The Naturalists' Notebook

The trains to Wirral came back on this week, after several months of disruption while the track under the river was being replaced. We celebrated by going to West Kirby. Mercifully, it was a much cooler day, with light drizzle early on, but the sun came out about lunchtime. Our first port of call was Sandlea Park, which has a lot of Common Walnut trees, which have liked the hot weather and have produced a bumper crop of fruits.

We cut through the houses and down to South Parade, which overlooks the beach. The tide was coming in and the Lifeguards in their jeep were watching the last stragglers returning from Hilbre. A Swallow flew below us, low over the sand. A Great Black-backed Gull contemplated the large flock of gulls congregated on the tideline. We headed southwards past the Marine Lake and spotted a  Sandwich Tern, which was moving too fast for me to catch a picture. Various small yachts were out, taking advantage of the breeze, which hadn’t yet dissipated the grey mist on the Flintshire side.

A Common Tern patrolled up and down, occasionally hovering, and it caught at least one fish from Marine Lake.

At the southern end of South Parade we admired an intensely red clump of flowers in someone’s garden.

Then along Sandy Lane and Mcdona Drive. We always like seeing other people’s gardens, and we were highly amused by this cheeky drain cover!

Our destination was Cubbins Green near Caldy, where we lunched. Lots of wildflowers were coming out, including Common Mallow, Common Toadflax and our first Ragwort.

Then we ambled back along the Wirral Way, spotting lots more wild flowers for our list – Creeping Thistle, Rosebay Willowherb, Honeysuckle, Greater Trefoil, Ox-eye Daisy, Hedge Woundwort.

Creeping thistle

Hedge woundwort

Honeysuckle

The back of one house had an overgrown Hornbeam hedge, which is another tick on our tree list. Even though the sun was out, the only butterfly we saw was this Small White.

There were a couple of 7-spot ladybirds, but they seemed quite orangey rather than the usual scarlet. The book says they CAN occasionally be yellow, so maybe this is a local intermediate form. I have decided I want some Garlic Mustard in my garden, in the hope of getting Orange Tip butterflies. While I was gathering a couple of seed-heads we disturbed a mother Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis. Here’s her web with the spiderlings. I do hope she returned.

John was hoping to spot either Treecreepers or Bullfinches, birds still missing from our I-Spy list, but none were about today, even in Ashton Park.

The pond had the usual common birds – moulting Mallards, Coot, Canada Geese, juvenile Herring Gulls and a Moorhen. I took the opportunity to get a good look at the Coot’s semi-webbed feet.

No advance on the bird list today. We spotted Walnut and Hornbeam, so the tree list is up to 980 points. We will break 1000 points next week at Calderstones, where I have four definite ticks in mind worth 70 points, and we might make 90 if we find the Mulberry. We had eight wildflower ticks today, taking us to 570 points.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.05, arriving West Kirby at 10.35. Returned on the 14.01 train from West Kirby, arriving Liverpool 2.35.

On the hottest day of the year we took refuge in the cool, shady tranquilly of Alexandra Park in Crosby. (The picture above is a 2009 autumn picture “borrowed” from Flickr.)  The park was opened in December 1902, just scraping into the year of Queen Alexandra’s coronation. It was designed as a place simply for promenading in big hats, with no bowling greens or football fields. Unfortunately, this means that very many of the original trees could now be 115 years old, dominating the canopy, and coming to the end of their lives. Nothing appears to have been done about succession for many decades, but kudos are now due to Sefton Council who have embarked on a project to gradually replace the old trees with very interesting younger ones. Following their receipt of almost £75,000 from a pot of “Section 106 money” (money that developers of larger sites pay to the council to reduce the impact of the development), they have been planting some well-grown young trees of unusual varieties. The list includes Hybrid Red Maple Acer x freemanii ‘Autumn Blaze’; Paperbark Maple Acer griseum; Cut-leaved or Fern-leaved Alder Alnus glutinosa ‘Imperialis’; Swedish Cut-leaved Birch Betula pendula ‘Dalecarlica’; Katsura Cercidiphyllum japonicum; Judas tree Cercis siliquastrum; Japanese Larch Larix kaempferi; Pin Oak Quercus palustris; Henry’s Lime Tilia henryana; Golden Smooth-leaved Elm Ulmus carpinifolia ‘Wredei Aurea’; Snowy Mespil Amelanchier arborea ‘Robin Hill’; Manchurian Cherry Prunus maackii ‘Amber Beauty’; Bird Cherry Prunus padus ‘Watereri’; two varieties of Flowering cherry Prunus ‘Accolade’ and Prunus “Amanogawa”  and a row of Laburnum Laburnum x watereri ‘Vossii’.

The row of new young Laburnums, which flowered within a month of planting.

One of three Henry’s Limes, none of which appear to have come into leaf, and may have failed.

We also noted Peacock and Speckled Wood butterflies, and several common birds, Blackbird, Chaffinch and Wren, which were very relaxed around people. Shrubs included Privet, which is just coming into bloom and scent, some late Bird Cherries flowering in the shade and this lovely white-flowered one, which I think is the Snowbell Tree Styrax japonicus.

After lunch we headed off to Coronation Park, which was wide open and very hot. They were having a Community Day, with face painting, a magic show, a bouncy castle, pony rides, and a display by Lancashire Hawks and Owls.  They are all rescued birds, and money is raised for their keep by charging people £2 to have a hawk or owl on their arm. There were many young customers queuing for the privilege.

Tawny Owl

Little Owl

The park had only one tree that caught my eye, in a corner by the duck pond. Could this be a Medlar (the young fruit has quite a wide-open end) or will these fruits simply mature into Apples? I will keep my eye on it later in the year to see how they develop.

We crossed the road to the graveyard of St Luke’s church, which had been very wildlife-friendly a few years ago, but the impetus seems to have gone. Even the bug hotel is almost completely overgrown by Ivy, Nettle and Goosegrass, although I suppose the bugs don’t mind!

One of the gravestones was worthy of note – a lady who died in 2004 aged 83, who had been a code breaker at Bletchley Park. The old Butterfly garden had a large patch of Red Valerian intertwined with Hedge Bindweed.

No new birds for the I-Spy list today. The only tree new to our list was an old Silver Birch in Alexandra Park (10 points), a tree which we have inexplicably failed to count so far. It takes our score to 940. Flowers – the Red Valerian was worth 25 points, the Hedge Bindweed 5, and we doubled some points from Kirkby by answering the associated questions. (What are the fruits of the Bramble called? Blackberries. What are the fruits of the Dog Rose called? Hips.) Total now 475.

Public transport details: Bus 53 from Queen Square at 10.15, arriving Mersey Road / College Road at 11.02.  Returned on bus 47 from St Luke’s Church, Liverpool Road at 2.26, arriving City Centre at about 3pm.

Stanley Park wasn’t quite at its best, with the massed Daffodils of the Field of Hope all gone, and  the formal beds yet to come into their peak flowering.  It was quite a grey day too, overcast and warm, but with a blustery wind and occasional sharp showers.

One splash of colour was provided by some Poppies on a wild bit of grass verge.

I spotted one of the trees from our I-Spy list, known as False Acacia, Locust Tree or Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia. Its leaves are pinnate like Ash or Rowan, but it bears flowers like a Laburnum, on pendulous racemes, but they are white not yellow, and much shorter.

There were Swallows over the open fields and Canada Geese, Mallards and Coot on the lake.  The fishermen had their tents pitched all along the edge, and on the far side we saw some very big fish lurking in the shallows, easily a foot (30 cm) long. Foraging along the edge was a Grey Wagtail.

In the wider reaches of the lake was a bird with a bright orange-yellow head. We think it was a male Red-crested Pochard, possibly the same bird that John saw on Walton Hall Park lake in February.

I was fascinated by a row of Lime trees, which had the remains of their flowers sticking out at odd angles, and I think they might have been Small-leaved Limes. All the illustrations in the books show this.  Later we saw what must have been the Common Lime, which had its flowers all pointing down. Regrettably, neither tree is on the I-Spy list and we must wait for the much less common Large-leaved Lime to claim any points.

Flowers sticking up – Small-leaved Lime?

Flowers hanging down – so Common Lime

Near the circle of old Plane trees we heard a loud wheeping bird call, which we were convinced was made by a Nuthatch, but when we spotted the bird making the noise it was a Chaffinch!  One Swift flew high overhead. Near the island in the lake a pair of Great Crested Grebes were loitering, but they had no stripy chicks with them. The nest was there behind them, with bits of brightly-coloured litter attached, but their clutch must have failed.

The Coots had done better, and here are two youngsters on their nest.

There were several trees with long dangling strings of seeds, blowing in the wind. They were the Caucasian Wingnut Pterocarya fraxinifolia.

We lunched by the Isla Gladstone Conservatory, and were treated to cake by Bill, who was 90 that day and is still going strong. In March this year the World Economic Forum publicised the Japanese custom of “Tree Bathing” and the health benefits of being around trees and forests. Bill appears to be a beneficiary of the effect.

Then we walked along towards the Cemetery, spotting half a dozen Goldfinches on the flowerbeds and a Mistle Thrush on the wall. In Anfield Cemetery we noted the old VC graves, the ruined catacombs, and we looked unsuccessfully for the gravestone of William Herbert Wallace and his wife Julia. He was convicted of her murder in 1931, but the verdict was (uniquely and controversially) overturned on appeal, and now it is generally accepted that he didn’t do it.

There were Grey Squirrels all over the cemetery. My eye was caught by this shapely little tree with white blossom just going over. I have no idea what it was. The flowers and leaves looked like Common Hawthorn, but there were no thorns, it was flowering too late, the faded flowers looked quite unlike Hawthorn and the tree shape was wrong. I speculate that it was some sort of Hybrid Cockspur Thorn, but that’s just a guess.

New birds for the group today were Swift (15 points), Grey Wagtail (20) and Great Crested Grebe (15), which makes 50 and takes our total to 1285.
Flowers: Just the Common Poppy (10) taking us to 420.
Trees: Today we added the False Acacia / Locust Tree / Black Locust (25). Last week on the way to the Cathedral Flower Festival the group passed the Foxglove Tree in Henry Street (25) but were too late for its flowering. Our total is now 930.

Foxglove tree (with the large light-coloured leaves and gone-over flower spikes)

Public transport details: Bus 17 from Queen Square at 10.12, arriving Arkles Lane / Anfield Road at 10.30. Those of us going back to Liverpool got the 19 bus from Walton Lane / Priory Road at 2.24, arriving City Centre at 2.38.

We went to Kirkby to follow up reports of nesting Peregrines on the church, but we had a good look at the trees in St Chad’s Gardens first. They have a fine young Deodar, a Laburnum arch that has just finished, a Red Horse Chestnut and one that I first mistook for a Japanese Maple, but it was an Oriental Plane, said to be rare north of the Midlands. The only other one I know of in Merseyside is on the central reservation of East Prescot Road near Springfield Park.

There was some sort of Lime, not sprouty at the base and showing a low graft. The leaves were glossy and papery and there were no seeds. I hoped that it was a Large-leaved Lime (worth 15 points) but it doesn’t match the book at all. It was more like a Small-Leaved Lime in features, except for the size of the leaves. These Limes are doing my head in!  We had more luck with the matching pair of youngish trees on either side of the gate. They were conical trees, no seeds, but with big alternate leaves with their stalks reddish and hairy. I think they are Turkish Hazels, which the Collins Tree Guide says are now a locally frequent street tree.

As promised, a pair of Peregrines were nesting in the church belfry. Neither of them were impressed when the church bells rang, and they flew away screeching, but one soon came back.

We met a local lad, who joined us in foraging for pellets. We broke open the only one we found, revealing the leg rings of a racing pigeon!

The young bird watcher also knew where all the birds’ nests were. He pointed out the tree hole which a Great Spotted Woodpecker had investigated, but was soon put off by a pair of Blue Tits who also fancied it. There is a Kestrel nest in a drainpipe hopper and he said he’d heard the chicks calling, but all we saw was a tail, and then the brooding adult flew off. The first of three Corpses of the Day was a Hedgehog, decomposing gently by the side of the path.

After lunch we went into the park behind the church, called Millbrook Millennium Green. A Song Thrush was singing loudly from a thicket and both Bramble and Dog Rose were coming into flower. The Guelder Rose Viburnum opulus was blooming well, but something was eating its leaves down to lace. On the undersides of the leaves were the culprits, larvae of the Viburnum Leaf Beetle (or Guelder Rose Leaf Beetle) Pyrrhalta viburni.

The bird-watching lad turned up again, and in his bag he had a brood of baby Blue Tits, which he’d found cheeping on the ground. Had they fallen from the nest? They had probably just fledged that morning. We urged him to take them back to the same place, where their parents could find and feed them.

There is a little wetland there, part of the Simonswood Brook. A Sedge Warbler was singing in the reeds but we couldn’t see it. Flowers included Meadow Cranesbill, White Clover, Hemlock Water Dropwort, Yellow Flag Iris and Blue Iris.

We returned for a last look at the birds on the church. There was a young Starling lying dead on the path – Corpse Number Two. Both Peregrines were sitting by the belfry louvers, listening to the sounds of the young ones inside.

Our third corpse was a Wood Pigeon in a bus shelter in Kirkby bus station, a clean and perfect bird, but with a broken neck. We could see the imprint of its wings on the glass. Had it been chased by a Peregrine that morning, and went the wrong way in its panic? Near the bus station, more “birds of prey”, but this time they were dubious public sculpture. An artist called Geoff Wood has been allowed to set up three oversized armchairs, each with a huge pair of wings attached. The installation is called “Kirkby Thrones” and is labelled “Imagine these winged thrones giving flight to your ideas.” The white one was called “Osprey”, the dark brown one “American Eagle”, and the red-gold one “Golden Eagle”.

Our I-Spy points for flowers are going well. We doubled the 50 points for Freshfield’s Common Nettle to 100 because we got the question right. Q: True or False? The young leaves are good to eat. (Answer at the end).  We also got 65 points from five more flowers today, taking us to 410. There are questions on Meadow Cranesbill, Dog Rose and Bramble that I still have to ask, so we might increase to 400. We got 50 points for the Peregrine (a Top Spot) and I think John will also count the noisy Sedge Warbler, although we didn’t see it. Probably 1235 points by now. There was no advance on the tree points, still at 880. (A: True)

Public transport details: Bus 20 from Queen Square at 10.10, arriving Kirkby Row / James Holt Avenue (outside St Chad’s gardens) at 10.52. Returned on the 20 bus from Kirkby bus station at 2.25, arriving Liverpool City Centre at 3.10.

From Freshfield Station we walked down Victoria Road, entertained by a succession of Blackbirds who sang to us all the way along. In estate-agent-speak it is “one of the best roads in the north west”, meaning it is lined by detached houses, all different, many with security gates and CCTV, and some with fanciful  names like “Windwhistle”. There were several Red Squirrels running about in the National Trust reserve. One particularly busy little fellow was up and down trees, collecting nuts from the feeding cages and scampering off to bury them, one at a time.

Then we threaded through the pinewoods and open spaces, noticing that there were many areas of younger trees, all apparently Corsican Pines, the dominant species of this sandy area. The male flowers are in clusters, while the female flowers are reddish, at the tips of the shoots.

The only other common trees were Poplars, especially in the more open areas. Some were Grey Poplars Populus canescens, a hybrid of  White Poplar and Aspen. The leaves have the white undersides of the White Poplar, but the scalloped edges of Aspen.

The other widespread Poplar had large soft leaves, with very long points on their otherwise typical “ace-of-spades” outline, and which weren’t white underneath. There were large clumps of them near the picnic tables, with broken, recumbent trunks and gnarly bark. They seem to be the Wild Black Poplar Populus nigra ssp. betulifolia, which is considered uncommon, but “locally abundant in floodplains and old parks”. They must like this light sandy soil.

The National Trust makes much of the history of asparagus-growing in this area, and there is a new wooden sculpture of three enormous asparagus stalks, apparently growing right out of the ground.

We noted some distant rabbits, and then took a path up and over the dunes to the shore.

Lots of people were enjoying the beach, and as we returned via Formby beach car park, even more vehicles were coming in. It must have been a very good day for the National Trust, at £6 per car. There were Swallows in the air over the shore, and near the tollbooth as we returned to the station, a Jay popped over the fence out of the pinewoods, grabbed something edible from the ground, then melted back into the trees. None of today’s birds were new, and although Swifts are back in the area, we didn’t spot any. I-Spy bird points now up to 1170. No new trees today, either, and we didn’t get last week’s Field Maple question. (Q. What is the type of Maple wood used by furniture makers? Answer at end.) Our tree points are stalled at 880.

We spotted just one new flower today, but it was a good one – the Common or Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica. There was just one clump of plants in flower, at the base of the last (easternmost) wooden post past the squirrel reserve. Why was that one so early? A lot of cars queue here, and there may be something in the exhaust fumes that it likes. Alternatively, it was below the first wooden post that dogs find on the way down Victoria Road, so it must be well-supplied with nitrogen fertiliser!

When I checked my book I was amazed to find that nettles have separate male and female plants and the flowers are different. These whitish-looking ones are female, I think, while the male stamens are redder. You learn something every day! It is worth 50 I-Spy points, which we might double if we answer the related question. Flower points now 295.

On the way home through Crosby I photographed some unusual Hawthorns in gardens. The normal white “May” flowers are out, and they are mostly the common Crataegus monogyna, which as its name suggests has only one seed in the berry, and thus only one style in the flower (that’s the bit the pollen grains land on.) Usually un-noticed is the Midland Hawthorn Crataegus laevigata, which has two or three styles and thus two or three seeds in the berry. It flowers a week or two earlier than monogyna and smells rather foul, aparently. But just now two red or pink varieties of Midland Hawthorn are in bloom. The red or pink double variety is ‘Paul’s Scarlet’, while the less common red single blossoms with white centres belong to variety ‘Punicea’. (Answer from above : Bird’s-eye maple.)

Public transport details: Train from Central towards Southport at 10.23, arriving Freshfield 10.55. Returned from Freshfield on the 2.11 train, arriving Central 2.43.

Long Lane in Aughton has interesting and colourful gardens, with Rowan, Cherry, Lilac and Laburnum all in bloom and red Maples coming into leaf.

Even the Sycamores are interesting, with many of them being the variety ‘Brilliantissimum’. The leaves open bright pink, become yellow-green, and finally settle to dark green, mottled with cream. They don’t make many seeds, either, which is a bonus for garden owners.

There were the usual garden birds, Blackbird, Dunnock and Chaffinch, and as we climbed the hill to the pumping station we spotted several fast-moving butterflies – some kind of White and a dark one which was probably Peacock. There were Swallows overhead, and John spotted a Reed Bunting. Along the verge the Cow Parsley was coming out, and lower down were the first flowers of Creeping Buttercup, worth five I-Spy points.

We went down to look at the reserve’s “heritage varieties” Orchard. Last autumn they told us it was lovely when the blossom was out and the Cowslips were underfoot, but sadly the gate was locked and it wasn’t due to be open until later in the day.Too late for us. But we could see the distant blossom from the gate (and we claim our 10 points.)

An  Orange Tip butterfly flitted past as we headed back to the reserve. The woodland paths are bordered with lots of mini habitats for Newts and small mammals, plus bug hotels. Many of the trees are labelled (with children in mind) giving the name, description, ecology, use of the wood and so on. For instance “Crab Apple, Malus sylvestris. The flowers provide early pollen and nectar for insects and bees. The leaves provide food for the Eyed Hawkmoth. Fruit is eaten by birds – Blackbirds, Thrushes, Crows – and mammals like mice, voles and foxes. Humans eat Crab Apple jelly. Crab apple trees are good pollinating partners for apple trees and therefore useful to plant in an orchard. The name “crab” originates from the Norse word skrab meaning “scrubby”. The wood is excellent for carving and burning.”  It also gave us another 10 points!

Another sign said “Walk softly and listen, Mother Nature is at work.” Along the paths we spotted Hogweed, and also Red Campion, worth another 15 points.

We studied the labelled Downy Birch, (20 points), but we are no nearer to confidently distinguishing the Downy from the Silver Birch. No obvious downiness on the shoots that we could see, and it isn’t as simple as “weeping” or “not weeping”, either.

We sat by the pond in the strong sunshine for our lunch. A mother Mallard led a brood of eight ducklings along the path to the water. Had they just hatched that morning?  After a few minutes a kerfuffle of quacking and splashing broke out. Two Mallard Drakes were harassing a female, and we feared it was the same mother duck. Happily, it seemed to be another one and the little family were seen again later, all quite safe.

There was a Field Maple by the pond, worth another 15 points. We might double that next week when I remember to ask the associated question! The leaves are fairly small, while the bark is very interestingly gnarly.

We also admired the bark of a Rowan tree. It is characteristic of Sorbus to have white  patches on the trunks, and I always thought it was a feature of the tree itself, but it is clearly white and yellow lichen on this one. Is it always lichen?

We dawdled in the big field, hoping to see the Yellowhammers which are usually there, but no luck. There was a Whitethroat up on a hedge, then it did a song flight, followed by a dive back into the Bramble. There was also a Willow Warbler singing beautifully from the top of a bare Ash tree.

John thought he spotted a small brown mammal scurrying across the path a way ahead of us. We investigated, but it must have gone into another Bramble patch, because we couldn’t find or hear it. However, there was a little path beaten through the grassy verge, about two or three inches wide. Too big for a mouse or vole, I think, and too small for a rabbit, so had it been a weasel?

We took the path around the back of the pumping station. In one small glade an oak was just coming into brownish leaf, making the whole tree look golden in the bright sunshine.

Then back through the cultivated fields to Aughton Church and the station.

We continue to collect bird points, and we are now up to 1130. Four new trees today, taking us to 880 points, while the slow-to-start wild flowers are so far only up to 245.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.10 towards Ormskirk, arriving Aughton Park at 10.37. Returned from Aughton Park at 14.53, arriving Central at 3.23.