Pickering’s Pasture, 1st August 2010

The flowers and the butterflies were wonderful today! It was overcast and breezy as we took the 82A from Liverpool ONE at 10.15 to Hale Bank. A short walk down Mersey View Road brought us down to the river bank.  Out on the sandbanks were three kinds of gulls, Herring, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed, plus Cormorants with their wings out like Liver Birds, Redshank and a Heron, with Swallows and a House Martin overhead and a Sparrowhawk even higher.
Along the grassy embankment we found Field Scabious (with bees), Common Toadflax, Chicory, Meadow Cranesbill, Ribbed Melilot, Clover, Buttercup, Yarrow, Red Bartsia, Ragwort (with Cinnabar moth caterpillars), Wild Carrot (with black and yellow-striped insects, probably not wasps), Weld, Viper’s Bugloss, Teasel, Thistles, Agrimony, Nettle-leaved Bellflower and Cowslips.
The flowery banks were alive with butterflies, many more than we’ve seen elsewhere this summer – Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Small, Large and Green-veined Whites, Comma, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood and a single Peacock. We also caught a Grasshopper and saw a 7-spot Ladybird and an unidentifed dragonfly. Lots of planes were coming into Speke airport, and we also spotted a Mersey Ferry making its way home along the Manchester Ship Canal.
From the hide overlooking Hale Marsh we saw thousands of Canada Geese, dozens of Lapwings, several Redshank and a possible Godwit in deeper water. On the way back through the woods we looked at the vertically-flattened stalks of Aspen leaves, which is why they quiver. Autumn seems to be coming early this year – several people were picking the first ripe blackberries. Back at Hale Road for the 82A at 2.22, and we were back in Liverpool at 3 pm.