The Naturalists' Notebook

Photos taken by Chris Derri on the MNA Sefton Meadows walk

Little Owl

Buzzard

Curlew

It was a beautifully clear and sunny day, not too cold, with some early signs of spring. For those who met a Waterloo, the day got off to a very good start, with Fieldfares spotted from the 133 bus on the north side of Long Lane in Thornton. We met the others at Lunt Village, and two more people joined us later in the day, making a total of 17 members.

As we walked through the plantation of young Willow and Alder there were Siskins and Goldfinch twittering, and feeding on the small seeds of the Alders.

It was a day full of interesting sounds.  We heard a Water Rail, but nobody saw it. There was a bird scarer banging somewhere, and possibly some pigeon shooting going on. Further off we could occasionally hear the sounds from the firing range at Altcar. Skylarks were singing all along the River Alt embankments and Curlews were calling. A pair of Buzzards soared together in clear blue sky, and we flushed two partridges, probably Grey Partridges, although they whirred away before anyone had a chance to see them properly.  Chris Derri picked out two different kinds of leaf miner burrows in Bramble leaves. The two curly tracks, getting bigger as they wander through the leaf, were made by the larva of the moth Stigmella aurella.

Chris thinks the concentric circular track in the other leaf was also made by a moth, but he’ll have to look that one up. [Added later – Chris thinks it’s either a fungal rust called Violet bramble rust Phragmidium violaceum or possibly Phragmidium bulboum.]

He also found another leaf mine caused by a fly on holly Phytomyza illicis.

Part of the area around Lunt is being remodelled as a flood storage area and will become a new nature reserve, managed by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust. Some of the pools are already in use by Shelduck, Mallards and Gulls.

During lunch by the pumping station we spotted a big bird in the distance, initially guessed as a Heron, but it was a Bittern, flying towards us then turning north and going down somewhere near Ince Woods. Further on, a flock of Lapwings and Golden Plovers went up. We couldn’t see any reason for the disturbance, other than a microlight going over, but David Bryant, who had joined us from further north, said he had seen a Hen Harrier in that area. Later part of the group found a Little Owl by the old farm buildings.

There were no keen botanists with us today, but we did note the pussy willow catkins, the Celandines by St Helen’s Holy Well and the spiky seeds of Burdock.

Bird list (31): Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Fieldfare, Carrion Crow, Pied Wagtail, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Chaffinch, Buzzard, Siskin, Goldfinch, Water Rail (heard only), Kestrel, Long-tailed Tit, Black-headed Gull, Skylark, Shelduck, Mallard, Common Gull, (Grey?) Partridge, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Curlew, Canada Geese, Teal, Bittern, Stock Dove, Hen Harrier (seen by DB only from another path), Little Owl.

Chris Derri has sent me some pictures from our coach trip to Holyhead and Beddmanarch bay on 9th February. First, two shots of a Black Guillemot in winter plumage.

A Ringed Plover

Two pictures of a Shag

A trio of Red-breasted Mergansers and a close-up of the nearest male.

(Report by John Clegg)
A total of 20 members arrived at Burscough Bridge Interchange, by bus, train or car, for our walk on a mild sunny morning. As we left the station a group of Jackdaws flew over, the first of many birds seen. The morning was spent walking over farm fields, where we had close views of over 300 Pink-footed Geese, a single Raven and some Siskins.  We had lunch at Martin Mere then walked around the reed beds outside the reserve, seeing many ducks and geese. On a row of fence posts were three Peregrine Falcons. A large female and two smaller ones who might have been last year’s young. A buzzard was close by.
A total of 52 bird species were seen.
Jackdaw, Black-headed Gull, Magpie, Goldfinch, Carrion Crow, Raven, Pink-footed Geese, Greenfinch, Dunnock, Wood Pigeon, Skylark, Lapwing, Whooper Swan, Fieldfare, Redwing, Moorhen, Shelduck, Tree Sparrow, Robin, Collared Dove, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Siskin, Blackbird, Treecreeper, Coot, Mallard, Greylag Goose, Pheasant, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Teal, Wigeon, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, Shoveler, Peregrine, Long-tailed Tit, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Buzzard, House Sparrow, Wren, Linnet, Blue Tit, Barn Owl, Redpoll, Pied Wagtail, Greater Black-backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Photos taken by Chris Derri on the MNA Burscough Reedbed walk

English Longhorn Cattle

Barn Owl

Pinkies

Siskin

Whooper Swans

Mute Swan

Well not quite
I was working on some oil-well drill cuttings from Kurdistan. Lifted the penultimate sample bag from one of the boxes when out pops a gecko! These boxes have been in a storage garage on the Wirral for the past week – no idea how long they took to clear customs.

It sat for a while on the bench but became restless so I tranferred it to a glass sample jar, dripped in a few drops of water from a pipette for it to drink and found a few tiny dead flies on the lab window – heh heh. Had a quick photo session – put some sand in the bottom of a shallow tray and it posed nicely before I returned it to its jar.

After the rather frustrating RSPCA call system – no appropriate buttons to press for exotic reptiles in your lab! I finally got through to a human and the little fella was collected at lunchtime.

Had a quick google and it looks like a Rough-tailed Bowfoot Gecko Cyrtopodion scabrum a small, nocturnal ground gecko, with exceptionally long, angular toes.

The first MNA Coach trip of 2013 saw us returning to a familiar venue at Holyhead Harbour and the nearby Breakwater CP. It was a misty and drizzly day but we soon got down to some birding with Starlings and a Pied Wagtail on the grassed area beside the shore and a Song Thrush perched low down in a bush. A dark coloured Grebe diving amongst the boats in the harbour had us puzzling its identity. Elsewhere in the harbour we found a Cormorant, a few Shag, Little Grebe, a Black Guillemot already in summer plumage, a male Red-breasted Merganser with his entourage of four females who were observed performing synchronized diving – diving in unison then popping back up together.Chris Derri did some sea-watching and was rewarded with sightings of a few distant Common Scoter, a Red-throated Diver, Common Guillemot and Razorbill. 

I had a good root around the seaweed on the harbour shore. There were three different Wrack species and a few long strands of Sea Belt Kelp Laminaria saccharina.  There was Spiral Wrack Fucus spiralis, Knotted Wrack Ascophyllum nodosum which has long strap like fronds with large egg-shaped air bladders at regular intervals. A number of fronds bore tufts of the small reddish-brown filamentous epiphytic algae Polysiphonia lanosa.

Egg Wrack with red algae Polysiphonia lanosa

Fronds of Toothed Wrack Fucus serratus were covered in the Tubeworm Spirorbis spirorbis. These are often overlooked due to their small size. Their smooth, white spiral tubes, which coil to the left (sinistral) are only 3-4 mm diameter.

Spirorbis spirorbis

A few thin encrusting patches of an orange coloured Sponge species Pseudosuberites sulphureus clung to the rocks.

Plenty of Common Periwinkles Littorina littorea and a bright yellow Flat Periwinkle Littorina obtusata shell. Harry and Les found a Sea Slater Ligia oceanica, this littoral woodlouse is an inch in length. 

On the harbour wall we watched a few Rock Pipits flying up to catch flies – which were about despite the weather. On some rocks we watched an Oyk, a Ringed Plover, a sentinel Shag with tufy hairdo. Limestone blocks on the harbour wall gave an interesting diversion as they were packed with fossils including numerous brachiopods, solitary and colonial corals and a lone gastropod. 

Fossil Gastropod

We walked past the dramatic cliffs which are composed of Holyhead quartzite, a massive white quartzose sand deposit with some relict sedimentary features but now fused by metamorphism into a crystalline rock. There was plenty of Sea Ivory Ramalina siliquosa growing on the stone walls, this distinctive Lichen has grey tufted strap-like projections attached to the rock. Agrey Heron took off from the shore and a Curlew flew overhead.A shrill cry of ‘chee-ow’ quickly had binoculars scanning for the source – Red-billed Chough. This beautiful bird sometimes called the sea crow has glossy black plumage, a red bill and legs. A couple of Chough were located feeding on a grassed field along with Oyks and a Redshank.We stopped to admire the mosaics at the Breakwater CP visitor centre before walking back along the lane towards the harbour.

The lane edge had plenty of Winter Heliotrope Petasites fragrans which is one of the Aster family. This European herb has vanilla-scented white-pink flowers, hence the latin name fragrans. Its large green, leathery leaves were not dissimilar to those of Butterbur Petasites hybridus. 

Winter Heliotrope

Our usual Brent Geese were missing when we arrived at Parc Arfordirol Penrhos CP, Beddmanarch Bay. The tide was out so we scanned the mudflats through the mist for any sign of life. Shelduck looked monochrome in the gloom, Curlews were probing in the goo with their long down-curved beaks, a Bar-tailed Godwit with upturned bill also probed and Grey Plover had a quick burst of energy darting around before standing motionless again. A few Red-breasted Mergansers were around along with a couple of Great-crested Grebes and a lone Slavonian Grebe. The small pond held Coot, Moorhen, Mallards and a few Black-headed Gulls.The feeders held Chaffinches, a Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, a Robin trying to grab hold of the feeder with Dunnock and Blackbird more sensibly feeding below. Goldcrests calling away from the pine trees proved elusive. Snowdrops were peeking up through the muddy ground and a bright burst of colour was a couple of blobs of Yellow Brain Fungus Tremella mesenterica.

Yellow Brain Fungus