30/11/2010 by Barbara.

This was the mystery destination that John had been planning for a while. It turned out to be in Birkdale. The trip appeared to be ill-fated almost before we got under way. The trains from Central Station were disrupted so the 10.23 to Southport didn’t leave Central until 10.35, and we arrived at 11.20, just after the departure of the hourly bus we wanted. We decided to have an early lunch.
In the freezing sunshine we sat in the shelter by Marine Lake. Most of it was frozen, but on the few areas of free water there were Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Black-headed Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Common Gulls, Moorhens, Mute Swans and one Black-tailed Godwit.

The ice wasn’t thick, and we watched some Canada Geese come in to land, sliding for a few feet on the ice before breaking through.
We took the 44D bus at 12.18 from Eastbank Street and were at the Town Lane Forestry Commission site in about 10 minutes. Not many trees, just an area of open grassland with a gravel path through it, but some Skylarks flew up, there were Crows and Magpies about and a Snipe flew out from the shrubbery. Just as we approached Dobbies Garden Centre a Sparrowhawk zoomed low past us and vanished.
We spent a happy half hour inside Dobbies, getting warm and looking at the tropical fish and reptiles. As we were waiting on Town Lane Kew for the bus back into Southport, several skeins of Pink-footed Geese flew south over our heads, 200 or more, perhaps heading for Marshside.
We got the 3 o’clock train back to Liverpool, and on the fields between Hightown and Hall Road we saw a Curlew, a few dozen Pinkies and some Golden Plover.  Not bad for a day that looked like a disaster when we started!
Here is Dobbies festive band.  Happy Christmas to all!

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29/11/2010 by Sabena Blackbird.

After a hectic week at work I finally managed to escape to Martin Mere WWT this weekend. Icy conditions underfoot with some nice crystallised effects on the frozen leaves.

I had a quick wander around the captive bird pens. Most of the smaller ponds were partially frozen. The ducks were mooching about on the ice waiting for visitors to throw some grain out to them. It was amusing to watch as they slid and waddled trying to scoop up the tiny grains. A female Mallard braved the icy water for a splash bath.

Over twenty Fieldfares around the reserve feeding on the hawthorn berries and ‘chacking’ away to each other. Raptors were much in evidence with the usual Buzzards, a Marsh Harrier and Peregrine.

Plenty of Whooper Swans about with numbers approaching 1000. The main mere was frozen around the edges with a small patch of open water in the middle that made for a difficult landing patch for the Whoopers amongst the gathering of waterfowl. Whilst ring-reading the Whoopers darvic rings I found a mum and one of the cygnets ringed in Iceland. One recently arrived family has five cygnets whilst there is another pair with 6 offspring!

The WWT have run out of combinations of the 3 alpha-numeric codes used on the yellow darvic rings and the Whoopers ringed in Iceland this year have red darvics.  

On the way back to New Lane Station I found a nice patch of Oyster Mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus growing on one of the trees.

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24/11/2010 by Barbara.

On a bright and sunny day we took the 79 bus from Queen Square to the junction of Childwall Valley Road and Score Lane, and into Score Lane Gardens. There were six House Sparrows in the bushes, a Magpie on the grass and the north-eastward view was splendid. Past Childwall All Saints church and along Childwall Abbey Road took us into Childwall Woods.

By now it was cloudy, still and damp. Mixed parties of Long-tailed Tits, Great Tits and Blue Tits were flitting through the bare trees, and a Bramble was just coming into late flowering. We saw a Jay and a Grey Squirrel on the ground, perhaps competing for the same acorns. There was a clump of Sulphur Tuft toadstools at the base of a dead tree and some purple, grey and white fungi on an old beech log. They don’t appear to be brackets, because they were complete circles. They were up to 2 inches (5cm) across and flexible. Any ideas?

We left the woods by Quickswood Close, crossed Woolton Road and went into the Black Wood for lunch. We found a caramel and fawn ladybird on a Holly bush but it dropped to the ground before we could take a picture of it, and it was immediately invisible amongst the fallen beech leaves. It was either a Cream-spot or an Orange ladybird, probably the latter – both are common in the leaf litter of deciduous woodland. A dead twig had some very strange fungi growing from the broken ends, exactly the size and shape of limpets. They are probably also young bracket fungi, but showing what they can do when they are not jammed against a tree trunk. The pictures below are of the same one, from above and below.

Wood View Road, Woolton Hill Road and Church Road brought us to Reservoir Road, the highest spot in Liverpool at 292 ft. On the corner are the Grade II listed Mere Stones, marking the old boundary between Much Woolton and Little Woolton.

The sundial in Reynolds Park had the Latin motto Solem quis dicere falsum audeat, which is from the poet Virgil and means “Who will dare say the sun is wrong?”.  A winter-flowering cherry was just starting to show blossom.
We headed down to Woolton Village for the bus back to Liverpool at about 2.30.  

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20/11/2010 by Sabena Blackbird.

A dozen MNA members met at a sunny Wigan Pier for the walk around Wigan Flashes led by John Clegg. We wandered along the Leeds -Liverpool Canal past the new apartments, stopping to watch Blackbirds, a rattling Mistle Thrush, Chaffinches and Greenfinch enjoying berries on the Rowan trees.

Further round British Waterways appeared to be carrying out repairs on the canal, the path was cordoned off and the water level low exposing mud. We crossed over a small bridge, continued through a new industrial estate and into the woodland. Candlesnuff Fungi Xylaria hypoxylon was growing on some of the moss covered logs and plenty of the trees had Lichens including Evernia prunastri and a few Pixie Cups Cladonia sp.

Candlesnuff Fungi Xylaria hypoxylon

Birdlife was quiet with only a few Robins and Blue Tit.  The sun was in our eyes looking onto Scotsman’s Flash but no matter it was uncharacteristically free of birdlife with only a few Coot and BHGs. Everything was crammed onto Pearson’s Flash with a great count of 58 Mute Swans, gazillions of Coot, Tufties, Gadwall, five female Goldeneye, a lone Great Crested Grebe and five male Shoveler hiding out in the reeds. Descended down to the woodland at the south west end of Scotman’s Flash. I had a route around finding some Purple Jellydisc Ascocoryne sarcoides and a collection of small orange discs on a fallen tree trunk - Eyelash Fungi Scutellinia scutellata, a.k.a. Molly Eye-winker

Eyelash Fungi Scutellinia scutellata

Ate lunch on the picnic tables at Ochre Flash, motley collection of BHGs, plus a few Mallards; Grey Heron and Cormorants flying around. Continued along the path Goldfinch and five Redwing overhead, Willow Tit was also reported. We stood by the reedbed where we had seen the Bittern last year. A ’spring’ of Teal and a female Pochard but nothing else of note. Walked back along the canal and crossed over the bridge before having another nose over at Pearson’s Flash. One of the Mutes had a green (Cheshire) Darvic ring but was too distant to read it. Plenty of lilac coloured Alder catkins out already! plus a few Pussy Willows. A flock of Long-tailed Tits was a nice end to the walk before we headed back into Wigan.

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17/11/2010 by Sabena Blackbird.

I’m just back from a quick two week trip to Southern Ethiopia. The main focus of the visit was to experience the diverse range of tribal people found in the Omo Valley and get to know a little about their unique traditions. Undoubtedly you can’t visit Africa without noticing the birds and wildlife and we managed to see some of these as we travelled along the Great African Rift Valley with Lake Langano, Abiata-Shala NP, Lake Awasa and Lake Chamo

 Vervet (Grivet) Monkey  Cercopithecus aethiops

Toad

Rufous-crowned Roller Coracias naevius

Marabou Stork Leptoptilos crumeniferus

Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus

Dragonfly Ictinogomphus ferox

White-eyed Assassin Bug Platymeris biguttata A large predatory bug the feeds on smaller insects and grasshoppers.

Karo Tribesman on the banks of the Omo River. Kalashnikovs are a common sight amongst the tribesmen. Cattle are the primary source of wealth for many tribal groups and the men will fight to save them from intertribal rustlers.

Karo Tribeswoman

A lip-plated woman of the infamous Mursi Tribe

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16/11/2010 by Barbara.

We took the 47 bus from Sir Thomas Street to South Park in Bootle, arriving about 10.30 for the Remembrance Service.

There were several marching bands, a contingent from 238 Transport Squadron and several local worthies, including Joe Benton MP. It had been overcast earlier, with dark clouds threatening, and as the bands took their places a cold rain began. It always seems to rain on Remembrance Day.

We jumped on a 53 bus to Waterloo Station and had lunch in Crescent Gardens, one of the four seafront gardens now being restored by the local Friends group. They have made a bog garden and wildlife haven in the old overgrown pond and rockery. See this Crosby Herald article.
The shrubbery has been cut back and re-planted, allowing some of the older fruit trees to flourish. One of the group collected a handful of quince for her jelly, and we saw some young figs growing by the railings.

There were no rarities on the Boating Lake, just the usual Black-headed gulls, Mallards, Coots, Mute Swans, Canada Geese and a few Tufted Duck. In the biting wind we walked back to the new Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre. It is open to the public, not just to the Yacht Club, and they have a restaurant and bistro. It will be a wonderful place to sit with a coffee and snack to observe the birds on the Marina. There were leaflets about general outdoor activities in their rack and the receptionist agreed we could bring some MNA leaflets for approval.
By 2.15 we were heading back to Waterloo Station for the train home.

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12/11/2010 by Dave H.

I got to Meresands Wood yesterday 11/11/10 with the strong and building winds, birdlife was keeping low with the view towards Martin Mere revealing pink feet being blown over the sky. However on reaching the Rufford hide I noticed a coot swimming towards the bank in a strange manner, it then climbed onto the bank and appeared to carrying what I first took to be a water vole/shrew. On closer inspection the object turned into a large swan mussel which was firmly clamped to the lower mandible of the bird, the coot lay down in the grass and appeared quite weak so this situation must have in place for some time, preventing the bird from feeding. After a while the coot returned to the water and wether it ever manged too release the mussel I don’t know, but unless it did it was likely to become a victim of this strange underwater predator.

Dave Hardy

Apologies for the poor photo below

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09/11/2010 by Barbara.

It was a lovely bright day, no wind, but quite cold (5°C). We met at Liverpool ONE and took the 82A to Riverside Drive / Otterspool Prom, arriving about 10.30. We walked southwards, looking at the yachts out on the river on the height of the tide.
 

Several fishermen were catching cod and whiting, which, although perfectly edible, were deemed too small and were thrown back. A seal popped its head up, then rolled on the surface before disappearing. In two old mimosa trees on the bank near the children’s playground there was a Pied Wagtail and three or four Linnets which flew down to pick about in the grass. There was a small party of gulls near the exercise machines, mostly Common Gulls, and we watched one of them paddling its feet to charm the worms.
During the morning several emergency craft went upriver towards Speke at roughly quarter-hour intervals. First was the Fire and Rescue speedboat, then the RNLI hovercraft, then a yellow Air-Sea Rescue helicopter from Anglesey, then the Hoylake Lifeboat. Hovering in the distance over the Wirral was the small Air Ambulance. While we ate our lunch we watched the helicopter fly slowly back downriver, hovering over the Fire and Rescue speedboat, winching somebody up. The Liverpool Echo reported on Monday that it was a special exercise, simulating a plane landing in the river. See this link to a photo gallery.
After lunch we walked up to Aigburth Vale through Otterspool Park, with falling bronze leaves sparkling through patches of sunlight.

They were unusual leaves so I collected a couple to identify.
Sefton Park lake had the usual Mute Swans, Canada Geese and Mallards. The air was full of Black-headed Gulls. About 40 Coots were gathered at the northern end, some already charging each other aggressively and frightening the Moorhens. A pair of Little Grebes kept out of the way around the shore of the island.

We made our way through the autumn colours of the park to the new Ranger Station for a slide show at 2pm by Ranger Paul on “The History of the Liverpool Parks”. Ranger Ronnie agreed to take a handful of MNA leaflets for display and he positively identified the fallen leaves I had collected earlier as cut-leaved beech (also known as feather beech or fern beech).

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01/11/2010 by Barbara.

We planned to start the day at the Hoylake Local Food Fair so we took the 10.05 train from Central to Manor Road and found Hoylake Community Centre at the bottom of Hoyle Road. It was very well-attended, in fact it was a bit of a scrum. Local dignitaries included Wirral West MP Esther McVey and several councillors. We managed to get to some of the stalls through the crush, tasted some free samples and by the time we emerged several of us had bought cheese, kale, celery or bacon.
We lunched in the Promenade Gardens, happy that it was dry and fairly warm for late October (about 16°C) although the sun was hidden by clouds. Then we set off northwards, passing the Lifeboat station. The tide was very far out, so apart from a few pigeons on the sand and a few gulls flying over, the only thing we noted was the Spartina grass coming up again on the beach.

The grass has been of great concern to the locals for some time. In 2008 the Wirral Globe had an article “Don’t let Hoylake beach become another Parkgate”, and the Hoylake Junction blog showed pictures in September 2009 and June 2010, the latter showing council workers strimming it.

Towards Red Rocks the prom petered out so we picked our way across the splashy sand and were relieved to reach the rocks and the boardwalk. We spotted a pair of Stonechats on high twigs amongst the reeds and noted some late flowers. There were huge patches of Sea Aster in depressions near the houses.

Also what appeared to be Soapwort (although it is not supposed to flower later than September).

We caught the 3 o’clock train from West Kirkby and were back in Liverpool about 3.30.

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