A late September Stroll

Rare blue skies feathered with cirrus clouds and the silver streak of a high flying aircraft on its way out over the Atlantic.

Yesterday morning, the last day of September dawned bright and clear. A rare bright spell after days of rain and more rain forecast for later in the day. We decided to take advantage of this break in the weather for a stroll along the Sefton Coastal Path from Crosby towards Hightown. Out to the west the mountains of Snowdonia are clear against the horizon but a few streaks of thicker stratus cloud are starting to form high above them. The air is still, no wind, a rare occurrence on this stretch of the coast where there is usually a movement of air to cool things down so it it is pleasantly mild in the late September sunlight.

The new silvery pillars in position awaiting hammering in and the iron men figures.

The beach looks strange and bare, some of the iron men have been collected in and their positions marked by the new silvery steel pillars which are going to be their new supports. These pillars will be straightened and hammered into the sands of the beach before the iron men are attached to their tops.

A little egret lurks near one of the pillars dipping into a tidal pool for food and we are able to approach closer and observe its bright yellow feet almost dancing on the sand before it takes off in swooping flight to land further down the beach.

The sea is on the move, creeping swiftly across the sands as the tide line sweeps up the shore heading towards a high tide just after noon, one of the highest of the month. Soon all signs of the iron men will disappear under the water.

The tide sweeps in across Crosby beach.

Layers of high stratus clouds move in from the south west, a warning of further rain later in the day. The iron men are slowly being submerged by the incoming tide.

Looking back to the south west as we approach the Coastguard Station at Hall Road, the sky has started to cloud over, high stratus clouds a forerunner of the rain bearing clouds to come later in the day.

The team working on the restoration of Antony Gormley's Iron Men are based at the end of car park at Hall Road and the compound is full of iron men lying down on the ground awaiting a spot of cleaning and the refitting of the metal plates that attach them to their supports. The air is salty with the smell of the sea off them and the acres tang of hot metal as new supports are cut to shape.

Further along the coastal path the sea asters are coming into bloom, providing a feast for bees and late butterflies. Out at sea flocks of birds twist and turn low over the water.

This hairy caterpillar decided to join us on the coastal path.

Out to the west tendrils of cloud are starting to swirl around the mountains of Snowdonia as we turn around for home.

Looking south down the Sefton Coastal Path from "The Pebble" Sculpture, the rain clouds are gathering.

Back down near the Hall Road car park the antics of the many starlings amuse us as we pass and they are tame enough, well used to visitors in this area, so that it is possible to be able to get close enough to see the lovely iridescence in their feathers.

The tide is right up to the promenade wall as we head further south, the odd wave breaking up over the wall, splashing any unfortunate who happens to be too close. All signs of the iron men completely submerged at this end of the coastal path, just a small amount of beach remains at the distant Waterloo end of the beach. We have had a good and interesting walk, blessed by a spot of good weather before the rain returned.

An early afternoon high tide splashes up over the promenade railings as the sky darkens with approaching bad weather.

Alt Estuary Stroll

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. 

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.

Harebells 

Wild Japanese Roses in the foreground of this view across the Alt Estuary

Common Glasswort springs from the mud flats of the estuary

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.

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.

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Sea Holly on the dunes

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.

Two Grey Herons squabble over territory.

Wild Japanese Roses grow freely along this stretch of coast.

Curlew

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.