The Naturalists' Notebook

Wallasey Central Park is a medium-sized and pretty park near Liscard. The wooded edge along Liscard Road had a Chiffchaff calling, a Blackbird and several Wood Pigeons. Small White butterflies were about, and there were clumps of Spanish Bluebells scattered among the trees. Next to the old church called Egremont St John there appears to be a tree nursery, with small shrub-sized trees planted in straight rows – Whitebeam, Hawthorn, Rowan, Horse Chestnut, Scots Pine, Oak and Field Maple. In the main park many trees were in flower. Cherry and Crab Apple with their brightly-coloured blossom are obvious, but many trees have green flowers that look at first glance like they are leaves. An example is Wych Elm, which has no leaves yet, but is fully clothed in immature winged fruit. The seed is the little bump in the centre of the wing.

We also looked at breaking shoots of London Plane. There are tiny little leaves, and the hanging red-brown ball at the bottom is the female flower which will become a seed ball in autumn. The male flower are nearer the twig and yellow, but I didn’t notice them because I didn’t look them up until later!

The little duck pond had Mallards, Moorhen and Starlings. There was a brief glimpse of a Great Spotted Woodpecker, then it disappeared. Had it gone into a tree hole? We walked around trying to get an angle that wasn’t into the sun, but never saw the bird again.

In the warm, sunny walled garden Grey Squirrels scampered about. Goldfinches. Magpies, and Holly Blue butterflies were going about their business. A Wren was singing softly in the shrubbery, not making the more common loud alarm call. Wood Pigeons called and also at least one Collared Dove. We spotted it, basking high in a red Norway Maple.

At the north end of the big fishing lake the grass bank was almost completely white with Daisies.  The birds were Canada Geese, Mallards, Feral Pigeons, juvenile Herring Gulls, one Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Coot. We had been told there were some cute Mallard ducklings to see, but could find no sign of them. A lady turned up with two big bags of bread and all the birds queued up.

So much bread in the diet is said to cause the permanent deformity in geese and ducks called “Angel Wing”, and one of the Canadas was showing it.

On the other side of the lake, someone had tried to feed them a more “green” diet by scattering mixed frozen veg onto the parapet, but nothing was interested in it.

We took the path at the far end of the lake, leading past the allotments towards Poulton Road and the playing fields. We have found this to be a nature hot-spot. May (Hawthorn) blossom was out and the Sycamores were flowering, with hanging flower clusters of the type called racemes.

There was a Robin on the fence and House Sparrows cheeping in the hedge. They and several Blue Tits appeared to be hunting insect food in the large Bramble patch on the open ground. There were several Holly Blue butterflies on the wing along the top of the hedge, and also many Whites, none stopping to be identified. An  Orange Tip butterfly sped past.  There were several Speckled Wood butterflies looking very smart, probably recently emerged from overwintering as pupae.

Also this very worn and damaged Small Tortoiseshell, resting on the pathway. It was alive despite its battered appearance, because it stirred and flew off strongly to another resting place. It must have overwintered as an adult, possibly in an allotment shed. It ought to have mated and laid eggs by now, but looks like it can’t be long for this world.

We headed back via the big lake. I was remembering the old country saying about whether or not it will be a wet summer, as predicted by the emergence of the leaves of Oak and Ash.  “Ash before Oak, you’re in for a soak. Oak before Ash, only a splash.” I took pictures of the emerging shoots of both trees. The Ash has the remains of the flowers and what appears to be only the first pair of leaves emerging, with hints of the second. The Oak has its flowers just out, with the male pollen tassels hanging profusely, and what seem to be two or three pairs of leaves. Although it’s a close-run thing, I think the Oak is slightly further on and is “before Ash”. Just a splash then, and a dry summer is forecast.

Public transport details: Bus 433 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.18, arriving Liscard Road opp Chatsworth Avenue at 10.42. Returned on bus 433 from Liscard Road / Martin’s Lane at 1.51. arriving Liverpool 2.10.
Next week we plan to go the Festival Gardens. Meet 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.

Rice Lane City Farm is a 24-acre, volunteer-run site occupying land which was once Walton Parochial Cemetery, serving the poor from the Liverpool and Walton Workhouse hospitals. It is still consecrated ground, with graves still visible along the paths.

South of the farm, a path leads down to a triangle of woods which has flowers typical of ancient woodland. I’m nor sure it really is, but it seems to have been undisturbed for many decades, if not a couple of centuries. We came for the Bluebells, and they carpet the ground here.

They seem to be hybrids, not the pure English species. There are many white variants amongst them. They have quite thick fleshy stems which bend slightly, not completely upright, and flowers about three quarters of the way around the stem. Some seem more like the true native species, with curled petals. I would guess they are about 75% Spanish, but there must have been native English bluebells here once.

It was quiet in the woods, and almost deserted, like a patch of wild woodland in the heart of the city. We heard and saw Wrens, Chiffchaffs, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit. No noisy Parakeets seem to have found it yet, but the Grey Squirrels have. The trees were Beech, Hornbeam, Holly, Elm, Sycamore, Birch, Field Maple, Horse Chestnut and Wild Cherry. We didn’t see any Oaks at all.

Below the big trees were Hawthorn, Elder and Hazel, while the floor was carpeted with Ivy and  Bramble. Clumps of Pendulous Sedge grew along the sides of the paths, possibly planted there, but they suggest the woods are quite wet in winter. [Added later – Pendulous Sedge is also an indicator of ancient woodland.] As well as Bluebells there were large patches of Wood Anemone, Wild Garlic, Lesser Celandine and Yellow Archangel, the one with the variegated leaves, thought to be a garden escape.

We had a glimpse of a Jay and of one fast-moving Speckled Wood butterfly. We exchanged pleasantries with a fellow walking a dog, who called the woods “a little piece of heaven.

In the open fields were Magpies, Crows and Wood Pigeons. A Robin was loitering near the picnic tables and we heard a Nuthatch calling.  Daisies and Dandelions peppered the grass verges, as well as big patches of Red Dead-nettle.

The little fruit orchard was in bloom – Cherries, Damsons, Apples. Their farm animals occupied the fenced pastures. We spotted one old dark brown donkey, two cows and three sheep. The seven ewes were in a shed for lambing, so these three living outside were probably the males, the “tups”. The brown ones are Ryelands sheep and the white one is a Welsh Mountain breed.

There are also two Pygmy Goats, some Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, Quail and Chickens. Their Silkie chickens are very unusual-looking with white fluffy feathers and black faces.

We chatted to a young woman volunteer, who was interested in their wildlife. She said there were foxes with cubs on the site, and that she also thought she had seen a couple of the very rare Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, although she wasn’t sure. In support of her tentative ID, she said birdwatchers turn up at the farm occasionally, asking it the rumours are true and where should they go to look for them.

Public transport details: Bus 20 from Queen Square at 10.20, arriving 10.40 at Rice Lane / Rawcliffe Road. Returned different ways from Rice Lane at about 1.30 pm.
Next week we are going to Wallasey Central Park. Meet Sir Thomas Street at 10 am.

It was Easter Sunday, but winter still had a sting in its tail. Storm Dave had roared through in the night, scattering the paths with broken twigs and small branches, but nothing worse. This morning the storm was blowing itself out, but there was still a surprisingly cold north-west wind. The blue sky had dark grey threatening clouds and we had a five-minute hailstone shower, rattling off the bus as we passed through Birkenhead.

The east and south sides of Landican Cemetery border on horse pastures, so despite being near to the Woodchurch estate and Arrowe Park Hospital, there are still countryside birds and mammals there. Brown Hares are known to creep in and we have occasionally seen them. During our walk we looked out over those pastures from time to time, but we saw no Hares. However, we heard a Cock Pheasant calling and John spotted a Grey Partridge scurrying away into a dip. The first Cow Parsley was just showing some straggly flowers and the Blackthorn hedge was still white.

The Willow catkins were going over on the male trees and the flowers on the female trees were setting seed.

We spotted the usual ubiquitous urban park birds, Crows, Wood Pigeons, Magpies, a couple of Blackbirds, a Robin, some Great Tits and Greenfinches.

We wondered if this could be a Tree Sparrow, but they are now quite rare, and there are no reports of them being here. It had no black spot on the side of its head, so it’s probably a female House Sparrow.

In the wild area near the south-east corner we noted a predated nest box, which looked like it has been gnawed by a Squirrel.

The Norway Maples are all in flower.

I expected more colour and blossom from the ornamental Cherries and Crab Apples, but they are just getting going.

Something that has nagged at me for a while is why Weeping Willow branches all seem to end at a neat height, like a browse line. Do they just grow like that or are they managed? Now that I look online, I see there are numerous instructional videos about “canopy raising”. On this picture from the inside of an overhang, I think I can see the neatly cut ends.

A Kestrel swooped into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission area and perched on top of the Cross of Sacrifice, looking closely at the ground all around.

Primroses and Cowslips have been planted below some memorial trees, and some appear to be naturalising in the grass.

There were plenty of Dandelions flowering in ones and twos, with the big flush of yellow blossom expected nearer the end of April. But as we know, things are getting earlier each year. There is a big display of Dandelion flowers along the roadside verge near Arrowe Park Hospital, several weeks earlier than they ought to be.

Public transport details: Bus 472 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.12, arriving Woodchurch Road / Arrowe Park Road at 10.40. Returned on the 471 bus from Arrowe Park Road / Landican Cemetery at 1.25, arriving Liverpool 2 pm.
Next week we plan to go to Rice Lane City Farm, looking for bluebells. Meet at Queen Square at 10 am.

It was very busy at Parkgate, lots of day-trippers, bikers and cyclists. There was also a fair smattering of bird people with telescopes, attracted by the expected high tide just after 1pm, when the rising sea pushes the small rodents towards the sea wall and raptors gather for an easy feast. On the long bus ride across Wirral we enjoyed the sight of magnificent Magnolias and bright yellow Forsythias in suburban gardens, with the first white cherry blossom trees, probably Yoshino, occasionally popping out. A note for the Mistletoe connoisseurs, there are four or five bunches on two trees on Liverpool Road at Neston, just off the junction with Chester High Road (the A540).

We spotted a Marsh Harrier heading southwards almost as soon as we got off the bus. It was very misty and hazy over to Wales, and the sun was in that direction, making it hard to see birds in the distance, and most of them were still quite far out. On the water in the nearer pools were Mallards, Tufties, lots of Shovellers, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls. A Stonechat flitted about the tops of bushes. On the banks of the pools were two Herons, a few Lapwings and Oystercatchers, and hunting in the shallows were a Little Egret and several Great White Egrets.

On a patch of grassy bank was a group of sleeping waders, heads and bills tucked under their wings. There’s a Canada Goose on the left for scale, a handful of Shovellers and some Teal, but what are those small grey-brown waders – Dunlin? (Added later – they are Black-tailed Godwits. Thanks Terry.) And what’s that with a stripy back, second from the right? A Snipe?

As we headed towards the Old Baths area we spotted the usual land birds, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, House Sparrows and a surprise, a Siskin in bobbing flight, out of a garden and away.  By the car park was a big patch of Red Dead-nettle.

The sun came out for about an hour over lunch then the wind blew up from the north and it became much chillier. Despite that, we decided not to leave on the 1.30 bus, but stay for the following one, leaving at 3.30. Wouldn’t do to miss anything special! A Kestrel appeared, hovering over the marsh, and we were charmed to see about half a dozen Avocets.

The Marsh Harrier we’d seen earlier came back again.

Around the landward side of the Old Baths were some Blackbirds and Robins, and a Dunnock singing in a small tree.

In a field were some female Pheasants, a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly emerged from somewhere, the Lesser Celandine was in bloom, leaves of Garlic Mustard were shooting up and a big Ash tree was coming into flower.

Suddenly, quite far out, a mass of birds came up from the marsh. Their calls suggested they were Pink-footed Geese, previously hidden in the vegetation. It may have been a male Hen Harrier that spooked them, as one was seen soon afterwards, but sadly too far out and fast to catch on camera. But it was the best bird of the day. I think that took out list for the day to 33 species, pretty good for us!

A bunch of Ivy-leaved Toadflax was in bloom on an old wall.

A Weeping Willow had some catkins out. Although similar in general form to the catkins of Goat Willow (Pussy Willow), you can see they are definitely a different species, although in the same genus.

From St Thomas’s churchyard (known as the Fisherman’s Church) we could hear Jackdaws calling in a field nearby, sometimes rising above the rooftops to be seen. A Goldfinch perched on a TV aerial in Mostyn Square. By the wall of School Lane was a small tree with bronzy leaves and white flower buds just emerging. Was it a Snowy Mespil Amelanchier lamarckii, also known as Juneberry? There was another shrub-sized one on the other side of the garden and it had a label, confirming our supposition. And there was a third one in the church’s front garden.

Public transport details: Bus 487 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.30, arriving Parkgate, Mostyn Square at 11.25. Returned on bus 487 from Mostyn Square at 3.30 (but it was late), arriving Liverpool 4.33. A longer day than usual.  
No Sunday walk next week, 29th March, as most of us have other commitments. We will meet on Easter Sunday 6th April and decide where to go on the day. Meet 10 am at Queen Square.

It promised to be a drizzly and windy day, with heavy showers around lunchtime. We hadn’t made a definite plan for today’s walk, but the weather suggested another visit to West Kirby. We go there a lot, but it’s a safe bet for shelter and loos, and it also has the possibility of good birds on the Marine Lake, a pretty park, and a small section of the Wirral Way, which doubles as a country lane. Three destinations in one!

A Greater Scaup is said to have been on the Marine Lake for the last month or two, but on the two recent Sundays we have been, it was nowhere to be seen. I think the weekend wind-surfers and yachters scare it off at weekends. The only birds we saw on the choppy Marine Lake were a single Black-headed Gull, several Herring Gulls overhead and a solitary juvenile Mute Swan, pecking at the moss on the sea wall. I guess it has recently been ejected by its family, and is lonely and hungry, and hanging around where it might get a hand-out.

A squall was coming, so we headed along to Coronation Gardens where there are seats in shelters. A few brave dog walkers were out in it, but we hunkered down and admired the banks of Daffodils at a safe distance. Amazingly, the little park was using some of the sheltered nooks to run a book exchange and a garden seed exchange.

In Ashton Park the Cherry Plum blossom was nearly over, but an early “proper” Cherry was coming out. I think it’s a variety with no Latin species name, just Prunus ‘Accolade’, described as “one of the first to bloom in early spring with abundant, pendulous clusters of semi-double, rose-pink flowers”. That looks like it.

The birds of Ashton Park lake were hunkering down. We saw just a few Canada Geese, Mallards, Coots and Moorhens, with a scattering of Herring Gulls and the large resident flock of Feral Pigeons. One Coot was nesting under the branches of the Weeping Willow, whose leaves were just emerging.

At the entrance to the Wirral Way we heard a Robin and saw a Blackbird and a Great Tit. Nothing exciting in the bird line today! In the great clumps of Alexanders the umbels of flowers were just coming into bloom. The stamens were protruding but not shedding pollen. I learned later from the Wildflower Finder website that “The individual flowers have two central yellowish-green fused spheres. One sphere has two petals, the other three petals, making a hemizygomorphic flower rather than one with radial symmetry.” That’s a good word for the day: hemizygomorphic!

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.35, arriving West Kirby at 11.10. Returned from West Kirby station at 1.31, arriving Liverpool 2.05.
Next week we plan to go to Parkgate. The tide will be high, which is ideal, and the three Spoonbills that are currently reported there may linger until then. Meet at Sir Thomas Street at 10.15.

Today was St David’s Day, and he is the patron saint of Wales, whose emblem is a daffodil. The standard Welsh greeting for St. David’s Day is “Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus”, which translates directly to “Happy St. David’s Day” and is pronounced roughly as Deeth goyl Dewi hap-iss.

Today we visited three small parks in Crosby: Coronation, Alexandra and Victoria. Coronation Park was set up for outdoor activities, with a large children’s playground, now-neglected bowling greens and a former toy-boating pond. That pond is now empty and muddy, but was being enjoyed by a Pied Wagtail.

Coronation Park’s outstanding feature is an 18-ton gypsum boulder, found in the 1890s in the deep local clay. For years it has been identified as a “glacial erratic”, dragged here from the Lake District in the Ice Age, but last year a local news item (probably a spoof) said it was a meteorite from Mars.

About 150 yards along Coronation Road is Alexandra Park, named for Edward VII’s wife Queen Alexandra. It is quite different from its companion park, apparently set up solely for promenading, with winding paths, mature trees and pretty shrubs. Birds we saw there were Wood Pigeon, Blackbird and Robin. There were several Cherry Plum trees, approaching their blooming peak.

The lawns have splendid displays of Snowdrops and Crocuses.

Victoria Park is bigger and older. It has more birds, too. We were looking at a Blackbird when a passer-by asked us “What’s that one with the white markings?”  It was a partially-leucistic Blackbird.

While we ate lunch in their sunken garden, we spotted Long-tailed Tits, Great Tits, Wood Pigeons, Crows, three Mallards flying over and we were observed by a small party of Goldfinches.

One of the big fields had fruit trees planted in each corner, intended as a Community Orchard. The species labels are long gone, and I have never seen any fruit on them (perhaps the foragers are up with the lark) but all the trees are about to blossom again.

A Magpie was high in a tree next to a nest. Was it just building it, or was it surveying an old nest with a view to refurbishment?

The least common bird we saw in the park was a Collared Dove.

Some pink blossom caught my eye, and I thought it might be something like plum or almond, but on closer inspection it seems to be a Purple Cherry-Plum, Prunus cerasifera ‘Nigra’, identified by the small purple leaves which are just coming out.

Public transport details: Bus 47 from Queen Square at 10.15, arriving Liverpool Road opposite Queen’s Road (outside the Comrade’s Club) at 10.50.  
No walk next week, as we will be on an MNA coach trip on Saturday. No plans yet for Sunday 15th.

After all the freezing and gloomy weather since Christmas, today was an astonishingly fine spring day, with bright sunshine and much milder temperatures (12°C = 53°F). In Birkenhead Park the Daffodils were all coming out.

A man had taken his pet white ferret out on a lead, and it was exploring the crevices of the rockery.

On the lake were belligerent Coots, timid Moorhens, Canada Geese, a dozen or more Tufties and paired-up Mallards dozing in the sunshine.

The Grey Squirrels were bounding about, attracting attention in the hope of free food.

Near the Visitors’ Centre we heard Nuthatch calling and there were, of course, Feral Pigeons everywhere, as well as Magpies, Crows and Wood Pigeons, but very few Gulls. Have they all set off for their nesting areas already?  A single Little Grebe was diving busily and near the eastern end of the lake were two Cormorants resplendent in breeding plumage.

By the bank of the Upper Park lake John caught a glimpse of a Peacock butterfly! The warm sunshine must have tempted it out of hibernation. The Woodland Trust says they emerge, “sometimes as early as March”, so this one had jumped even that gun. I hope it doesn’t get caught out by returning cold weather.
For several years we have noted a tall old Mulberry trunk on the south bank of the Upper Park lake. Today we were happy to notice for the first time the strong new growth from base of the old tree.

On my way out this morning I spotted a pair of blossom trees just coming out, flanking a garden gate in Kenilworth Road. They are too early to be Cherry trees, so are they Plum? Almond? I will be able to keep a close eye on them over the coming season. (Added 4th March. The lady of the house said they were Peach, but they don’t grow fruit.)

I also admired a mossy wall at other end of the same road. The sloping top has a thriving moss garden, including this little beauty, which may be the very common Swans’ Neck Thyme Moss Mnium hornum.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.05, arriving Birkenhead Park station at 10.15. Returned from same station at 2.21, arriving Liverpool 2.30. 
Next week we plan to go to three Crosby parks – Coronation, Alexandra and Victoria. Meet Queen Square at 10 am.

Allerton Cemetery was looking particularly gothic in the cold drizzle – tombstones, isolated buildings and Crows cawing forlornly. But there was a touch of colour next to one of the lodges, a Witch Hazel full of flowers. They are usually shrubs, but this one has been carefully pruned and trained to resemble a small tree.

The Persian Ironwood tree bore lots of gone-over flowers, but I don’t think we have ever seen a seed or a nut. Is it too far north here? One online tree guide says “The fruit is a capsule that splits open to release two seeds. You will rarely see Persian Ironwood fruits in Britain. In most years the flowers, which come out before the leaves in January to March, will be frost damaged and so fruits will not be formed.”
We were shocked to find that another tree that is an old friend has been cut down.  This small Judas Tree had fallen over many years ago, but it “took” and sent up a strong shoot at either end. The remaining log is still firmly rooted both ends. It was a funny shape, but it flowered well this year. Why has it been cut? Is it still alive?

Apart from the ubiquitous Crows, we also saw some Magpies but I don’t think we saw any Wood Pigeons. They must have found dry spots to hunker down. A Blackbird dived for cover, and something was calling from a low tree, which turned out to be a Nuthatch. Ring-necked Parakeets perched high up and a single Herring Gull surveyed its surroundings from a gravestone.

We lunched at Springwood, spotting a Song Thrush.

Then we walked around what had been the Eric Hardy Nature reserve, across Clarke Gardens to Woolton Road then back to LSP station. On the way home I walked though Victoria Park in Crosby and finally the sun came out. There ARE signs of spring after all.  They had Snowdrops in full glory, buds about to burst on Flowering Currant, some early Crocus and Dwarf Iris, and scarlet flowers on Japanese Quince.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.13, arriving Liverpool South Parkway 10.26. Returned from Liverpool South Parkway station at 1.40, arriving Liverpool Central at 1.55. Next week we plan to go to Birkenhead Park. Meet Central Station at 10.00.

What a change in the weather! It was dry and quite mild, and the sun even came out!
The birds were good today, too. Right by the slipway at the north end of the Marine Lake a dozen Pale-bellied Brent Geese had gathered. So lovely to see them up close instead of right over by Hilbre Island.

There were also reputed to be a Red-breasted Merganser, a female Goosander and a Scaup hanging about on the lake, but although we saw the Merganser fleetingly, just once, it then dived and completely disappeared. The Goosander was elusive and the Scaup didn’t put in an appearance at all. But as compensation we spotted a pair of Goldeneye out in the middle, sometimes joined by a juvenile.

We walked along the prom, then watched the yachts racing at the south end.

We stopped in Coronation Gardens for lunch. It’s a sheltered little spot with several flowers out in the wintry beds: Three-cornered Leek, tall Jonquils, Rosemary, Hellebore and one of the Sow-thistles. There was also a small patch of Daisies in the grass. On the Banks Road side was a small flock of Starlings and a row of Holly trees, from which House Sparrows were cheeping. Two of the Sparrows appeared to be investigating a hole in the eaves of a house nearby, and perching on the telephone wires.

Just inside Ashton Park was a Mahonia in a patch of sunshine, just starting to flower. The scent of its nectar had attracted several Bumblebees, almost certainly queen Buff-tailed, Bombus terrestris, as they are said to emerge from hibernation first, sometimes as early as mid-February.

Ashton Park Lake had the usual Mallards, Coots and Moorhens. There were also Herring Gulls at one end, mostly juveniles, and Black-headed Gulls at the other.

We turned on to the last bit of the Wirral Way, and spotted a Great Tit and a Robin.  One plant of Green Alkanet was in flower, and Alexanders was shooting up all along. Some were just starting to flower.

One of the Alexanders had a couple of flies basking, which turned out to be the common and widespread Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria.

We had a quick look in Sandlea Park, and identified six of the seven mature Walnut trees. We also checked the little Almond tree, which was in bud, but there was no blossom yet. The tubs at the station were showing off some pretty Primroses, but not wild ones from an ancient woodland, sadly.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.05, arriving West Kirby at 10.36. Returned from West Kirby at 2.30, arriving Liverpool Central at 3.05.
Next week we plan to go to Allerton Cemetery and Springwood. Meet at Central Station at 10.00.

Before we got to Sudley, we crossed the grassy central reservation between Templemore and Rathmore Avenues, which merge southwards into Brodie Avenue. A group of trees called the Liverpool Thorn Collection grow there, various rare relatives of the Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) and  Medlar (Mespilus sp.). There is nothing to see at this time of year, we need to be there for the flowers or berries, but we noted some new planting along the central path. One was a Field Maple Acer campestre variety ‘Elegant’. There were a also a couple of Turkish Hazels Corylus colerna, which grow into symmetrical trees with brown catkins and very florid spiky bracts around the nuts.

It wasn’t too cold, but we still needed our hats and gloves. It was overcast, with drizzle promised but it held off.  It was what the weather forecasters call anticyclonic gloom. We climbed the field of Mossley Hill Athletic Club to the sound of bells from Mossley Hill Church. Sudley House is a Victorian merchant’s house and grounds in south Liverpool, built in 1821 by people with connections to the slave trade, but bought in 1882 by ship-owner George Holt, who was also an art collector. When his surviving unmarried daughter Emma (a pioneer of women’s education) died in 1944 she left the house to Liverpool Council on condition that the grounds were to be used as a public park, and that her father’s art collection was not dispersed.  It is now part of National Museums, Liverpool.
In the grounds we heard a Blackbird, Great Tit, and some Parakeets. Magpies and Wood Pigeons lurked around. Daffodils were still shooting up, but not quite open yet, but there was a good display of snowdrops.

On the lawn east of the house is a big old Tulip Tree, which had one branch broken off a few years ago. There didn’t seem to be many cones on it, so didn’t it flower last summer? Is it sick?

There was a signboard which mentioned the Eight Oaks of Mossley Hill. They were planted to mark Liverpool’s 800th birthday in 2007, counting from King John’s charter in 1207. There was indeed a cluster of young Oaks south of the house, but they should be nearly 20 years old by now, and these don’t look old enough. The signboard is quite vague about their position.

There is also supposed to be a Crab Apple Collection, but that was even harder to locate. But we were happy to find Hazel catkins out.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming quite close to us but we didn’t see it until it flew off. We also spotted six or seven Ring-necked Parakeets in a cluster, all looking down as us, but they took fright at the sight of a camera!  On the edge of the field behind the walled garden is a Larch I have noted before. They aren’t common this far south. Now I look closely at the little cones, about an inch across, I wonder if it isn’t the European Larch Larix decidua at all. Is it a Japanese Larch Larix kaempferi ?  The cone scales on a Japanese Larch are “recurved” meaning they turn out, so that the cones look like tiny opening roses. That’s what these look like.

As we left via Mossley Hill church, we looked to see if there were any signs of Peregrine Falcons, which sometimes nest here. No, nothing doing.

Public transport details: Bus 80A from Liverpool ONE bus station at 10.10, arriving Rose Lane / Templemore Avenue at 10.35. Returned on bus 61B from Elmswood Road / North Mossley Hill Road at 2.20, changing at 2.25 to other buses at Mather Avenue / Rose Lane. I got an 86A to town at 2.29. 
Next week we plan to go to West Kirby, where there are some uncommon birds lingering (Scaup, Merganser), and we hope they don’t move off this week. Meet Central Station at 10.00 sharp.