The Naturalists' Notebook

It was Heritage Open Day, and we wanted to go to some exciting events in Chester, but Merseyrail chose to do some engineering works, and we couldn’t face a rail-replacement bus to Chester from Hooton. That left us re-evaluating what was available, and we settled on St Nicholas’ Anglican church in Blundellsands. Since it didn’t open until noon, we used the morning to go to one of Crosby’s smaller parks, Alexandra Park.  It was opened in 1902 in honour of king Edward VII’s Queen, and most of the original tree plantings must now be over 120 years old with some coming to the ends of their lives.

A project is ongoing to replace the old trees with interesting younger specimens, and the park is on its way to becoming a small arboretum. One of the first trees we admired was this one with lovely shiny mahogany-coloured bark. We thought it was a Tibetan Cherry Prunus serrula, but when I looked at the list of plantings quoted in my blog post of 18 June 2017, I see it must be a Manchurian Cherry Prunus maackii ‘Amber Beauty’.

It started to rain, and we sheltered for a while beneath a huge old Beech, then headed for cover, passing several more interesting trees on the way.  Japanese Larch, Pin Oak, Paperbark Maple, and a young tree that looked like an Oak at first glance, but had fruits that clearly weren’t acorns. It was a Cut-leaved Alder, and as a clincher, we found an Alder Beetle on it.

Some of the older trees were interesting, too. A lanky False Acacia / Robinia had a dramatic lean to one side, but was still (just) supporting itself.

Higher up in the canopy there was a lovely Variegated Sycamore.

As we walked along Mersey Road towards the church, we noticed several young trees on the pavement on the south side. Two of them were upward-pointing trees (fastigiate), and looked like some kind of hybrid Elms, with a lot of Wych Elm in their ancestry. They were probably one of the new cultivars, bred to be resistant to Dutch Elm Disease.  We arrived at the church just as it opened for visitors. It was consecrated in 1874 and is coming up to its 150th anniversary in a month or two, so major celebrations are planned.

Public transport details: Bus 53 from Queen Square at 10.02, arriving Coronation Road opp Carnegie Avenue.  Returned on bus 53 from Bridge Road / Harlech Road at 1.45.
No walk next week, but the week after (22 Sept) we plan to go to Wallasey Central Park, meeting 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 4pm 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.

Arrowe Park was once a country estate, taken over by Birkenhead Corporation in 1926 and the land now has a major hospital, a golf course, and Arrowe County Park. It’s been a stormy week, with many small branches blown off trees, but the major casualty from Storm Lilian on Thursday night was this big branch of a mature Horse Chestnut, half the crown, which had snapped off.

Near the main gate, in an area where shrubs had been cleared, we came across this clump of Wild Arum stalks with ripening berries. They are usually found as singletons, and we have never seen such a lot altogether.

Still not much in the way of small birds, but we spotted the usual Wood Pigeons, Carrion Crows, Magpies and Black-headed Gulls. A Kestrel hovered in the distance, a Jay crossed our path and later there was a Buzzard over an area of trees.

By the tennis courts there is a pair of trees that have puzzled us for some time. I’m pretty sure they are some kind of Elm, as we saw their elm-like flowers coming out in late February 2019, but they haven’t succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease, as most Elms have. Are they a related group like Zelkova? No idea. (Added later: the clever folks on the Fb Tree ID group reckon it’s a Siberian Elm Ulmus pumilis, resistant to Dutch Elm Disease and quite a rarity in the north of England).

One unusual tree we were able to identify was a Katsura, because we could smell burnt sugar / candy floss as we approached it. It’s a lovely tree.

On the big field west of the hospital two dogs were racing around, chasing a mixed flock of Swallows and House Martins. The dogs were having a fine old time, exerting themselves to their utmost to try and catch one. The Swallows were flying low, all around the dogs, apparently teasing them and playing “Can’t catch me!” In  reality the birds were after the insects that the dogs were kicking up from the grass. After the dogs retired, happy and exhausted, the Swallows flew close around us as we walked backwards, looking for the insects we were disturbing. A magic moment.

It started to drizzle after lunch, but we had time to admire the young Indian Bean tree, Catalpa bignonioides, which has grown well in the last few years, but still has no beans, so probably isn’t mature enough to flower.

As we headed back to the main gate we noticed that they have converted some of the bowling greens and clay tennis courts into a wildflower meadow dotted with specimen trees. The meadow is mostly Ragwort at this time of year, and the young trees float over a sea of gold. There were no nursery labels, but we thought we could identify Norway Maple, Sweet Gum, Indian Bean and Chinese Dogwood.

The northernmost end was fenced off and appeared to contain a small native woodland, just tiny whips so far, and planted far too close together. What’s that all about?

Public transport details: Bus 472 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.15, arriving Woodchurch Avenue / Arrowe Park Road at 10.42. Returned from Woodchurch Road / Church Lane on bus 472 at 1.48, arriving Liverpool 2.10.

Newsham Park is the oldest of a group of three of Liverpool’s major public parks, intended by the early Victorian city fathers as a ribbon of open space, then on the outskirts of the city, to enhance the health of the inhabitants. It was designed by Edward Kemp, as his first solo project after his work with Joseph Paxton on Birkenhead Park (1847), and was opened in 1868, soon followed by Stanley Park (1870) and Sefton Park (1872).

Our first stop was the main lake, where we noted the usual water birds, Canada Geese, moulting Mallards, Black-headed Gulls, juvenile Herring Gulls, Moorhens, and flocks of Feral Pigeons on the edges. Where were the Coots? We spotted them when we turned a corner, looking like they were having a convention in a backwater, although the proper collective noun is a “commotion” of Coots.

From other angles we spotted a pair of Mute Swans and then three Great Crested Grebes, a parent and two well-grown chicks. We haven’t seen them here before but they seem to have had a successful breeding year. John commented that a pair he knew from Stanley Park had had two years of nest failures and have now disappeared. Are these the same birds who have relocated?

Other birds around the park were Carrion Crows, Magpies and Wood Pigeons, with Swallows and  House Martins over the boating lake. Very few small woodland birds were about, except this young Dunnock on the bridge.

In the clumps of vegetation on the margins of the boating lake was a colony of Damselflies, and I think this splendid fellow is a Common Blue.

The trees were of great interest today. The edges of the big fields have had young native trees planted around them.

We noted Hazel, Rowan, Field Maple, Pedunculate Oak, Lime, Elder, Birch, Spindle and Willow. One of the very young oaks, little more than a bush, was already bearing acorns.

The distinctive four-lobed fruits of the Spindle tree had not yet ripened to their bright crimson.

One Rowan had pink and white berries, possibly the unusual Vilmorin’s Rowan.

A larger young tree in a planting cage seemed to be some sort of Lime with “meaty-looking” crumpled leaves. Aha! we thought, this will be a Large-leaved Lime. I knew the ID had something to do with tufts of hair in the axils of the veins on the undersides of the leaves, so I took a picture. When I looked it up at home I found that it wasn’t a Large-leaved Lime after all, it was either a Common or a Small-leaved Lime depending on whether these are “small white or buff tufts” (Common) or “large buff or orange tufts”(Small-leaved). That sort of subjective description only works when you already know!

Elsewhere there were early signs of autumn. Conkers are staring to form on the Horse Chestnuts, and we are noticing far less leaf miner damage this year. There were also ripe Hawthorn and Elder  Berries.

We lunched on the far side of the boating lake, by the café and conveniences. Then we went to look at an uncommon native tree, a Wild Service tree Sorbus torminalis, which is on the southern side of Gardner’s Drive, opposite the skate park and near the concrete table tennis table. It has an interesting and distinctive leaf like a hand with too many fingers. The berries were orange but will go brown as they ripen. It’s the only Wild Service Tree we know of on Merseyside, and it looks a bit unhealthy, with a pronounced lean out to the light.

The southern section of the park, leading to Prescot Road, runs alongside a railway line. All along that eastern edge is a planted native wood, a bit dark and gloomy, called the Birthday Woodland. It was planted in April 2008 to celebrate their 140th anniversary. We kept to the path alongside it, as the dark woods seem to be littered with beer cans and signs of wild camping. We did note, however, that a huge patch of Aspen is suckering all along the east side of the path.

The west side of that path has lots of new specimen trees in cages, some still with their nursery labels attached, all in Latin. Of course we have to check them all! Among the gems were some varieties unknown to us. Acer campestre ‘Elegant’ is the native Field Maple but a variety which reaches partly upwards (semi-fastigiate) and is described as having “compact and elegant ascending structure”. A tree labelled as Prunus domestica ‘Hauszwetche’, which is common purple plum, had a lovely caterpillar on one of its leaves. It was hard to photograph clearly because the netting stopped me getting close enough, but Googling suggests it was the caterpillar of the Grey Dagger Moth Acronicta psi.

A tree labelled Gleditsia tricanthos Draves ‘Street keeper’ was a Honey Locust, but this variety, developed in the USA, is said to be good for city streets as it is tough and only grows half as wide as it is tall.  The star of the show turned out to be a sapling labelled Acer buergerianum. It’s the Trident Maple, originating in China and Taiwan. Not seen one of those before. I thought it was showing autumn colour, but that is the new growth, which emerges bronze. My 1976 Mitchell’s field guide says it’s a rare tree, only found in large collections in southern England and calls it a “distinct, elegant and desirable small tree”.

Public transport details: Bus 13 from Queen Square at 10.05, arriving West Derby Road / Windsor Road at 10.23. Returned from Prescot Road opp Prescot Drive on the 10B bus at 1.45, arriving Queen Square at 2.05.

It was a bright and sunny day, and got quite hot in the afternoon. The seaside crowds were out, walking around the Marine Lake path, hiring paddle boards and queueing at ice cream stalls. We avoided them by walking along the Wirral Way a bit. Apart from a calling Great Tit and a Blackbird on the path, there were no birds to see. Both verges were thick with Stinging Nettles, Bramble and Black Briony, and the winged seeds of Norway Maple were scattered across the path. One Speckled Wood butterfly sped past. A cluster of berries high up in the verge foxed us, but it was a stalk of Lords and Ladies Arum maculatum, which someone had picked, then discarded.

We continued through the top end of Ashton Park, around St Bridget’s churchyard, then back to the park for lunch by the bowling green. There are two Cedar trees there, the most noticeable one being a wide-spreading Blue Atlas Cedar between the bowling green and the lake. But the less obvious one in the border on the other side of the green interests me. Cedars are hard to distinguish, but this one might be a now-rare Cedar of Lebanon. That mid-height branch is growing fairly level, neither drooping at the tips (Deodar Cedar) or reaching upwards (Atlas Cedar).

Another way to tell is by the needles, which are in short bunches, all about the same length, and by the cones, which are said to have low points (rather than the Atlas cedars, whose cones are dimpled at the top). Unfortunately, the cones don’t fall to the ground for inspection, like pine cones do, but stay on the tree, slowly disintegrating and releasing their seeds. I can convince myself that some of these cones do look a bit pointed.

There were no interesting birds on the lake, just Mallards, Coots, Moorhens, and lots of juvenile Herring Gulls. There were also Wood Pigeons, Feral Pigeons and Magpies at various places around the paths and lawns.

Sandlea Park, opposite Morrison’s supermarket, was the best wildlife spot of the day. Their Buddleia bushes had two Peacock butterflies and one Red Admiral, quite a bonanza by current standards.

We went to visit the little tree with pink blossom which we had spotted when we were last here on 10th March. It had been identified to me then as an Almond tree, quite a rarity. Today it was bearing several clusters of almond fruit, presumably with hard nuts forming inside. It’s the only Almond tree I know of on Merseyside.

Public transport details:  Train from Central at 10.05, arriving West Kirby at 10.35. Returned on the train at 2.31, arriving Central 3.05.

The annual Knowsley Flower Show is held in Court Hey Park, which was once a landed estate developed since 1836 by Robertson Gladstone, local businessman, property developer, politician, and brother of Prime Minister-to-be William Ewart Gladstone. Robertson Gladstone was also a Director of the world’s first regular passenger railway, the Liverpool to Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. It is believed that the stones lining the driveway in the park were the original stone sleepers over which the famous steam engine “Rocket” once travelled. That’s one for the railway enthusiasts!

The park is edged on the eastern side by Court Hey Brook, which used to flood occasionally, so in 2021 they created a wetland by digging out pools and rivulets beside the brook. Now there is much-improved water quality downstream and a huge benefit for wildlife. They have a sign up listing Frogs, Herons, Dragonflies and Damselflies, water invertebrates and sightings of the protected Great Crested Newt. There is no way we could explore it, it is guarded by an impenetrable stand of Purple Loosestrife, Sorrel, Reeds and Wild Carrot.

Although there were occasional spots of rain we wandered through the stalls and displays of local charities and businesses. There were also commercial offerings from local plant nurseries. We were happy to see S & R Birds, a rescue sanctuary for birds of prey, who bring their raptors to events like this to solicit donations. We have seen them before, and know their Barn Owl and Eagle Owl well, but today they had a new bird, a Gyrfalcon, a magnificent male. I have never seen one of those before.

We saw two local mayors walking about, the Mayor of Knowsley, who had come to open the show, and the Mayor of Whiston browsing around the floral marquee, looking at the winning vegetables and craft items. Here are some which caught my eye.

Public transport details: Bus 61 rom Queen Square at 10.25, arriving Roby Road opp. Grangewood at 10.48. Returned on the 61 from Roby Road / Court Hey Road at 1.50, arriving city centre at 2.20.

On a very hot and sunny day we visited Rimrose Valley Country Park, where the main attraction was to be “Liverpool’s Most Wuthering Heights Day … Ever!”  More on that below. But first we had wander around the wildflower meadows and through the great expanse of rough grass interspersed with some wildflowers. We spotted and named Goat’s Beard, Red Clover, Common or Black Knapweed and Common or Ribbed Melilot.

There was also a lot of Wild Carrot.  Most flower heads have a central floret that sticks up above the others and is said in the books to be red or pink. I haven’t noticed any pink ones, all the ones I have looked at around here have a dark purple central flower, almost black.

There weren’t many birds. I think it was too hot for them in the open areas. There were just Wood Pigeon, Magpies, and some overflying gulls. But it was quite a good day for butterflies. Not many of them, but we saw three different species, an improvement on recent Sundays. There were several distant Large Whites, two or three fast-moving Gatekeepers (I had a pair of Gatekeepers in my garden in the week) and just one Peacock on the picnic bench. It is only showing its dark underwings here, but we got a glimpse of the eye-spots as it flew.

We returned to the running track area for the big event, which was about 200 people in red dresses doing Kate Bush’s dance routine to “Wuthering Heights”. There were some men in red dresses in there too, and there was even a dog in a red coat. This event is competitive, like a Santa Dash, each area around the country trying to attract a greater number of participants than the previous one.  It was arranged here in aid of the Save Rimrose Valley group, which campaigns to prevent a road to the docks being built through the park. The massed Kates were all filmed, from the ground and by drone, so videos should emerge soon!

Public transport details: Bus 47 from Queen Square at 10.15, arriving 10.45 at Crosby Road North / Sycamore Road. The others returned to Liverpool on bus 47 from Crosby Road North / Winstanley Road at 1.25, due Liverpool about 2pm.

Today we went to the Wildlife Recording day run by the Friends of Victoria Park and Merseyside Biobank. They armed us with clipboards, recording sheets and pens, and offered a variety of ID guides. We thought we were OK with birds, trees, bumble bees and butterflies, but borrowed a copy of  Blamey and Fitter’s wildflower book. And then we just wandered about writing down everything we recognised.

Most things we were able to name but some of our insects were simply written as “spider” or “wasp”. Many insects were on Ragwort, clearly an important plant for them, including the first black and yellow striped Cinnabar moth caterpillar I have seen for a number of years.

We lunched in an ornamental part of the park with plenty of “garden” flowers, which we didn’t list.  The Friends have put out hand-made signs warning of dire consequences for anyone caught vandalising their precious plantings.

After lunch we had an opportunity to visit the Waterloo Community Forest Garden on the other side of Somerville Road, squeezed into a small strip of land next to the railway line. They cater for school groups wanting nature encounters and were rated “outstanding” in the 2022 Britain in Bloom competition.

It’s mostly wild, but they have planted some small apple trees, a patio Mulberry and a rare native fruit tree, a Medlar, with developing fruit, about an inch (2.5 cm) wide.

Some of the Biobank staff were in there rootling around and had spotted some rarities, a Puss Moth caterpillar and a member of the orchid family that they thought was a Broad-leaved Helleborine, growing through Ivy beside a narrow shady path.

At the end of the day we handed in our lists. We had recorded 83 species as follows: 1 mammal (a Grey Squirrel); 9 birds (Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow and Magpie, a Herring Gull and Swifts overhead); 10 insects, including Large and Small White butterflies and a Meadow Brown; 27 species of tree and shrub and 36 kinds of wild flowers. After I had dropped off the others I re-crossed the park on the way home and found a second, smaller mulberry tree, groaning with fruit, with a sign inviting all comers to help themselves. I didn’t need asking twice!

Public transport details: Bus 47 from Queen Square at 10.15. arriving 10.43 at Crosby Road North / Sycamore Road. The others returned to Liverpool on the train from Waterloo Station at about 2.15.

Victoria Park opened in 1900 for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. It’s a large park, with everything from the “municipal park” checklist : a lake, a bandstand with a live brass band playing, a war memorial with manicured flower beds, a fountain, tennis courts, and also more modern things like a skate park, a climbing boulder, a basketball court and a woodland walk. One interesting relic given pride of place is an old turnpike milestone from the 18th century which was bomb-damaged in the First World War from a Zeppelin airship that thought it was over Sheffield!  The distances on the milestone are given in Roman numerals, V (five) miles to Prescot and XII (twelve) miles to Liverpool.

Today’s big attraction was the walk-through Butterfly house, which we visited in 2017, before it closed. Happily it has now re-opened after years of disuse and decline, and is run by volunteers. They buy in pupae of exotic species and provide a warm, tropical environment for them. Often the pupae that arrive are a mixed lot, and they cannot predict what will emerge, so the signage doesn’t identify everything. In the pictures below, the one on the fruit is the Clipper Parthenos sylvia while the black, red and white ones are all different and are probably from the “Postman” group,  Heliconius sp.)

Outside they have a garden planted up for native butterflies. The flowers were pretty but the day was too cool and gloomy for anything to be on the wing.

We took a stroll around the lake, noting moulting Mallards, Canada Geese, Coots, Moorhens, and a glimpse of a female Tufted Duck. There was a family of Mute Swans, with Dad on patrol and Mum near four big cygnets, moulting out their grey feathers and looking itchy.

On the bank was a crowd of Black-headed Gulls and Jackdaws. Otherwise the birds on view were just the usual corvids, Magpies and Crows. Ring-necked Parakeets don’t seem to have colonised this park yet. We went in the Woodland Walk along the western edge of the park.

There were Robins on the path, a few Wood Pigeons, and something odd near where some grain had been scattered. I think this is a Stock Dove and it’s only the second time I have knowingly seen one.

It’s overlooked by many birders, as it is too like Wood Pigeons and Feral Pigeons, and birders’ eyes seem to slide over them. There used to be some in Sefton Park, but I heard that they have been out-competed there by Parakeets, who muscle them out of their favoured nest holes in trees. 

Public transport details: Bus 79C from Queen Square at 9.59, arriving Leigh Avenue / Appleton Village at 10.55. Returned from the opposite bus stop on the 82A at 1.45. arriving Liverpool ONE bus station at 3.00.

Off for a day at the seaside at New Brighton. The early rain cleared up and the sun shone. The tide was close to the top, so shipping was on the move, and we watched the Isle of Man catamaran “Manannan” heading out.

Herring Gulls and Black-headed Gulls were flying and calling, small flocks of Starlings perched on high points, Pigeons checked out opportunities for crumbs, and we had a couple of fleeting glimpses of two birds which might have been Rock Pipits. The best birds were a flock of about 50 Turnstones, which were prevented by the high water from foraging on the rocks and shore, so they were mooching on the pontoons on the Marine Lake.  They have returned from their breeding grounds in Canada or Greenland very early: we don’t usually expect them until late August. The chestnut colour of some of their feathers suggests they are still in breeding plumage, but perhaps these are the ones whose nests have failed.

Not many plants about. On the edge of the promenade were a few clumps of White Clover and Ragwort, while on the rocks by the lighthouse, which never get wet, was a small patch of dune specialists Marram Grass, Sea Holly and Sea Beet.

We did a bit of beachcombing on the remaining bit of sand under the lighthouse. All the patches of seaweed seemed to be Bladder Wrack, mixed up with black gull feathers, whelk egg cases and  Cockleshells.

There was one oval shell, about 5 cm (2 inches) across, which I hoped was a Piddock, but it was too even on each side to be that, so it was possibly a Carpet Shell. There was only one “Mermaid’s purse”, the empty egg-case of a Skate or Ray.

We lunched in one of the shelters on the prom, noticing the cheerfully-decorated skip belonging to the local volunteer litter-pickers, who call themselves the New Brighteners. Clever name!

People with kids were catching crabs off the wall of the Marine Lake. “Crabbing” is such an established pastime here that the local shops sell crabbing kits – a bucket, a line, a dipping net and little fabric bags like teabags for putting the bait in. Most people use bacon, although I’m not sure if the same shops sell that!  Most crabbers were successful, nearly all having one or two Shore Crabs in their buckets.

Public transport details:  Train from Central at 10.20, then a rail replacement bus from Birkenhead North at 10.40, arriving New Brighton at 11.00. Returned on bus 432 from King’s Parade / Morrison’s at 1.55, arriving Liverpool 2.30.

Toxteth Park Cemetery was opened in 1856, and although it is now in the built-up area a couple of miles south of the city centre, it was then just outside the boundary. It is full of ornate Victorian Gothic memorials to the great and good of Liverpool in those days, and is Grade II listed. Many years ago I was on a walking tour of the historical graves and remember seeing the final resting place of James Dunwoody Bulloch, the Confederate spy. We didn’t see it today, because none of us could remember where it was.  
The lovely sunny weather we had in early June has turned, and it was overcast, with a cold wind and blustery showers. A bright spot was this lovely pink-flowered shrub by the entrance gates, which seems to be a member of the pea family.

The gate lodge seems to be occupied, with a pretty container garden by the front door.

There was very little wildlife about. The derelict old chapel was overgrown with Buddleia, where we might have hoped to see butterflies, but it was too cold and windy today.

Not many birds, either. A flock of Herring Gulls were wheeling and calling over the distant graves, as if they had found something edible. There were Carrion Crows, Magpies, Wood Pigeons and the occasional Blackbird. Someone had scattered grain which attracted feral Pigeons, and also a Grey Squirrel and a timid Rat.

There were a fair few trees, but even they didn’t seem to harbour much wildlife. They were a mixed selection, mostly natives, including Turkey Oak, Sycamore, Norway Maple, a few ornamental Cherries and Hawthorns. Also some Weeping Ash, which are very appropriate for a cemetery but now looking rather leggy. Has Ash Dieback got to them? The best were the Lime trees, mostly Common Lime and others which might have been Silver Pendent Lime. They seem to have flowered very well this year.

There were hardly any proper seats to be had so we lunched on some fallen gravestones in the shelter of a big spreading Turley Oak. On the way out, we admired the disused pub on the other side of Smithdown Road, the Royal Hotel, with wonderful tiles on the front and a fantastic lantern over the door at the right-hand corner.

Public transport details: Bus 86 from Elliot Street, supposed to be 10.16 but was actually 10.25, arriving Smithdown Road / Salisbury Road at 10.45. We all returned at different times after visiting the Asda supermarket.