It was Easter Sunday, but winter still had a sting in its tail. Storm Dave had roared through in the night, scattering the paths with broken twigs and small branches, but nothing worse. This morning the storm was blowing itself out, but there was still a surprisingly cold north-west wind. The blue sky had dark grey threatening clouds and we had a five-minute hailstone shower, rattling off the bus as we passed through Birkenhead.
The east and south sides of Landican Cemetery border on horse pastures, so despite being near to the Woodchurch estate and Arrowe Park Hospital, there are still countryside birds and mammals there. Brown Hares are known to creep in and we have occasionally seen them. During our walk we looked out over those pastures from time to time, but we saw no Hares. However, we heard a Cock Pheasant calling and John spotted a Grey Partridge scurrying away into a dip. The first Cow Parsley was just showing some straggly flowers and the Blackthorn hedge was still white.
The Willow catkins were going over on the male trees and the flowers on the female trees were setting seed.
We spotted the usual ubiquitous urban park birds, Crows, Wood Pigeons, Magpies, a couple of Blackbirds, a Robin, some Great Tits and Greenfinches.
We wondered if this could be a Tree Sparrow, but they are now quite rare, and there are no reports of them being here. It had no black spot on the side of its head, so it’s probably a female House Sparrow.
In the wild area near the south-east corner we noted a predated nest box, which looked like it has been gnawed by a Squirrel.
The Norway Maples are all in flower.
I expected more colour and blossom from the ornamental Cherries and Crab Apples, but they are just getting going.
Something that has nagged at me for a while is why Weeping Willow branches all seem to end at a neat height, like a browse line. Do they just grow like that or are they managed? Now that I look online, I see there are numerous instructional videos about “canopy raising”. On this picture from the inside of an overhang, I think I can see the neatly cut ends.
A Kestrel swooped into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission area and perched on top of the Cross of Sacrifice, looking closely at the ground all around.
Primroses and Cowslips have been planted below some memorial trees, and some appear to be naturalising in the grass.
There were plenty of Dandelions flowering in ones and twos, with the big flush of yellow blossom expected nearer the end of April. But as we know, things are getting earlier each year. There is a big display of Dandelion flowers along the roadside verge near Arrowe Park Hospital, several weeks earlier than they ought to be.
Public transport details: Bus 472 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.12, arriving Woodchurch Road / Arrowe Park Road at 10.40. Returned on the 471 bus from Arrowe Park Road / Landican Cemetery at 1.25, arriving Liverpool 2 pm.
Next week we plan to go to Rice Lane City Farm, looking for bluebells. Meet at Queen Square 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.