On the Deeside Birding Web Site there are daily reports of bird sightings and counts. One of the places that I had often wordered about was Heswall Fields. Some time ago, we did a ranger-led walk from Thurstaston Country Park along the beach to a good viewpoint at Heswall Fields. Then we returned back along the Wirral way to Thurstaston but I was curious about how you might get there from the other direction so we decided to check this out.
We were thinking of this from a couple of angles. The first was as a possible route for the birding group and the second was just for us on our own. For the birding group we would need parking for a few cars so the parking at the bottom of Banks Road would be good for that. From there you could, of course, just walk along the beach past the boat yard but past experience has shown this to frequently be so muddy as to be hard work and definitely a wellie job.
From a personal point of view, we wanted to see if there was a quicker way to get to this location at Heswall Fields so we could spend longer there and less time getting there. Accodingly we decided to get as close as we could first and see what emerged from there.
I looked at this map http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/news1198.htm and OS online mapping and determined that instead of parking at Banks Road we should continue driving along Broad Lane for as far as we could go. This turned out to be where Target Road joins Broad Lane so we parked up there and we had two choices from there.
On the above map we started off driving down the red route and then parking when we ran into no entry signs at the meeting point of Target Road and Broad Lane (where the yellow and red tracks meet in the above illustration) Over two visits we did both tracks but on our first recce we walked down Target Road past the sewage works until we came to the edge of the marsh. There there is a faint footpath that runs parallel to the beach and only slightly more elevated. On the day we went we might has well have walked on the beach but we wanted to check the track out.
Eventually this leads to a small water outfall that runs into the marsh. With the help of a bit of a tree trunk we managed to get over this (although it might be less passable under other conditions. When you get over this rivulet there is an immediate path that leads uphill and if you take this and then turn left you get to the spot I have marked BENCH and which has a good elevated view over the marsh
On the first visit the tide was very low so there wasn’t much to see but that wasn’t the point of our visit. We had a look around and then tried the next bit of our recce. The aim was to get back to the car but via the Wirral Way which we thought might be a better route for the birding group.
With the bench and marsh at our backs we looked straight over to where there is a lane going inland – the purple route. This took us down a narrow, bush-lines land that opened out onto a meadow. In that meadow there is an S-shaped path that leads over to another, similar, lane. When you get to the end of that lane you meet the Wirral Way and from there you turn right either along the Wirral Way or the parallel path that is less busy. At the end of this you come to a sign for Banks Road and after a slight turn to the right you are back at the top of Banks Road.
Thinking of this as directions for the birding group I would say the following:
Park at the Banks Road car park; walk back up Banks Road and cross straight over to the entry that leads to the Wirral Way. Turn left on this and walk down there as far as a bench on the left dedicated to one Tom Quinn.
Here you go down a few steps and you cross the other footpath. You see the sign there for NT Heswall Fields.
You go down this path to the end, cross the small field diagonally to your right to join the next lane. You go down that and you eventually see the magic bench. From the car park to this spot is 1.15 miles so about right for the birding group in that there might be good birding in and around the bushes and trees getting to the bench and obviously the high tide is whatever it is. So about two and a half miles round trip.
On a second trip we decided to park in the same spot but to walk the other track – i.e. straight on. This is the yellow track on the map above. You follow this path as far as you can. It eventually takes a turn to the left leading to the last house on the lane – The White House. Just before you get there there is an opening on the right.
You go through here and follow the straight path until you find yourself at the meadow with the S-shaped path. On your right you will see the path that leads to the Wirral Way but you don’t want this one. Instead cross the meadow to the left-hand corner and there you see the lane that leads directly down to the marsh and the bench.
So, to describe it briefly, there is one good route for the birding group and two good – and shorter – routes for solo visits. The only reason I do not think the shorter routes are good for the birding group is the very limited parking at the junction of Target Road and Broad Lane. It is quite a small area and it is used by dog walkers for parking as well. I think that the birding group would enjoy more the walk along the Wirral Way anyway.
It is always possible, as we had done before, to walk from Thurstaston but you have to pay for parking there. The advantage it has, though, is that the Wirral Way in the direction of Thurstaston has more fields and fewer houses along it.
To get a better idea of the proposed birding group route see below;
Banks Road to Heswall Fields via Wirral Way
The other routes with limited parking are here:
Banks Road To Heswall Fields via Broad Lane and Target Road
Banks Road To Heswall Fields via Broad Lane only