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.