Over the Easter weekend I got a chance to talk to the people who man the brand new watch tower - Rossall Point - on Fleetwood promenade.
The whole of my life this site has been taken up by an uninspired lump of concrete going through bouts of dereliction, so it was really fantastic to see it knocked down and this interesting multi-purpose tower go up on the site.
The man in the know at Rossall Point was Len, a ranger from Wyre Borough Council. He stood surrounded by information leaflets and was dutifully adorned with hat, gloves and binoculars.
He informed me that it's part of an arts project, the Mythic Coast, providing some much needed regeneration to this coastal strip.
Other aspects of this include a beautifully illustrated novel set on the Fylde coast, and sculptures inspired by it which are to appear on the promenade; a sea monster and a giant golden shell.
Inside the building are abstract sculptures carved like stylized maritime stones, each one has deeper meaning (one of them apparently represents bird migration).
In terms of technology, there is a big screen inside displaying views from a visitor controlled camera on the roof. It had a pretty good zoom on it, but all I got was the off-shore wind farm in close-up.
Len’s knowledge of the local wildlife was impressive, as a small example, at one point he caught a flicker in the distance with his bare eyes and informed me it was a flock of eider. I scanned with my binoculars to see only tiny black and white blurs.
The tower has provided opportunities to see seals, migrating birds and even a grey whale. When the tide goes out there is miles of exposed sand drawing in sanderling, redshank, oystercatchers, greenshank, turnstone and ringed plover along with various gulls.
Rossall Point hosts volunteers from the coastguard and the council and Len hopes to encourage local wildlife charities to use the venue too.
Staff from the RSPB and Lancashire Wildlife Trust are already booked in. He realises we're all working towards the same goals, his words about the venue were; ‘we’re not being precious about it’. What a team player!
Prefer my view of the white-tailed eagle nest on the sunny Isle of Mull. (RSPB Community Information and Tourism Officer leading trips to Mull Eagle Watch.)