Ron Freethy's Winter Walks - The Fylde Coast and Morecambe Bay

MY first "serious" countryside walk of 1999 took me to Morecambe Bay and this enjoyable day out was inspired by a recently published booklet.

It is called Birdwatching On The Fylde and is available free.

It has been financed by the European Union, Lancashire County Council, the government's Single Regeneration Budget and Local Competitiveness Challenge Funds, the local authorities of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre, and the North West Tourist Board.

The booklet was co-ordinated by Lancashire Enterprise and Fylde Select.

It is good to see politicians and naturalists combining to produce such a worthwhile compilation of walks "on the wild side."

It was hard to select just one of the walks on offer but I chose Hest Bank, situated on the A5105 road between Morecambe and Carnforth and not far from the RSPB's reserve at Leighton Moss.

This is the best place in Britain to see otters and also the very rare bird called the bittern, which is related to the heron.

Known to every serious birdwatcher in the North West of England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve at Hest Bank receives its fair share of visitors.

The salt marshes and sands beyond the railway station provide roosting and feeding grounds for many thousands of wading birds and wildfowl, while predators such as hen harriers, short-eared owls and the occasional peregrine arrive for the easy pickings. In the summer, botanists also come to enjoy the salt marsh flowers, such as thrift, sea aster and the delightful sea spurrey and the tiny pearlwort.

While its natural history now gives the village a high profile, its other history really is hidden.

Hest Bank was once a vital stop on the dangerous coach route across the sands.

With the coming of the railway, the coaching business came to an abrupt halt but it is still possible, with just a little patience and imagination, to follow the coach road through the village.

First find the Hest Bank Hotel, which was at one time much more isolated and not hemmed in by modern buildings.

Here is the old lantern turret, which once beamed a light out over the sands to guide the coaches to a safe haven and the horses, coach crew and passengers to a warm meal and perhaps somewhere to sleep.

Look down from the hotel and imagine that the railway line between you and the shore did not exist.

Cross the level crossing to the RSPB car park.

Do not stop but follow the track beyond a group of cottages.

The old coach road continues straight as an arrow until it disappears into the hard sands of Morecambe Bay. You have just followed what was once one of Lancashire's most important roads which is now only used by naturalists, the vast majority of whom do not even wonder why such a well-made track exists here and apparently leads nowhere.

Winter is by far the best time to explore the birdlife around the Hest Bank shoreline.

The peak counts at this time are impressive as the figure for 1994/95 clearly shows: oystercatcher - 52,219; grey plover - 1,823; knot - 29,627; dunlin - 60,375; bar tailed goodwit - 2,494; curlew - 13,536; redshank - 6,616; turnstone - 1,748; pink footed goose - 2,000; shelduck - 6,474; pintail - 2,941.

All the species mentioned were in evidence and seen from the old coach road over the sands.

However cold the weather, walkers will be warmed by this area, which has a perfect balance between history and natural history.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.