The Naturalists' Notebook

Bidston Moss was originally low-lying wetland marsh at the head of Wallasey West Float Dock. From 1936 to 1995 it was a landfill site for residential, commercial and industrial waste, then Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and the charitable trust Groundwork Wirral undertook environmental restoration work to landscape the site. Since then Bidston Moss has been transformed into a thriving community woodland. It is managed by the Forestry Commission, part of the Mersey Forest and is designated a Local Nature Reserve.

It is many years since we have been there, and access is from Wallasey Bridge Road, just next to the household waste recycling centre. There are tarmacked or mown paths which climb through the young woodland, reaching open meadows near the top. The young trees are all natives: Oak, Alder, Birch, Willow, Field Maple, Rowan and the occasional Ash and White Poplar. We saw very few Sycamores. The middle storey has Hawthorn, Hazel, Guelder Rose, Dog Rose, Bramble, Nettle and the non-native Buddleia. There also seemed to be two kinds of Dogwood. The native shrub Common Dogwood Cornus sanguinea has black berries, which we didn’t see, but I think it may have been the one flowering late, or turning autumnal purple without flowering.  The other one had white berries and I think was the North American Gray Dogwood or Northern Swamp Dogwood Cornus racemosa.

All along the edges were wild flowers, with a surprising number still in bloom: Dandelions, Toadflax, Evening Primrose, Ragwort, Michaelmas Daisies, Purple Loosestrife, Scabious, Yarrow and Bird’s foot trefoil. Low yellow flowers rather like Buttercups were Creeping Cinquefoil Potentilla reptans.

There were patches of low round leaves, apparently newly-emerging, with the largest ones about 10 cm (4 inches) across. We considered Coltsfoot and Butterbur, but I think they were Winter Heliotrope, as the leaves were smoother than those of Butterbur.

A tall yellow branching plant had us racking our brains for a while, but I think it was either Ribbed Melilot or Tall Melilot, which are almost indistinguishable.

A few birds were about. Crows flew over, and Goldfinch, Robin and Dunnock were twittering or calling from the hedges.  A Buzzard cruised overhead and once we though we heard a Jay. There were a fair few small flying insects. We thought we glimpsed a dragonfly, otherwise unidentified, and some of us definitely saw a Comma butterfly sunning itself on a broad leaf. When we came to gaps in the trees, there were wonderful views. To the north west we could look out over Wallasey Golf Club to Liverpool Bay with its rows of wind turbines. To the south we spotted the sails of Bidston Windmill peeping above the trees on Bidston Hill.

Near the top we rounded a corner and saw the best view of all, Liverpool City centre, framed by the trees.

Also of interest were the seed heads and berries. There were lots of Hawthorn berries and Rose hips, of course.  In one spot we found a dried stalk of Giant Hogweed, about 7 feet tall. The Guelder Rose leaves were turning, and its berries were luminous.

The dried-out heads of Wild Carrot and Teasel were marvellously geometric.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.20, arriving Birkenhead North 10.35. We attempted to return from Birkenhead North at 14.19, but station announcements advised that all Wirral trains were at a standstill because one had broken down at James Street. So we walked to Laird Street / Miriam Place and got the 38A at 14.40, arriving Birkenhead Bus Station at 14.50. We met some refugees from the MNA Dibbinsdale walk there, and we all got on bus 423 and were back in Liverpool at 15.00. A bit late, but we made it!

Today we combined a “tick” for another of the anti-slavery globes with a walk along a part of the eastern edge of the Wirral that we have never been to, although we have looked at it and wondered. The sixth Globe was outside Birkenhead Priory and is called “Weh You From? Weh Yuh A Go?” and is by Jiono Warner.

Then we took the bus along the Rock Ferry Bypass and New Chester Road and walked down Rock Lane East.  Rock Park was an area of wealthy merchant houses built in 1836 next to the old Rock Ferry pier and affording the privileged classes easy access to Liverpool city centre while having gardens on the river frontage. Many of the houses on the inland side of the road were  demolished when the bypass was punched through, but we detoured to see if one famous house had survived, number 26, once the home of the American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. He is best known for his book “The Scarlet Letter”. He was appointed United States Consul to Liverpool from 1853-1857, and used the ferry for his daily commute to the Liverpool Consulate. Unfortunately, his house was one of the ones that had been demolished, and only a gatepost survives.

Rock Lane East continues as a bridge over the bypass and leads down to New Ferry Waterfront, now the location of the Tranmere Oil Jetty and the old ferry café, now a pub and restaurant called the Refreshment Rooms.

From here we could have walked southwards along Rock Ferry Promenade, but we chose to enter Rock Park itself. It is now a conservation area with stringent contractual restrictions on the use of the properties: residential only and no alteration to the appearance. All the houses are listed as being of architectural and historic importance. It is probably a very pleasant place to live, but it is quite enclosed and defensive. Doberman dogs barked at us from behind garden gates, and we felt we were being covertly watched.  We didn’t linger or take pictures of the houses, just one of this lovely old Black Walnut tree.

At the southern end Rock Park meets the Rock Ferry Promenade again, and there is a car park with wonderful views over to Liverpool. It’s an interesting vantage point from which to see Liverpool’s two Cathedrals side by side.

There was another ferry terminus here, old New Ferry Pier, built in 1865, which reached 850 feet out into the river. Another interesting historical association is with the ship the CSS Shenandoah which was the last Confederate ship to surrender at the end of the American Civil War. She sailed from the North Pacific to the Mersey and surrendered to the British Government near New Ferry Pier on 6th November 1865. The crew, many of whom were British, swam ashore here rather than be extradited to the US and tried as pirates. The historic pier lasted until 1922, when it was rammed by a drunk Dutch steamer captain, irreparably damaged and was demolished in 1929. Now all that is left is a tiny beach.

Southward from New Ferry pier is a short Esplanade, but it doesn’t run all the way to Shorefields (our destination) or further to Port Sunlight River Park. There is a muddy, rocky beach when the tide is out, and it is possible to walk on it, but the tide was in today. Even if it had been out though, there are often wading birds feeding in the mud which shouldn’t be disturbed. So we walked through the residential streets to Shorefields Nature Park.  It is just a big open field at the top of the shallow Shorefields cliffs. We looked down to the water but there was still no beach, just a few gulls paddling in the shallows. When the tide is out it is a nationally important feeding site for wading birds like Pintail, Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Shelduck, Knot, Dunlin and Turnstone. Around the edge of the field we noticed the remains of trees which had been windthrown in last winter’s storms.  New ones have been planted, including Sweet Gum (Liquidambar), Rowan, Cherry and Himalayan birch. Some of the older trees were turning for autumn, including this lovely Norway Maple.

As the tide fell and the mud was exposed, 8 or 10 Curlews flew in, calling as they did so. They are declining nationally but are common here.

Public transport details: Bus 437 from Sir Thomas Street towards West Kirby at 10.07, arriving Hamilton Square / Westminster House at 10.15. After our detour to Birkenhead Priory we went back to the same stop for bus 1 at 10.47, arriving New Chester Road / The Hawthorns at 10.55. Returned on bus 464 from its terminus at Shorefields / Pollitt Square at 1.32, arriving Liverpool 2.05.

We stayed in town this week, walking around a sculpture trail called “The World Reimagined”, a UK-wide art education project using the story of the transatlantic slave trade to promote racial justice. The installation is of large globes, painted by various artists, and Liverpool is one of seven host cities across the UK. There are five globes in Liverpool city centre and another five in the other metropolitan boroughs, which we may try to visit later in the month. We also looked at trees along the way, of course. We walked through St John’s gardens, admiring the Tree of Heaven with it’s red seed clusters on the female trees, and the Indian Bean tree with its long hanging black pods.

The first Globe is outside the Central Library.

On the way back along St John’s Lane we spotted a row of five new street trees next to St George’s Hall. They appear to be Fastigiate Hornbeams.  On Lime Street under the big screen they have planted some new beds. Mostly grasses, a few autumn crocus flowers popping up from the bark mulch and some dwarf pines still bearing the nursery labels Pinus mugo ‘Pumilo’. That’s the Dwarf Mountain Pine, and they will form dense spreading cushion-shaped mounds.  As we waited for the bus in Elliot Street we looked at the pigeon scarer on the roof of the Boots building. It’s a tethered kite (not the bird) which looks like a soaring bird of prey.

It was only a few stops on the bus up to Catherine Street. On the Rialto corner was our second globe, mostly painted orange, with what look like wounds.

It was all a downhill walk then. Outside the Anglican Cathedral was a globe painted with red and yellow flowers.

Opposite the Chinese Arch are the dozen or so Dawn Redwoods, which are Chinese trees, so very appropriate to their location. (But they were all in shadow, so here’s the arch instead!)

We cut through some of the pedestrian squares off Duke Street and found these old potted Olive Trees outside an Italian restaurant.

On Henry Street there is a Foxglove tree (another Chinese tree) outside the Pagoda Chinese Community centre.  It has already formed its new buds for next year’s spectacular flowers.

We lunched in the Bluecoat garden then headed into Liverpool One shopping centre, where we found our next globe outside Waterstones bookshop. This was the prettiest yet, showing Swallows flying in a storm.

Finally we crossed to the Albert Dock for our last of the five.

Public transport details: Bus 86 at 10.30 from Elliot Street, arriving Catherine Street/Edgerton Street at 10.40.

New Brighton, once a popular seaside resort, became run-down in the 1960s and 1970s. As part of regeneration work it has become the venue for open-air street art, centring on Victoria Street near the station. We spent the morning touring the residential streets, looking at the marvellous murals.

They love the children’s driftwood pirate ship, the Black Pearl here, and someone has crocheted a Post Box topper of it. Notice the shark fin!

We didn’t look at much wildlife today. On the front, a group of Starlings were closely attending some Pigeons, which were trying to break into plastic rubbish bags.

Since they built the Wild Shore waterpark on the Marine Lake there have been far fewer waders sheltering on the pontoons, and today there were just five Redshanks and three Turnstones amongst the Black-headed Gulls.

On the seafront there was a cold north wind and the threat of rain so we headed home.  

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.20, arriving New Brighton 10.42. Returned on bus 433 from King’s Parade / Morrisons at 2.10, arriving Liverpool 2.45,

Although we have been to Birkenhead Park many times recently, we chose it again because it is near a church that was to be open on a (second) Heritage Open Day. In the park we mostly looked at trees, especially those from the booklet “The Unusual Trees of Birkenhead Park”.  We thought this was their tree G, said to be their oldest tree from 1760. After checking the map, I don’t think it was after all, but it’s a wonderful old Oak.

The Cucumber Tree (tree C) at the west end of the lake didn’t appear to be putting out its little upright pink fruits, and there were no berries on the Mulberry either (tree E), although they may all have been foraged already. One neatly-cut tree stump was sprouting a big wavy fungus, which I think was Giant Polypore aka Blackening Polypore Meripilus giganteus. It is said to appear on stumps and at the base of broadleaved trees, especially beech. This stump doesn’t look like Beech, though.

The birds were mostly quite ordinary. There were Crows on the cricket field. Swans, Mallards, Canada Geese, Coots, Moorhens and Black-headed Gulls on the lake and a Robin on the fence. The most interesting were two Cormorants opposite the boat house, who sat together, then squabbled and sat apart.

Cyclamen was naturalising near the Swiss Bridge.

Michaelmas Daisies were out and we also saw Purple Loosestrife still flowering well. There were odd bits of very red autumn foliage. Could this be a Cherry?

After lunch we walked through an unfamiliar bit of the park, the Alfred Holt Garden beside Park Road North.  There is a huge old Monterrey Cypress there, with cones about an inch across.

Their best rarity is the clump of Hybrid Strawberry trees Arbutus x andrachnoides, with characteristic ruby red peeling bark. They are K in the booklet and are on the corner of Park Road North and Ashville Road.

We spotted three pines with a round crowns and bunches of two needles. (Some have three or five needles, so it’s a useful identification feature.) Could they be Stone Pines? The cones underneath them were too squirrel-chewed to be useful but one from further away confirmed our guess.

The open church we were heading for was the RC Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception on Cavendish Street, designed by the architect Edward Welby Pugin. Like Walton Church last week, this one also had a story of wartime bombing. As well as severely damaging the church, one of the bombs intended for Birkenhead docks hit the presbytery, killing the priest and his two housekeepers. The church was rebuilt and reopened in 1951.

Public transport details: Train from Liverpool Central at 10.05, arriving Birkenhead Park Station at 10.15.  Returned from Birkenhead Park Station at 2.51, arriving Liverpool 3.05.  

It is about seven years since we were last in Walton Hall Park, no idea why we have neglected it for so long. We noticed many more interesting trees this time than last, as our interest has grown. Near the entrance where we started, by the Children’s Play Area, were two Norway Maples with engraved stones at their feet saying they had been planted in 1935 for the Silver Jubilee of George V and Queen Mary. Further east were two specimen trees in a shrubbery alcove, a Tree of Heaven and a Persian Ironwood. The number of park staff has been much reduced in recent years, so the formal edges are getting wilder, with rambling roses and bindweed growing abundantly over ornamental shrubs and a huge proliferation of the low growing wildflower/weed Black Nightshade. The wildlife is quite happy about that, of course, and one little Scots Pine was home to three or four Garden Spiders with their neatly-wrapped prey.

One large Buddleia bush was supporting a white butterfly and four or five Red Admirals.

This warm summer has promoted an amazing abundance of autumn seeds and fruit. One small Sycamore seemed to have no leaves at the top, just hundreds of bunches of helicopter seeds, while there were so many small crab apples they were weighing down the branches of their tree.

An old tree stump was sprouting vigorous growth which was hard to identify. Was it a Large-leaved Lime? A Mulberry? The chunky leaves were arranged alternately, so it could have been either. It had been very well chewed by a variety of insects, and one leaf had been rolled up. When opened it revealed a brood of spiderlings with the mother keeping guard on the left. There are several species of leaf-curling spiders in the UK, but none of the pictures I looked at seem to be of this one. 

Along the northern path the verge was full of planted wildflowers, now going over, but it would have been lovely earlier in the year and we were sorry to have missed it. It was still alive with insects.  All along the north-eastern edge of the great field there are thousands of new young trees, fenced off to help them survive. We spotted Oak, Holly, Hawthorn, Hornbeam, Cherry, Elder, Birch, Hazel and Alder. By the fence were three with little black berries and simple leaves whose shape was “weighted” towards the front. The berries had more than two seeds in each. I assume all the saplings were provided free of charge by the Woodland Trust, and so they must be a mix of native trees. So what were these young trees with berries? One of our rarer native species, surely. I am leaning towards Alder Buckthorn, although all their berries seem to be on single stalks, and these are sometimes in clusters.

The boating lake had Canada Geese, eleven Mute Swans and around 50 Coots. There were a few Mallards on the main lake, a late Coot chick with its mother and a probable hybrid Greylag/Canada goose that may be the same one we saw in 2015. The stars of the show were a Great Crested Grebe with four little stripy chicks. Lovely!

It was Heritage Open Day, so we crossed the main road and went to Walton Church. There has been a church on this site since Saxon times, and the city has grown up around it. They have the carved shaft of a stone cross thought to date from the 700s and a Saxon font. The list in the porch of all their Vicars and Rectors starts with “Stephen” in 1174. Amongst their treasures on show was a Bible printed in 1640.

The church itself isn’t so old. The older church had a direct hit by a bomb during WWII and was severely damaged. The bells fell and broke the Saxon font, which has had to be repaired. The church was rebuilt on the same foundations, and I see that the avenue of old Plane trees seems to have survived.

They had a Book of Condolence for the Queen, which we all signed.

Public transport details: Bus 19 from Queen Square at 10.01, arriving Walton Hall Avenue opp. Stanley Park Avenue North at 10.30.  Returned on bus 310 from County Road / Church Lane at 3.25, arriving Liverpool 3.40.

This was our first Sunday walk since 24th July, the interruption having been caused by the bus strike, then by one of us having a mild case of COVID, and then another of us having a week away. Our plan today was to see a large-scale land art installation in Halewood Park, created in early August by the artist James Brunt and called The Knowsley Mandala.

The initial description of it said it would only last for about four weeks, and so it proved. It had been made by “painting” the grass with the same stuff that is used for the markings of football pitches, and it soon washes or wears away. There were only a few fragments of the design still visible around the edges.

The rest of the area is mixed woodland, mostly Oak and Birch. The trees weren’t looking autumnal yet, but the hedgerow fruits were all ripening.

It’s been a good year for Acorns and this one, on a long stalk, shows that the tree is a Pedunculate or English Oak Quercus robur. The other common oak, the Sessile, has its acorns growing straight off the twigs.

The undersides of many of the oak leaves were sprinkled with tiny growths called Spangle Galls. Each one contains a single larva of the Spangle Gall Wasp Neuroterus quercusbaccarum. All through the summer the larva feeds and the gall matures, then they all drop off into the leaf litter in autumn. In the spring, asexual wasps emerge and lay eggs on the male catkins of the Oak, causing a different gall, the Currant Gall. In the following spring those larvae emerge as male and female, mate and lay eggs on the leaves which turn into Spangle Galls, and the cycle begins again. The wasps are said to cause little damage to the oak.

There are two large ponds in Halewood Park, but the one called The Ratty had dried right out. The bigger one, known as Ducky Pond, was still fine, and we sat by it for our lunch. There had been a few drops of rain earlier, but the sun came out at noon, so we could enjoy the young Moorhens clambering about in the Water Lilies. A small silver fish jumped and splashed.

There was a small red damselfly flitting about, or was it a dragonfly?  When it came to rest on the bank it spread its wings to either side, so it must have been a dragonfly, probably the widespread Common Darter. The brick-red ones are the males.

There were very few birds about. The signboards said they have resident Chaffinches, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Treecreepers, Bullfinches and Robins, but none were showing themselves, just Magpies and the Moorhens on the pond. We thought we had heard a Buzzard over the Meadow but we didn’t see it. Tree of the Day was this Manna Ash Fraxinus ornus on Abberley Road, with a perfectly even shape. The foliage was clearly Ash-like, but finer and narrower, and the bunches of seeds were more delicate than those of the Common Ash.

Outside the Jenny Wren Nursery on Yew Tree Road these bright and cheerful Sunflowers were peeping over the fence.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.14, arriving Hunts Cross 10.30. Returned from Hunts Cross at 14.06 on train towards Liverpool Central.

New Ferry Butterfly Park doesn’t open until noon, so we strolled through Port Sunlight looking at some familiar trees. Many of them seemed very dry and drooping following the extreme heat earlier in the week. There were hardly any birds to be seen, just a brief Blackbird, the odd Wood Pigeon and Magpie and a few gulls passing overhead. We saw only one butterfly there, a white one patrolling up and down the rose beds. The effects of the heatwave were also showing in the  Butterfly Park, where the pond had dried to a small puddle. I hope the Newts are all OK!

We walked along the mown path through the tangle of grass and wild flowers. A sign asked us to keep to the path to avoid the butterflies breeding in the grass. The flowers were supporting a great variety of insects. The Wild Carrot had the usual “bonking” Soldier Beetles.  A Red-tailed Bumble Bee was visiting a Teasel and a clump of Tansy had an unidentified slim black beetle (on the left) and many tiny insects like wasps on the developing flowers.

There were signs of autumn too. The Blackberries had ripened in the sunnier spots, the Guelder Rose berries were reddening up and an oak bore many immature acorns.

There were butterflies about, but not very many of them. However, in comparison to their almost complete absence elsewhere, this was a bonanza. Because it was so warm they were all very active, and refused to sit still to be observed.  Three dark ones were either Gatekeepers or Skippers. There was one Large White, several Common Blues and one Meadow Brown. Two Speckled Woods were flying around each other, and now I know they aren’t courting couples but males fighting for territory. One of them did eventually sit still for a few seconds.

We were surprised to see a clump of Mistletoe growing on a Hawthorn.

Then it started to drizzle so we made a quick stop at the plant sales table then headed back.

I should also give news of the Swifts that visit the area near my house in Crosby each year. This year they arrived on 14th May, and there seemed to be only two. They never screamed low past my rooftop in the evenings so I assumed they weren’t breeding. However, on 18th July there were seven or perhaps eight flying fairly low over my garden. I can only assume that there were two nests nearby, that the Swifts I had been seeing during the summer had both been males foraging for their confined mates, and that three or four chicks had fledged. Another successful year, apparently.    

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.30 towards Ellesmere Port, arriving Port Sunlight 10.48. Returned on train from Bebington at 1.42, arriving Liverpool just before 2.00.

Not much wildlife this week, as we went to see the new Shakespeare North Playhouse on their “come and see us” opening weekend. Their centrepiece is the 470-seat Cockpit Theatre built of English Oak, by craftsmen using hand tools, to a design of Inigo Jones.

Their outdoor performance space is called the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, with seats like steps. The risers of the steps have quotations from both Shakespeare and Doddy.

Tangential wildlife interest was given by a series of animal sculptures dotted about the theatre and the town. In Prescot itself there are fourteen creatures featured in the Witches’ Chant from Macbeth. (“Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing.”) In and around the theatre we spotted some other creatures from Macbeth.

We walked over to the church, spotting another animal reference, part of a series celebrating Knowsley as the Liverpool City Region’s Borough of Culture this year. This is the “Midsummer Night Owl” in front of what claims to be a native wildflower area, but nothing much was growing in that dry shade.

Sunday had been the first of three days with a red weather warning of a heatwave, but it wasn’t too bad on the bus out or in the theatre, although it got quite uncomfortable on the bus home.
 
Public transport details: Bus 10A from Queen Square at 10.08, arriving High Street Prescot / Atherton Street at 10.52. Returned on bus 10 from High Street Prescot / Church Street at 1.45, arriving Liverpool 2.35.

On a hot and sunny day we went looking for wildflower meadows in Everton Park. Many areas have been left unmowed and there are many bright patches of yellow, complementing the marvellous views over the city and beyond.

There were some Poppies, Ox-eye Daisies, Cornflower and Corncockle in the mix, but the flowers in other areas were more interesting. There were patches of Viper’s Bugloss, mostly going over, some Mallow, and this Wild Carrot with its distinctive upstanding central floret in dark reddish purple, almost black.

There were very few butterflies, just a few Large Whites and about a dozen Meadow Browns, which were very active in the warm sunshine, never settling down. This Scabious was being visited by what I think is a honeybee.

On a shady bank was a single orchid, which I think is a Pyramidal, even though it was about 18 inches (45 cm) tall. They can be up to 55 cm, and the early pyramidal shape turns to oval as they mature.

We noted that the Horse Chestnut trees were mostly clean of the leaf miner which has prematurely browned the leaves of trees in other areas of the city. Overall the tree planting was quite imaginative, with Red Sycamore, Variegated Sycamore, Turkish Hazel and Cut-leaved Alder in amongst the commoner tree species. We came to the spot where there is a parking area and a wonderful viewpoint. The top of the sandstone ridge is 245 feet above sea level, making it the highest point in Liverpool. There is an almost 180 degree panorama from the city centre on the left, past the docks, Wirral, the Welsh mountains and Snowdon, the Great Orme, New Brighton, and out to the mouth of the Mersey. The sign marking the view adds a jokey marker at that point saying “Turn left here for New York 3305 miles”.

There were very few birds about in the heat. We saw the usual Magpies, Crows, Herring Gulls and Wood Pigeons, but nothing else. Corpse of the day was a mystery dead bird, dry and well-decomposed, all feathers and bones.  There were no feet or head, just rich brown wings and a white breast and back. The wings appear to have been cut off short. This isn’t a British wild bird, there is nothing that size or colour. Is it some sort of pet hawk, pinioned?  Was it a domestic fowl decapitated by a fox, or had the wing ends been chopped off by a mower?  No idea.

There is a “portrait bench” with cut-out metal images of three local heroes, chosen by the local community. The man is a generic dock worker, a vital labourer in the port’s heyday. On the right is Molly Bushell, founder of the celebrated Everton Toffee Shop. In the centre is Kitty Wilkinson, a public health pioneer. She was an Irish immigrant, wife of a labourer.  In 1832, during a cholera epidemic, she had the only boiler in her neighbourhood, so she invited those with infected clothes or linens to use it, thus saving many lives. This was the first public washhouse in Liverpool. Ten years later her efforts resulted in the opening of a combined washhouse and public baths, the first in the United Kingdom. She became known as the Saint of the Slums.

As it was the nearest Sunday to 12th July, the local Orange Lodge marching bands were planning to parade into the city. We heard them forming up and drumming. We decided not to risk the buses, which would be all over the place, and walk back into town, downhill all the way. On North Heyworth Street we spotted an overhanging Eucalyptus tree which was in flower. We haven’t seen that before.

Down Roscommon Street and along St Anne Street. There were lots of wild Buddleia bushes in flower, but no butterflies. The unkempt verges were full of Bramble and Poppies.

Near the corner of Mansfield Street we spotted two old business signs, possibly painted over in grey but still clearly legible. One said “Wedding Equipages, Broughams, Phaetons, Private Omnibuses, Waggonettes”. The other said “Funeral Carriages and All Requisite Appointments of a Superior Description”. These sound like horse-drawn carriages, although when my mother married in 1941 her big wedding cars were referred to as “Broughams”.

I should just add here some further thoughts on the mystery pines in Royden Park which I puzzled over on 26th June and thought might be Table Mountain Pines Pinus pungens. The experts on the Facebook group British and Irish Trees were also mystified (not just me then!) and wondered if one could be Lodgepole Pine, which also has spines on its cones. However that tree is very tall and thin, not like the ones I saw. They asked if there was evidence of them having been taller trees which had been lopped or broken.  I went again to look, and no, these look to be in their natural proportions. That rules out Lodgepole, I think.

I have also been consulting the US website the Gymnosperm Database. Some other identification points. (1) The crushed leaves of the Royden pines didn’t smell of anything. Although I haven’t seen any information about it, you’d think something named “pungens” would smell distinctive. This is a point against it being Table Mountain Pine.  (2) Table Mountain Pine has needles in pair, but sometimes in threes. I could find no triplets at all. Another point against Table Mountain Pine. (3). The needles of Table Mountain Pine are said to be a maximum of 8cm long, but I found lots on the Royden trees up to 11cm. A third point against Table Mountain Pine.  The Royden trees clearly aren’t either Lodgepole or Table Mountain Pines. They are still a mystery.

Public transport details: The bus station at Queen Square was temporarily closed so we went to Victoria Street, temporary stop 4, for the 14A at 10.13, arriving Heyworth Street / opp Lloyd Close at 10.24. Walked back.