
We haven’t been to Eastham Village since late September 2013. It’s a pretty little village just off the busy New Chester Road, and another bit of old England that time seems to have left behind. There are old cottages dated 1699, a local library in an old telephone box and one bus a day in each direction.

We were there to see the church and in particular its Ancient Yew Tree. Britain is particularly rich in ancient yews, with far more than in any other European country. (The Ancient Yew Group has identified 978 ancient or veteran yews more than 500 years old in England and 407 in Wales. France has 77 while Germany and have Spain just four each.) The information board by the tree says ‘When in 1152, the Abbot and Monks of St Werburgh received the Manor of Eastham at the hand of Earl Randall of Chester, the villagers of Eastham entreated the new owners “to have a care of ye olde yew”. In 1898, members of the Royal Archaeological Society, when visiting the village, expressed the opinion that the yew may have been planted originally against the east end of the timber framed wattle and daub chapel which was in being before the Norman Conquest. They said that the tree’s exact age was not known but was possibly 1,500 years’.” More recently, in 1988, an expert group suggested it was 1600 years old, making it a seedling before the Romans left Britain.


Elsewhere in the village we heard loud calling from above and spotted a pair of Jackdaws on an old chimney stack, peering into the left-hand chimney. We think there was a nest in there, the chicks were calling for food and the adults were hoping they would emerge.

We walked northwards around Ferry Road towards Eastham Ferry and the woods. There was a House Sparrow colony in a thick garden hedge, a Swift overhead, and in Torr Park we saw some butterflies – Speckled Woods and a Large White.


We lingered by the Eastham Ferry Pier overlooking the River Mersey. There was an Oystercatcher on the rocky beach and Cormorants on the oil tanker stanchions by Eastham Lock. We were also looking for Purple Hairstreak butterflies in the oak scrub that falls away from the road edge. We spotted some here in late June 2018, but today we were a couple of weeks too early. They will all still be pupae. Then we walked back through the woods.

Blackbirds and Robins were singing and a family of Wrens crossed the path, about five of them. A pair of Jays were foraging on an old dead tree trunk, perhaps looking for grubs. The path was scattered with early tree seeds and fruits, including these wild cherries.

Public transport details: Bus number 1 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.10, arriving 10.52 at New Chester Road / opp Bridle Road. Returned from New Chester Road / Allport Road on the number 1 bus at 2.15, arriving city centre at 2.50.
No walk next week. On 22nd June we plan to go to Port Sunlight, meeting at Central Station at 10 am.
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.