Birding Group Visit to Brockholes Nature Reserve 26th February 2013

Birding Group Visit to Brockholes Nature Reserve 26th February 2013

The last birding group outing for the month was to a new venue for us, Brockholes Nature Reserve which turned out to be a much larger site than we had imagined on the many occasions we had passed over it on the motorway. They have great facilities and there are several routes you can take around the site. We parked up at the car park – which charges £4 for five hours – and walked down to the swish visitor centre / cafe / shop complex. Our first treat was to four Meadow Pipits feeding on the small hillock to our left.

We opted to start off from the visitor centre and go back up towards the car park but turned right along the path just before you reach the car park. this path leads around the outside of the reserve towards the River Ribble. From there we walked as far as the motorway before turning right down the side of the reserve past Number One Pit and Ribbleton and Nook Pools. We then turned right and walked through the woods and then eventually turned right to drop down back to the reserve. This gave us a circular route all the way around the reserve.

It has to be said that the site has obviously been subjected to a great deal of vandalism and a couple of the hides have been dismantled and others have had the windows removed from them. Obviously some people have been using them as club houses and drinking dens ! The greatest damage has been done where there is ready access to the outside world and it seems clear that it is probably kids on mountain bikes that have found some of the hides close enough to the main roads to make it worth their while visiting them.

Having said that the feel of the site is good and can only improve as it matures. Sightings-wise, our high points were probably not on the reserve but on the river Ribble which fringes the site on one side. As soon as we got there we could see a couple of Goosander lift off and fly away a short distance. The group of Goldeneye were much less bothered by us and although they flew off they seemed to keep too-ing and fro-ing up and down a short stretch of the river giving us great views of the birds in flight. A little up the river we spotted a Kingfisher as it dipped in and out of the river. We ran into a chap who said he had seen Black Swans earlier in the day just beyond the motorway bridge so we did a slight diversion down there but we didn’t see them.

We backtracked a bit and then turned along the path that runs parallel to the motorway and goes down the side of the reserve.  Number One Pit held the most birds with fair numbers of Teal, a few Shovelers, a pair of Grey Heron and a fair few Cormorants. There were also Goldeneye and Gadwall and a single Great-crested Grebe. Tufted Ducks, Mute Swans and Coots added to the fauna. All the time we could see a small flock of Lapwing flying overhead but only a few seemed to be on the scrapes.

As we turned right into the woods I clearly heard a Song Thrush but I could not find it in the trees anywhere. Elsewhere in the woods it was fairly quiet and as we emerged at the other end and dropped down back to the central building complex of the site we saw a pair of Greylag Geese in a field and a small flock of Tree Sparrows flew over us.

Our last couple of birds were at the feeders just before the visitor centre where we saw Reed Bunting and Chaffinch

Although the site feels a little immature as yet it will be interesting to go again in the Spring to see what it looks like then. In particular we felt that the river would be interesting with its mix of clean water, gravel scrapes and muddy patches; an interesting and mixed habitat that could prove fruitful later in the year and which is at least as interesting as the reserve itself. The job they have done with the buildings there is excellent and it is clearly meant to attract a family audience with its shops and cafe. All in all they have done a very good job with it and I am sure we will be going there fairly often over the course of a year.

Getting To Brockholes Nature Reserve.

The map on their web site of how to get there is a little confusing but, in reality, it is actually simple. Basically you go up the M61 to the M6, join that and immediately get off at junction 31. Take the third exit off the roundabout roundabout following the signs for the A59 to Blackburn. Stay in the left hand lane and just before the next roundabout there is a left turn which is signposted to “Brockholes Nature Reserve” Follow this road round bearing leftwards and you come to the reserve. The car park is at the far end of the reserve but is actually quite close to the visitor centre.

Click HERE for a site map of Brockholes Nature Reserve Site Map

Bird Sightings : Brockholes