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.