West Kirby, 13th October 2024

West Kirby is a place for outdoor sports of sea and air. We strolled along South Parade, watching the yachtspeople practicing their turns on the Marine Lake, and there was a powered paraglider overhead.

It was low tide, and people were heading out over the wet sand to Little Eye island.

Occasional Cormorants flew by and there were a few birds on the pontoon at the yacht club, mostly Redshank, a few Turnstones (not in the picture) and some Black-headed Gulls.

One Redshank was feeding, with its beak well down into the ooze.

We lunched in Coronation Gardens. There used to be a Persian Ironwood tree at the back of the shrubbery. When we last saw it, on 26 May 2019, it looked as if it was struggling in the salty winds. We couldn’t find it at all today, so it might have died.

At the southern end of the Marine Lake, out on the retaining walkway, it looked like the coastguard were up to something. An exercise?

As we walked back northwards, what little breeze there had been in the morning had died right down. The yachts were becalmed in the lovely pearly light, making reflections on the still water. You should just be able to make out the distant Point of Ayr Lighthouse at Talacre on the north Wales coast, with Anglesey behind it.

As for trees, there are hardly any worth mentioning in West Kirby outside of Ashton Park.  I noted the missing Persian Ironwood above, and there is a row of Stone Pines outside Morrison’s supermarket. Otherwise the only place of interest is Sandlea Park. Their biggest trees are Common Walnuts, and there are some Cedars as well as the rare hybrid Almond we are keeping an eye on. A flying bee caught our attention, feeding on some blue cultivated geraniums. It had a ginger hairy thorax, so I guess it was a Common Carder bee, said to be on the wing until November.

Public transport details: Usually we would go straight there and back on the train, but today there were rail replacement buses from Birkenhead North to Leasowe, so we worked around them. Train from Central at 10.05 to Birkenhead Park, arriving 10.15, then the 437 bus from Park Road N / Ashville Road E at 10.23, arriving Grange Road / West Kirby Station at 10.55. Returned on the 437 bus from West Kirby Station at 1.30, arriving Liverpool 2.25.
Next week we plan to go to Parkgate for the Spoonbills and a good high tide. Meet Sir Thomas Street in time for the 487 bus at 10.29.

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