Read about my visit to the Ness Botanical Gardens HERE.
After visiting the botanical garden at Neston, I exited and turned right to endure a long walk of over 1.7 miles to reach the RSPB Bird Reserve located off the Puddington Road on the Burton site. This is a recently formed bird reserve park located on the English side of the Dee estuary. The latter divides England from Wales, and you can see the Welsh mountains from the back side of the bird reserve. The river Dee is not nearly as full as one may have liked it to be. The walk takes you large but simply decorated homes in the Burton town. There isn't much in the way of ostentation about this reserve.
The walk from the asphalted road into the main area of the reserve is woodland marked by a single-lane untarred road. You walk nearly 500 metres down this till you reach the Reception Centre of the reserve, which is also their first bird hide. I was greeted by a volunteer, who checked my membership badge and allowed me free entry (their normal entry charge is £4 per person.
Inside this main reception, there is a tea, coffee and biscuits and snack counter, where you self-serve yourself your poison and put the money into a collection cylinder. Your journey begins by first sitting here and watching the marsh birds as they alight, take flight, swim and generally do what they do right in front of you through the looking glass. They have even left a telescope behind for you to use if you need to.
The volunteers will often come to your side and engage you in conversation. I had a long chat with Eve. We spoke about what the RSPB has been doing. She was quite optimistic about their conservation efforts. As an example, she told me the local reserve had saved nearly 70 chicks of the 30-odd Avocet pairs that bred here last year.These chicks are at the mercy of marsh harriers and other natural predators. Today, I saw a lot of Canada Geese, Gulls and a pair of avocets (the first for this year, according to Eve).
After you have had your fill of watching the Canada geese, the gulls, etc. you can unlock one of the side doors and walk down a path to go off one or the other side of the reception. I did precisely that. The long board-walk is over a km long, and takes you to two bird hides. Initially, I went to the one that was quite a distance away, but later, I came back to the one nearer the reception. I was in the company of an ex-Army person by the curious name of Ian Fleming (his middle name is James too, ha ha). He kept guiding me, helping me identify species I had not seen before and chatting about the site and its history. It was really enjoyable with him by my side. He even lent me his binoculars on a couple of occasions for me to see the new species more closely.
In the event, I ended up seeing a few new birds, including gadwalls, Whooper swans, etc. Here are some memories of a well-spent afternoon:
I finished around three p.m. It would be a long walk back to the Ness Gardens, from where I would take a bus back to Neston station, and then, the reverse journey by train/train/bus/train/bus back to my place in the Victoria Hospital. In the event, I requested a single man who was about to leave in his car to drop me to the bus stop at the gardens. He and I got to talking. He told me he was a banker who retired early at the age of 52 so that he could pursue his hobbies, the chief being birding. He sounded quite content in his life and left in me the envy I always feel when I see people who are free to do what they like ... He left me all the way to the station. I thanked him and proceeded to return home. On the way back, the third pit stop was the Liverpool Lime station. I indulged in a bit of food and coffee before boarding the train to Preston. Eventually, I reached home after eight, since I did a bit of shopping at the big Sainsbury store just outside the Blackpool North railway station.
All in all, a great day! Thanks for reading my post. Kindly participate in the blog by commenting below.
After visiting the botanical garden at Neston, I exited and turned right to endure a long walk of over 1.7 miles to reach the RSPB Bird Reserve located off the Puddington Road on the Burton site. This is a recently formed bird reserve park located on the English side of the Dee estuary. The latter divides England from Wales, and you can see the Welsh mountains from the back side of the bird reserve. The river Dee is not nearly as full as one may have liked it to be. The walk takes you large but simply decorated homes in the Burton town. There isn't much in the way of ostentation about this reserve.
The walk from the asphalted road into the main area of the reserve is woodland marked by a single-lane untarred road. You walk nearly 500 metres down this till you reach the Reception Centre of the reserve, which is also their first bird hide. I was greeted by a volunteer, who checked my membership badge and allowed me free entry (their normal entry charge is £4 per person.
Inside this main reception, there is a tea, coffee and biscuits and snack counter, where you self-serve yourself your poison and put the money into a collection cylinder. Your journey begins by first sitting here and watching the marsh birds as they alight, take flight, swim and generally do what they do right in front of you through the looking glass. They have even left a telescope behind for you to use if you need to.
The volunteers will often come to your side and engage you in conversation. I had a long chat with Eve. We spoke about what the RSPB has been doing. She was quite optimistic about their conservation efforts. As an example, she told me the local reserve had saved nearly 70 chicks of the 30-odd Avocet pairs that bred here last year.These chicks are at the mercy of marsh harriers and other natural predators. Today, I saw a lot of Canada Geese, Gulls and a pair of avocets (the first for this year, according to Eve).
After you have had your fill of watching the Canada geese, the gulls, etc. you can unlock one of the side doors and walk down a path to go off one or the other side of the reception. I did precisely that. The long board-walk is over a km long, and takes you to two bird hides. Initially, I went to the one that was quite a distance away, but later, I came back to the one nearer the reception. I was in the company of an ex-Army person by the curious name of Ian Fleming (his middle name is James too, ha ha). He kept guiding me, helping me identify species I had not seen before and chatting about the site and its history. It was really enjoyable with him by my side. He even lent me his binoculars on a couple of occasions for me to see the new species more closely.
In the event, I ended up seeing a few new birds, including gadwalls, Whooper swans, etc. Here are some memories of a well-spent afternoon:
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| Canada Geese |
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| Mallard Duck, male |
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| Up in the air |
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| Whooper swans |
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| Female Teal |
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| Black-capped night heron? Egret? |
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| Robin |
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| Coot |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Flowers in a pot at the Neston station |
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| Neston station, flowers in a pot |
All in all, a great day! Thanks for reading my post. Kindly participate in the blog by commenting below.
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