It’s six or seven years since we have been to Hesketh Park, another of the Victorian gems designed by Edward Kemp. Like many parks nowadays, it has become wilder, as councils are not able to keep up the standards of the time when there were dozens of full-time municipal gardeners. However in 2023 Sefton Council received a bequest of £850,000 from long-term neighbours and supporters Louis and Anita Marks, for improvements to the park. The plan was to restore the fountain, the sensory garden, the conservatory and the floral clock, and to hire a gardener and an apprentice.
It was a cloudy day, with gusty winds and possible showers. It was still quite warm but much better than the recent heatwaves. The ornate black and gold fountain near the entrance to the park was looking dramatic, its restoration complete, but no water was flowing. The lake was very low, too.
On the lake were mostly Mallards, a few Coots and Moorhens, groups of Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gulls, young Herring Gulls and a single Cormorant.
One half-grown Mallard duckling was on its own, quacking for its mother.
The lake was surrounded by tall wildflowers including Purple Loosestrife, Ragwort, Mugwort, Michaelmas Daisy, Great Willowherb and Chicory. In one spot was a row of young Alders, probably sprung up by natural regeneration. We did wonder if the proposed gardeners had been appointed, as they might have cleared these as “weeds”.
The Conservatory was clean and empty, and the restoration work is still at the late planning stage.
Everywhere leaves were browning and falling like it was autumn, no doubt caused by the hot dry weeks we have had. The Horse Chestnut trees bore small but plentiful conkers but their leaves were partly browned by the leaf miner pest, and partly by water stress. The Rowan berries have turned red in this last week. Opposite the champion Dawn Redwood trees by the carpet bed garden is a Persian Ironwood tree. They are famous for their autumn colours, but this one was already turning bronzy-red on the top branches.
At the north end of the park there has been a lot of new tree planting, especially of ornamental cherries. There were several “Accolade”, which will have pink blossom, some ‘Snow Goose’, which are tall thin trees and will bear white blossom. Best of all were the Manchurian Cherries Prunus mackii ‘Amber Beauty’. They promise large clusters of tiny white flowers, with golden orange bark and yellow autumn leaves. We wondered if this was evidence of the gardeners’ work, and it seems it is. They have worked for two years, 2024-26, planting trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, and their contract is over. Now the council plans to hire just a new apprentice and is recruiting more volunteers.
The Observatory was open, so we went inside to see their telescope and orrery. One of the volunteers made a point of shaking my hand, and said she had once shaken hands with Buzz Aldrin (the Apollo astronaut who walked on the moon with Neil Armstrong on the first landing in 1969.) I felt a little magic! On a verge near the Observatory there used to be a Camperdown Elm. This Victorian curiosity, a contorted and weeping Wych Elm grafted to the top of an ordinary Wych Elm trunk, isn’t planted nowadays but old ones are still seen in parks. Sadly, this one, the Lancashire girth champion, has died.
Our last call was to the Sensory Garden, designed for the disabled. It’s revamp is now complete. The plants are chosen for their scent and texture and some are in low walled beds suitable for wheelchair users.
They had a signboard reporting many common butterflies this summer, and they too were visited by a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. On this cooler overcast day all we saw was a Red Admiral.
On the way out we spotted a mature Pin Oak Quercus palustris. They have big pointy leaves like Red Oak, but each pointed lobe of the leaf has a bristle sticking out.
Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.02, arriving Southport 10.45. Then bus from Southport Lord Street, outside the HSBC bank, at 11.03, arriving Albert Road / Park Road West at 11.07. Returned on bus 2 from Albert Road / Park Road at 1.55, arriving Southport Monument at 14.00. Just caught the 14.06 train back to Liverpool, due there at 14.50. Next week we are going to Taylor Park, St Helens. Meet at 10 am at Queen Square (outside Greggs).
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.