
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.
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.