Merseyside

I don't know why I bother planning days out based on the weather forecast according to the Met Office app. When I set off the Merseyside coast was scheduled to be grey, dull and windy, which was better than the pouring rain forecast for Greater Manchester. It was so wet and windy at Crosby Marina that the skylarks were staying firmly on the deck for their singing.

Skylark, Crosby Marine Lake

The wild and woolly weather put everything off the marine lake and even on the boating pond the ducks were generally hugging the sides. Most of the mute swans and all the Canada geese were feeding on the grass accompanied by oystercatchers and a dozen black-tailed godwit. Nice to see three goldeneye — a drake and two ducks — amongst the tufties. A few redshank and a single turnstone flitted also round the pond.

The gulls' favourite loafing pontoon was underwater so they had to make do with lounging round on the grass and keeping an eye out for passing dogs. Mostly black-headed gulls, with a few herring and common gulls, joined by meadow pipits, pied wagtails and eighty-odd starlings.

I used the sand dunes as a wind break for ten minutes' seawatching. A lot of herring and black-headed gulls with a few great black-backs but strangely no cormorants. Dunlin and sanderlings fed along the tideline while a few dozen redshanks were peppered across the beach with a couple of curlews.

After ten minutes I called barleys and sloped off for the train. I decided to have a look see if the purple sandpipers were still at New Brighton. Sadly, no joy there and the only waders on the pontoon on the marine lake were about fifty redshanks and a turnstone.

Redshanks, New Brighton Marine Lake

Lots of black-headed, common and herring gulls about and a first-Winter lesser black-back flew along the beach. A couple of great black-backs were on the lighthouse but strangely there were no cormorants here either. There had been reports of little gulls earlier in the week so I worked my way through all the gulls being blown about in the wind. No little gulls but a kittiwake passing by a hundred yards out was a nice surprise.

Home time and the sad discovery that Northern's new trains are no more reliable than the old Pacers.

Railway journeys: the Exe Estuary from Exeter to Dawlish

Sketch map: Exe Estuary

This is probably my favourite stretch of railway in this country, and certainly the best for birdwatching from the train.

The view from Exton Station

The service runs from Exmouth to Paignton, working its way along the coast from Exmouth to Lympstone then along the seawall to the River Clyst just past Exton, along the back of Bowling Green Marsh then, turning inland through Topsham then via the Exeter stations, south alongside the Exminster marshes then along the seawall past Starcross, through Dawlish Warren and Dawlish then bobbing back inland through Teignmouth and onward to Torbay. The insane thing is that thanks to Dr. Beeching that stretch of sea wall is the only rail connection to England West of Dartmoor.

Railway and seawall going from Langstone Rock to Dawlish

After the train leaves Exeter St. Thomas the line runs roughly parallel to the Exeter Canal and the River Exe and out into open marshy countryside. Back in the old days the pools and creeks along this stretch were the first hints that you might strike lucky and see your first little egret of the year. They still have their fair share of little egrets, and herons and Canada geese. Pretty soon the marsh land thins and the river widens and the railway line becomes the Western edge of the estuary.

Exe Estuary at Starcross

This journey's particularly rewarding in Autumn, Winter and early Spring when huge flocks of waders and wildfowl settle in the estuary. You'll need to sit by a window on the left-hand side to get the best of it.

At low tide the mud is peppered by distant dark shapes that usually turn out to be redshanks, oystercatchers and curlews and you may also see a few flocks of brent geese. At high tide the waders huddle by the railway line, the geese tend to stay out in the main channels of the river. Past Starcross you start to see more black-tailed godwits, dunlins and wigeon. If you're lucky you may get a close view of the regular wintering Slavonian grebe. As the train approaches Dawlish Warren the line runs by the side of the bight, then through a bit of salt marsh, alongside the golf club and into the station.

Oystercatchers, Dawlish Warren bight
Note the white-headed individual at the back

Brent geese, Dawlish Warren bight

Dawlish Warren is worth a few hours' (or even a few days') wandering round. It's a spit jutting about a mile into the mouth of the estuary. A large part of the northern side is a golf course, the rest of the Warren is a mixture of open heath and dunes with some small patches of light woodland at the landward end. The bight on the northern side is great for wintering geese, waders and ducks. The beach on the southern side is great for waders and seawatching. And every shrub or patch of brambles could hold an interesting passage migrant. My list for Dawlish Warren is 114 species with highlights including Bonaparte's gull, Richard's pipit, Dartford warbler and Siberian chiffchaff.

Sanderlings, Dawlish Warren beach

Pulling out of the station the train turns away from the estuary, joins the seawall and goes past Langstone Rock on to Dawlish.

Langstone Rock

Langstone Rock

It's definitely worth keeping a close watch on the sea here at high tide: the gently sloping sand attracts flatfish which then attract shags, great-crested grebes and, if you're lucky a diver may come close. The mussel beds at the end of the rock attract eiders and scoters, with the occasional nice surprise. If the weather's not awful it's a nice walk from Dawlish Warren station along the seawall to Dawlish Warren and worth it for the seawatching. If the weather is awful, it's worth trying to find a bit of shelter (there's not a lot of it, all at the Dawlish Warren end) and dig in to see what gets blown by.

Red-throated diver, Dawlish Warren

Velvet scoter, Dawlish

From Dawlish the line goes on to Teignmouth and on to Torbay, terminating at Paignton.

Hodbarrow

Old iron workings, Hodbarrow

I had a free return to anywhere by Northern Rail ticket (in recompense for being left stranded more than an hour at Edale the other day) so decided I'd have a push out to Millom for a nosy round the RSPB reserve at Hodbarrow. Nice, but not overly hot, weather for a stroll.

Oystercatchers, Hodbarrow

Sandwich tern, Hodbarrow

Amongst the hundreds of nesting black-headed gulls and sandwich terns were a couple of dozen common terns and, eventually, I spotted fourteen little terns hiding in plain sight in the gravel rubble. 

A dozen nesting little terns hiding in plain sight, Hodbarrow

Also good to see a lot of eider ducklings and a single, rather unseasonal pink-footed goose.

Eiders

Pink-footed goose, Hodbarrow

A pair of bar-headed geese brought an exotic touch to the whole thing.

Bar-headed geese, Hodbarrow

The spit of land poking out from the water sports area hosted good numbers of nesting lesser black-backed gulls and a couple of pairs of nesting great black-backs.

The North Wirral: Leasowe to Meols

Sketch map: Meols, Moreton and Leasowe
(click to enlarge)

This stretch of the Wirral coast is well-served by public transport: the trains are every quarter of an hour and there are plenty of buses from elsewhere in Merseyside. It's well worth the visit for the walks just by themselves. From a birding perspective the mixture of grassy coastline, horse paddocks, little bits of thin woodland and a reed-fringed pond provides a variety of habitats to explore, particularly during Spring and Autumn when this area can be very busy with passage migrants.

Depending on what else I've got planned for the day I'll usually start from Leasowe Station or Moreton Station. From Leasowe Station you can join the Wirral Circular Trail about fifty yards down the road, just after the Premier Foods factory. From Moreton Station you join it about a hundred yards down the road at the entrance to Kerr's Field. (If you prefer you can walk down to the end of the road to get yourself a cup of tea and a chip butty). In Spring and Summer you'll usually see whitethroat as you walk along the stream (The Birket).

Kerr's Field is a paddock area by the stream that's often good for passage migrants. It's possible to see good numbers of wheatears, yellow wagtails and pied wagtails (a possible Iberian wagtail was reported from here recently).

Yellow wagtail, Kerr's Field

Wheatear, Kerr's Field

Juvenile stonechat, Kerr's Field

Of course, timing is everything when it comes to passage migration: a couple of weeks after seeing dozens of wagtails and wheatears here I came back and found just the one wheatear. Any disappointment I may have had soon evaporated when I noticed the resident stonechats had a few new mouths to feed.

In Spring a walk along the path past the lighthouse will be accompanied by the songs of warblers — mostly blackcaps and chiffchaffs, with one or two sedge warblers — and skylarks with the occasional "cronk" from a passing raven.

Leasowe Lighthouse

At the lighthouse you have the choice of going up for a walk along the sea wall for a bit of seawatching, directly following the path through Leasowe Common that eventually gets to Meols, or taking a diversion to the left and following the path into the reeds and trees and round the other side of the pond to add reed and willow warblers to the tally (this path rejoins the path a few hundred yards further along).

Leasowe Common

This spit of rocks is about halfway between Leasowe Lighthouse and Meols.
Most of the waders taking refuge here will usually be oystercatchers, redshanks and dunlin but you never know your luck.

Coming into Meols

Coming into Meols you can walk through the caravan park to join Park Lane and walk down to the station from there or you can carry on along the sea front then turn down Dovepoint Road and down to the station.

First-Winter pied wheatear, Meols sea wall, November 2018

If you've the energy you can carry on walking along the sea front down to Hoylake and thence to West Kirby.