We are having a disproportionate number of wet Sundays this autumn, and this was yet another soaker. It was our last Sunday walk of the year, and we were in Kirkby, planning to visit a friend later. We started at St Chad’s church, which has a little park in front of it, and then we walked all around the church to check the belfry, where Peregrines nest most years. Nothing to see today. Then we set off northwards through a green space called Millbrook Millennium Green.
There were very few birds venturing out in the wet weather. One Moorhen on the banks of the Kirkby Brook, a Carrion Crow and a Blackbird on the ground and two small birds making a dipping, weaving flight overhead and which may have been Goldfinches. There were fresh Molehills across the grass, a young Oak had marble and artichoke galls and the Green’s edges had a restrained beauty in Birch and young Beech.
Near the pond there were several small patches of a yellow flower, which was clearly some kind of Brassica, and was most probably escaped Oilseed Rape (Canola) from the farm fields around about.
At the northern end of the park a Buzzard floated over the railway embankment. We emerged at the junction of Mill Lane and Boyes Brow, and although we were heading for Headbolt Lane station, we took a detour into Mill Dam Park, a new one for us. It is really just a lake with an island, surrounded by grassy banks. We saw the usual Mallards, Coots and Moorhen, with one Canada Goose, a Cormorant up a tree and a few Black-headed Gulls.
As we approached the lake we spotted one of the Black-headed Gulls splashing and struggling. Was it caught in some abandoned fishing line? Yes it was.
We were able to pull it in to the bank by the line, and while Margaret held its beak and covered its eyes, John held it up by a wing and unwound the line from its mouth and around its body. It had no apparent cuts or damage, so it had probably only been caught for a few minutes. In this photo you can see the weights attached to the line, and one heavy one near the ground. The whole collection had been tethered to some ironware stuck into the grass, perhaps a rod rest.
We released it, and it immediately flew as far away as it could and vanished. Two lads who had been fishing a bit further around the lake (not the culprits) had come to help in case we needed to cut the line, and they took the old line and weights away for safe disposal. That was our (and their) good deed for the day.
The path to the station seemed to be flanked by a gone-over wildflower meadow, although some things were still blooming. White Dead-nettle, a large half-gone Daisy that might have been an Ox-eye, Yarrow (above) and Shepherd’s Purse below, with its heart-shaped seed cases.
Headbolt Lane station, now just over two years old, is very smart, with a huge car park. We lunched there in a platform shelter, although that was the only time all day that the rain stopped. Then off to see our friend Brenda, who used to walk with us.
Public transport details: Bus 21 from Queen Square at 10.05, arriving at Kirkby Row / Old Hall Lane at 10.50. Returned from Headbolt Lane station at 3.11.
That was our last walk of 2025. We start again on 17th January, and if there is no snow or ice underfoot, we plan to go to Port Sunlight. Meet Central Station at 10.00.
Anyone is welcome to come out with the Sunday Group. It is not strictly part of the MNA, although it has several overlapping members. We go out by public transport to local parks, woods and nature reserves all over Merseyside, and occasionally further afield. We are mostly pensioners, so the day is free on our bus passes, and we enjoy fresh air, a laugh and a joke, a slow amble in pleasant surroundings and sometimes we even look at the wildlife!
If you want to join a Sunday Group walk, pack lunch, a flask, waterproofs, binoculars if you have them, a waterproof pad to sit on if we have to have lunch on the grass or a wet bench (A garden kneeler? A newspaper in a plastic bag?), and wear stout shoes or walking boots. We are usually back in Liverpool City Centre by 3pm at the latest.
If you are interested in the wildlife of the north-west of England and would like to join the walks and coach trips run by the Merseyside Naturalists’ Association, see the main MNA website www.mnapage.info for details of our programme and how to join us.