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.