Author Archives: Barbara

Princes Park is beautiful, especially at this time of year. We found it at its peak of Cherry blossom, making it a very good place for me to continue learning to distinguish the tree varieties, partly by colour and form…

The Wirral Way is a walking and cycling path which runs for 12 miles along the route of the old Birkenhead Railway line from Hooton to West Kirby. We oldies don’t walk for 12 miles of course, just the first…

The Cherry trees are starting to come out everywhere, and we saw both white and pink early blossom trees from the bus. Despite the low cloud and occasional showers, Stanley Park’s “Field of Hope” (a mass planting of Daffodils in…

We go to Birkenhead Park a lot, but there is always something worth looking at. Today, although the trees were mostly still bare, here and there buds were breaking and a pale green flush of life was gradually creeping over…

It was a mild, sunny, springlike day, and by lunchtime we were taking off layers of jackets and fleeces. But they say it won’t last. We entered Landican by the farmer’s path at the northern edge. The leaves of Cow…

We were on a bit of a twitch, hoping to see a Mandarin Duck and a Gadwall, both having been seen here recently. The southern end of the main lake had Canada Geese, Mallard, Coots, Moorhens, several Tufted Duck and…

After two warm days that felt like spring, we are back to cold wind and blustery showers. Rice Lane City Farm is on the site of the old Walton Park Cemetery, so little brown Ryelands sheep graze amongst the old…

Next to the Anglican Cathedral is a low-level cemetery, formed from the old quarry. We entered it at the south end. It was pretty bleak in February, populated by the usual Wood Pigeons, Crows and Magpies, with a single Wren…

We weren’t looking for wildlife today – we went on a Bear Hunt! Southport Business Improvement District (BID) have commissioned ten fibreglass bear models, asked artists to decorate them, and scattered them around the town. They are mainly aimed at…

Crosby Marine Lake doesn’t quite count towards World Wetland Day, but we bagged a pretty good bird list of 21 species, not bad for us. We got off the bus outside Potter’s Barn, a run-down small park just off the…