The Naturalists' Notebook

Our last meeting of the year was to Parkgate, not really for a walk, but for our Christmas lunch at the carvery at the Old Quay. We mooched slowly along from Mostyn Square to the restaurant, on  a lovely bright and sunny day with the tide coming in. There were great views over to the Flintshire coast and the “ghost ship” the Duke of Lancaster. A Ringtail Marsh Harrier headed seawards and soon a big flock of Lapwings came in.

We had our lunch, but declined the dessert in favour of an ice cream from the famous Nicholls of Parkgate. A Heron flew in and took up station by the main pool, hoping for good pickings at the turn of the tide at about 2pm.

The buses home from Parkgate are only two-hourly (1.30 or 3.30) so we walked up to Neston for the in-between bus at 2.36.

Happy Christmas to all, and here are some jolly Santa toys from Chester Market a few weeks ago.

Public transport details: Bus 487 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.29, arriving Parkgate Mostyn Square at 11.28. Returned from Neston Brook Street on the 487 at 2.36, arriving Liverpool 3.35.

Along the mile from West Derby Village to Croxteth Hall we noted only Magpies, Goldfinches, half a dozen Canada Geese flying southwards and a Robin on fence. The fields on either side have rare breed cattle. The red hornless ones with white stripes along their backs are Irish Moiled Cattle, while the Highland Cattle are unmistakeable.

There‘s a Sweetgum tree Liquidambar styraciflua at the end of the Statue Pond, which bore only one or two spiky fruit last year but it’s full of them this year. They aren’t supposed to seed here (according to older tree books) because they originate from the much warmer southern USA. This summer’s weather has suited them very well it seems. Is it a sign of climate change?

There was an artisan craft fair at the Hall. We often see S & R birds at these sorts of events, and here they were again, with a Harris Hawk, a Barn Owl, an American Kestrel, an Eagle Owl and this smart little Burrowing Owl.

We lunched over by the Long Pond, where there were only Mallards and Moorhens. We got our binoculars onto an interesting tree on the far bank, with finely-divided rusty-red foliage, which seemed to be a deciduous conifer. It could only be Larch, a Dawn Redwood or a Swamp Cypress, but we couldn’t get closer to it to investigate further. There was, however, a splendid twiggy Lime at the entrance to the Country Park woodland. Most of the ones we see as street or park trees have their sprouting bases trimmed regularly, but this one has been left to proliferate. Chris F, whom we met as we went around, said it makes a marvellous habitat for invertebrates.

There were lots of Scots Pines in the woods, and many Jackdaws and Wood Pigeons. I have been looking for a Douglas Fir since my trip to Scotland, but still not found one. I know there’s at least one on Merseyside, because I remember Bob the Birdman picking up some of their distinctive cones somewhere and showing them to us, many moons ago. As we circled around back to the Hall we found another of the rusty-red trees by the side of the path that curves off eastward. It was definitely a Swamp Cypress, and is my Tree of the Day.

In other bird news, last week I heard that there are at least two Ring-necked Parakeets in Crosby. A pair has been seen coming to a garden peanut feeder just east of Hall Road Station, and one was spotted near Heathfield Road, Brighton-le-Sands about a month ago. I will be keeping an eye and ear out in Victoria Park!  Also, my garden has been graced by a regularly-visiting male Sparrowhawk in the last few weeks, and on Thursday it sat on the fence to be photographed.

Public transport details: Bus 13 from Queen Square at 10.09 towards Stockbridge Village, alighting West Derby Village 10.30. Returned from West Derby Village on the 13 bus at 1.52, arriving Liverpool 2.15.

We had planned to go to Ormskirk but the 10.10 train was cancelled at the last minute because of an “incident on board”. We didn’t fancy hanging about at Central for half an hour for the next one, so we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to Chester, its train leaving five minutes later. From early next year all the Wirral trains will be disrupted, so it may be our last chance for a while.

It was a frosty day with brilliant low sun. We headed down City Road, along the canal, down Russell Street and Dee Lane and entered Grosvenor Park at its north east corner. A Grey Squirrel was eating Sycamore seeds right off the tree.

My Tree of the Day was a probable Strawberry Tree next to the Belvedere. I don’t know them well enough to decide if it’s the native Arbutus unedo or the Hybrid Strawberry Tree Arbutus andrachnoides.

The bark was red, ridged and flaking like the Hybrid.

It had a sign underneath saying it was presented by the  Rotary Club in 2005. Even if it was a few years old at the time, it still looks much older than 11+ years. The Hybrid Strawberry Tree is said to be more vigorous than either parent, and it would need to be to attain this size, I think!

We lunched in the Rose Garden. In the trees opposite was a Persian Ironwood and a smallish Tulip Tree which bore masses of cones. It must have been magnificent when it was in flower.

We walked down to the River Dee and along the Groves, then up Souter’s Lane, noting the many scruffy Buddleia growing on the tall walls. Here’s another one just getting started.

Outside the Cathedral the Christmas Market was bustling. There was the usual knick-knackery for sale, but we were taken by the Christmas wreaths full of bird food. The large ones (below) were £10, and there were smaller ones for £6.

After a walk along the walls we dropped down to the canal again. Many Mallards had congregated under the bridge by the Lock Keeper pub. Was it warmer there, or had the rest of the canal frozen overnight?  Some drakes were inspired by the sunny day to start mating, rather unseasonably early.
A Feverfew was blooming along the wall.

There’s a Rowan tree along there, which doesn’t seem to be of the common sort Sorbus aucuparia because there are 27 leaflets on the leaves, many more than the normal 15 or so. Most of the many-leafleted Rowans have white berries, so I don’t know what this one is, but it’s pretty.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.15, arriving Chester 11.05. Returned on the 14.30 train, arriving Liverpool 3.20.

From Hooton station it’s 1½ miles each way to Hadlow Road station. The path was covered with oak leaves almost all the way along, and some leaves were still falling. The young trees retain their leaves for longer, though.

This young Turkey Oak also had some odd galls wrapped around the twigs. This singleton was the only one in reach, but higher up there was an overlapping cluster. I think they might be galls caused by the Cynipid wasp Aphelonyx cerricola. According to the monograph “Oak Galls in Britain” by Robin Williams of the Natural History Museum (2010)  they are classed as “rare”, although I also found some pictures of them from Sefton Park in April 2014.

It was very still and silent, and there weren’t many birds about, although the group saw four Jays while Margaret and I were inspecting the oak galls. It has been very frosty for the last two days so had all the birds decamped to urban heat islands?  But we spotted a Robin, a few Blackbirds in flight, and a small flock of Redwings on some thickly-berried Hawthorn bushes.

The hedges were festooned with necklaces of bright red Black Bryony berries. Why are they all still hanging there? Don’t birds eat them? I thought that’s what juicy red berries were for, to propagate the seeds via birds.

There were fresh molehills on the side of the path near Hadlow Road station, and a Sparrowhawk kill site very close to the car park. It looked like it had been a Wood Pigeon. Hadlow Road Station had the intermittent café open, but we had brought our own lunches, of course, and resisted the cream cakes.

This visiting small dog (called Tobi Kenobi !) bore a Christmas coat with a passenger attached.

In the hedge there were chirping sparrows.

Corpse of the Day was a dead Wood Mouse Apodemus sylvaticus.

We had a look around Willaston village and church.  There was a Grey Squirrel in the churchyard, and two Yew trees flanking the lych-gate. The Copper Beech on the green is one of the Great Trees of the Wirral, now showing only its pointy winter buds.

Outside the Old Hall was a winter-flowering tree Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’.

On the way back I looked at what I thought might be White Poplar trees, and confirmed them when I got home. Their leaf isn’t the typical “ace of spades” of many poplars, but three- or five-lobed, rather like a maple type, but they are downy on the underside, so fallen dead leaves show as either white or black. The bark is white, too, with rows of diamond patterns.

Next to the ramp up to the road by Hooton Station was a cluster of big dark fungi on the bank. They had dark gills, dark stems, and a light ring where the veil had been attached, but that’s as far as I can go !  Probably only Honey Fungus on a buried stump.

Public transport details: Train at 10.15 from Central, arriving Hooton at 10.41. Returned on the 14.29 train, arriving Central about 15.00.

We headed down Victoria Road from the station, and into the NT reserve, which is a plantation of Scots Pines, managed for the Red Squirrels. There were plenty of them about, scampering along the ground and up the trees. Most of them are quite dark, nearly black, but we did see one redder one. This is one of the darker ones.

There were Squirrel feeding tables up on many of the trunks, protected from bigger birds by mesh cages. The little birds could get in, though, and we noted Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Robin. Bigger birds were Carrion Crows, one or two Jays, a Woodpecker which we heard drumming in distance and Wood Pigeons, which seemed to be following the Red Squirrels from feeder to feeder, hoping to pick up bits of dropped nuts.

After lunch we walked around part of the Asparagus trail, which has been set up to celebrate the local specialty. There’s even a wood carving of Jimmy Lowe, the Asparagus King of the 1930s.

The car park was flooded after the heavy rains of the last few days, and the fence had attracted a Lesser Black-backed Gull and several BHGs.

The isolated Scots Pines near the beach are very picturesquely windswept and truncated.

We returned through a woodland of Birch, Grey Poplar, Sycamore. These trees were also rather twisted and stunted by the coastal winds, and would be rather magical after snowfall.

The leaves on some trees have still not fallen, including this young Oak.

Public transport details: Train from Central towards Southport, arriving Freshfield station at 10.52. Returned from Freshfield at 2.11, due at Central 2.44.

It felt very wintry, with a brisk north wind. Time for extra layers and gloves! Some trees are still full of green leaves, like Hornbeam and Willow; the Rowans still have leaves, which are mostly red; the Cherry leaves are nearly all down, with just a few red ones clinging on; the Norway Maples and Planes still have about half their leaves, which are green and yellow. The Gingkoes in Williamson Square, which were all planted together several years ago, are now very different sizes, while two have yellow leaves, three are still green, and one has no leaves at all !

The first tree that impressed me in Birkenhead Park was a massive Turkey Oak by the play area. Is it one of the original plantings? The Park opened in April 1847, so this tree might now be approaching 170 years old.

At the north end of the Lower Lake, near the rockery, an otherwise unexciting-looking small tree was shedding massive leaves, bigger than my hand, about 8 inches by 4 inches (20 x 9 cm). It’s a Cucumber Tree Magnolia acuminata. It will produce bright pink or red “cucumber” fruits in early autumn, so perhaps we’ll check it next year.

Also at that end of the Lower Lake is a young Scarlet Oak Quercus coccinea, with far better colour than Red Oak.

The lake itself offered Pigeons, Mallards, a Coot, and a Wren hopping about in a low Weeping Willow. We didn’t see the two odd black Mallards, which have more than a hint of some very tall and thin variety in their ancestry. But further on there was a Mistle Thrush, and lots of the ubiquitous Magpies. A Jay few though the woods. The strange weeping Camperdown Elm looks like it’s dead. There are just a few leaves on the lower branches but most of the upper twigs are dry and snapping off. Another Elm bites the dust.

There are hordes of Grey Squirrels in the park. One looked very hopeful when I rustled a bag of bird food, but when he came up and sniffed it on my hand, he turned away in disappointment. As he turned we saw he had only half his tail.

A big old Beech trunk has been left to decay, and there were two Nuthatches on it, hunting in the crevices of the dying bark and prising bits off.

At lunch time I bought a booklet from the Visitors’ Centre (£2) called Unusual Trees of Birkenhead Park. It’s an A4 glossy booklet, 12 pages, describing 11 trees, one page each, and a map. Some of the featured trees aren’t that unusual (Holm Oak, Deodar, Common Lime, London Plane) but it includes an English Oak thought to be older than the Park. “Dating from the 1760s, this magnificent tree was probably part of a field boundary when the surrounding land was all pasture.” We didn’t go to find it (one for next time) but we set off to see three featured trees in the Upper Park.

There was a pair of Tufted Duck on the Upper Lake, some Canada Geese and two Muscovy Ducks. We also spotted the two missing tall black Mallards, now five years old, and looking very different to their unhybridised relatives.

One of the rare trees was a Strawberry Tree Arbutus unedo. It’s an evergreen, and the red fruits were all gone, but the green and white flowers, which come out in October and November, were plentiful.

A Heron posed obligingly on the opposite fishing ledge, framed by autumn foliage.

Just past the north end of the Upper Lake I spotted lots of fallen leaves with scalloped edges and thought “Aspen”, but the tree that was shedding them was far too big, with a huge ridged trunk. I think it was a Grey Poplar, Populus canescens, which is thought to have arisen as a hybrid of the Aspen and the White Poplar.

The leaflet also recommended a clump of Myrobalan Plum or Cherry Plum of the red variety Prunus cerasifera ‘Pissardii’. They are on the far side of the big field, near Park Road West. They are probably best in summer, with good light. Although they still bore plenty of dark purple leaves, they just looked dull in November. Far better was a young Maple tree with very bright red leaves in what appeared to be a nursery area, with several other young Maples of different varieties.

Our last rare tree of the day was a clump of four Hybrid Strawberry trees Arbutus x andrachnoides by the exit gate opposite Duke Street, near the station. It’s a natural cross between the Irish and Grecian Strawberry trees and is another evergreen. Its main feature is the bright red peeling bark. Both Strawberries are related to the Madrona.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.05 towards West Kirkby, alighting Birkenhead Park station at 10.12. Returned from Birkenhead Park station at 13.36, arriving Central 13.45.

Yet another tree day, this time looking in Liverpool City Centre. First to note are some new ones. Last Sunday I noticed that workmen had just planted twelve young columnar (“fastigiate”) oak trees  in Elliot Street, at the bottom of the steps from Great Charlotte St. This morning there were six more in Houghton Street, which leads around to the Playhouse. I sneaked through the barriers to read the label still attached to one of them, and they are English Oaks, Quercus robur Fastigiata ‘Koster’. The label also said the order quantity was 26. There are eighteen planted already, so eight more to go. They are probably intended for Parker Street, outside Superdrug.

It was a lovely clear autumn day, and the leaves on the trees have started to change colour this week, and come down in the wind. We intended to start in Abercromby Square, but miscalculated the bus route and found ourselves nearer to Falkner Square. There are lots of Plane trees around the edge, and one lone Hawthorn allowed to grow to (smallish) tree size. In the border was a plant whose flowers had three pale blue petals. I think it’s probably one of the North American Spiderworts, genus Tradescantia, sometimes planted in Europe as ornamentals.

Then we threaded through Grove Street, Myrtle Street and Chatham Street, noting a row of young Tulip Trees outside the Sidney Jones Library. On the corner of Chatham St and Abercromby Square is this rare Victorian “Penfold” Post Box  with a history of damage and restoration, see this blog post from an enthusiast.

Inside the park railings there’s a mature Tulip Tree in the south east corner, opposite the pillar box, which we might visit again when it flowers. An ornamental Apple tree bore little red fruit with a bitter taste.  From a distance Plane, Norway Maple and Tulip trees are all looking about the same now, with similar crowns, similar pointy leaves and the same colour changes, but the Norway Maples are particularly lovely.

At the north west corner is the memorial sculpture to Noel Chavasse, the double VC, with the names of other Liverpool-born VC winners inscribed around the base.

Then along Hope Street to St James Cemetery, where we had our lunch. It was quite cool when  the sun went in. We examined two very odd thorn trees that seemed to be reverting to Hawthorns. The upper trees had plain oval leaves and biggish fruit with two seeds. From the base of the trunk they were both sprouting a sucker-like addition that bore leaves and fruit like an ordinary Hawthorn. One might be just the lucky germination of a Haw from anywhere, but both of them were doing it. Are they hybrids reverting to a parental form?

The upper and lower parts of the tree.

Berries and foliage at the top

Berries and foliage at the bottom, with a “top” berry for comparison.

The minor trunk at the base.

Several Hornbeams had big bunches of seeds, but we haven’t seen many Ash keys this year. There is supposed to be a big old Golden Ash Fraxinus excelsior ‘Jaspidea’ in the far south east corner of the cemetery, which should have been putting on its autumn show of brilliant lemon-yellow leaves all over, but we couldn’t find it. There is one big old Ash there, but it didn’t seem to be changing colour in any spectacular way, and there was an ominous stump. However, outside one of the houses opposite the Cathedral west front there was a young tree in a garden that probably WAS a Golden Ash, with a yellow-fruiting Crab Apple next to it. Very nice!

Opposite the Chinese Arch, at the bottom of Upper Duke Street, there are about half a dozen young Dawn Redwoods planted on the pavement. They are Chinese trees, of course. There are some other trees there of the same age, and may also be Chinese-themed. Then we wandered through the back streets of the Ropewalks district, heading for town, and getting not quite lost. We found ourselves in the dark and narrow Henry Street and had a pleasant surprise. Outside the Pagoda Chinese Arts Centre there is a large mature Foxglove Tree Paulownia tomentosa.  The only other one I know is a weedy one in Calderstones Park. Next to it was a Narrow-leaved Ash Fraxinus angustifolia, and there were also some Maples.

Narrow-leaved Ash on the left and Foxglove tree on the right

Then down Fleet Street and School Lane and into the garden at the back of the Bluecoat. There are two Snake-Bark Maples in there. One appears to be dying, but the other is in fine form. The leaves are hardly three-lobed at all, so it might be a Père David’s Maple, Acer davidii. On the picture below there is a tall Fig at the back with a small golden ornamental Maple in front. The possible Père David’s Maple  is in the middle, with a small green ornamental Maple on the right.

In Bootle the pair of Claret Ashes Fraxinus angustifolia ssp. oxycarpa ‘Raywood’ on Stanley Road just north of Marsh Lane, are now just coming into their magnificence. It’s amazing how many interesting trees there are in unexpected corners of the city.

Public transport details: Bus 86 from Elliot Street at 10.20, to Catherine Street / St Phillip Neri at 10.25. Walked back into town.