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| Yachts from the Sailing Club at anchor in the shallow waters of the Alt at low tide. |
The River Alt meanders around the outskirts of Liverpool and disperses its waters into the Irish Sea on the Sefton Coast just south of Hightown. A recent fine day saw us taking a fine walk from Hightown along the coastal path heading south alongside the estuary. The tide is low, revealing the mud flats, the air smells of salt and there is the clink-clink of rigging hitting off the masts on the boats from the sailing club moored out in the river.
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| The feathery brown tips of the reeds sway gracefully in the breeze. A view across the Alt Estuary looking north towards the large expanse of sand that forms the beach at Formby Point. |
Common blue butterflies flutter amongst the harebells and everlasting pea plants near the estuary and tall grasses sway gently in the breeze on dunes which offer a raised viewpoint over the estuary mudflats towards the smooth sands of Formby point where higher dunes line the coast to the north beyond the Altcar firing range.
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| Harebells |
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Wild Japanese Roses in the foreground of this view across the Alt Estuary
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Common Glasswort springs from the mud flats of the estuary
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Looking across the flat sands of the estuary at low tide, the distant sea is almost invisible and the mountains of Snowdonia quiver in the heat haze.
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There is the vibrant green of spiky common glasswort on the beach, ringed plover and dunlin wade in the shallows of the mud flats that line the river and. Across the distant sparkling waters of Liverpool Bay the mountains of Snowdonia quiver in the blue heat haze.
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Dunlin
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Ringed Plover
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Sea Holly on the dunes
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The footpath from the small beach at Hightown meanders over Sea Holly covered dunes close to the sands of the Estuary. As the tide moves swiftly in across the sands near where the Alt meets the sea we spy more dunlin and a large egret stalking the shallows. Two grey herons battle over territory on the flat sands of the estuary.
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Two Grey Herons squabble over territory.
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Wild Japanese Roses grow freely along this stretch of coast.
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Curlew
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The footpath over the dunes meets the tarmac of the cycle path just beyond a white sculpture called "The Pebble" and on this stretch we spot a Curlew picking its way through the pools at the edge of the beach. From here it is an easy walk down to the car park at Hall Road and the promenade at Crosby.
