It was a mild, sunny, springlike day, and by lunchtime we were taking off layers of jackets and fleeces. But they say it won’t last. We entered Landican by the farmer’s path at the northern edge. The leaves of Cow Parsley were coming up well, and there were patches of Coltsfoot.
We were hoping for Hares today, and we have had brief glimpses of them here before. Perhaps they live in the surrounding fields? We walked the cemetery perimeter, looking through gaps in the hedges, but there were no Hares in the fields at all. The only sign of mammals were the molehills amongst the gravestones.
Could we also claim that we saw some Meerkats?
The Alder trees were out, all the way through Wirral from the bus and throughout the cemetery. This is the best time of year to identify them, when their copious catkins are out, punctuated by the little black dots of last year’s cones. Even the young trees are distinctive. The female flowers are less well-known, but they are these little groups of reddish structures just behind the catkins. They will be the Alder cones of later in the year. We forget how many of our street and park trees are Alders until they make themselves obvious at this time of year.
We spotted a couple of big bumble bees, probably Buff-tailed. I haven’t seen any Red-tailed yet. There were plenty of little birds around: Robin, Blackbird, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Goldfinch and Greenfinch. There was a Buzzard over the park opposite. We were also looking for Green Woodpeckers, reported by locals as nesting in Arrowe Park and feeding in Landican, where there are said to be anthills on the lawns. We don’t think we have ever heard their distinctive “yaflle” call in either the cemetery or the park, and we saw no sign of the birds today, or indeed of any suitable anthills. Our best bird was Jay, on the ground just over the fence into the south-west corner field. It was on the ground with its wings out, making convulsive grooming movements. Its crown feathers were up and its beak was open. Was it basking in the sun and getting too warm? Or was it “anting”, allowing ants to crawl over it. Nobody knows why they do this, but one theory suggests they are using the ants’ formic acid to stimulate their skin and remove mites. This one looked quite stimulated to me!
After a minute or so It hopped up onto the fence then flew off. Although its beak was open, it didn’t make a sound.
Apart from the Alders, many other trees were starting up. A pair of Cherry Plum trees had their tiny white blossom out.
We also saw our first “Pussy Willow” catkins on a small ornamental weeping tree.
Blossom buds included these pink ones that look like Callery Pear, and red ones of some sort of Cherry.
Public transport details: We expected to get the 471 or 472 from Sir Thomas Street, but none appeared, so we took the 423 Seacombe bus at 10.30, arriving Woodchurch Road / Arrowe Park Road at 10.58. Returned on bus 471 from Arrowe Park Road / opp Landican at 1.53, arriving Liverpool 2.29.