Dukes Clough, Rainhill

I have lived in Rainhill 34 years now and didn’t know this walk was there.  I joined a Facebook group about the history of Rainhill and someone had posted recent pictures of this walk so I thought I would go and see what birds where there.  It is isn’t a long walk perhaps only a mile and half but it’s along a decent path which is lined with trees and bushes on both sides so it looks good.  The downside is that most of one side is Blundell Hill Golf Course and the other is the M62. 

Golf Courses can be wildlife deserts as they are often sprayed to death with insecticides and any new tree planting is often none native species but this didn’t seem to bad and I actually saw a few birds around the fairway, including a nice picture I got of a Mistle Thrush until it nearly got lamped by a golf ball.  The path is tarmacked in places and is marked on an old street map I have as Cronton Lane but it’s actually signposted as a public footpath.  As I started it was right by the motorway so hearing birds was very difficult but the path does move away from it so it got better.  In all I saw around 6 each of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff and I heard a Blackcap.  Lots of the normal woodland species you would expect to find and it was nice to see at least 3 Treecreepers but impossible to photograph.

There are three small ponds along the way too but the reeds growing in them where not very well grown so I wouldn’t expect anything like a Reed Warbler there but I will go back and investigate later in the spring.  As it was it was a lovely clear sunny day but I didn’t see any raptors but you get decent views of planes flying into Liverpool airport.