Liverpool (1 Viewer)

As an occasional visitor to Liverpool I would appreciate any advice on good birdwatching areas on the Mersey estuary that are easily accesible by car from the city centre.

Hi Mike - welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll be getting some anwers soon - Tracker (and others), where are you???

mike hawley said:

As an occasional visitor to Liverpool I would appreciate any advice on good birdwatching areas on the Mersey estuary that are easily accesible by car from the city centre.

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Aeons ago when I was living in Lancashire I sometimes used to go to Seaforth which is a small reserve tucked away in the Crosby docks area. It's an excellent urban reserve................I remember seeing loads of Little Gull as well as Ringbilled and Med Gull, Black Tern, Red Crested Pochard and tons of common stuff. Highly recommended.

Hi Mike and welcome

I think the easiest is to look at the Liverpool RSPB pages they have some useful pointers
http://www.livbird.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Also have a look at the RSPB Sefton site as that will probably cover Seaforth.
http://www.livbird.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Finally have a look at St Helens Wildlife as they have some excellent site guides as well probably reachable in 30 minutes from the Centre. http://www.sthelenswildlife.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/.

I have excluded Wirral sites only because its the other side of the river but they are equally accessible as some of the sites here but you have to travel through the tunnel. Plenty of RSPB sites there.

I think the Liverpool RSPB may have the things your're looking for.

Hope this is helps and have fun.

Give me a call and I'm happy to escort you. where to go is 100% dependant on the weather and time of year!

Hi Mike,

Looks like i arrived a little too late............lol

As has been said, there are a few decent spots to visit for birding over here. Seaforth Nature Reserve, next to the Liverpool Freeport (in fact its within their grounds) is a very good place to start. There is a warden on the site, who is rather a helpful chap. Excellent for various gulls, although since the development there in recent years gull species seemed to have gone down somewhat. Always the chance of a Med gull. They have been there recently. Little Gulls make an appearance over next few months too. Along with Common, Arctic and Sandwich Terns. At the moment there are also Scaup on the reserve lake, Blackwits, Goldeneye, Grebes and plenty of waterfowl. Over the perimeter fence is Crosby Marine Lake. Thats always worth a visit, as well as the shoreline further up (having had Snow Buntings in December).
I would say the links posted by bill@dwp, especially http://www.livbird.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
are going to prove most useful to you.

A couple of miles out of Liverpool, up the A59, possibly on your route across to Liverpool...is a reserve, in Rufford called Mere Sands Wood: http://www.westlancsdc.gov.uk/Tourism/index.cfm?ccs=303&cs=738 This is a great place for various Woodpeckers, Treecreepers, various warblers over next few months, waterfowl and a variety of other birds. In the same area, look out too for Martin Mere of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust: http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit/martinmere/

Also worth a visit, specially if you have family with you, is Croxteth Country Park :http://www.livbird.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/croxteth.htm

Im not too familiar with the birding sites across the Mersey in the Wirral, but it looks like you have the assistance of Jane Turner to help you there.

All the best,

tracker

Many thanks for all your help and advice, it is greatly appreciated. I will be making tracks to the sites you have recommended

I'd definitely recommend shooting over the Wirral for some good walking/birding habitats - the coast along from Leasowe - Meols is particularly productive at this time of year with migrants, and on the W coast of the Wirral along the Dee aswell is really lovely countryside overlooking marsh with farm, coast and woodland birds aplenty.

By the way Tracker, I noticed you're from Liverpool and overlook Seaforth - do you know if Seaforth Nature Reserve has reopened to the public again yet? The last I heard ago was a few months or so ago they were installing a new footpath or something... I haven't heard anything since and I'd like to pop along there when I've got a bit of free time... obviously it being actually open is useful to know before I do so!

There are three figure counts of Little Gulls at Seaforth most days at present.

Hi Ben,

Welcome to BirdForum, fellow scouser.......

Yes Seaforth is open to the public again. There has been quite some developement in the area by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, but its still business as usual for birding.

As Jane said there has been some excellent numbers of Little Gulls recently. In the last few days ive seen Common Sandpiper, a male Redstart, Stonechat, Turnstone, Black Godwits and many more. Various Warblers have been seen at the reserve too, including a Grasshopper Warbler. Its always a good idea to check out the tide times too. But with this reserve, popping in anytime, can always produce a good days birding.
Hope this helps...... :t:

tracker

Cheers for that, I'll definitely have to pop down there again soon - like you say, the unpredictability of what turns up at Seaforth is a big plus!