The Naturalists' Notebook

A fine, mostly sunny day for a stroll around Southport’s Marine Lake. We were amazed to see all the Mute Swans clustered together (54 of them) where they were being fed by two local people.

I think that couple feed the Swans and Gulls every day, and the birds know and trust them. We spoke to the lady, who knew many of them as individuals. She said the oldest one had died last year aged 21, and the one she was hand-feeding was now the senior bird at 18 years old.

There were lots of other birds around, too. The usual Feral Pigeons, Wood Pigeons, Mallards, one Lesser Black-backed Gull, and very many young Herring Gulls. I think these are 2- and 3-year-old Herring Gulls on the balustrade.

A Cormorant was swimming and diving. Three Swallows did acrobatic flypasts, snatching up a drink from the surface of the lake as they swooped low. There was a small flock of Coots on the far side, and a Little Egret on the bank.

Two Greylag Geese were resting on one of the bridge islands, while a pair of Jackdaws took a keen interest in us.

Out on the water were four Great Crested Grebes. Two were clearly adults and one was a full-size but still stripy juvenile. The fourth was probably also a young adult chick, but we never had all four up at the same time to be certain.

We were struck by how few Black-headed Gulls there were. I think we saw just 4, and they all had leg rings. (Maybe they were the only ones we paid attention to.) One of them flew off, determined not to let us see its number. Another was walking on a lawn in King’s Gardens, and the grass was just long enough to hide a clear view of the ring. But we got the numbers of the other two – 2V93 and 2E63. I reported them at https://waterbirdcolourmarking.shinyapps.io/sightings2/ and the website returns a list of all the places that bird has been seen before.

The accumulated data on all the ringed BHGs we have seen shows that they live in the north-west UK (Southport, Chester, St Helens etc.) from July through to March, but in spring and early summer they all disappear to go back to their birth places to breed. The individual with ring number 2E63 was ringed as an adult at Southport in January 2022. It has been seen seven times since then, six times at Southport and once at Ainsdale Sands. There were no sightings of it in 2024 at all, so it may have wandered off then, but nobody reported it from elsewhere. But there have been no sightings of it in the last four springs in Southport, so it maybe going somewhere overseas to breed, but there is no information on that.
However, we have seen 2V93 before. It was ringed as an adult at Southport in December 2023 and it has been sighted locally 17 times since then. We, the Sunday group, saw it in Southport in July 2025 and John Clegg saw it again there a few weeks ago. This April someone spotted it outside the UK for the first time, so now we know where it goes to breed: Stadsparken, Kalmar, Sweden.

We lunched near the bowling greens, watching some of the games going on. A Buzzard soared high overhead.  After lunch went to see four places listed for Heritage Open Day, the Windmill pub, a wine bar in an old bank building, Parkinsons Books and the Temperance Institute. Near the Windmill pub we spotted our last birds of the day, a colony of Sparrows in a dense privet hedge.

Southport isn’t known for its trees, but there was a Swedish Whitebeam dropping its red berries on the path near the Venetian bridge, and I also looked at this Orange-berried Rowan near Blundellsands Station, which had so much fruit it was weighing the branches down.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.02, arriving Southport at 10.50. Returned on the train at 15.06, due in Liverpool at about 15.50.
Next week we are going to Mayer Park on the Wirral. Meet at Sir Thomas Street in time for the 464 bus at 10.16.

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.

Despite the day starting in a fine drizzly rain, we visited several different places today. The first was the new wildlife mural off Knowsley Road in Bootle, running along a railway line on a footpath leading to All Saints Primary and Thomas Gray Primary Schools. The mural is 160 meters long, and is believed to be the longest hand-painted mural in the UK. It has been painted by Liverpool artist Paul Curtis and shows British flora and fauna commonly found along railway lines. The schoolchildren collaborated on the design, and it was funded by Sefton Council.

As we left we spotted a very big Rowan tree with white or yellow berries. It’s on the corner of Chestnut Road and Balfour Road, and think it is variety ‘Joseph Rock’.

Then we went back to the bus route and continued to Potter’s Barn Park. It’s only a tiny park and we walked straight through it to Crosby Marine Lake. Around the Lake House restaurant there were hedges of Rosa rugosa, Japanese or Beach rose, with its large and abundant fruit. It’s lovely in gardens and hedges but is invasive on coastal dunes and has to be removed.

Around the lake there were Swallows and House Martins overhead. One Oystercatcher flew off from the grass. There were five Mute Swans on the Boating Lake, also Coots, Black-headed Gulls, a few adult and juvenile Herring Gulls, and flocks of Starlings on the banks. Three Little Egrets were on the far side of the Marine Lake, and one took to flight southwards.

Wild flowers on the verges included Chicory, Evening Primrose, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Red and White Clovers. After lunch it turned warm and sunny and we strolled through the Seafront gardens. In the houses along here there are two Titanic-related blue plaques. One is for John Smith, the captain, and the other is the Ismay family home, who were founders and owners of the White Star Line. There weren’t many birds in the gardens, just Magpies and Wood Pigeons, but we did spot a Long-tailed Tit in hedge. We noted Spanish Broom, some Fairy Ring toadstools and three Painted Lady butterflies on a late-blooming Buddleia.

We lingered at the wildlife pond in Beach Lawn Garden. There were several bright red male Common Darter dragonflies resting on the warm stone edges.

A Common Pond Skater was sitting quietly, with some legs on the water surface and some on a blade of grass.

This one is a mystery. It was under the water, crawling purposefully along the concrete pond floor. It was about the size of a dragonfly body, but it had no apparent legs so it wasn’t one of their nymphs. It may have had many little legs underneath, or it may have been some kind of worm or leech. Anyone know it?

Public transport details: Bus 47 from Queen Square at 10.15, arriving Knowsley Road / Hornby Road at 10.38 where we stopped for the mural. Then the next 47 bus from Knowsley Road / Percy Street at 11.06, arriving Crosby Road South / opp Durham Road (for Potter’s Barn) at 11.10. Returned on 53 bus from Oxford Road / Courtney Road at 2.10.
Next week we are going to Southport. Meet at Central Station a little before 10 am, in time to catch the 10.02 train.

Pickering’s Pasture is a local nature reserve on the Mersey estuary, near to the Widnes/Runcorn bridges. When we arrived the sandbanks were still showing in the river, soon to be covered by the incoming tide. They held many distant birds – Lesser Black-backed gulls, Herring gulls, Mallards, some Lapwings.

It was quite sunny as we headed northwards towards the footbridge over the Ditton Brook. Signs of autumn are still coming in. The hedges held wild Rose hips, the red berries of Black Briony, berries of Elder and Hawthorn. There is much more Aspen growing here than I remember, a native tree, but uncommon, and it’s the only place I know of on Merseyside where it is so abundant. There was a lot of Dogwood, too, with their leaves turning to that lovely subtle purple.

Young Goldfinches were feeding on thistle seeds.

As we headed back towards the café and car park area, thick mist came in off the river, then a very heavy shower. They still have a small wildflower meadow blooming near the café but it looked quite sad in the heavy rain.

It soon cleared up though, so we set off for the other end of the reserve, where there is a bird hide overlooking a pool called “The Scrape”. As we had heard from others, the Scrape was completely dry after this long hot summer.

There were plenty of birds along the river edge, watching the high water, waiting for the sandbanks to become available again. They were also at quite a distance, but we could name Cormorants, a few gulls, lots of Lapwings, and a large number of Canada Geese in the fields further back.

In the little woodland surrounding the hide there are bird feeders, currently empty, but they are still the haunt of many little birds including Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Greenfinch. We also spotted a Spindle Tree, which is a native small tree, and there are probably very many of them, but their leaves are plain and simple, not eye-catching at all, and its only when they put out their four-lobed red fruits that they are noticeable.

There were small stands of Aspen here too. I found one with leaf miner scars and did a bit of homework later. There are three species of tiny moths which lay eggs in Aspen, but the patterns of the mines are different, so I think these were caused by the larvae of Stigmella assimilella, the White-tipped Dot or Aspen Pigmy moth.

It is found mostly in south-eastern England and in the Scottish Highlands, but it IS known in spots on Merseyside. It is generally described as “elusive and nowhere common, but secure where its specific host plants thrive.”

We lingered later than our usual departure time, because there was a chance that the aerial display team, the Red Arrows, would be flying over the bridges at about 2.30 as part of the Southport Air Show. Sadly, the threatening weather must have curtailed their range, and they didn’t appear.

Public transport details: Bus 82A from Liverpool One bus station at 10.12, arriving Halebank / Merseyview at 11.10. Returned on bus 82A from the stop opposite at 2.57, arriving Liverpool One at 3.55.  
Next week we are going to Crosby. Meet at Queen Square bus station at 10.00

The water in Sefton Park lake is very low and the banks on either side, usually lush green grass, are now yellow and dried-up. We felt occasional spots of rain, and there will probably be some welcome proper rain later this week.  The usual resident birds were all there: Mallards, Coots, Moorhens and Canada Geese. There were just a few Black-headed gulls, Herring gulls and Lesser Black-backed gulls, and many brown juvenile gulls from this year, happy to get handouts of bread. One bold Little Grebe was swimming and diving right by the café end. They are usually more timid, sheltering in the shady overhangs by the island.

At the northern end of the main lake was a group of seven Mallards, looking like an almost-adult brood of six ducklings, still following their mother. They were possibly her second brood, as these young ones are unusually late. Six Cormorants were perched on the chain posts, and we later spotted a seventh, skulking under the trees on the island. I haven’t seen so many of them in the park before.

Corpse of the day was a Rat, recently dead and floating with its feet in the air.

There was also a dead Canada Goose in the undergrowth nearby, which was partly eaten. These deaths remind me that there is an outbreak of avian botulism, reported this week from Walton Hall Park. Angling there is suspended and dog walking near the water discouraged. Dead birds recovered are Canada geese, Mallards, Gulls, Moorhen and Little Grebes. “Avian botulism is caused by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and can affect populations of water birds, particularly during very hot weather. The bacteria can multiply in rotting vegetation and are particularly associated with ponds and lakes with low oxygen levels and poor water quality. Warm weather, falling water levels and increased algae can also create conditions in which the bacteria thrive.” I hope Sefton Park lake isn’t going the same way.

Away from the water we spotted Wood Pigeons, Feral pigeons, Crows and Magpies. Lots of Ring-necked Parakeets screeched overhead. The trees are starting to go brown, but it isn’t autumn yet. It’s probably caused by water stress and scorching by the hot sun. This Beech tree was badly affected.

A Silver Maple tree Acer saccharinum had black galls on its leaves. They look like Maple bladder galls, caused by the tiny eriophyid mite Vasates quadripedes. The mite species is relatively new to Britain, being first recorded in London in 2002.

A tree I haven’t spotted here before is a rather spindly Tree of Heaven in copious brightly-coloured fruit. They have separate male and female trees, known as “dioecious”, so this is a female tree.

On the bank of the stream near the Oasis café was some kind of Cypress, which we initially looked at because there was a little bird in it, possibly a Goldcrest.  The tree had some unusual “cones”.  One of the apps suggested Swamp Cypress Taxodium distichum (also known as Bald Cypress), but this tree’s leaves were smaller than that, angled closer to the stem, and I have never seen any cones on the Swamp Cypresses I know. However, in this weather, trees might be doing all sorts of unusual things. There is a rarer tree called a Pond Cypress Taxodium ascendens which has leaves like that, so I don’t know which one this is.

We lunched in the area of the old aviary. A strappy plant on the central bed caught our attention, with lots of bees or wasps coming out of the middle of it. They appeared to have a nest in the ground amongst the roots of the plant. Were they some kind of Mining Bee? But they were bigger than that, the size of ordinary Common Wasps. An app suggested the similar European wasp, Vespula germanicus. It is hard to tell the difference between them, it all depends on some spots on the wasp’s face and I didn’t want to look THAT closely! They were all busily on the move, but here is my best photo.

On the way to the Fairy Glen we passed several dozen dachshunds with their owners, walking companionably together. It is an organised event, a weekly Sausage Stroll!  We were on the way to look for a Giant Polypore fungus Meripilus giganteus on a Beech tree. It had been spotted by MNA member Daniel earlier this week, who put pictures of it on our WhatsApp group. We looked by the wrong gate at first, then found the affected tree, uphill from the stepping stones, eastward towards Mossley Hill Drive, adjacent to the railings. It had at least half a dozen fruiting bodies, some of them several meters from the trunk, growing along the root lines. The old Beech is listed by the Ancient Tree Inventory, but must now be coming to the end of its life.

As we returned to the eastern side of the lake we admired more trees. There is a lovely wide-spreading Cut-leaved Beech in the Fairy Glen and a big suckering clump of Caucasian Wingnuts near the William Rathbone memorial. In the shady shrubbery was a pair of Mute Swans, no cygnets about, so if they nested this year, they failed. One bore a blue Darvic ring, but it was too dirty to read, even from a close-up photo.

Public transport details: Bus 82 from Elliot Street at 9.55, arriving Aigburth Road / Ashbourne Road at 10.15. Returned on the 82 bus at 1.45 from Aigburth Road / Jericho Lane, arriving Liverpool 2.05.
No Sunday walk next week, as most of us are on the MNA coach trip on Saturday. The following week’s destination (30th August) is to be advised.

From Grove Road station we walked past St Nicholas’s church and the golf club to the southern end of King’s Parade. It was a warm, humid day, with a refreshing sea breeze.  At the station, we noted the first red Holly berries of the year, and along the golf course hedge there were some small ripe Rose hips, Marble galls on a small oak and ripening Honeysuckle berries. On the corner of Coastal Drive, near the Pitch and Put area, there seems to be a very low spot, probably still marshy, with reeds and bulrushes growing green and resisting the drought. We thought we saw a small flight of Linnets dive into it.

The tide was out, and there wasn’t much bird life on the beach, just a few Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The intelligent local Carrion Crows were doing their clever trick with Cockles, collecting live, tightly-closed ones from the sand, then dropping them onto the hard pavement of the prom to break them open. Then they could get at the contents, tackling them either on the top of the sea wall, or on the prom itself, risking disturbance by the passers-by.

We lunched by the model boat club’s pool, watching the model yachts, tugs and destroyers whizzing around. A Pied Wagtail flew overhead towards the beach. As we carried on towards New Brighton, we saw both the Irish and Isle of Man ferries going out. There were a few Oystercatchers on the beach, and several Cormorants on a navigation tower.

The pontoons on the Marine Lake had no waders at all, just two juvenile Herring Gulls and an adult. In the dusty, sandy gutters opposite the Floral Pavilion theatre we spotted a couple of tough plants hanging on, despite the drought and the footfall. I thought one was Scentless Mayweed (definitely no scent in its crushed leaves), but it might have been the rarer Sea Mayweed, just because of its location. Even scruffier was a small clump of Gallant Soldier.

My Buddleia at home has been attracting more butterflies than the usual one or two. I think I have had 6 or 7 Painted Ladies at once some afternoons, at the same time as a Red Admiral and several Small Whites. Here are some Painted Ladies.

Public transport details: New Brighton train from Central at 10.20, arriving Wallasey Grove Road at 10.40. Returned on bus 432 at 1.28 from King’s Parade / Morrison’s, arriving Liverpool at 2.00.
Next week we plan to go to Sefton Park, meeting Elliot Street at 10 am or at the Boathouse café around 10.20 to 10.30.

We entered the park at the southernmost gate. It was a warm and sunny day, with welcome shade under the trees. The grassy lawns at the entrance have been left unmowed in the centre, and are now a tangle of wildflowers, including Wild Carrot. I struggle to identify many of the white umbellifers, but Wild Carrot is distinctive. When going to seed the heads curl up into themselves, while newly-open flowers have a single pink to dark purple floret in the dead centre, sometimes looking almost black and easily dismissed as a small insect, but standing proud of the white “landing pad”.

Taylor Park has no specimen rare trees, but we spotted two lovely Silver Pendent Limes, Tilia tomentosa ‘Petiolaris’, also known as Weeping Silver Limes, just past the first lawns. They have no epicormic growth at the base of the trunk (so not Common Limes), they had a medium weeping habit, and the leaves were glossy green, but whitish – “silver” – underneath, giving them a shimmering effect in a breeze.

I thought we were going to have very fruitful autumn, since there had been plenty of spring blossom, but both Elder and Blackberry are now disappointing. Elder berries are small and dried-up, with a lot missing, perhaps already scavenged by birds looking for moisture. Blackberries are also shrivelled up.

We saw a Speckled Wood butterfly, rather worn.  A possible Goldcrest flitted through the trees while two Wrens pecked about on the shady verges. Wrens usually flee at the sight and sound of people, but these were bolder than I’ve ever seen.

On and around the lake were great numbers of Pigeons, Gulls, Mallards, and Canada Geese. Lots of people bring bread for their kids to feed them. There were also Coots, Moorhens, some Black-headed Gulls, starting to moult, and several juveniles. One Lesser Black-backed Gull perched on the railing next to a BHG, showing the size difference.

We were on the lookout for leg rings. One Coot had an orange one saying BFF.  This is a bird we have noted and reported before. It was first ringed at Taylor Park on 2nd December 2022 and has been sighted 17 times since then, including our sighting on 28th Sept 2025. It leads a fairly boring life. Eleven reports were from Taylor Park while the other six 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.
One Black-headed Gull had a very dirty blue ring saying 27–. I took a picture to blow up at home and I think it’s 278F. This is another bird we have reported before. It was ringed as an adult at Taylor Park on 2nd December 2022. There have been 17 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 from wherever that is. Since our sighting of it last September, it hung around in Taylor Park until the end of November then went off the radar. Ours is the first sighting since then, now back “home” from its summer breeding.

We planned to walk all around the main lake, but part of the path was closed. Some of the lake wall is unsafe and it was shored up with blocks and sandbags. A couple of Dunnocks were hopping about on the dry edge. So we wandered a little further on and found the fishing lake. It was very quiet and peaceful. No birds, but the waterlilies were coming out.

Eventually we found our way back to the main lakeside. Some lads were fishing (probably without a licence) and one had caught a lovely small Perch.

Further out, a pair of Mute Swans had five big brown cygnets (Only four made it onto this photo),

A pair of Great Crested Grebes had three well-grown stripy youngsters. The parents were still working hard, diving for small fish to feed them.

Public transport details: Bus 10 from Queen Square at 10.11, arriving Prescot Road / Toll bar at 10.55. Returned from Prescot Road / Toll bar (stop opposite) on bus 10A at 2.15, arriving City Centre at 3.15.
Next week we plan to go to New Brighton. Meet Central Station at 10 am.

It’s six or seven years since we have been to Hesketh Park, another of the Victorian gems designed by Edward Kemp.  Like many parks nowadays, it has become wilder, as councils are not able to keep up the standards of the time when there were dozens of full-time municipal gardeners. However in 2023 Sefton Council received a bequest of £850,000 from long-term neighbours and supporters Louis and Anita Marks, for improvements to the park. The plan was to restore the fountain, the sensory garden, the conservatory and the floral clock, and to hire a gardener and an apprentice.

It was a cloudy day, with gusty winds and possible showers. It was still quite warm but much better than the recent heatwaves.  The ornate black and gold fountain near the entrance to the park was looking dramatic, its restoration complete, but no water was flowing.  The lake was very low, too.

On the lake were mostly Mallards, a few Coots and Moorhens, groups of Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gulls, young Herring Gulls and a single Cormorant.

One half-grown Mallard duckling was on its own, quacking for its mother.

The lake was surrounded by tall wildflowers including Purple Loosestrife, Ragwort, Mugwort, Michaelmas Daisy, Great Willowherb and Chicory. In one spot was a row of young Alders, probably sprung up by natural regeneration. We did wonder if the proposed gardeners had been appointed, as they might have cleared these as “weeds”.

The Conservatory was clean and empty, and the restoration work is still at the late planning stage.

Everywhere leaves were browning and falling like it was autumn, no doubt caused by the hot dry weeks we have had. The Horse Chestnut trees bore small but plentiful conkers but their leaves were partly browned by the leaf miner pest, and partly by water stress. The Rowan berries have turned red in this last week. Opposite the champion Dawn Redwood trees by the carpet bed garden is a Persian Ironwood tree. They are famous for their autumn colours, but this one was already turning bronzy-red on the top branches.

At the north end of the park there has been a lot of new tree planting, especially of ornamental cherries. There were several “Accolade”, which will have pink blossom, some ‘Snow Goose’, which are tall thin trees and will bear white blossom. Best of all were the Manchurian Cherries Prunus mackii ‘Amber Beauty’. They promise large clusters of tiny white flowers, with golden orange bark and yellow autumn leaves. We wondered if this was evidence of the gardeners’ work, and it seems it is. They have worked for two years, 2024-26, planting trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, and their contract is over. Now the council plans to hire just a new apprentice and is recruiting more volunteers.

The Observatory was open, so we went inside to see their telescope and orrery. One of the volunteers made a point of shaking my hand, and said she had once shaken hands with Buzz Aldrin (the Apollo astronaut who walked on the moon with Neil Armstrong on the first landing in 1969.)  I felt a little magic!   On a verge near the Observatory there used to be a Camperdown Elm. This Victorian curiosity, a contorted and weeping Wych Elm grafted to the top of an ordinary Wych Elm trunk, isn’t planted nowadays but old ones are still seen in parks. Sadly, this one, the Lancashire girth champion, has died.

Our last call was to the Sensory Garden, designed for the disabled. It’s revamp is now complete. The plants are chosen for their scent and texture and some are in low walled beds suitable for wheelchair users.

They had a signboard reporting many common butterflies this summer, and they too were visited by a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. On this cooler overcast day all we saw was a Red Admiral.

On the way out we spotted a mature Pin Oak Quercus palustris. They have big pointy leaves like Red Oak, but each pointed lobe of the leaf has a bristle sticking out.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.02, arriving Southport 10.45. Then bus from Southport Lord Street, outside the HSBC bank, at 11.03, arriving Albert Road / Park Road West at 11.07. Returned on bus 2 from Albert Road / Park Road at 1.55, arriving Southport Monument at 14.00. Just caught the 14.06 train back to Liverpool, due there at 14.50. Next week we are going to Taylor Park, St Helens. Meet at 10 am at Queen Square (outside Greggs).

It was another hot one today, really too hot to be pounding the pavements. We were diverted from Hillside station by the arrangements for the “Open” golf tournament, with many police in attendance to shepherd the crowds towards the course, and barriers across the road preventing us crossing where we wanted to. We were visiting three private gardens, open to the public today as part of the National Garden Scheme, with the fee of £6 all going to good causes.

5 Cromer Road was a small garden, mostly paved, with seating areas being its prime function. The owner had some unusual trees – an Orange tree and a dwarf Robinia of the variety “Twisty Baby.” There was also a grape vine and a huge-leaved Gunnera, Koi carp in her pool and this sweet little ornamental baby rhino hanging off the rim of a water-lily pot.

34 Dunbar Close was a longer garden, and was set out with welcome shady seating areas for the visitors. Notable plants included Bougainvillea and Passion flower.

There were lots of butterflies about, Red Admiral, Peacock, Painted Lady, Large and Small Whites and a very small blue one that might have been a Holly Blue. There was a wonderful Bonsai collection, including this splendid grove of tiny Ash trees.

14 Saxon Road was a much bigger garden, full of winding paths, island beds, a pond and clouds of colourful flowers. It was exhausting to think of how much work it must take.

Plenty of butterflies here, too. A Painted Lady and our best of the day, a Brimstone.

Public transport details: Southport train from Central at 10.32, arriving Hillside 11.12.  Returned from Birkdale station at 3.10. No Sunday walk next week, because it follows an MNA coach trip on the Saturday. On 26th July we are thinking of going to Hesketh Park in Southport. Meeting arrangements to be advised.

New Ferry Butterfly Park doesn’t open until 12, so we pottered about in Port Sunlight in the morning. We always walk through the Dell, looking at the trees there. Uncommon ones include a  Brewer Spruce, a Honey Locust, a Manchurian Cherry and a Dove Tree (= Handkerchief tree), the last two confirmed by app. We hoped to see the Tulip trees in flower, but all they bore were these young seed heads or cones. I thought they flowered for longer.

After lunch in the Rose Garden we crossed Bebington Road and headed up the path at the back of Bebington station car park. A Buddleia on the corner had Red Admirals and Meadow Browns, while blackberries were ripening and young white hazel nuts were forming. The sun came out and it became quite hot.  The pond was full of Common Blue damselflies, and a single dragonfly was patrolling up and down. It was a male Broad-bodied Chaser (the females are brown, the males are blue).

The site was chosen for its poor soil, then it was planted with all the food plants of our native butterflies, on the principle of “If you build it, they will come.” And so they have. The best butterfly of the day was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth on red Valerian, very busy and active. (I have a collection of “missed it!” photographs). We also saw a Green-veined White, many Large Whites and Meadow Browns, and this rather worn Gatekeeper.

There are paths mowed through meadows, with signs not to stray off them to avoid damaging other phases of the butterfly life cycle. There was a row of Alder Buckthorns (food plant of the Brimstone) and this lovely Honeysuckle in another hedge.

Common Red Soldier Beetles were everywhere. The Wildlife Trust says laconically “The adults spend much of their short, summer lives mating, and can often be seen in pairs.”

There was a clump of Mistletoe on an apple tree near the pond and two others further along, two on apple trees and the one near the far end on a Hawthorn tree. I had once been told that THAT one was an exotic, perhaps an African mistletoe, but it came up as plain European mistletoe on Alan’s app.

Also on Red Valerian were these two Small Skippers. They might have been a male-female pair, but it’s hard to see the significant wing-stripes on this picture.

The train we returned on was packed to the doors with cyclists, their bikes and supporters, all returning from the Liverpool to Chester charity bike ride. We swapped trains at the next station and waited for the next one, which had started at Ellesmere Port and so was nearly empty, with plenty of seats.

Public transport details: Train from Central towards Chester at 10.15, arriving Port Sunlight station at 10.30. Returned from Bebington station at 2.09, then on the 2.14 from Rock Ferry, arriving Liverpool at 2.29. 
Next week we are visiting several open private gardens near Southport under the National Garden Scheme. Meet Central Station about 10.15 for the 10.32 train to Southport, arriving Hillside around 11.10.

From Seaforth and Litherland station, we crossed Seaforth Road by the pedestrian lights, then floated safely over the heavy dock traffic on Princess Way via the tall footbridge. The inconspicuous entrance to the park is under the railway bridge and then left. Although most of Rimrose Valley is a wide open sunlit grassland, the southernmost tip is a wooded triangle called Brookvale Nature Reserve, growing like a wilderness. It is quite damp because of the shade, and also because the Rimrose Brook flows through it. Thus it is usually muddy, but after last week’s record-breaking heatwave it finally became firm underfoot.

The trees are mostly Willow, Alder, Sycamore, Poplar, Elder and Hazel, with occasional Privet in bloom.  The path verges were thick with Brambles, Nettles, Bindweed, and also the damp-loving Hemlock Water Dropwort and Himalayan Balsam. We even spotted a patch of Japanese Knotweed.  The autumnal fruits and seeds are developing fast, with green Rose hips, some nuts on the Hazels (which are rarely seen on Merseyside), Guelder Rose berries and masses of green blackberries. The leaf-eaters are also thriving. Many Alder leaves were well-chewed by the larvae of the Alder beetles. The adults are quite smart-looking, shiny blue-black little beasties, but the larvae, also black and shiny, look quite “icky”, as if they may be slimy or sticky.

Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers suddenly flew out of the dense woodland, calling to each other, and were back in hiding a moment later. There were also several young Robins and Blackbirds on the paths and this young Robin up a Willow tree, just getting its red breast feathers in.

The Poplar leaves were also under attack, covered in yellow and brown marks, holes and lumps. What’s eating them? It could be Poplar Gall Mites, Phyllocoptes populi, said to infest Aspen and very occasionally other members of the Poplar family. The blisters on the tops of the leaves ought to have hairy openings on the underside where the mites live, but I saw nothing underneath. [Added later – it’s a fungus not a mite. Taphrina populina. Thanks, Steve.)

An overhanging branch had plain leaves and green immature berries along the twigs. Could it be the long-elusive Alder Buckthorn? Yes it was, as confirmed by the Plantlife app. It’s one of our rarer and most inconspicuous native British trees, food plant of the Brimstone butterfly and hard to find and identify.

As we turned at the Brook Vale corner, we spotted a row of jam pot lids on the sloping tops of fence posts. Each contained the crusty remains of bird food, although one had some peas, looking fresh out of the pod. Is the person who feeds the birds also hoping for small mammals?

There is a stagnant cul-de-sac of the Rimrose Brook along here, rather green and scummy. As we passed, the birdsong app suddenly identified the sound of a Kingfisher, although we hadn’t heard anything ourselves. (What do they sound like anyway?) They have been found here in the past, so we stood there for a while, noting all the possible perches, but nothing came along. We always hope!

There were Speckled Wood butterflies under the trees, and after we got out onto the open grassland we saw lots of whites and very many speedy, dark brown ones which were probably Meadow Browns. Also a possible Small Skipper, but it was very fast-moving in the hot sunshine. A Comma perched in the nettles while we lunched and later I saw a Small White near the Tesco supermarket in Litherland.

After lunch we walked northwards up the central path of Rimrose Valley. Birdsong from the trees on the left was identified as another invisible Blackcap. A Whitethroat dived into a bramble patch and disappeared. Occasional little brown birds came up from the long grass, which may have been Linnets, and a Swift soared high over us. There were all sorts of flowers, including Weld, patches of Field Bindweed (the one with the small trumpets about an inch across). A blue patch was a colony of Cow Vetch, and the magnificent seed heads of Goat’s Beard were scattered about.

As we joined the canal towpath to walk southwards, a party of young kayakers came past.

In places, the water on both sides of the canal was covered with Fringed Water Lily.

Two Jays flew between trees on the other side of the canal. A dead tree with bare branches appeared to be hosting a young Long-tailed Tit and a young Goldfinch, but fledglings are probably in all of the trees, it’s just that we can’t see them for the foliage. Unusually, there were no Canada Geese to be seen, and very few Mallards, Moorhens and Coots. Are they all hiding away and moulting?  A few of the Ragwort plants had the ravaging caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth on them. We haven’t seen so many for quite a few years.

A white Umbellifer bore an insect that looked at first glance like a honeybee, with bright yellow full  pollen bags on her hind legs. Alan’s app suggested a Buffish Mining Bee, Andrena nigroaenea. It is reassuringly common but supposed to be more strikingly furry orange. Since it has probably been working since April we might allow it to be a bit worn.  And the bright yellow pollen bags? The Buffish Mining Bee is said to have ginger tufts on its legs which collect pollen, so that could match.

An Emperor dragonfly was on patrol, surprisingly near to roads and traffic, and in sight of the Church Road bridge near the Red Lion pub. Around the same area we came across a little cluster of orchids, right on the edge of the canal bank. Two were purple, and the taller one was pale mauve. There were no spots on the leaves. (Added later – this is a Southern Marsh orchid – thanks again, Steve.) I gave up trying to identify orchids long ago when I learned they could hybridise, and I just accept that they are lovely.

Public transport details: Train from Central towards Southport at 10.02, arriving Seaforth and Litherland station at 10.17. Arrived back at Church Road, Litherland at 2.30, where most of us planned to get the 53 bus back to Liverpool. 
Next week we plan to go to New Ferry Butterfly Park. Meet at Central Station at 10 am.