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| Sefton Coast Partnership | Shoreline Management | Nature and Wildlife | Coastal Heritage | Visiting the Coast | Students and Teachers | Coastlines | |
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Summer 1999Breeding birds of the Sefton CoastArticle by Steve White, Lancashire Wildlife Trust The Sefton Coast's international reputation for its huge flocks of wintering wading birds and wildfowl has led to its designation as a Ramsar Site and European Special Protection Area. To avid birdwatchers it's also a place to savour abundance of migrant birds in spring and autumn, including rarities like Britain's first Eleanora's Falcon at Cabin Hill in 1977 and a Sardinian Warbler at Formby in 1992.The Coast's breeding birds, however, have received very little attention. But that's about to change. The Breeding Bird Survey of Lancashire and North Merseyside, organised by the Lancashire Bird Club and carried out by a small army of volunteers, is now almost complete and is due for publication next year.So, for the first time, a complete picture of our breeding birds can be painted. A total of 111 species were located in Sefton as a whole, compared to a 'Lancashire' total of 161. The Coast supports 83 breeding species. None of these are rare nationally but many are significant in the regional context. The woodlands at Ainsdale and Formby hold the largest number of species and the greatest number of birds but form the least interesting ornithological habitat, with bird communities largely composed of very common and unthreatened species. There are one or two exceptions.Green Woodpeckers breed at Ainsdale at one of only two sites in North Merseyside and Crossbills probably do so occasionally, while the colourful Wood Warbler was last recorded at the National Trust in the late 1980s and is now probably extinct locally.A rare Honey Buzzard spent part of the summer of 1992 in the pines at Lifeboat Road but none have been seen since. The farmland fringe makes up only a small part of the coastal area but it contains some of the most endangered species - birds like Barn Owl, Grey Partridge, Corn Bunting and Tree Sparrow, which were abundant nationally just a few decades ago but which are now in free fall due to agricultural change.The relatively low intensity agriculture of the coastal fringe means that these remain relatively common here. The coastal marshes at Marshside and Crossens are home to large numbers of breeding waders, such as Redshank, Lapwing and Snipe, and ducks - notably Shoveler, for which it is the most important breeding site in north-west England, and the occasional nationally rare Garganey. The Ringed Plover is the only bird which breeds on the shoreline. Sefton's 14 or so pairs represent almost a quarter of the 'Lancashire' population, they are scattered all along the coast but the main concentration is at Seaforth Nature Reserve. The open dunes used to hold Common Tern colonies but these are now confined to Seaforth. where around 1 % of the British population nests on artificial rafts.Skylarks, however, are still very numerous on the dune coast despite being one of the most rapidly declining of British birds, largely as a result of the switch from spring to autumn sowing of crops in the lowlands and overgrazing by sheep in the uplands.Skylarks are the subject of a massive national campaign to bring them back from the brink and some of the most important scientific data being used come from a long-standing study carried out in the Hightown dunes. The increase in the amount of dune scrub in recent years has caused severe problems for many plant and animal species but it does provide a valuable habitat for birds. The mature mixed scrub of the Birkdale Hills is probably the most important site. It supports more than 30 breeding species including seven kinds of warbler. Sparse, scattered scrub is perhaps more important. Typical species include Whitethroat, Linnet and Reed Bunting but, in terms of regional conservation importance, the star turn is the Stonechat, a colourful, small thrush. About eight pairs of Stonechats breed between Blundellsands and Birkdale but their future is far from secure. They make up more than half of the total 'Lancashire' population. Perhaps the Stonechat should be adopted as an emblem of the Sefton Coast alongside the natterjack toad, sand lizard and red squirrel?
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