In his monthly instalment of nature walks on the Fylde Coast, Stephen Dunstan takes us on an early morning stroll around Rossall for a spot of birding before work.
By car: park on Rossall Beach car park accessed from Cleveleys Promenade.
By public transport: there is a tram stop at Rossall School from which the walk can be done in reverse
Target species: Wheatear, Sandwich Tern, Meadow Pipit, Whooper Swan, Stonechat
This is a relatively short walk that could be done in the morning before work. Morning is the best time in any case, as birds that migrate during the day are most numerous.
One of the very first spring migrants is the Wheatear. This pretty thrush like bird is most easily detected as it bounces away showing it’s rump (‘Wheatear’ is basically a corruption of ‘white bum’). They don’t nest locally and are on their way to northern fellsides, but as they move through the Promenade here and the school fields are a good place to see them. If there are none on view from the Prom there is a chance of some from the footpath through Rossall School grounds.
There is usually a pair of Stonechats nesting in the southern part of the school grounds. Superficially similar to Robins they are normally very approachable. At close range their ‘chack chack’ calls give away their identity, giving their name as it sounds a bit like two stones being banged together. Stonechats also move through in March, but by the second half of the month only the local breeding birds are usually still about.
On the Promenade sections of the walk outward and return keep an ear open for the grating ‘kerrick’ calls of Sandwich Terns. These more graceful relatives of our more familiar gulls don’t nest locally but are a regular feature passing close inshore throughout the summer. Later in the year other tern species will also occur but as the largest and most numerous ‘Sarnies’ will remain the easiest to spot, and when you become familiar with their call it’s a lot easier to notice them.
On calmer days lots of small birds can be passing in the skies overhead. The main ones with rather indistinct squeaking calls are Meadow Pipits. Like the Wheatear these are heading for uplands further north in the UK or even beyond. On good days several hundred may pass by. They are also joined by the Coninental equivalent of our familiar Pied Wagtail, paler backed birds known as White Wagtail headed for Iceland. On some mornings also headed for Iceland flocks of Whooper Swans will pass offshore, sometimes resting on the sea for a while before resuming their journey.
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