Eleven walkers took part in a 4.5 mile walk, which began at Battery Point in Portishead.

It was a bright sunny day with hardly any wind. We climbed up through East Wood and walked through the wood descending into Pier Road close to The Royal Inn. We went past the old Portishead Pier, now used solely by fishermen, and crossed the Marina over the lock.

From there we followed the wide hard-surfaced path to the Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve, passing several interesting sculptures on the way that prompted some amusing debate. We visited three hides overlooking the large pools in the reserve and saw quite a few birds: geese, ducks, swans, coots, seagulls and magpies. The resident cormorant that had been seen on the recce on an island in one of the pools put in an appearance by flying overhead. Several members were convinced they could hear a chiffchaff.

We returned to the Marina from the reserve along a footpath at the edge of the salt marsh. On reaching The Royal Inn some of the group continued on to their cars whilst the rest enjoyed an excellent lunch on the pub terrace overlooking the Severn Estuary. 

Report by Ross Janes
Photos by Ross, and Jeff Eastmond