Whitehaven Harbour’s fortunes have fluctuated constantly throughout its history culminating in a period of stagnation and neglect following the cessation of chemical imports to Marchon’s factory on the clifftop to the south of the town. However, in recent years massive investment has given the harbour a new lease of life as a marina to add to what remains of its fishing industry. There are plans for a fish processing plant on the harbourside but this will probably not be as exciting from a birding point of view as it may sound as a modern plant is unlikely to provide the gull feeding opportunities of an older establishment. Nevertheless, loaded fishing boats arriving at the harbour will surely prove a magnet to gulls.

The most obvious birds at the harbour are, not surprisingly, the gulls. Large numbers are present on the docks and in the nearby streets where they gather the morning harvest of discarded fast food. Herring Gulls predominate but Great Black-backs and Black-headed Gulls are always well represented along with Lesser Black-backs from early spring to early winter. Common Gulls are probably the least regular of the commoner gulls in the harbour proper, but in winter they can be seen off-shore, in the outer harbour, and on the beaches to the north and south of the town. These latter areas, viewed from the north and south shore car parks, can produce the occasional Little Gull feeding in the surf with Black-headed Gulls, particularly in winter or late spring. Close viewing of all the big gulls is easy and convenient, particularly from the car if parked at the top of the slipway where birds quickly gather at the prospect of discarded food (Note: the local council discourages the feeding of gulls and pigeons around the harbour). Anyone interested in the ageing and moult process of gulls, or the possibility of vagrant races, could do worse than spend a few hours at the top of the slipway on a quiet Sunday morning in winter.

Of the white-winged gulls Glaucous has been by far the most regularly recorded, especially since the late 1980s (although the last few years have been very poor). In 1988 and 1989 a Glaucous Gull summered around the harbour, though in 1988 it was very elusive. At this time and into the 1990s early winter was the time to find these birds whilst in the mid and late 1990s records were usually restricted to late winter/early spring. Iceland Gulls are much scarcer, only recorded a couple of times in the last twenty years or so and, like the later Glaucous Gulls, were usually found after the turn of the year. When present, both these species are often long-stayers and fairly easily found at their regular loafing sites. Glaucous Gulls seem to favour the complex of piers including the North Wall, the Devil’s Elbow and the Bulwark, perhaps the better to intercept boats entering the harbour. Iceland Gulls, on the other hand, seem to like the south side of the harbour around the Sea Cadet Pier, the West Pier and the Old Quay. Another loafing site for white-winged gulls is Tom Hurd’s Rock which is exposed by the tide just off the south shore car park.

>From the south shore car park to the south, though distantly, can be seen a green pipeline marker. This tower nearly always has a crowd of gulls around it and Cormorants perch on the rails at the top. In July and August (and in the right conditions) one or two Storm Petrels can be found flitting around the base of this structure and on one memorable occasion a Pomerine Skua, probably attracted by the mêlée of gulls, perched on the tower platform (Note: don’t be tempted to try to get nearer via the cliff-foot path here: it’s very unstable and dangerous). Seawatching can be done from the south shore car park though perhaps the ‘shadow’ of St Bees Head affects this adversely by pushing birds a little far out. However, reasonable views of Storm Petrel, Manx Shearwater, Gannet, terns and auks can be had.

Cormorants can be found all over the harbour, perching on any convenient structure including the new marina pontoons. During rough weather their more delicate cousin the Shag can be found sheltering in the calmer waters of the inner harbour and marina. Mention of the marina brings me to one of my hopes for the future. The new lock gates have created an area of permanent, sheltered water (which is also less saline as evidenced by its ready freezing last winter). This may in time be an attractive refuge in stormy weather to divers, grebes and sea-duck (ever the optimist!). A tentative start has been made in this direction with Tufted Duck, Mallard and Red-breasted Merganser being new birds for the harbour proper in the last two winters. Also, a small autumn/winter flock of Mute Swan is now regular, reaching 16 individuals, a couple of which carry rings from schemes in Southport and Fleetwood.

At low tide common waders such as Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Dunlin feed in the outer harbour, particularly along the remaining channel of water. They can best be viewed from the base of the North Pier. This channel also seems to be very attractive to gulls, especially when bait diggers are at work and the disturbed mounds of silt provide rich pickings. The outer wall of the Old Quay has a small Redshank roost attracting about 40 to 50 birds although on very high tides there are up to 70. The odd Dunlin joins this roost and in winter a handful of Purple Sandpipers roost amongst the Redshank after feeding on the seaweed-covered slope on the seaward side of the Sea Cadet Pier. At high tide in stormy winter weather the outer harbour, sheltered by the West Pier, can hold Red-throated Diver and auks, including the occasional Black Guillemot. These are sometimes ailing birds seeking shelter from the open sea.

Of the more interesting non-seabird species found around the harbour, Peregrine and Raven are perhaps the most noticeable. Both species breed on the cliffs to the north and south of Whitehaven and can sometimes be seen perched on the cranes near the Queen’s Dock. Kestrels are also regular breeders, using the old Wellington Pit walls beyond the Beacon Centre above the Small Boats Harbour. Small flocks of Linnets can be found in the area, particularly on the older piers where weeds are still found. Rock Pipits were regular in the area at the junction of the North Wall and Devil’s Elbow and used to breed on waste ground near the railway signal box behind Tesco’s supermarket on the north shore. This area is now greatly disturbed by extensive building and renovation. Rock Pipits are also encountered at the south side of the harbour near the south shore car park and nearby piers. Migrant passerines have included regular Snow Bunting, mainly around the north shore and North Wall but, as stated above, this area is, at the time of writing, severely disturbed. Between the Beacon Centre and the south shore, above and around the car park opposite the small MAFF hut, Black Redstarts have appeared in one or two recent Octobers and the steep, vegetated banks above the Beacon Centre often hold common migrants in spring.

The ongoing work on the marina and harbour has made the area a pleasant place to spend time but it has also lead to a dramatic increase in visitors to the dock area (that was, after all, the idea!). At the moment access is possible to all the areas mentioned above, though with a large amount of work still in progress it is not known what the final situation will be. My guess would be that there will be restrictions on vehicular access to all but the bases of the piers and the north and south shore areas. The West Pier, for instance, which one used to be able to drive along, is now blocked by bollards. This shouldn’t make much difference to any of the birding mentioned here, though stormy winter weather is much better experienced from inside the car than on foot on the exposed piers! 

Derek McAlone