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Berrow
and Brean Beaches
These beaches represent
a long stretch of sand that starts at Burnham on Sea and continues
northwards to Brean Down. The beach can be accessed at various
places, and you can drive onto the beach at several places, but
during the summer months you'll get charged a small fortune for
the priviledge and be joined by hoards of grockles and very few
birds. The spring/autumn and winter months are best when flocks
of waders gather at high tides, and there's always the chance
of the unexpected. Tides are critical on the beach because having
one of the highest tidal ranges in the world means that when the
tides out - it's really a rather long way away!
Regular:
Sanderling, passage waders, Mediterranean Gull
Specials:
Short-toed Lark, many rare waders (Bairds', Kentish, White-rumped,
Semi-p, Pec, etc)
Berrow Dunes
Behind the beach
at Berrow is a strip of sand dunes including dune slacks and areas
of marram grass. Lots of rare plants and insects occur here, and
the bird potential may appear limited. However, several areas
of fruiting scrub attract lots of wintering Blackcaps and occasional
migrants. A Yellow-browed Warbler wintered in a patch of Willows
near the Berrow Dunes Nature Reserve entrance. This local Nature
Reserve has its own car park and trails through the dunes with
information boards.
A particular problem
is the encroachment of Sea Buckthorn. Birds like the berries,
but it covers large areas quickly and limits the specialist dune
habitat for the rare plants and insects.
A word of caution:
The area of dunes between the track out from Berrow Church and
Berrow beach car park is used as a meeting place for gay men,
so avoid this area especially during the summer. I hate to sound
prejudice, but its not particularly attractive seeing sad blokes
standing on the top of the dunes practising their way of life
quite blatantly. Its illegal in public and quite rightly so -
there's children on these beaches - try explaining to your four
year old what they're doing. Avoid this area - I wish they would!
Regular:
Wintering Blackcap in large numbers and occasional wintering Chiffchaff
etc. Wintering thrushes.
Burnham and
Berrow Golf Course
The golf course
might look good for birds' but its private, so stay out. Two footpaths
cross it - near the Berrow Inn and near Berrow Church but lingering
on the footpaths is likely to get you a gold ball in the head
as several fairways cross each footpath. Generally golfers are
totally ignorant of footpath users even though they're supposed
to give way to you - they rarely do.
The footpath out
from Berrow Inn eventually crosses a large reed bed on a boardwalk.
This is an excellent area for Bearded Tit, Water Rail, Cettis
Warbler and other reed-bed species, but stay on the boardwalk.
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