Rice Lane City Farm is a 24-acre, volunteer-run site occupying land which was once Walton Parochial Cemetery, serving the poor from the Liverpool and Walton Workhouse hospitals. It is still consecrated ground, with graves still visible along the paths.
South of the farm, a path leads down to a triangle of woods which has flowers typical of ancient woodland. I’m nor sure it really is, but it seems to have been undisturbed for many decades, if not a couple of centuries. We came for the Bluebells, and they carpet the ground here.
They seem to be hybrids, not the pure English species. There are many white variants amongst them. They have quite thick fleshy stems which bend slightly, not completely upright, and flowers about three quarters of the way around the stem. Some seem more like the true native species, with curled petals. I would guess they are about 75% Spanish, but there must have been native English bluebells here once.
It was quiet in the woods, and almost deserted, like a patch of wild woodland in the heart of the city. We heard and saw Wrens, Chiffchaffs, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit. No noisy Parakeets seem to have found it yet, but the Grey Squirrels have. The trees were Beech, Hornbeam, Holly, Elm, Sycamore, Birch, Field Maple, Horse Chestnut and Wild Cherry. We didn’t see any Oaks at all.
Below the big trees were Hawthorn, Elder and Hazel, while the floor was carpeted with Ivy and Bramble. Clumps of Pendulous Sedge grew along the sides of the paths, possibly planted there, but they suggest the woods are quite wet in winter. As well as Bluebells there were large patches of Wood Anemone, Wild Garlic, Lesser Celandine and Yellow Archangel, the one with the variegated leaves, thought to be a garden escape.
We had a glimpse of a Jay and of one fast-moving Speckled Wood butterfly. We exchanged pleasantries with a fellow walking a dog, who called the woods “a little piece of heaven.
In the open fields were Magpies, Crows and Wood Pigeons. A Robin was loitering near the picnic tables and we heard a Nuthatch calling. Daisies and Dandelions peppered the grass verges, as well as big patches of Red Dead-nettle.
The little fruit orchard was in bloom – Cherries, Damsons, Apples. Their farm animals occupied the fenced pastures. We spotted one old dark brown donkey, two cows and three sheep. The seven ewes were in a shed for lambing, so these three living outside were probably the males, the “tups”. The brown ones are Ryelands sheep and the white one is a Welsh Mountain breed.
There are also two Pygmy Goats, some Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, Quail and Chickens. Their Silkie chickens are very unusual-looking with white fluffy feathers and black faces.
We chatted to a young woman volunteer, who was interested in their wildlife. She said there were foxes with cubs on the site, and that she also thought she had seen a couple of the very rare Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, although she wasn’t sure. In support of her tentative ID, she said birdwatchers turn up at the farm occasionally, asking it the rumours are true and where should they go to look for them.
Public transport details: Bus 20 from Queen Square at 10.20, arriving 10.40 at Rice Lane / Rawcliffe Road. Returned different ways from Rice Lane at about 1.30 pm.
Next week we are going to Wallasey Central Park. Meet Sir Thomas Street 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.