We entered the park at the southernmost gate. It was a warm and sunny day, with welcome shade under the trees. The grassy lawns at the entrance have been left unmowed in the centre, and are now a tangle of wildflowers, including Wild Carrot. I struggle to identify many of the white umbellifers, but Wild Carrot is distinctive. When going to seed the heads curl up into themselves, while newly-open flowers have a single pink to dark purple floret in the dead centre, sometimes looking almost black and easily dismissed as a small insect, but standing proud of the white “landing pad”.
Taylor Park has no specimen rare trees, but we spotted two lovely Silver Pendent Limes, Tilia tomentosa ‘Petiolaris’, also known as Weeping Silver Limes, just past the first lawns. They have no epicormic growth at the base of the trunk (so not Common Limes), they had a medium weeping habit, and the leaves were glossy green, but whitish – “silver” – underneath, giving them a shimmering effect in a breeze.
I thought we were going to have very fruitful autumn, since there had been plenty of spring blossom, but both Elder and Blackberry are now disappointing. Elder berries are small and dried-up, with a lot missing, perhaps already scavenged by birds looking for moisture. Blackberries are also shrivelled up.
We saw a Speckled Wood butterfly, rather worn. A possible Goldcrest flitted through the trees while two Wrens pecked about on the shady verges. Wrens usually flee at the sight and sound of people, but these were bolder than I’ve ever seen.
On and around the lake were great numbers of Pigeons, Gulls, Mallards, and Canada Geese. Lots of people bring bread for their kids to feed them. There were also Coots, Moorhens, some Black-headed Gulls, starting to moult, and several juveniles. One Lesser Black-backed Gull perched on the railing next to a BHG, showing the size difference.
We were on the lookout for leg rings. One Coot had an orange one saying BFF. This is a bird we have noted and reported before. It was first ringed at Taylor Park on 2nd December 2022 and has been sighted 17 times since then, including our sighting on 28th Sept 2025. It leads a fairly boring life. Eleven reports were from Taylor Park while the other six were from a place noted as “nr Ashton’s Green St Helens”, which seems to be a little wetland called The Duckeries on the other side of St Helens.
One Black-headed Gull had a very dirty blue ring saying 27–. I took a picture to blow up at home and I think it’s 278F. This is another bird we have reported before. It was ringed as an adult at Taylor Park on 2nd December 2022. There have been 17 sightings of it since then, all at Taylor Park, but only in late summer, autumn and winter. It must go elsewhere to breed in spring, but nobody has reported it from wherever that is. Since our sighting of it last September, it hung around in Taylor Park until the end of November then went off the radar. Ours is the first sighting since then, now back “home” from its summer breeding.
We planned to walk all around the main lake, but part of the path was closed. Some of the lake wall is unsafe and it was shored up with blocks and sandbags. A couple of Dunnocks were hopping about on the dry edge. So we wandered a little further on and found the fishing lake. It was very quiet and peaceful. No birds, but the waterlilies were coming out.
Eventually we found our way back to the main lakeside. Some lads were fishing (probably without a licence) and one had caught a lovely small Perch.
Further out, a pair of Mute Swans had five big brown cygnets (Only four made it onto this photo),
A pair of Great Crested Grebes had three well-grown stripy youngsters. The parents were still working hard, diving for small fish to feed them.
Public transport details: Bus 10 from Queen Square at 10.11, arriving Prescot Road / Toll bar at 10.55. Returned from Prescot Road / Toll bar (stop opposite) on bus 10A at 2.15, arriving City Centre at 3.15.
Next week we plan to go to New Brighton. Meet Central 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.