The Naturalists' Notebook

The RSPB were having a “Birds from the Pier” event, which was odd because, unusually for Southport, the tide was in. The only birds to be seen were those flying past in groups, called out by Sefton Ranger John Dempsey.  Large groups of Dunlin flew south, heading for Birkdale Green Beach. Oystercatchers were going north, as were several flocks of Grey Plovers, a pair of Shelduck, and a Cormorant. One Lesser Black-backed Gull flew by and there were Swallows overhead. The only other “birds” were a row of Carolina Wood Ducks on the shooting gallery!

I asked some fishermen what they usually caught off the pier, and they said flatfish, sea bass and eels, but nobody had a fish to show me, the only catch having been a small Dab, returned to the sea. Several butterflies appeared to be coming in off the sea – Large Whites and a Comma. Were they commuting from Lytham?

We amused ourselves in the “penny-in-the-slot” machines for half an hour or so, being most taken with a very old machine called The Harlot. In a beautiful little doll’s-house-like room, two men were in bed with a blonde woman (who was no lady, we assume). The door at the back was slightly ajar and there was another man lurking there. When we finally got a coin to work, the entire “show” took about two seconds. Both men in the bed sat up abruptly then lay down again, and the door flew open to reveal that the lurking punter was a vicar!

By now it was very hot indeed, and as we made our way back to the train we moved against crowds of people arriving, and the shops were doing a roaring trade in ice cream and candy floss, fish and chips, buckets and spades.

Tree news: The unidentified tree in Williamson Square, outside the Liverpool FC shop and nearest to the Playhouse, is coming into leaf. They are pinnate leaves, with each leaflet very finely toothed, and spear shaped. I’m leaning towards it being a Japanese Rowan Sorbus commixta, often used for town plantings in recent years.

The pink Japanese Cherry Prunus serrulata var. Kanzan, whose profuse blossom we missed two weeks ago near Crossens, is now all out, and even starting to go over.

The Wych Elm Ulmus glabra is in flower, with clusters of nutlets each surrounded by a papery membrane.

My local bird news is that the Swifts are back. A small group nest near me every year, and two of them appeared on Saturday 7th May. By Monday 9th there were seven of them. We have also had a Blackbird drama. My neighbour reported a nesting pair in one of her garden shrubs, with three eggs. On Friday she was distraught. “It’s been murder in here!” A rival male had appeared and fought the resident. After vanquishing him, he methodically removed each egg, broke them open and ate the contents. That evening he was sitting on a chimney pot, happily proclaiming his victory.

This morning, Monday 9th May, two male blackbirds were flying at each other through my garden, and they had a knock-down drag-out fight at high noon, in and out of my shed. Afterwards one sat gasping on my fence, looking bedraggled, but there was no sign of the other one. No idea who’s winning, but the ousted father clearly had some fight left in him!

Public transport details: Train from Central to Southport at 10.23, arriving 11.10. Returned on the 14.28 train, arriving Liverpool about 15.15.

The Gingko trees in Williamson Square are just sprouting and the leaves of my neighbourhood Whitebeams are coming out like hands clasped in prayer.

Despite these signs of advancing spring, there was a fine drizzly rain all day. We started in the Dell at Port Sunlight, first taking note of a droopy conifer on the bank at the southern end. Was it a  Brewer’s Spruce? A Morinda Spruce? These conifers are very hard!

The famous big Tulip Tree by the bridge had its leaves just coming out and we also looked at the Honey Locust with the spikes on the trunk. There is said to be a Wollemi Pine in the Dell, near the bridge, but despite us looking very carefully for little lime-green conifers, there was no sign of it. But there were many young saplings, none with much foliage to identify them by, but some of them still had their labels on. There was a Grand Fir, a Mulberry and our Tree of the Day, the uncommon Antarctic Beech Nothophagus antarctica. It’s native to Chile, and also grows on Hoste Island in Tierra del Fuego, so it has the distinction of being the southernmost tree in the world. It’s a narrow sapling, about 10 feet tall, at the top of the south-east facing bank, behind the Lyceum Club, standing in a Daffodil bed. You would take the dark brown bark for some kind of cherry, while the leaves look rather hawthorny.

The only birds out and about in the rain were a couple of Robins and a Blackbird.  Around the corner was another Tulip tree, with low branches near to the bank and a flower bud easy to see.  It would be a good one to look at when it’s in flower.

We walked up past Hulme Hall and noticed the wonderful green leafy hedge along Queen Mary’s Drive. It isn’t Beech, because that’s not out yet, so it’s probably Hornbeam. John, as a professional gardener, admired how carefully it had been trimmed, with no sign of machine “thrashing”.

Then we looked at the Hillsborough Memorial garden on the balcony overlooking the War Memorial , which today had fresh flowers and messages, following the recent conclusion of the “Truth and Justice” inquest.

There is a Judas Tree between 32 and 33 Greendale Road and we went to look at it, hoping it would be in flower, but we were too early. There were some lovely young Maples along the pavement though, with thin pink and gold leaves. There’s a bewildering variety of Maples in the book, and I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess what they were.

We cut through some footpaths and came out by the Lady Lever Art Gallery.  By now we were quite bedraggled but we couldn’t think of anywhere to sit in shelter to have our sandwiches. We knew none of the available cafes would allow us to eat our own food. Perhaps the lobby of the Lady Lever would let us sit there? I must have looked pretty pathetic, because as soon as I told the man on the desk about eight wet pensioners needing shelter, he sprang into action, rang a manager and they opened up the “Sustain Room” in the basement for us. Thanks very much, guys!

Afterwards we looked around the Art Gallery. I like to spot wildlife even there, and here is a detail from a painting called “The Garden of the Hesperides” by Lord Leighton, apparently showing a Little Egret and a Great White Egret.

The New Ferry Butterfly Park was having an Open Day with some fund-raising stalls. I got some home-made cakes, some note cards with drawings by our old friend “local artist Bob Hughes”, and a small Feverfew plant. Some of the others bought Strawberry plants, while John bought a Tombola ticket and won a large scented candle, said to be good for romance! They had a Cowslip meadow, and sprouting amongst the flowers were hundreds of spore-bearing stems of the Common Horsetail Equisetum arvense. These brown shoots are only found in spring, while the sterile green feathery ones grow the rest of the year.

There was some odd-looking Mistletoe on an Apple tree, which one of the helpers said was African Mistletoe. Alas, there were no butterflies on the wing today, they don’t like the rain either, but the Marsh Marigolds by the pond put on a good show.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.15 towards Chester, arriving Port Sunlight at 10.30. Returned on the 14.41 train from Bebington Station, arriving Central at 3.00.

We had a long run on the bus this morning, almost the whole route of the 47. My goal was to see the magnificent pink Cherry trees on Preston New Road, planted in the last half mile before the Crossens terminus. There are over 100 of them lining both sides of the road, and when they all come out together they make a magnificent pink tunnel. Sadly, we were about a week too early.

As we walked down Balmoral Road there were a few spots of rain, and it was overcast and chilly. We entered the Botanic Garden at the north end, and lunched overlooking the (empty) flowerbeds outside the Fernery. We paid it a quick visit, appreciating the humid warmth inside.

As we strolled around the aviary the sun started to come out. They have many small birds in the parrot / budgie line and also Peacocks, a huge black Turkey and a pair of very ugly Muscovy Ducks with some very cute cream and brown ducklings (or are they goslings?) It’s hard to believe such handsome young birds will grow up to be so strange-looking. The ugly duckling in reverse! They also had a pair of Shelduck, which I do prefer to see in the wild. Happily, they also had Mandarin ducks, and it was nice to see a pair together. When we see stray Mandarins in parks, there’s usually only a single bird, and we joke that we should set up a dating agency for them!

They also have a pair of Golden Pheasants and a pair of Lady Amherst’s Pheasants.

Nothing exciting on the lake. Black-headed Gulls, lots of Mallards, several Moorhens nesting and a pair of Mute Swans. One mother Mallard had 11 well-grown ducklings. There had been 12 of them when I recce’d on Saturday 16th April, so perhaps I miscounted, or perhaps she has lost one.

They have a mini-Arboretum, which is a low grassed area within a bank of old Beeches. They have a young Deodar (behind the cherry blossom on this picture).

There is also a row of four young conifers, and the two on the left are very intriguingly droopy.

The leftmost one has foliage in the Yew / Redwood / Hemlock group, and I hoped for a while it was a California Nutmeg Torreya californica, but couldn’t match it in the book. California Nutmeg leaves are supposed to smell of sage or turpentine, but these didn’t. The second droopy one was some kind of Cypress. I think it might be a Nootka Cypress Chamaecyparis nootkatensis var. Pendula, described as a tree with upturned branches from which the foliage “hangs in curtains” (yes). Male flowers “abundant, massed at the tips” (yes) and cones “globular, 1cm across, each scale with a large curved spine” (yes, they have the spine, but I’m not sure if it’s curved.)

The third one was some kind of golden Cypress and the fourth one was probably a Spruce. That’s about as far as I get with conifers!

Near the lakeside was a fallen Oak, with last year’s golden brown foliage still on, but apparently quite dead. The kids are using it as a climbing tree.

Under a stand of Scots Pines were lots of well-chewed cones. Looks like the work of Squirrels, probably Greys, but we didn’t see them.

There’s a Tulip Tree on the lawns by the lake (with no distinctive leaves yet, but I cheated and read the nameplate) and also this old Mulberry outside the shop. The sign, which looks quite old, calls it a Common Mulberry Morus nigra, but we call it the Black Mulberry nowadays. “A small very long-lived tree which becomes gnarled and picturesque with age. Dark-green heart-shaped leaves and dark purplish-red edible fruits. Native to west Asia but has been grown in Britain since about 1500. Often found in quadrangles and college gardens.”

Before we left we shopped for pots of Tulips. They were selling pots of 6 ready-to-flower plants for £2.99 each or two for £5. A bargain!

Public transport details: Bus 47 from Queen Square at 10.10, arriving Preston New Road / Glenpark Drive at 11.25. Returned on the 49 bus at 2.06 from just outside the main entrance of the Botanic Garden, arriving Southport Monument 2.16, in plenty of time for the train at 2.28 back to Liverpool.

The wayside flowers were out next to the ramp up from Overpool station platform – Dandelion, Red Dead-nettle and Forget-me-Not. The way to Rivacre Valley is north along Overpool Road, first left onto Seymour Drive, and at its western end, just on the curve, there’s a path behind some garages that leads down to the Rivacre Brook. The path then crosses Rossmore Road West then carries on into the Country Park. The northernmost section is a Local Nature Reserve and appears to be ancient woodland, with native bluebells, a few Wood Anemones and carpets of Lesser Celandine.

The breaking buds of the trees were showing well in the bright sunshine. The Weeping Willows were  greening, the Horse Chestnut leaves are out and they are about to flower. The Ashes show no sign of coming out, but the Oak buds are starting to break. Does that herald a dry summer? “Oak before Ash, only a splash”. The Norway Maple trees have their acid-yellow flower tufts out, with some leaves following.

Birds included Starlings and House Sparrows along the houses, a Robin by the station, several Chiffchaffs calling, a Song Thrush, Magpies, Great Tits, Blue Tits and Long-tailed Tits. We heard two Green Woodpeckers, which seemed to be calling or “yaffling” to each other, and we heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker, too, but it was just as hard to find. Another call was a Nuthatch, also not seen. We did spot a Jay up in a tree, and a Buzzard overhead. There were lots of little bridges going back and forth across the brook, which looked like Kingfisher country. We lingered over them, but no sighting. We met a lady later who said she had seen a Kingfisher very early that morning, but they probably hide away as soon as it gets busier. On a green lawn was Corpse of the Day, a dead Wood Pigeon, clearly the prey of an early-rising Sparrowhawk. It had started to pluck it, but must have been disturbed, because the dead WP was otherwise untouched. Perhaps its owner will come back when most people and dogs have gone.

When we first entered the valley, the Bluebells were English or hybrid, but as we went further in they appeared to be mostly native, with droopy stems, flowers just on one side, and white anthers.

More evidence that the woodland was undisturbed was offered by the patches of Wood Anemones.

The Willow buds were breaking out, too. Most Willows bear either male or female flowers, according to my book, which surprised me, and this set of “sticky-up” flowers must be females.

Near the closed Ranger hut there is a pond with small tadpoles, perhaps hatched a week. One Hawthorn was flowering and a bank of Cowslips were out.

A small stand of Birch trees had their catkins and female flowers out, too. The male catkins hang down, but the females are erect before they are fertilised.

While I was rummaging in the Birch trees, the others saw the Sparrowhawk, but I missed it. Now that the day had well warmed up the butterflies came out. We saw a Peacock, a Small White, several Brimstones on the move and a couple of Commas, one of which sat still long enough to be photographed.

Near the crossing of Rivacre Road there’s a disused tall brick tower called Borewell Station number 2, with one side covered with Ivy. High up there was a nest of a pair of Grey Wagtails. The female was well hidden, sitting in the nest in deep shadow, but the male flitted back and forth in the sunshine.

While we were looking for a Mistle Thrush, a dark shape ran swiftly along a high bank. A Fox!  We only saw it briefly but we were all pretty sure it was a fox by the way it ran low with its long brush straight out behind. A Treecreeper was busy along the brook, and also some kind of little brown warbler, showing well, hopping around the branches hanging over the brook. John thought it was too round and chubby to be a Chiffchaff, but there was no other clue. The last birds of the day were two male Bullfinches flashing across a gap in the undergrowth.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.30 towards Ellesmere Port, arriving Overpool at 11.02. Returned from Overpool Station at 15.22, arriving Liverpool 15.55

In Thornton Hough village there’s a tall old Monkey Puzzle tree Araucaria araucana (on the right of the white house). It’s not the tallest on the Wirral, which honour is held by a tree south of Arrowe Country Park, near the junction of Pensby Road and Mill Road, but this one must be close. There’s a Rookery in the village, too, behind the corner building called The Store.

We walked north along Thornton Common Road, noting a Greenfinch and two Great Tits, then turned left at Crofts Bank Cottages, and right onto the footpath across the fields to Brimstage. The first field was sown with grass for silage, then several fields of Oil Seed Rape, some in flower and some just coming out.

The paths were lined with Lesser Celandine, still closed until the sun came out. A Wood Pigeon flew by and a Skylark launched itself into the air, singing its heart out. In the trees were Goldfinches, and then a Yellowhammer. Completing the yellow theme, was a clump of Yellow Archangel in a shady corner. The native plant is Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. Montanum, which has plain green leaves and is found mainly in the south, but these were the naturalised garden escapes, subsp. argentatum, with the white marks on the leaves. It has spread rapidly in the last 30 years and was pronounced an invasive alien in 2013.

We lunched by some ponds, hearing a Nuthatch and a Chiffchaff. There was a Robin on a gate. Back on the path, we noted a cluster of about ten Oak apples on a twig on the verge, which we thought was a broken branch, but it was a very small rooted tree. Never seen so many Oak Apples on a tree so small. The Blackthorn was out.

In the sunshine on a sheltered bank there were butterflies on wing. We found a Small Tortoiseshell and this Peacock.

There was also a Red-tailed Bumble Bee on a Dandelion.

We heard a Pheasant, but we still haven’t seen one. By the base of a tree a splendid patch of Lesser Celandines was open.

Near Brimstage a cowpat had several Yellow Dung Flies Scathophaga stercoraria.  They look like males to me, because the females are greener. They don’t eat the dung themselves but lie in wait and predate other flies which come visiting. The females lay eggs in dung, too, so the males have a second reason to hang around there.

Where the path emerges onto Brimstage Road there’s an Ash tree with a huge distorted base to its trunk, where the roots have become exposed.

Over the road is a straggly-looking Larch, showing its cones of last year and red firework flowers.

A Horse Chestnut flower bud, nearly ready to open.

Swallows often nest in Brimstage courtyard, in the tunnel over the stairs, but there was no sign of any today. Then we set off again back to Thornton Hough, noting Coltsfoot and Red Dead-nettle near the Maze. Some Carrion Crows were attacking a Buzzard. The path off Talbot Avenue was  very muddy, and we had to manoeuvre through the hedges around the miry bits, and why are there always spiny Bramble, Holly and Hawthorn just there?  That slowed us down, so we didn’t get back to Thornton Hough until 5 to 3, having missed the return bus by 10 minutes.

Public transport details: 437 bus at 10.30 from Sir Thomas Street, arriving Thornton Hough / Seven Stars at 11.10. On the way back, missed the hourly 487 at 2.46, so we got the 87 at 3.01 towards Eastham Ferry, arriving Spital Station at 3.15. Then the train at 3.22, which arrived Liverpool 3.40.

In the Crosby suburbs as I set out my local Weeping Willow was shading from light gold to pale green, although the Weeping Ash outside Saints Peter and Paul church was still bare and grey. Bright yellow Forsythia was well out, new leaves of Privet were budding amongst the old, the Magnolias were almost fully out and the first leaves of Horse Chestnut looked droopy and delicate.

As we walked down Pasture Road past the old Cadbury’s factory there was a big bird high above us, being mobbed by a single Herring Gull. An Osprey! It headed off south-westwards, towards the River Dee and North Wales. What a very good start to the day! Some birders we met later said it was probably the one that had been reported on Hilbre the day before.  We turned into North Wirral Coastal Park along the Birkett. Flowers seen today included Winter Heliotrope (just leaves now), Green Alkanet, lots of  Lesser Celandine still closed up, one very forward Cow Parsley just starting to bloom, Greater Periwinkle, Coltsfoot and Alexanders.

There was a flowering bush that ought to have been Blackthorn, but it wasn’t very thorny.

Another flowering shrub was some kind of upright Cherry, definitely not Blackthorn or Hawthorn.

The Hawthorn blossom isn’t out yet, but the older branches are covered in a lichen that was probably  Xanthoria parietina. It has many common names, but I like “maritime sunburst lichen”.

We had heard reports of several Ring Ouzels that had been in the Leasowe area that morning. There were little knots of birders scattered about, concentrating on particular spots, but they all said one HAD been there, but had just flown off. We were really looking for Wheatears, which pass this way at this time of year. We met Barrie B, who said he and his friend had seen several Wheatears that morning, but we had no luck. Towards Lingham Farm there are plenty of House Sparrows. In the hedgerows and around the farm buildings were Collared Dove, Wren, a Dunnock singing high up, Goldfinches and a Robin. There was a black bird on the Birkett. Was it the Ring Ouzel? No, just a Blackbird. At Lingmere Fishery there were only a pair of  Canada Geese and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull.  Near the pond we saw a little brown job hopping around the lower branches of a tree. A Willow Warbler or a Chiffchaff? John whistled the Chiffchaff’s call  to it and it responded with the same notes, so it was definitely a Chiffchaff.  A broken Elder branch bore a cluster of Judas Ear fungus.

We lunched overlooking the beach, with a Skylark singing overhead. There were two or three Little Egrets fishing, as well as Shelduck, Redshank and Oystercatchers.

Then we walked westwards along the grassy bank overlooking the beach. A Kestrel was hovering and we heard a Cock Pheasant but didn’t see him. I love the colours of the yellow sand and the blue sea reflecting the sky, shading out to a darker blue in the distance near the wind farms.

Then up the Bridleway into the horse fields then returned along the single-file path towards the Lighthouse. The hedges held Great Tits, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and Long-tailed Tits. Red Dead-nettle was flowering, as well as one small clump of Red Campion. One of the paddocks held a flock of Linnets, and a single white butterfly flew in the distance, probably a Small White. We headed back past the Lighthouse, still looking for Wheatears, and in the field opposite we found a pair of Stonechats perching up on grasses and bushes, then dipping down into cover. This is the female.

I saw what I thought might have been a Wheatear in the bushes near Pasture Road, but nobody else could see it, so that will have to be a “maybe”  Then back up towards Moreton, noting a clump of Speedwell in bloom by the factory railings. There was an unexpected setback at the station. Following an incident on the line at Hoylake, all trains were suspended, so we had an unplanned walk up to Moreton Cross and a long “scenic” bus journey around obscure parts of the Wirral to get to Birkenhead bus station, then a bus back to Liverpool.

Public Transport details: West Kirby train from Central Station at 10.05, arriving Moreton at 10.25. We should have got the 2.41 train from Moreton, arriving Liverpool 3.05, but the trains were suspended. Got the 423 bus at Moreton Cross / Hoylake Road at 2.58, arriving Birkenhead Bus Station at 3.40, then the 437 at 3.45, arriving Liverpool Whitechapel at 3.55. In retrospect, we probably should have got the same number bus in the opposite direction, which takes nearly as long, but goes all the way to Liverpool.

We got off to a very good start with a Peregrine Falcon flying over Bank Hall Station, heading into town.  It was the Spring equinox, the sun was shining, the Magnolia buds were just breaking, but there was still a chill in the air.

As we walked along Marshside Road towards the car park, we spotted Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Pink-footed Geese, Shelduck, Shoveller, Redshanks, Moorhens, a pair of Teal and many grazing Wigeon.

Five MNA members were there, and there were eight of us in the Sunday Group, although four of us are also MNA members. On the way to the Sandgrounders hide we noted Lapwings, a Coot and what appears to be a breeding colony of Black-headed Gulls on an island. There was supposed to have been a Mediterranean Gull mixed in with them recently, identified by its darker head, but nobody spotted it today.

We lunched in Sandgrounders, admiring a pair of Avocets right in front of us.

There were also Black-tailed Godwits probing the water, a pair Oystercatchers and two Jackdaws. Way over to the left of Polly’s Pool was a flock of Golden Plover. They were hard to make out, even with Alexander’s telescope. There was said to be a Little Egret, but it was hiding in a ditch. A pair of Mallards slept in the reeds, a pair of Gadwall dabbled for food, and a Shelduck caught the bright sunshine.

As we left the hide, I spotted Green Alkanet in bloom, and a large fly inside a blooming Daffodil. It was quite still and appeared to be hanging on to the daff’s pistil for dear life. It’s definitely a Drone Fly, Eristalis sp., but it’s hard to tell whether it was the Common Drone Fly Eristalis tenax, with a dark face stripe (impossible to see) and curved fourth segment (tibia) of the rear leg, or whether it was the Tapered Drone Fly Eristalis pertinax, which is identified by its pale front legs, also impossible to see. Since that back leg looks completely straight, I guess it’s the Tapered, but I may be wrong.

There were Tufted Duck  and Little Grebe on Junction Pool, and as we were walking along to Nel’s Hide, we spotted Mute Swans. A Little Egret posed by an island, looking very photogenic, but it moved as soon as I got my camera out, drat it!  From Nel’s Hide we could see Pintail, Redshank, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, a flotilla of Shelduck and more Teal.

Some of us spotted three Brown Hares on the far bank, but not me.

We had 14 new ticks today on the Sunday Group’s Bird list for the year, now standing at 68.

Public transport details: Bus 47 from Queen Square at 10.10. (We would normally get the train to Southport, but there were rail engineering works from Hunt’s Cross to Sandhills, so we were avoiding and outflanking the dreaded rail replacement bus.) Arrived Stanley Road near Bank Hall Station at 10.20, and got the 10.31 train to Southport, which was the one we would have been on from Central, if it had been running. That arrived Southport 11.05, then bus 44 from Hoghton Street / London Street (opposite the Little Theatre) at 11.17, arriving Elswick Road / Presall Lane at 11.30.  Returned from Marshside Road / The Fog Bell at 2.29 (the 2.15, late) arriving Southport at 2.38, and we got the 2.58 train back to Liverpool.