The Naturalists' Notebook

What a beautiful day for a change! It was mild and still, with a low sun catching the late autumn trees in a golden light. The park’s Grey Squirrels were very bold and numerous. Were they especially hungry after a week of bad weather and no visitors to feed them?  The parkland birds like Robins and Great Tits seemed tamer as well, approaching us hopefully.  Otherwise we saw the usual Magpie, Crows and just one Wood Pigeon. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling from a distance, but we didn’t see it. On the Lower Lake were Mallards, Canadas, Coots, Moorhens, a few Herring Gulls, three Tufties and two Cormorants in a secluded bay.

One of the park’s rarer trees, the Cucumber tree Magnolia accuminata, at the top of the lower lake near the rockery, has been comprehensively pollarded. What a shock! It used to lean out over the path, so perhaps the overhanging branches have been deemed unsafe.

There has also been an outbreak of vandalism. The Swiss Bridge was closed, although we couldn’t see any damage. We spoke to a passer-by who said kids had kicked out something. The supports? They looked OK side on. Some windows had been broken on the visitors’ centre and “The Footbridge” (not the “Swiss” or the “Rustic” bridge) had been damaged by fire.

We had a look at their small Persian Ironwood Parrotia persica, wondering if its winter flowers were developing. We usually see the shocking pink blooms in January on the tree in Sefton Park. Do they start in late November?  Yes, one flower was just breaking out.

We lunched near the visitors’ centre, where we caught the only rain shower of the day, and made a discovery in one of the flower beds on the left (west) side. A Wollemi Pine! It is one of the world’s oldest and rarest plants, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. It was discovered in Australia in 1994 hanging on in a stand of fewer than 100 adult trees. The Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis is now the focus of extensive propagation to safeguard its survival, with young trees planted all over the world. This one brings the number on Merseyside that I know of up to four. The others are in Princes Park, Ness Gardens and Speke Hall. The sign said it was also known as the Lazarus tree (back from the dead?), but that’s the first time I have heard that nickname.

A Norway Maple was catching the bright sunshine, and its yellow leaves were golden in the bright light. A Weeping Willow in the Upper Park was doing the same trick.

There was a very odd bird or bat box on a tree by the upper lake. There was no hole at front for small birds, nor an opening at the bottom for bats, just a little triangular hole at the side. Does anyone know what creature it’s for?

The third golden tree was this Beech, whose leaves were much lighter than the usual copper colour. I see there’s a variety called ‘Dawyck Gold’ with yellow leaves in the autumn, but that is said to be fastigiate (growing very upward-pointing) and this tree wasn’t shaped like that. Perhaps it’s just natural variation.

On the way out we went to look at the clump of Hybrid Strawberry trees Arbutus x andrachnoides at the junction of Park Road North and Ashville Road. We were surprised to see that the middle three (of five) had been felled, although the stumps were sprouting vigorously. They are rare trees, and prized by the park, but despite their rarity they must have failed a safety inspection and been deemed top-heavy and likely to fall or shed a branch, to the danger of the public. Like the Cucumber tree, at least they haven’t been removed, but carefully cut back to grow another day.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.05, arriving Birkenhead Park station at 10.15. Returned from Birkenhead Park Station at 13.36, arriving Central 13.55.
Next week we are going to Ormskirk. Meet 10.00 at Central Station.

Anyone is welcome to come out with the Sunday Group. It is not strictly part of the MNA, although it has several overlapping members. We go out by public transport to local parks, woods and nature reserves all over Merseyside, and occasionally further afield. We are mostly pensioners, so the day is free on our bus passes, and we enjoy fresh air, a laugh and a joke, a slow amble in pleasant surroundings and sometimes we even look at the wildlife!
If you want to join a Sunday Group walk, pack lunch, a flask, waterproofs, binoculars if you have them, a waterproof pad to sit on if we have to have lunch on the grass or a wet bench (A garden kneeler? A newspaper in a plastic bag?), and wear stout shoes or walking boots. We are usually back in Liverpool City Centre by 3pm at the latest.
If you are interested in the wildlife of the north-west of England and would like to join the walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website www.mnapage.info for details of our programme and how to join us.

It was a really horrible, cold, wet and windy day. We had planned to go to Leasowe today, where there had been some rare winter visitors last week (Lapland Bunting, Snow Bunting), but they were long gone. We decided that West Kirby at least had some shelter. We were lashed with rain on the way from the station to the Dee Lane slipway, but despite the weather the row of five Stone Pines next to Morrison’s car park were still impressive.

The open water towards Hilbre Island was very rough, and high tide was approaching, due at 12.30. There had been a report of 17 Goosanders on the Marine Lake, but the windsurfers might have frightened them off and all we saw were one or two Redshanks, a Carrion Crow, a Pied Wagtail on the pavement and a few Black-headed Gulls hanging on the wind. We fought our way through the gusty rain to the little shelters in Victoria Gardens, and when the rain went off we headed up to Ashton Park, where the sun came out.

On the lake there were Mallards, Coots, Moorhens and Black-headed Gulls, but no Canada Geese, which are usually resident. One surprises was a single Cormorant, which appeared to be taking a bath. It flapped vigorously, churning up the water, then waggled its back end forcefully. After a second or two swimming around, it did it again, and then again …  I have never seen that before.

We headed back to the shelters in Victoria Gardens for lunch, narrowly missing a short hailstorm followed by clearing skies and a rainbow. Afterwards, we returned to Dee Lane.  From the railings by the beach we could see a row of birds taking refuge from the high tide on a spit of grassy sand. The black-and-white ones were Oystercatchers, while the grey-and-white ones were probably Knot.

On the way back to the station we looked for flowering plants on the pavement and in front gardens. The winter-flowering shrubs Laurustinus and Jasmine were starting to bloom. In Sandlea Park there were no nuts left on the Almond tree, but there were Rowan berries and yellow Crab Apples remaining on the thinnest branches for birds agile enough to reach them.

On the edge of the path was a clump of Stinking Iris, whose seed pods had just broken open to reveal the bright orange fruit inside. All parts of this plant are poisonous.

From the train home we spotted several Little Egrets in the cow pastures between Meols and Moreton.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.05, arriving West Kirby at 10.35. Returned on the train from West Kirby at 1.30, arriving Liverpool Central 2.05.
Next week we plan to go to Birkenhead Park. Meet Central at 10 am.

It’s a long time since we’ve been to Carr Mill Dam, March 2019 in fact, before the pandemic. Over time the bus and train routes become unsuitable, but we have now found a new way to get there. It was bright and sunny, but the first chilly day this autumn. There had been very heavy rain yesterday as we were brushed by Storm Claudia, and we feared that the paths would be deeply muddy, but they were OK, just a bit soft in a few places. At the southern end, near the Waterside Toby restaurant, was the largest bird gathering – Canada Geese, Coots and Moorhens, Mallards and a few Black-headed Gulls.

We went around the lake anti-clockwise for a change, and on the path near the old railway we spotted a Grey Wagtail, a Blue Tit and a Siskin feeding high up in the Alder trees on the embankment.

Yesterday’s rain had almost filled the Goyt valley.

Near the bridge we found some shyer water birds. There were two Mute Swans (both female?) and the one-and-only Great Crested Grebe of the day, still in its winter plumage.

There appeared to be more little birds about in the woodland near the bridge, I think someone puts out food.  By the side of the path were a Blackbird and a Dunnock and in the trees at the eastern end of the bridge we saw Coal Tits, a Robin and several Nuthatches, perhaps a family of four. Sorry about this picture, which is terribly out-of-focus, but it shows how near the Nuthatches were.

We scanned the bay on the far side of the bridge, but there were no more Grebes and no Kingfisher, a bird we sometimes see in this sheltered place. Instead we made our way to the fishing lake near Otterswift farm, where a single Heron brooded at the far end.

The winter berries seem to be all eaten already, and the only flowers we saw were Gorse, and this Dandelion on the verge of Carr Mill Road.

Near our bus stop a flock of Jackdaws were foraging in an uncut meadow.

Public transport details: Train from Lime Street at 10.12 (the Glasgow train!), to its first stop at St Helens Central at 10.30. Then a 10 minute walk to the new bus station at Chalon Way West, then bus 17 at 10.54, arriving Woodlands Road / Derwent Road at 11.01.  Returned from Martindale Road / Broad Lane on bus 352 at 2.06 (really 2.15) arriving bus station at 2.28, then bus 10A to Liverpool at 2.40, arriving 3.57. 
Next week we plan to go to Leasowe. Meet at Central Station at 10am (prompt).

After a week or two of dry weather, today’s forecast was for occasional heavy rain. Right on cue, it started as we crossed the hospital’s car park, heading for the woods near Arrowe Hall. Under the trees, the falling leaves of Beech made a golden carpet on the path.

Along a narrow woodland track we spotted a Wych Elm, Ulmus glabra, with huge leaves, about the size of my hand.

To my surprise it was quite a tall tree, perhaps 30 to 40 feet, growing next to an Ash tree. Older Wych Elms are now rare trees in the UK as a result of Dutch elm disease, a fungal disease which has devastated populations of elms since it arrived in the UK in the 1960s. Although I often see short Wych Elms in hedges, I had thought they all became infected and died off when they grew to be over about 6 feet tall.  However, various sources say they typically survive until they are around 5 to 10 meters (16 to 33 feet) tall before dying. This is because the elm bark beetles that carry the disease are attracted to trees that have reached a certain size and are old enough to flower, at which point they infest the tree, and it succumbs to the fungus. However, the root system is often unaffected, allowing new sprouts to emerge, though these will likely be killed by the disease once they grow to a similar height.  So maybe this tree isn’t a rare survivor after all, but one that is just about to become infected.

We walked along the edge of the big field towards the lake. Some low-growing flowers were still blooming in the grass: Daisy, Buttercup and some sort of Hawkbit. Crows cawed from the treetops. A Hazel was forming its catkins. It’s not quite a sign of spring but perhaps a promise.

On the lake were Mallards and a Little Egret.

Then we walked southwards along the path through trees. At the bridge over the Arrowe Brook, someone puts out food for birds every morning. We caught glimpses of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Coal Tits, but they were very skittish with too many people and dogs passing by. On an old fallen log were these black shiny fungi, about an inch (2.5 cm) across. First thought was Jelly Ear, but they are more amber-coloured, not jet black. Google images suggests Black Bulgar Bulgaria inquinans which are actually not jelly fungi at all, but Ascomycetes. It’s a terrible picture, I’m afraid, but that’s the best I could get in the gloomy rain.

It was a long walk back through the woods and skirting the golf club. We crossed the road to Landican Cemetery, and had a rather late lunch at 12.30 in the shelter of the chapels’ loggia. Afterwards we mooched about the cemetery a bit, looking at trees. There were half a dozen dark red trees we hadn’t noticed before. I think they are Red Maples Acer rubrum. Perhaps they are only obvious in the short window in the autumn when they have changed colour, but before the leaves fall.

There is also a group of four Indian Bean trees. We have only seen them as singletons before. They will be lovely when they are all in flower together in mid-July.

And lastly, there is a small and dainty Willow-leaved Pear on a corner. In this very good year for fruit and seeds it had managed to produce a few tiny pears

Public transport details: Bus 472 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.15, arriving Arrowe Park Hospital at 10.40.  Returned on bus 471 from Arrowe Park Road / opp Landican Cemetery at 2.28, arriving Liverpool at 3.02.
Next week we are going to Flaybrick Memorial Gardens in a joint walk with the MNA. Meet Sir Thomas Street at 10 am for the 437 bus.
No Sunday walks on 2nd or 9th of November.

On a mild, still, misty morning we joined the Leeds – Liverpool canal at Waddicar and headed northwards. It’s a long time since we’ve walked the towpath of the canal, because there is nowhere to sit for lunch and there are no convenient loos. But the plan today was to get to Maghull Station at around noon, which provides those amenities.

For much of the day we had the towpath to ourselves, occasionally moving aside for dog walkers, runners and cyclists. The canal was lined with Hawthorn bushes, all heavily berried, and a few Ash trees with huge bunches of seed. Agricultural land dominated on the left (west) side, and flocks of gulls were following the plough.

On the water were Moorhens, Coots and Mallards, looking very smart in their new plumage and starting to pair up. There were House Sparrows on the roofs of the new houses on the right (east)  side, together with Robins, a Dunnock and Goldfinches in the bushes. A Buzzard drifted overhead, then was chased off by smaller birds. A handful of Jackdaws flew southwards, Rooks flew off the horse fields and Crows called from all directions. A Collared Dove perched high in a tree, two Pheasants moved about in a field and a hundred or so Starlings flocked up to perch on electricity wires.

On the far side of the canal were great mounds of some water plant. I think it was Floating Pennywort, Hydrocotyle ranunculoides. It is an invasive species, introduced to the UK in the 1980s by the aquatic nursery trade, which forms large floating mats of dense foliage, grows at up to 20cm in a day and smothers our waterways. It’s a perennial, native to North America, and nothing in the UK will eat it. Floating Pennywort is so damaging to native flora and fauna that it is listed under Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, meaning it is illegal to cause it to grow in the wild and it is now also banned from sale in the UK. The Canal and River Trust is running an eradication programme, so best of luck with that.

Several plants were still flowering at the edge of the path, including Cow Parsley, Hogweed, Michaelmas Daisies, Bindweed, White Dead-nettle, and another flush of Bramble flowers. Prominent “gone-to-seed” plants included Old Mans Beard and Rose Bay Willowherb. In or close to the water were some more unusual species, like Gipsywort, what might have been the very poisonous Hemlock Water Dropwort, and Arrowhead springing straight from the water.

Corpse of the Day was a drowned Wood Pigeon.

Between the canal and Maghull station is the house of Frank Hornby (1863-1936), the visionary toy developer and manufacturer, responsible for Hornby model railways, Meccano and Dinky toys. It’s the further house, with the blue heritage plaque above the door.

Maghull Station is the winner of many awards, both for its landscaping and for the enthusiasm of its volunteers. There is a glass cabinet in the ticket office holding dozens of framed certificates. It was National Rail’s “Small Station of the Year” in 2013, and has many awards from the Royal Horticultural Society and Britain in Bloom for its flowers. In 2024 it won the “World Cup of Stations” for having the best local business, their coffee shop. Margaret had been here on a Heritage Open Day and drew our attention to a small tree or shrub in a flower bed near the car park. It is labelled “Caragana Pea Tree” and has legume-type pods containing black seeds, but the pods are very puffed up, not like peas at all. One of the volunteers came over, keen to discuss it. He said it was also known as the Siberian Pea Tree and the seeds were edible. He said that there was another tree or shrub of the same kind in one of the Waterloo Seafront Gardens.

We know that very same shrub!  We think it is a Bladder Senna, source of the famed “senna pods” to treat constipation, so not what you would recommend as edible! The real Siberian Pea Tree Caragana arborescens has seeds in slim, hanging red-brown pods, similar in size and shape to ordinary green beans, and not a bit like the puffy pods we saw. I think the one at Maghull station must be the Bladder Senna Colutea arborescens.

Another volunteer, seeing our binoculars, came over to talk to us about the birds on the canal, mentioning Pink-footed Geese which often fly over (we didn’t see any today) and advising us to be on the look-out for a Kingfisher. Back on the canal, and there was indeed a Kingfisher, darting away ahead of us and seen only by John, who was in the front. We walked quietly then, looking at all the low branches it might have perched in, but we didn’t see it again.

This stretch of the canal, northwards to Maghull town centre, had huge ivy bushes, and some large swathes overhanging from tall trees, and all were coming into flower. We could smell the perfume of them as we passed. But since the sun still wasn’t out there were hardly any flying insects around them. On sunny warmer days in autumn you often see Ivy bushes all abuzz with bees, wasps, hoverflies and smaller flying creatures, all getting a last good feed in before the winter.

Public transport details: Bus 345 from Queen Square at 10.15, arriving Waddicar Lane / Birchtree Drive at 10.49. Returned from Liverpool Road North / Stafford Moreton Way on bus 300 at 2.35, due to arrive Liverpool at about 3.25.
Next week we plan to go to Arrowe Park and Landican Cemetery. Meet Sir Thomas Street at 10am.

Speke Hall is a National Trust property, south of Liverpool, adjacent to the airport.  It is a rare surviving Tudor timber-framed manor house, started in 1530 and restored in the 19th century. It was home to the devoutly Catholic Norris family, who were subject to fines and other legal penalties after Henry VIII broke with Rome. They kept a resident Catholic priest, and his secret hiding place known as a “priest hole“ still survives. The Hall’s upkeep was financed by the Norris family, and later by the Watt family, through their longstanding involvement in transatlantic slavery.

Another black mark against the Hall from our point of view is how difficult it is for pedestrians to get there. It’s a very long walk from the nearest bus stop, almost a mile down the long driveway. There is no proper footpath so we either had to walk on the grass verge or take our chances on the edge of the road.

Happily, John had some spare passes so we didn’t need to pay the entrance fee of £15.40. We were free to wander the grounds and the old orchard. There were plenty of windfall apples which had come down in Storm Amy and the old kitchen garden was still productive.

There were Magpies, Crows and Wood Pigeons around the trees and Jackdaws on the house roof, as well as a couple of Pied Wagtails. We spotted a Blackbird on a path and some Long-tailed Tits on the airport fence. A Heron flew over. Some flowers were still blooming in the verges and we noticed this bee foraging in a purple Michaelmas Daisy.

In the woods is the so-called Secret Garden, and there is supposed to be a rare Wollemi Pine there. So there was. It’s in quite a shady area so it isn’t flourishing as well as the ones at Princes Park and Ness Gardens.

On a bank around the back of the house there were some yellow flowers that looked like Crocuses. Too early for them, surely?  My friend Google reveals there is such a thing as a Yellow Autumn Crocus, Sternbergia lutea, also known as the winter daffodil, autumn daffodil or lily-of-the-field. Its leaves and yellow flowers appear in autumn. That’s what it must be.

Nearby were some flowers of the better-known Autumn Crocus, Crocus nudiflorus, with large, ghostly, purple flowers which emerge before the leaves.

Also around the back were some very pretty Acers showing off their autumn colours, and a Paperbark Maple, Acer trifolium, with peeling red bark and very untypical three-lobed leaves.

We are familiar with the bright red nail galls on some Lime tree leaves, caused by the gall mite Eriophyes tiliae. However, the ones we saw were white and slightly fluffy. Many images online show these white ones but no explanation is given.

There is a Woodland Trail for the kids, based on the legend of the giant called the “Childe of Hale”.  He lived in the nearby village of Hale around the year 1600 and was said to have been 9 foot 3 inches tall. This trail reproduces his cottage, where he is said to have slept with his feet out of the windows. As people pass, a sensor triggers a speaker, and the sleeping giant snores!

Public transport details: Bus 86A from Elliot Street at 10.02, arriving Speke Hall Avenue / Cartwright’s Farm Road at 10.50.  Returned on bus 86A from Speke Hall Avenue / Estuary Banks at 2.40, arriving Liverpool 3.30.

Although Taylor Park was once a gentleman’s estate, there are no fancy trees here. The main attraction is the lake. There are very many birds living here, including Mallards, Coots, Moorhens, Canada Geese, a few Herring Gulls, a pair of Mute Swans, and some distant Tufted Duck. Pigeons are all over the pathways. And, of course, large numbers of Black-headed Gulls.  We were pleased to find four of them with blue leg rings, which we noted and reported later.

278F was ringed as an adult at Taylor Park on 2nd December 2022. There have been 11 sightings of it since then, all at Taylor Park, but only in  late summer, autumn and winter. It must go elsewhere to breed in spring, but nobody has reported it yet.
221L and 222L were ringed as adults at Taylor Park on 30th November 2023. Sighted 5 times and 11 times respectively at Taylor Park, but only in autumn or winter. These two must also go elsewhere to breed, but nobody knows where.
The star bird was 210E, ringed as an adult at Taylor Park on 27th January 2022. It has been sighted 26 times since then, 19 times at Taylor Park in the off-season, but the other seven sightings were in Norway, reported in summer 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Every year it flies back to one of several places in the fjord south of Oslo, presumably to breed.

A path just before the quarry garden leads to the right, up shallow steps to the viewpoint. Half way up is an open area with several garden benches, just right for our lunch. When it was quiet the small grassy lawn was a haunt of Grey Squirrels, Magpies and Wood Pigeons. There was also a puddle on the path that the birds knew well, so we scattered some birdseed and sat quietly as a Song Thrush came to drink and bathe, and then another one. The second was a bit fluffy and might have been a grown-up chick.

The Birch trees all around had two Goldcrests, a Long-tailed Tit and a Blue Tit, and then a Robin and a Blackbird came at the same time for some seed and a drink.

Then we walked around the lake. At the far end a family of rats had made their home. An adult and at least two little ones were scampering about on some broken rock and concrete at the edge. They may be reviled rats, but it doesn’t stop the little ones being cute.

Near some houses at the north end Jackdaws were flying about. It turned out to be a bumper day for ringed birds. One Moorhen bore an orange ring on its left leg which we read as D34, but the code wasn’t recognised on the Waterbird Colour-marking Group’s website. Perhaps we read it wrong. But there was more success with a Coot marked BFF on a white ring. It had been first ringed at Taylor Park on 2nd December 2022. It had been sighted 11 times since then, but it didn’t lead a very exciting life. Six reports were from Taylor Park while the other five were from a place noted as “nr Ashton’s Green St Helens”, which seems to be a little wetland called The Duckeries on the other side of St Helens.

The usual notices were up on the lake railings about not feeding bread to the birds, and that birdseed is better. Some families had got the message, but others hadn’t. One young Mum with three or four kids in tow was encouraging a little girl to get to the bottom of a bag of sliced white, and she had three other complete loaves in waiting, all presumably to be thrown to the birds around the lake. Old habits die hard. At least one of the Canada Geese was showing signs of the deformity called “angel wing”, thought to be caused by too much bread.

On the way out we heard Nuthatch calls, probably two of them calling over each other, but we couldn’t see them overhead.

Public transport details: Bus 10A from Queen Square at 10.07, arriving Prescot Road / Toll Bar at 11.05. Returned on bus 10 from Prescot Road / Toll Bar at 2.28, arriving Liverpool at 3.20.   Next week we plan to go to Speke Hall. Meet at Elliot Street at 10 am.

It was a beautiful day, with a clear blue sky and bright sunshine, but there was an autumnal chill in the air, reminding us it was the day before the equinox. Summer is definitely over.

We had intended to go to Chester for several Heritage Open Day events, but Merseyrail had engineering works and rail replacement buses for part of the route, which made it impossible to get there in time. This is the second year running they have done this on the crucial day. So we chose a church that we hadn’t visited, located near the north end of Sefton Park and not open until after lunch. Time in the morning for a walk in the park. We entered at the “obelisk” path, hoping for some autumn colour. Most of the trees were still green, but there were some trees like the Cherry above and this Persian Ironwood, that were starting to turn.

The open fields were scattered with Crows, Wood Pigeons, Magpies and occasional Herring Gulls. Parakeets were squawking. Near the Palm House someone was feeding Pigeons and had attracted a small flock of Crows.

We headed for the Fairy Glen where a Kingfisher was said to be back for the winter. We didn’t see it, sadly. There were just Mallards and Moorhens on the little stream there. We heard several Nuthatches but didn’t see one.  On the bank of the stream near the stepping stones was an interesting tree. It had many bunches of red fruit, looking almost like red currants, hanging in unbranched bunches on long stalks. Definitely not a Cherry, as their fruits come in pairs, and the tree bark was wrong. Was it some kind of crab apple?  According to the experts on the Facebook tree group it might be a Siberian Crab Malus baccata or a Chinese or Hupeh crab Malus hupehensis, but there are several dozen other candidates. “A lot of precise work would be needed to be sure of what it is.”

We did a quick circuit of the lake before lunch. There were Coots, Moorhens, Canadas and two Mute Swans. No Little Grebes or Great Crested Grebes. No interesting storm-tossed migrants. But there were two Cormorants on the posts.

At the south end was a mixed flock of Gulls: Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls and one Lesser Black-backed Gull.

As usual, we lunched by the Aviary. The sunshine brought out one Speckled Wood butterfly and many insects foraging through the Himalayan Balsam. Is this a Honey Bee?

It’s a popular picnic spot, staked out by a Robin and a Blackbird, and possibly two House Sparrows which dived into the shrubbery as we approached. The availability of lunch crumbs there probably also accounts for two rats, which were very skittish, hiding away at the slightest noise or movement.

Then on to Christ Church, Linnet Lane. It’s a big Victorian church with beautiful stained glass, a splendid wooden ceiling and innovative roof design. However, the roof eventually leaked and it cost about a quarter of a million pounds to fix (via a Heritage Lottery Grant) a few years ago. Like many churches nowadays, the congregation has fallen to under 50, and the big church is too expensive to heat, so they have made a sort of insulated square yurt at the back of the church, and hold services there.

Public transport details: Bus 76 from Queen Square at 10.02, arriving Sefton Park Road / Croxteth Road at 10.20.  Returned on bus 82 from Park Road / Gredington Street at 2.05, arriving Liverpool 2.30.   Next week will be Taylor Park, St Helens. Meet 10 am Queen Square.

Light rain had been forecast but it turned out to be a much wetter day than we expected. We walked up Long Lane from the station, crossed the A59, and walked up through the ploughed fields to the reservoir. Black-headed Gulls, Crows, Jackdaws and Wood Pigeons were foraging in the freshly-turned earth.

We walked around to the right, skirting the outer edge of the reserve on a woodland path. It started to rain steadily. All the autumn berries are forming well, such as Rowan, Hawthorn, Sloes (Blackthorn) and Rose Hips.

The Blackberries formed early this year but the very dry summer has left them small, withered and dried up, although there is a second flush of flowers.

Although we knew the visitor’s centre didn’t open until 1pm we had expected Cabin Wood to be open earlier. Nope, that was still gated off, too, so we had to find some drippy shelter for lunch under the trees in some of the outer woods. As we made for the reserve at 1pm we came across one path that was full of small birds. Blackbirds, Robin, Dunnock, Greenfinch on the ground, Various small birds flitting back and forth across the path. We couldn’t see what was different about that particular spot. As we passed the gate to the heritage orchard, a Red Admiral flew past us. Amazing to see one on the wing on a gloomy wet day.  The apple trees were laden with fruit.

One we got into the reserve, we walked around Cabin Wood. To amuse children they have recently added lots of little “twigs with eyes” to the edges of the paths, that they call “Woodlins”, together with a story that they are refugees from other woodlands that have been cut down.

Before we left we went to look at the shrubby cluster of Wayfaring Trees Viburnum lantana on the western edge of Cabin Wood. Although it is a British native tree, it might be the only one in Lancashire. Its natural habitat is on the dryer chalklands of Southern Britain. It was planted here because it supports the caterpillars of the moth called the Orange-tailed Clearwing, Synanthedon andrenaeformis. No idea if it has worked yet in attracting the moth. We spotted only one cluster of berries, which were still not ripe. (Picture’s a bit fuzzy in the rain, I’m afraid.)

As we walked off towards the station, the rain stopped! It’s always the way, isn’t it.

Public transport details: Ormskirk train from Central at 9.55, arriving Aughton Park station at 10.25. Returned from Aughton Park station at 2.40, arriving Sandhills 3.05. No Sunday walk next week, we will be on the MNA Saturday walk to Pex Hill instead.

On the last day of meteorological summer we headed for two local private gardens, open for the day under the National Garden Scheme. The scheme is run by the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society), and many of Britain’s ordinary suburban gardeners are members. They charge a small fee (£4 today for both gardens), and the money raised (£3.5 million in 2024), supports health charities, community gardens and botanic gardens.

Our first call was 146 Mather Avenue, a small tree-ringed town garden run by a single lady. She has a wildlife pond, and colourful borders grown in home-made compost. She keeps a nettle patch for butterflies, then makes fertilizer when she cuts it down. There are many bird feeders and several visiting hedgehogs, which she feeds and tracks with little trail cameras. I liked it because it was very real, not fanatically neat, as some open gardens are.

The second garden, 33 Greenhill Road, was quite a contrast. It is owned by an enthusiast for tropical exotic plants. It is another small urban garden, this time walled all around, with no lawn, no ground soil, just paths lined with pots of exotics at different levels. He grows cacti, lemons, a pollarded Foxglove tree, and many weird and wonderful brightly-coloured plants. This yellow spike is a ginger, Heydichium sp.

These hanging red-and-yellow flowers are Datura, also known as Devil’s Trumpets or Jimson Weed. It is very poisonous in all parts.

We went into Calderstones Park for lunch. In the Ornamental Garden we looked at the Katsura tree, whose leaves are supposed to smell of burnt sugar or candy floss in the autumn. This one didn’t, although we have smelled one in Arrowe Park. Just through the gate in the wall is this lovely young ornamental tree, very weeping, very golden. It has been planted as a memorial to someone. There was no nursery label and we didn’t recognise it, but someone from the Fb tree group has suggested it might be a Weeping White Mulberry. That looks right to me – we saw a couple of them at Otterspool on 23 April 2023, part of an experimental “global warming” planting scheme.

On the edge of that field a young tree had fallen. It was one I was keeping an eye on because I thought it might be a Butternut. Each compound leaf is about 18 inches long with eight pairs of leaflets, plus one at tip. But there is hope. More than half of the roots are still firmly in the ground and the crown hasn’t wilted. It may survive as a series of shoots from the fallen trunk.

The Golden Rain tree by the pony field seems to have loved this hot summer, bearing very many seed pod “lanterns” all over it, especially higher up.

Around 2pm it started to rain, right as the weather forecast said, so it was time to go.

Public transport details: Bus 86A from Elliot Street at 10.02. arriving Mather Avenue / Booker Avenue at 10.35.  Returned from Mather Avenue / Storrsdale Road on bus 86A at 2.30, arriving Liverpool 3.05.
Next week we plan to go to Gorse Hill. The train is at 9.55, so we meet at Central about 9.45.