Seaforth Nature Reserve

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Seaforth Nature Reserve

Permit holders only from Peel Ports Police. This site is run by a LWT volunteer

06/03/2023

Work has begun on the reserve to improve safe nesting areas on the causeway, this will include, predator fencing, gravel areas, more islands and spits for roosting waders.

The map shows what areas are being fenced and Habitat Improvements to be made, so for the next few weeks there will be some disturbance in that area of the reserve, but it is hoped the work will be done in time for the returning Common Terns and waders such as Avocets, which have started to arrive in small numbers recently and Little Ringed Plovers.

Ringed Plovers and most likely Oystercatchers will soon be able to nest safely from foxes, with the possibility of Sandwich Terns, which do build up here in Spring before moving onto nest elsewhere, providing the safe Habitat might encourage them to settle here instead, here's hoping.

11/10/2022

Since the arrival of our second American Golden Plover, which stayed until 13th Sept, we had an increase in waders with up to 10 juv Curlew Sandpipers, the regular Spotted Redshank and Whimbrel most days, Greenshank, Ringed Plovers, Golden and Grey Plovers, 2 Ruff, 3 Common Sands, 850 Bar-tailed Godwits, 100 Black-tailed Godwits, 7000 Knot and increasing numbers of Snipe and a Jack Snipe on 22nd Sept, an Osprey flew South on 7th Sept, and a Marsh Harrier landed briefly on 19th and another flew East the next day, a Redstart was on 8th Sept and a Common Scoter was seen on 18th and it or another showed well in front of the hide on 25th, the first Whooper Swans were seen on 28th Sept, 3 Juv Pintail on 8th October with 3 Whooper Swans flying South, a Nuthatch was seen briefly on 9th, our second record, 2 Whooper Swan were on the Saltwater pool on 10th October and 3 Swallows flew South.

02/09/2022

A moulting ads American Golden Plover was found yesterday morning by Tony Small, the bird was on the causeway behind the Tern rafts, but it flew off 10 minutes later with no further sign until it was relocated on the saltwater pool at 5pm by Jon Greep, it stayed another 45mins before flying off again, this is the second record for the reserve after last year's first.

02/07/2022

A lots been going on since the last post in May, a total of 8 rafts were put out and are full to the brim with nesting Common Terns, with the first birds fledging in the last couple of days, it looks like a good breeding year with the new island doing well with over 43 pairs so far 19+ young and still more eggs to hatch, the numbers appear to be up from last year, so fingers crossed it's our best year, the returning Roseate X Common Tern Hybrid was seen several times displaying to Common terns during May.

The screens at both hides were completed by the volunteers and look great, Hide C is in the process of repair starting with the window flaps being replaced and the hide will be generally tidied up inside and possibly new steps up.

A long awaited Black Tern arrived on 23rd May, an absence on the reserve for over 2 yrs, with a 2nd bird joining it on 31st May, a Roseate Tern was seen on 29th May, and another on 3rd June, a Hooded Crow was seen on 4th June and another Black Tern on the 6th, the Ravens that nest inside the docks have had 5 juvs with 2 adults showing them the reserve, a Hummingbird Hawk-moth was seen on 23rd June and an early Kingfisher on 24th, a Male Black Ruff arrived with increasing numbers of waders returning on the 29th June, a couple of 2nds Med Gulls flew through on 23rd and an adult and 2nds on 30th.

06/05/2022

Migrants have been arriving thick and fast after a slow start in early April, A male Ring Ouzel arrived on the 8th April with small numbers of Wheatears, a male Redstart on 13th April, also Marsh Harrier, and an Arctic Skua was seen flying offshore, 2 Sandwich Tern and 2 ads Little gulls, 16th seen the first Common Tern of the year, on the 17th ads Yellow-legged Gull and 1sts Med Gull, smaal numbers of Whimbrel arrived daily to the end of April.

May arrived in style with 5 Arctic Tern on the 1st and 2 1sts Med Gulls, a big fall day on the 2nd saw a male Redstart closely followed by a Wryneck, our 5th record which showed well at times, a Lesser Whitethroat dropped in and a Short-eared Owl flew in from the marina and landed on mount Shepherd, 12 Arctic Terns arrived during misty drizzle conditions on 4th May and a Hobby flew through Crosby marina heading East, 2 Whinchat arrived late afternoon, A Grasshopper Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat were singing on the long bank area of the reserve, with 18 Wheatear, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroats, and amongst the 200+ Common Terns, the regular Roseate X Common Tern hybrid was seen on the small island near the causeway, another 2 Whinchat arrived today 6th May with just 8 Wheatears present, 9 Avocet, 6 Dunlin and 20 Black-tailed Godwits and a few pairs of coomon Terns are now looking interested in the new fenced off island built especially for them.

26/04/2022

The first 3 Tern rafts were put out yesterday by the hard working Seaforth vols, today there are 30 Common Terns flying around calling, landing on the rafts and the new Tern Island complete with nest boxes, at least 9 Sandwich Terns about, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 60 Black - tailed Godwit, 6 Avocet, 7 Wheatear, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Cetti's, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, ans small numbers of hirundines moving through mostly Swallow, an ads Little Gull popped in briefly, and yesterday a fem /imm Marsh Harrier flew through.

27/03/2022

Our First Osprey of the season flew over at 12.12 from the direction of Hilbre Island, missing out the coastline of the Wirral, it flew behind the hide so didn't cause too much of a dread, it was seen circling over Rimrose Valley CP directly over the Leeds-Liverpool canal and was then mobbed by a Common Buzzard before heading in the direction of Lunt.

A fairly quite day otherwise, 1 Chiffchaff, Cetti's calling from the reedbed and another calling from the small nature reserve in the sw corner of Crosby Marina, 30 Tufted, 18 Goldeneye, the Spotted Redshank on the saltwater pool, 14 Avocet, 3 Ruff seen in the morning, 85 Black-tailed Godwits a few Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits, a Common Buzzard flew over NE with another circling over the marina.

07/03/2022

A small team of birder volunteers helped plant over 70+ mixed woodland /hedge trees on the reserve on Sunday, these have been given for free from the The Woodland Trust community scheme, trees planted include, Rowan, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Elder, Crab Apple, Dog Rose, Hazel and Downy Birch so far, another pack to come.

Bird news, arrivals of Lesser Black-backed Gulls have seen a 2ndc and an ads Yellow-legged Gull, and 2 Caspian Gulls, an ad and a 3rdc, more Common Gulls and 2ndc Mediterranean Gulls, the long staying Whimbrel and Spotted Redshank were joined by up to 13 Avocet feeding on the saltwater pool, a female Scaup arrived and is often found with the Pochard, Goldeneye have reached 32 and the drk Red-breasted Merganser is still here, Cetti's are still being heard in the reedbed with Water Rail calling, Stonechat was new in on Sunday and a Kingfisher flyby, daily sightings of Ravens, Common Buzzard and Little Egret.

07/02/2022

The path work has now been completed, and although they're not the prettiest of paths they do the job, the screen near hide A has begun to take shape, while the fence around the Tern Island will soon be completed sometime this week.

The juv S**g was seen again briefly on 5th Feb and an Ad Little Gull came in on the very strong winds, the Pochard flock still around 16 or 17 on certain days, Goldeneye still in the 20's and the regular drk Red-brasted Merganser is still commuting between the reserve and Crosby marina, two Ravens have been busy collecting twigs and heading into the docks to build their nest.

28/01/2022

Now that the islands are done, the new paths around the reserve have started!

25/01/2022

Lots more work has been done on the reserve, the islands off the causeway have been enlarged and are ready for gravel, the Tern Island is done and the fence is almost complete, the sluice pipe is done, and the wader breeding areas on the saltwater pool bank are done, and lastly the scrape by hide C has been extended and deepened, the screen is being replaced by hide c by the volunteers and doing a sterling job, a mini digger has arrived to start the paths, around the reserve.

Bird news, the Black Redstart was seen again briefly at the weekend, Pochard numbers have increased again to 17, still around 20-22 Goldeneye, and the male Red-breasted Merganser still commuting to the marina, Barwits roosting on the saltwater pool total 1500+, the Spotted Redshank still amongst the Redshank and a pair of Stonechat have been following the digger around the reserve.

20/01/2022

Work continues on improving breeding areas for waders and Terns on the reserve, the channel has been dug and will be completed when checks are done for right depth and width from the main bank, meanwhile the first islands were being created off the causeway, these will be used by waders for roosting as well as nesting during different seasons.

The 14 Pochard are still present, as well as the drk Red-breasted Merganser, 22 Goldeneye, 8 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 4000+ Knot, 1200 Barwits, 22 Blackwits, 50 Dunlin, 12 Curlew, 2 Water Rail and the Cetti’s Warbler singing in the reedbed.

Address

Royal Seaforth Docks
Liverpool
L211JD

Telephone

+441519203769

Website

http://www.lancswt.org.uk/places-to-see/seaforth-nature-reserve

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