The Wirral: West Kirby and Hoylake

Sketch map of West Kirby, Red Rocks and Hoylake

The North Wirral Coast is very productive for birdwatching, has some excellent walking and is easily accessible by bus and train (the trains run every quarter of an hour). There are a few waders on the estuary all year round, the numbers increase enormously on passage and in Winter. At this time of year it's always useful to take a turn around the marine lake at West Kirby for sea ducks or even divers. The Red Rocks area is a good place to check out passage migration and do a bit of seawatching. Hoylake offers a big sandy beach popular with gulls, ringed plovers and white wagtails.

Hoylake beach looking towards the Dee Estuary

You can walk to Hilbre Bird Observatory from Red Rocks or West Kirby. Being an overly-cautious sort with one eye on the train timetables home I've never got any further than Middle Eye, the island before Hilbre so I don't cover it here.

West Kirby on the Dee Estuary is at the end of one of the Merseyrail lines. Cross the road from the station and go straight down Dee Lane and you'll get to the marine lake. There are generally a few gulls and a wader or two loafing round on the slipway if it's not in use by the sailing centre. The South Parade makes up one side of the lake and a retaining walkway takes you around the outside. Towards the southern end check out the rocks by the small concrete platform, this is a favoured roosting spot for redshanks and turnstones. Any sea ducks will tend to be at this end of the lake.

Scaup, West Kirby Marine Lake

Redshanks, West Kirby Marine Lake

Walking round the perimeter of the lake gives you a chance to check out both the lake and the Dee Estuary. Most of the waders near the lake will be dunlins and redshanks, black-tailed godwits and curlew will be further out. And there's always the chance of something else being out there if your luck's in. Brent geese winter off Hilbre, sometimes a few will come in to graze on the edge of the lake.

Light-bellied brent geese, West Kirby Marine Lake

Walking north from West Kirby to Red Rocks the paths run through a thin strip of sandy marsh. A high path runs alongside the golf course, if you're doing this walk in Summer look out for lizards basking on the boardwalk. There are a couple of lower-level paths running parallel to this that work better if you're not steady on your pins. Most of the passerines will be skylarks and meadow pipits, as you approach the reedbeds around the small pond you'll bump into a few reed buntings, in Summer you'll find reed and sedge warblers.

Walking from West Kirby to Red Rocks

In Spring and Autumn the trees and bushes along this stretch are always worth checking out for passage migrants.

Red Rocks

Red Rocks is a small outcrop of the local red sandstone. It's a good vantage point for a bit of seawatching on the turn of the tide.

From Red Rocks you can walk down to Hoylake's North Parade either along the beach or, if the tide's in, along Stanley Road then turning left and down King's Gap. This is the beginning of a long stretch of roads and paths that would eventually take you over to New Brighton. Look out for wagtails on the beach and by the golf course: pied wagtails are around all year round, in Spring they're joined by white wagtails on passage.

Ringed plovers, Hoylake.

Quickest way to Hoylake Station from the beach is to go down from King's Gap: the road takes you straight there.

Useful links:

• Hilbre Bird Observatory blog
• Dee Estuary Birding latest sightings

Hollingworth Lake

Sketch map of Hollingworth Lake

Hollingworth Lake is a small Pennine reservoir just outside Rochdale. It's popular both for walking and watersports and can be very busy on a sunny holiday afternoon. It can provide a couple of hours' decent birdwatching in the course of a pleasant stroll. There are enough pubs, cafés and chippies for you not to need to take a packed lunch with you.

Hollingworth Lake

The lake itself attracts good numbers of wildfowl — mostly mallards, mute swans and Canada geese — and gulls, mostly black-headed. They're joined by common terns in Summer. There's usually a few tufted ducks, every so often they'll be joined by goosander and once in a while a goldeneye or a common scoter may visit. And whenever there's a large number of ducks and gulls there's always the chance of something special.

Male common scoter

Getting to Hollingworth Lake is very straightforward so long as the trains are behaving themselves. 

• From Smithybridge Station walk south up Smithybridge Road over the canal and after about half a mile you'll reach the lake. This is much the quickest and most direct route.
• From Littleborough Station go under the subway and turn right down Canal Street, walk about a mile along Hollingworth Roaad and you reach the lake.
• The 458 bus goes from Littleborough Station to Hollingworth Lake. It then carries on to Rochdale via Wardle (if you have the time and energy you can stop off at Wardle for a walk round Watergrove Reservoir).

Common tern

Most of the gulls and ducks congregate around the car park. There are usually a few common gulls and lesser black-backs around. Last year a glaucous gull hung around for a couple of weeks enjoying more than its fair share of chips.

Glaucous gull

There's a path around the lake from the car park, eventually turning round to join Rakewood Road. A little further along there's a small road on the left going to the visitor centre. The little bit of woodland around the car park is worth checking out for the usual suspects. In Winter you'll probably find siskins amongst the finch flocks and you might find lesser redpolls. From here there are a couple of paths through open pasture land that will eventually take you into Littleborough.

Looking North from Rakewood Road

Returning back to the lake, a little bit further up Rakewood Road there's a small lane on the right. Go down here, passing the play area, this skirts the south bank of the lake. The lake is pretty much hidden by wet woodland for the first hundred yards or so. The path then loops round, keep an eye out on your right hand side here for the short path to the hide. This overlooks a shallow pool separated from the larger part of the lake by a thin spit. This can be a good area for waders.

A common sandpiper.
The unusually thick base to its bill was the result of its struggling with the hard, thick mud of the 2018 drought.

Grey wagtail

The trees thin out as you carry on down the lane to the café, giving you another chance to check out any waterbirds on the lake. Following round the lake margin the next landmark is the outdoor activity centre. It's worth checking the pontoons here to see if the usual lapwings have any company. The rest of your journey is a meander round the edge of the lake, taking you back to the bottom of Smithybridge Road and Lake Bank.

Hollingworth Lake

Pennington Flash

Sketch map of Pennington Flash

Pennington Flash has become one of my regular visits. For years I read about it and thought it out of bounds as it didn't seem feasible by public transport from where I live. One day I had a bit of an explore and it turned out to be dead easy once you know how. Over the past couple of years, and rather to my surprise, my list for this site so far is 98 species. The official list for the site is currently 244 species.

Pennington Flash includes the flash itself, a big lake created as a result of mining subsidence, a collection of small pools, thin wet woodland and a couple of meadows. There are good numbers of wildfowl all the year round, with yet more coming in for the Winter. You also stand a good chance of seeing kingfishers as they fish around the pools. The woodland offers all the usual suspects and you have a very good chance of seeing willow tits here. Pennington Flash is particularly popular for its Winter gull roosts; amongst the hundreds of gulls there there's usually something interesting to find (eventually!): Iceland, yellow-legged and Mediterranean gulls are regular and most years at least one Caspian gull visits.

Dusk from Ramsdale's Hide

Getting there via Leigh

• The V1 bus runs regularly every quarter of and hour from Manchester to Leigh. It's a quick service using the Leigh Guided Busway which is a sort of hybrid bus/tram affair. If you're travelling from outside Greater Manchester it's probably easiest to get a train to Salford Crescent and pick the bus up from there (the bus stop is across the road and a block to the left from the station exit).
• The 34 bus goes from Piccadilly Gardens to Leigh is less frequent and takes a little longer.
• The 126 bus is an hourly service between the Trafford Centre and Leigh. If you miss that you can wait for the 132 bus to Wigan, get off at Sale Lane and get the V1 from there.

Once you arrive at Leigh Bus Station you need to go over to the bus stop on King Street (the side of the bus station opposite to the shopping centre) for the 34 or  the bus station for the 600 910 610 bus (it was easier when they both had the same bus stop but you won't have a long wait either way). Depending on the traffic it's a five or ten minute bus journey. You need to keep an eye out for the junction with the dual carriageway, your bus stop is just after the fire station on the left hand side. From here, cross the road and the main entrance to the country park is opposite the Robin Hood.

It's also possible to walk down the canal from Leigh town centre. It's a nice walk on a fine day. Or get the 584 or 588 to Plank Lane, cross over the canal and either walk along the canal and drop into the country park or go in via the entrance with the little car park a short way down Slag Lane.

Getting there from Wigan and St Helens

• The 600 601 910 610 from Wigan to Leigh and the 34 from St. Helens both go down St. Helens Road past Pennington Flash. The bus stop is nearly opposite the Robin Hood pub. As  you pass through Lowton keep an eye out for the industrial estate on the left, you'll know it because there's a big vet's building by the road. When you see that you know your stop's next.

The main entrance to the country park is just down the road.

Reedmace by Bradshaw Leach Meadow

The country park

Coming in through the main entrance and passing by the little car park you'll have a choice of paths: 

• If you turn left the path takes you round to the south bank of the flash. You'll pass the East Bay Hide and then reconnect with the main path at the bridge over the brook. In Autumn this can be a productive diversion, the hedges around the meadow seem to be a popular stopping point for migrating passerines.
• If you carry on straight ahead the tree-lined path passes Bradshaw Leach Meadow then enters some thin woodland before joining the other path at the brook.

From here you'll walk through the main car park. The country park is very popular, even so it's worth taking your time here to see what's about, especially when the resident wildfowl and gulls out on the water are joined by Winter visitors. The visitor centre is at the end of the car park, this is where the toilets are. 

Black-headed gulls, Horrocks Hide

From here, follow the path along the margin of the flash to the F.W.Horrocks Hide. This overlooks the beginning of the nature reserve end of the flash.The spit of land jutting out in front of the hide is worth checking out, particularly during wader passage. Gulls and, in Summer, terns loaf around with the cormorants at the far end. Later in the year look out for family groups of goosander.

Be warned: this hide is always cold, even in Summer! Mind you, on a really nasty Winter's day you can check out most of the gull roost from this hide rather than feeling quite so exposed as you would standing by the edge of the flash.

A Temminck's stint had turned up and had settled down in a nice place out in the open for a snooze so that everyone to see it from the F.W.Horrocks Hide. Just as everybody got their bins and telescopes trained on the stint this drake mallard came along and plonked himself right in front and wasn't for moving for more than an hour. The brown smudge behind the mallard is the top of the stint's back.

As you come out of the hide the path leads on to the Tom Edmondson Hide and beyond. There's the usual woodland species — mixed tit flocks in Winter, a nice selection of warblers in Summer. The main path is effectively a causeway between a series of small pools. You'll often see dabchicks, teal and shoveler though water rails and reed warblers tend to be heard more often than seen along this stretch.

The Tom Edmondson Hide is built on similar lines as the Horrocks Hide but feels a lot less exposed. It overlooks a couple of pools and a small reed bed with a small gravel patch separating the pools. Ducks often rest up on here and you may see snipe feeding here. These pools are probably the best places to find gadwall at Pennington Flash. There's usually a few herons and often a little egret. It also seems to be a good spot for finding juvenile kingfishers in late Summer.

From Tom Edmondson Hide

Juvenile kingfisher, Tom Edmondson Hide

A few yards further along the path forks. Check out the brambles and reeds here, it's a good place for finding warblers and it seems to be a preferred haunt of singing Cetti's warblers. Not much further is the Ramsdale's Hide. This overlooks a pool which is open to the flash proper. More ducks and waders and very nice too.

The path continues on to the main path. If it's been wet I'd generally prefer to retrace my steps and rejoin the main path there. If time's short or the weather bad you can follow the path back down towards the play area near the visitor centre and visit the hides down here.

Carrying on from Ramdsale's the main path leads on to the canal that acts as the northern border of the park. The choices from here are:

• Turn right and continue in a loop around the wooded areas and small pools, eventually getting to the rest of the hides.
• Turn left and have a wander round the northern part of the park. This is less productive from a birdwatching perspective but is a nice stroll.
• Walk down the canal back to Leigh town centre, which can be a pleasant walk on a Summer's afternoon.

There are three hides and a viewing point in the eastern side of the park. Anticlockwise from the play area the hides are:

• Pengy's Hide. This is a small hide which gives you a full view of one of the pools you can see from the Tom Edmondson Hide. There's a small feeding station by this hide which gives you a taster for the next hide.

Bluebells, wild garlic and three-cornered leeks, Pengy's Hide

• The Bunting Hide. This overlooks the main feeding station. It's worth making yourself comfortable and waiting to see what comes along. Reed buntings and stock doves both sometimes reach double figures and you'll often see good numbers of bullfinches. You may need to wait a while for the willow tits to turn up but when they do they give very good views.

Willow tit

• Teal Hide, including a hide used for educational purposes. This overlooks a pool with a small reedbed at the far end. The Teal Scrape is another place often favoured by family groups of goosanders.

Walking back from these hides it's worth checking out the flash again to see if anything's flown in while you've been having a wander. The car park oystercatcher may also make an appearance.

As you leave the park the bus stops are on your right. All the buses from the stop on this side go to Leigh Bus Station. Cross the road for buses to Wigan and St. Helens.

Useful links

• Leigh Ornithological Society 
• Greater Manchester Birding Forum — Pennington Flash sightings

Mersey Valley: Sale Water Park to Chorlton Water Park

Mersey Valley: Sale Water Park to Chorlton Water Park

The stretch of the Mersey Valley between Streftord and Chorlton Water Park is an easily-accessible complex of fields and wet woodland bookended by two small lakes. The Northwestern end — Stretford Ees and Sale Water Park — are part of the local flood defences; the central belt is the remains of old farmland; and the Southeastern end is the remains of old landfill. Consequently most of the wild landscape is quite young but this doesn't stop it providing hours of productive birdwatching. I find it better to spend a couple of hours walking round part of the complex rather than trying to take it all in one go.

Chorlton Water Park

The red lines on the map show the most straightforward access points to the complex.

Coming in from Stretford town centre or Stretford tram stop, walk down Edge Lane to the junction with Kings Road. Cross Edge Lane here and go straight down Lime Road and through Stretford Cemetery. Once you reach the path on the other side turn left and carry on. This path effectively acts as the boundary between Stretford Ees and the playing fields of Turn Moss and carries on to the bridge over Chorlton Brook and into Chorlton Ees.

Chorlton Ees

If you turn right as you come out of the Cemetery the path goes under the tram bridge and the canal aquaduct and becomes Hawthorn Road. Go through gate at the top of the road and follow the path that doubles back under the bridges, this takes you down to a bridge over the river and into Sale Water Park.

The 84a bus goes from Trafford General Hospital to Merseybank via Urmston, Stretford and Chorlton and goes down Ivygreen Road in Chorlton towards the Bowling Green pub. Footpaths in this area bring you into Ivy Green, the top end of Chorlton Ees or Hardy Farm.

The 23, 23A and 25 buses from Stretford to Stockport and the 86 bus from Manchester to Chorlton go down Barlow Moor Road. Get off at the stop by Chorlton Park School. Alternatively, get the Airport tram from Manchester and get off at Barlow Moor Road. Cross the road into Hardy Lane and follow the tram lines down to the bottom of the road. The path here brings you into Hardy Farm.

Sale Water Park is the next tram stop after Barlow Moor Road. Get off here to cross over the road into Sale Water Park or turn right and walk up the road to Jackson's Boat.

The 23, 23A and 86 buses continue down Barlow Moor Road past Southern Cemetery. Get off at the stop after the Crematorium, cross over and walk down Maitland Avenue to get to Chorlton Water Park.

Chorlton Water Park

Chorlton Water Park is a small lake bordered by trees and a good path. It's very popular with walkers and anglers. Mallard, gadwall and tufted ducks can be found all year round and great-crested grebes breed here. In Winter there may be pochard, goldeneye or goosander. The island at the car park end usually has a few cormorants hanging round it. Check out the overhanging branches on the island on the opposite end for kingfishers. You'll usually be able to hear ring-necked parakeets, you often may see them on the feeders in the car park or in the tops of the poplars over near the play area. The trees around the lake attract all the usual suspects, including siskins in Winter.

Tufted duck, Chorlton Water Park

Barlow Tip meets the Water Park at the end opposite the car park. There are a couple of paths into it: a rough one going uphill towards the top of the mound and a much better path leading diagonally across the tip from the corner by the river. There's a maze of rough paths in this area, many of them leading precisely nowhere, a few get you back where you started and a couple lead you to the path by the river. The waste tip was capped with clay when it was abandoned so don't think just because you're on slightly higher ground the ground won't get any wetter! The mosaic of bits of wet woodland and small open spaces suits warblers quite nicely.

Barlow Tip

Barlow Tip is fenced off on two sides by a golf course. You can either return to Chorlton Water Park or take a walk by the river.

River Mersey

Along this stretch of the Mersey Valley the river is a nice, well-behaved length of water skirted by high grassy banks. There's usually a few mallard and Canada geese on the river, in Winter there may often be goosander. Grey wagtails breed here and can often be seen bobbing round on the rocks at the water's edge. In Winter it's worth checking out the alders and larches along the stretch by the golf course to see if there are any lesser redpolls amongst the goldfinches.

Grey wagtail, River Mersey

Approaching Jackson's Boat the tram line goes across the river. The bit of scrap ground here has been tidied up a bit lately but is still worth a look to see what's about. In tattier days I've heard Cetti's warbler singing from here but I don't hold much hope for one of them to return any time soon.

Ring-necked parakeets, Jackson's Boat

Ring-necked parakeets show well round here and particularly like perching in the trees around Jackson's Boat pub. Buzzards drift overhead, once in a while you might see a raven fly over.

From here you have three choices: bob over the bridge to Sale Water Park, turn right and walk through Hardy Farm into Chorlton or carry on straight ahead through Chorlton Ees towards Stretford. You can also walk through Hardy Farm or Chorlton Ees through to Ivy Green.

On either side you can walk down the river to the bridge by the Altincham tram line. It's a nice walk in good weather but from a birdwatching perspective it tends to be like being on the oustide looking in.

Chorlton Ees is like a bigger, rather older and mostly drier edition of Barlow Tip. Hardy Farm and Ivy Green tend to be more open and slightly drier again than Chorlton Ees. The paths tend to be quite good. There's some good woodland birdwatching here, with all the joys and frustrations that brings. In Winter you may strike lucky and see a woodcock.

Crossing the river at Jackson's Boat there are two ways of getting into Sale Water Park. You can walk down the road, pass the tram stop and get in near the visitor centre or you can walk a little way along the river and join the path running parallel to the road, which is a nicer walk so long as it's not pouring down. There's a seat by the side of the visitor centre; I'd advise sitting here for a while as it overlooks a feeding station that attracts the local willow tits.

Willow tit, Sale Water Park

Sale Water Park is a busy watersports area. Even so, it attracts a good number of ducks and gulls and a decent herd of Canada geese. Goosander are regular in Winter. Following the path along the North of the lake you eventually come to Broad Ees Dole. This is a pair of ponds surrounded by willows. A concrete hide overlooks the larger pond. In days gone by there was a wader scrape here, these days you'll see teal and dabchicks and possibly hear water rail. Resuming the path you'll often get nice views of teal on the smaller lake.

Broad Ees Dole

The path carries on around the Water Park or you can turn right and onto the bank of the river. From here you can either walk back down the river to Jackson's Bridge or cross here to walk down to Stretford.

A few walks around Southport (1) Marine Drive to Marshside

Sketch map of Southport

Southport's easy enough to get to by train (so long as the services are behaving themselves!) and there's some good birdwatching within very easy reach of the railway station. There are also good bus services from Liverpool and Preston to the town centre. I don't claim to be a local expert — I try to get over there about once a month — these notes describe some of the routes I've explored and found useful.

This walk is the purple line on the map. If you have the time and energy the full 4½ mile walk through to Crossens can be very productive, though it can be a bit of a slog if the weather turns nasty. (If the weather does turn nasty you'll at least have the usual wind behind your back.) Otherwise you can just take a walk round the marine lake; turn off at Hesketh Road and get a bus back from Hesketh Park; or turn off at Marshside Road and get the bus back from the stop opposite the school.

Turn right as you come out of the station, walk to the end of the pedestrianised area and turn left onto London Road. Walk straight down the road to the Promenade at the end. Cross the Promenade and walk down over the bridge. This is a good stopping point to check out the Marine Lake. You could easily spend a long while walking round the lake: in Winter it's good for ducks and gulls, in Summer check out the little egrets nesting on the island — it's surely only a matter of time till cattle egrets join them.

Southport Marine Lake

Continuing on from the lake, past the retail park, cross Marine Drive at the Guelder Rose pub and have a look around from the sea wall. When the tide's out it can look like the salt marsh goes on forever. Looking out you'll usually see shelduck, redshanks, linnets and the occasional little egret. The shared footpath/cycle path takes you the couple of miles or so to Crossens. As you walk north away from the pier the marsh gets thicker. In Winter there's usually a few small groups of pink-footed geese and be careful to take a good look at the flocks of linnets that are kicking around as a good few of them will actually be twite. It's more of the same as you continue walking, with skylarks and meadow pipits, sometimes a stonechat or two, joining in as the ground gets slightly higher and drier. For all that Marine Drive is a busy road and the path is well-used there's a lot of bird life close to hand.

The junction with Hesketh Road is the beginning of the RSPB's Marshside reserve. Crossing the road here (carefully! it's a very busy — and fast — road) there's a seat giving you a good, though slightly distant, view of this corner of the reserve. About a hundred yards up the road there's a platform giving a closer view of the pool and right across this half of the reserve. In Winter there are large numbers of black-tailed godwits and wigeon, it tends to be quieter in Summer but it's always worth checking out (I saw my first glossy ibis from here).

Walking back and re-crossing Marine Drive carry on walking north. This seems to be the point where the salt marsh to your left changes character: the Winter flocks of geese and skylarks get bigger and your chances of seeing a bird of prey get better, usually a kestrel though I've seen peregrines and hobbies flying low over this area.

Pink-footed geese

Looking ahead you'll be able to see a rough mound on the horizon. This is the sand works opposite the main hide. As you approach the halfway mark between Hesketh Road and the sandworks keep an eye on the opposite side of the road for Nels Hide. It's slightly back from the road, mostly hidden by bushes; you're as likely to notice the path to it as the hide itself.

Nels Hide overlooks a shallow pool with a few islands. In Winter there are large numbers of ducks — pintail, wigeon, teal and tufted ducks — and waders, mostly black-tailed godwits and lapwings with a few ruffs and redshanks. There are usually little egrets to be found and surprisingly often you may see one or more of the cattle egrets that have taken a liking to the Sefton coast. In Summer the water retreats and — if it isn't a scorcher like 2018 — this part of the reserve attracts passage waders. Sedge and reed warblers nest near to the hide and swallows have been known to nest inside the hide.

Little egrets and cattle egret

The path from Nels Hide takes you to the junction of Marshside Road. There's a viewing point halfway along. In Winter golden plovers join the lapwings in the wet grass away at the back. In Summer some of the reserves breeding avocets nest within electric fences (to protect against foxes). And if you're lucky you may get something unexpected.

Glossy ibises

At the end of the path is another viewing point by Marshside Road, this time overlooking Junction Pool. More of the same, and very nice too.

Marshside Road cuts the reserve in two. In the next post I'll explain how to get to this point by bus and I'll describe the rest of the reserve. In the post after that I'll complete the journey to Crossens.