Shotwick Boating Lake 24th January 2014
I had been reading on the Dee Estuary Birding web site that there were Black-necked Grebes wintering on Shotwick boating lake. I was quite keen to see these but I was actually more taken with the report for the 17th January when someone had seen four species of Swan in the nearby fields. I was particularly keen to the Bewick’s swans that winter on the estuary every year so we started our day with a quick recce visit before going on to our main site of the day which was at Riverbank Road in Heswall for a high tide watch.
Shotwick Lake is not the easiest place to get to (see below) but we got there by following a sat nav route.The site is a bit strange as it is in the middle of a largely desolate old industrial estate. There is still an operation paper mill there but lots of wasteland. As you wend your way down the small road to the boating lake you pass a gate that is sometimes locked (see below) so you cannot always go all the way down to the lake. This means a bit of a walk and when you get there you find a boating lake with lots of canoes and such all around the perimeter. When not is use the whole site is fenced in and you have to look out to the surface of the lake through fencing. The alternative is to cross a ploughed field to get a little closer to the lake but you still have to look through the fencing. Views are, however, still possible but best with a scope. The site is surrounded by fields and on the far side of the lake you can easily see the reception hide at Burton Mere Wetlands. With bins you can make out individuals standing inside. On a map it looks like there is a way of walking to the site from Puddingtion village. Whether there are rights of way or not or paths at all I do not know. Worth looking at it one day, though, especially since the Black-necked Grebes prefer that end of the lake.
When we got there there were already a handful of birders; some looking like weekend birders and others more keen. We had a look for the Black-necked Grebes but we did not have enough time to walk down to the far side of the lake to try to see them. We did see quite a few Little Grebes and lots of Tufted Ducks but the main attraction was in the fields where one large group of Mute Swans were assembled in a group away from a much larger group of yellow-billed swans. They were quite a long way off but you could distinguish the Bewick’s and when they all got slightly spooked and stood up to look around the differences were more obvious. Also, what had appeared to be a darkish mound turned out to be a roosting Black Swan. So we had managed to get what we had really wanted – four swan species all together ! As for the Black-necked Grebes, that might have to wait for another day.
Bird Sightings : Shotwick Lane Boating Lake
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | 40 |
| Black Swan | 1 |
| Bewick’s Swan | 8 |
| Whooper Swan | 80 |
| Gadwall | 2 |
| Tufted Duck | 20 |
| Little Grebe | 6 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Common Coot | 10 |
How to get there
Shotwick Boating Lake
A warning about parking
Two chaps we met at the boating lake said that they came here all the time but they always park back up the road beyond the gate because they frequently close and padlock it without any warning. As the place is not always used (the whole boating lake was locked up when we were there) the paper mill will often padlock it if they do not need it open themselves. Apparently a lot of people get caught out on this and have a big problem contacting them to get their cars out again. When we asked if this happened often they said very very frequently. When we left we saw, just beyond a low barrier that you might not even notice, we saw their car which proves that they were not exaggerating, Ont he up side there are birds along the path even though it is quite a long walk from the other side of the barrier.