lake

For a small area this can be very productive birdwatching even though for most of us access to Seaforth Nature Reserve is limited to seeing what we can see through the perimeter fence (I've no idea how you get a permit to get in). It's also extremely accessible: trains call at Waterloo Station every quarter of an hour and there are plenty of buses between Great Crosby and Liverpool running through this area, as well as the hourly bus to Lunt and thence to Kirkby. From the station or the bus stops just walk down to the end of South Road (the main road), cross the road at Marine Terrace and you're at the lake. It can get quite busy with walkers and families having a day out but this doesn't seem to bother the birds as much as you'd expect.

This is the only walk I always do counterclockwise. I think it's partly a matter of getting my eye in at the little "boating pond" by the marine lake but mostly because it seems to fit the weather conditions better.

The "boating pond."

Once through the gates and past the café I take the path on the right leading onto a big pond (I've seen this referred to as "the boating pond," and while I've never seen anyone playing with model boats on it it's as good a description as any). As far as birdwatching's concerned there's more action on this pond than there is on the lake itself (but check the lake out anyway, you never know your luck). Mallard, mute swan, Canada goose coot and tufted duck are resident; there's usually a goldeneye or two in Winter and every so often a long-tailed duck will spend the Winter (I think this Winter's female is still there). The gulls are always worth checking, just in case. Back when ring-billed gulls were regular Winter vagrants and hung around for a bit you had a fair chance of picking one up here but those days seem to be long gone. There is a significant Spring passage of little gulls up the Sefton Coast and you've a good chance of finding one or two hawking for midges over the pond. There's a much smaller Spring passage of black terns, I'm nearly always a day or two too early or late for catching one here.

I nearly trod on this grey phalarope when it visited the boating pond back in September 2018. It was quite happy to run around people's feet entirely oblivious to anything above the ankle.

At high tide gulls and a few waders roost on the far side of the pond (unless disturbed by dogs or walkers). The waders are usually oystercatchers and black-tailed godwits, sometimes the odd redshank or turnstone. The far end of the pond slopes into the dunes, the little bit of "beach" at the margin sometimes attracts smaller waders and the occasional spotted redshank. It's worth checking the shore of the lake at this point for the same reason.

The small passerines around here are mostly goldfinches, linnets, pied wagtails, meadow pipits and skylarks. This is the start of a long stretch of sandy grasslands along the Sefton Coast which even now is densely-populated with skylarks. There's usually a pair of stonechats somewhere amongst the sea buckthorns and the occasional reed bunting. In Winter it's worth checking the dunes and the beach for snow buntings, they're usually just passing by but once in a while one will stay a few days.

One of the "Another Place" statues

When you get to the beach one of the first things you'll see, but not necessarily recognise at first, is the beginning of a huge Anthony Gormley installation called "Another Place." It's an arrray of life-size statues stretching the length of Crosby Beach. They're a bit unnerving at first, especially the ones standing out at sea when the tide's coming in.

Crosby Beach and the coastguard station.
Before the security clampdown post 9/11 you could walk down to the station. It was a good point for watching Leach's petrels in the mouth of the Mersey.

Most of the time you'll be seeing waders as distant dots on the beach unless you walk out towards the tideline. Even when the tide's coming in the waders don't come in close, they go straight to roost on Seaforth Nature Reserve. Most of the waders are oystercatchers, redshanks and dunlin with a few curlews dotted about. In Winter there are usually sanderlings running through the tide like clockwork mice. Gulls and, in Summer, terns move around between the sea and the nature reserve. Most of the terns are common terns with a few Sandwich terns, you might find an Arctic tern or two. Strong winds in late Autumn and Winter may bring a kittiwake or a great skua close enough to shore to identify. Looking further out, towards the wind farms, you may see Manx shearwaters skimming over the waves.

Sanderlings, Crosby Beach

At the end of the beach there's a path leading to a locked gate. Back before the security clampdown after 9/11 you could walk down the path here, checking out the bit of damp grassy gravel at this end of the nature reserve in the hope of finding a little stint amongst the ringed plovers and doing a bit of Autumn seawatching looking out for Leach's petrels. Instead now you have to walk away.

The good news is that you walk most of the length of the boundary fence and get a fair view of most of the pools in the reserve and a much better view of the stretch of rabbit-clipped grass by the fence than you can get from within the reserve. Finches, mostly goldfinches and linnets, chatter around the bushes. In Autumn it's a good idea to spend a bit of time scanning the bushes round here for warblers, particularly as there's always a possibility one may be a yellow-browed warbler. The dunes and grassy areas round here are best in Spring when there's a passage of small passerines, mostly wagtails and wheatears. At this time of year white wagtails easily outnumber pied wagtails and can be very confiding. Yellow (and, if you're very lucky blue-headed) wagtails keep their distance on the other side of the fence, as do the wheatears though they'll occasionally go down to feed on the seaweed on the beach. (Just to complete the set, grey wagtails do visit occasionally.) At high tide there's a patch of this area that will have large groups roosting curlew and black-tailed godwits. Depending on the weather there may also be a group of loafing large gulls, mostly herring gulls. There are usually plenty of lapwings to be found dotted round the reserve.

White wagtail, Crosby Marina

Wheatear, Crosby Beach

Blue-headed wagtail, Seaforth NR
I think this is a "Channel wagtail" type.

The pools are a bit distant from here and quite a lot is obscured from view by ridges and vegetation but as you walk along you'll see a fair bit of them though the light might render everything on the pool closest to the coastguard station into silhouette. The most obvious birds year-round are the cormorants, Canada geese and shelduck. The wader roosts at high tide will be mostly oystercatchers, redshanks, black-tailed godwits and curlew. Less frequently you may see bar-tailed godwit or whimbrel. The small waders are more difficult to see and identify, unless they've been spooked by a merlin or peregrine. Most will be dunlin, in Winter there could also be knot. In Summer the place is heaving with common terns, you might find an Arctic tern or two and there'll also be a few Sandwich terns around. Little gulls and black gulls pass through on Spring passage and if you're lucky in Summer a little tern will drop by.

Eventually the bushes get too thick for progress and you have to drop back down to the marine lake. As you're walking along keep an ear out for finches and warblers in the trees between the path and the reserve. Just before you get to the car park there's an opening in the fence that lets you walk across the grass into the nature area. This is a small, shallow pond surrounded by trees and a boardwalk. A good spot for getting chiffchaff, willow warbler and sedge warbler onto the visit list.