The massed Daffodils were pushing up on the southern banks of Sefton Park lake, but none were yet in bloom. There are said to be some out in the park somewhere, but we didn’t see any.
Although it was a cool day, it was at least dry, and we were blessed with sunshine around midday. The lake was busy with birds, Mallards, Coots, honking Canada Geese, about a dozen Tufted Ducks (“Tufties”), shy Moorhen, Black-headed Gulls and a pair of Mute Swans. We could hear Parakeets, and in the island area there was a Heron perching on a log.
There were Magpies on the trees, also Crows and Wood Pigeons. A few Hazel catkins were opening and the Alders were thick with last year’s cones.
The Witch Hazel near the café was blooming nicely.
It was very busy in the park. A group of about 50 people, all with big dogs on leads, were walking in a line, then gathered in a circle on a grassy hill. Was it an obedience class? We passed several parties of studenty-looking young women. A college walking group? And there were runners, as well as the ordinary visitors. The fine weather had brought them out. Around the corner from the café, we spotted a fleeting Nuthatch and some Ring-necked Parakeets high in a tree were basking in the sunshine.
There was a possible Common Gull on the big field. Hard to be sure at distance, but It had a dark eye and was characteristically standing alone.
By the stepping stones in the Dell, the sunny bank had both Snowdrops and yellow Crocuses just coming in to bloom.
Further towards the base of the bridge, in the area called the Fairy Glen, there were several Robins and a Dunnock. We were looking for the Kingfisher which often lives here in the winter, but there was no sign of one. However, as we were heading out someone said they had just seen one flying in towards the bridge. You can’t win them all!
Along the path leading up to the Palm House there is a shrubbery of Spotted Laurel Aucuba japonica with its pointy berries, and another shrub with plain unspotted leaves but the same berries. I think they are both the same species, perhaps the plain one is the “basic” shrub, of which all the spotted ones are varieties.
As we returned along the eastern lakeside, we spotted a Little Grebe, just one on its own, diving for food.
There is a pretty little tree alongside the path exiting the park, a Winter-flowering Cherry Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’. It had just a few wind-blown pink flowers out.
Public transport details: Bus 82 from Elliot Street at 10.01, arriving Aigburth Rd opp Ashbourne Rd at 10.20. Returned on the 82 bus from Aigburth Road / Jericho Lane at 1.35, arriving at the city centre at 1.50. Next week we are going to Sudley House. Meet Liverpool ONE bus station at 10 am.
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.