The Naturalists' Notebook

On a bright sunny morning, after an overnight frost, we took the 10.15 train to Chester and set off on our usual walk along the canal.

There were only a few Mallards, one Moorhen, and the usual town tykes, the pigeons and the Black-headed Gulls. A Pied Wagtail flew off from the bank and some Himalayan Balsam was still in  raggedly flower. At the Telford warehouse the sky was full of pigeons, which congregate on the roof there.

Below it there were the resident pair of Mute Swans. There are usually more of them, but either the cygnets have already dispersed or their brood failed this year.

We lunched in Water Tower Gardens, glad of the warm sunshine. We seem to be wading ankle deep through carpets of golden or bronze leaves more than usual this autumn. Is it a bumper year, or is it simply that park staff have been reduced because of the recession, and there is nobody to sweep them up? Then past the strange but colourful sculpture, based on jockey’s silks, and onto the Riverside Promenade.

Between the Roodee racecourse and the river the verge was full of the dead stalks of Giant Hogweed and Teasel. There was also an umbellifer in very late flower. Was it Common Hogweed?

We left Chester earlier than usual because another Waxwing hunt was proposed. They had been reported from the Stanley Road / Lambeth Road corner, but by the time we got there, they had gone. However, a flock of about 200 were back in Fountains Road on Wednesday 21st. They were very skittish, flocking around and trying to land on just two or three trees with golden berries. They never seemed to settle for more than a second or two, then they were off again. The trees were mostly stripped, anyway, with just a few berries left on the lower branches. But it’s a year-tick for me, anyway. Here’s a couple of “pocket camera pictures”, which I know won’t win any awards!

We go to a different Remembrance Service every year, and this year it was Southport’s turn. We enjoyed the playing of the brass band, but the laying of wreaths was a rather long drawn-out process, especially on such a cold day.  But at least it was dry and bright. One poppy posy was for “Women and children victims of conflict and war”.

We found a spot in the sunshine by the Marine Lake for lunch and watched four male Mute Swans displaying at each other.

One swan had a leg ring which JC noted for passing on to Sabena. There were lots of Black-headed Gulls and Herring Gulls around, mostly juveniles.

They gathered around hoping for crumbs from our sandwiches, and we noticed that one BHG appeared to be wearing a BTO leg ring. Just as we were getting the binoculars on it, a dog walker came along and scattered them, and we couldn’t locate it again. There were also some Mallards and Coots, and one Cormorant on the island.

We were bemused by a set of fingerposts, promising cycling, swans and lobsters!

On our way back through the town we were happy to see a good display of seaside paraphernalia fluttering bravely in the cold.

There are Waxwings about, so we set off to see if the 40-odd reported on Thursday and Friday at Blundell Drive were still there. Regrettably, they weren’t. There were about half a dozen ornamental berry trees along the street, which had been stripped bare, and although we waited around  for a while and watched the skies, there was no clue to where they had flown off to when their berries ran out.

We walked back to Hillside station through the suburban streets, spotting Goldfinches, Jackdaws and a Jay. There were plenty of other red berries around, also Privet and Ivy berries and a spectacular glowing beech hedge.

Pickerings Pasture is always a lovely place to visit, especially on a sunny autumn day.

Our first birds were Starlings, Chaffinches and a Mistle Thrush in the hedge along Mersey View Road. The tide was out, exposing the huge sandbanks, which had lots of Lapwings and Black-headed Gulls, with a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Carrion Crows. As we were enjoying the sparkling view, the Lapwings all went up and we searched the sky for a raptor, but there weren’t any about. Sometimes Lapwings must just fly around for no reason at all.

The sunshine caught some very handsome tall trees with just a few white leaves left at the top, strikingly catching the light. The fallen leaves were dark brown on one side and downy white on the other, so they were probably White Poplars.

There was a Kestrel overhead as we ate our lunches, and some very late blue Cranesbill flowers were out. As the tide started to come in we watched the “tidal bore” rippling over the sandbanks – a continuously-moving wavefront with white water at the leading edge.

We spotted the MNA’s sign at the hide and bird feeding area.

There were Canada Geese feeding on the grass, with some Magpies amongst them. A few Cormorants on the bank, and a single Redshank. A Raven cronked overhead. In the shrubbery a Blackbird was eating Holly berries and a Robin poked about under the feeders. Blue Tits, Great Tits and Greenfinches were at the nut and seed holders. The Greenfiches dominate the Great Tits, as these two lucky shots show. The first shows the Great Tit feeding, but being watched by the Greenfinch over on the right.  A moment later the Greenfinch has muscled in and the Great Tit is in retreat.

Then we spotted a Kingfisher, which is always a treat. It flew over the pool, then sat on a green fencepost, fidgeted a bit, flew to a branch near the hide, then made off.

On the way back to the entrance, we looked at the Ash trees but most looked OK, with fat black buds ready for next spring. At the edge of a copse was a madly quivering tree, which must have been an Aspen, surely. (“Willows whiten, aspens quiver, little breezes dusk and shiver … ” from The Lady of Shalott.)  Next to a huge bramble patch about 30 Redwings were on red berries, a Buzzard cruised overhead and in the distance near the Visitor’s Centre, about 200 Fieldfares were flying between an Oak and a couple of Lombardy Poplars.

There were a lot of delicate flying insects on the path beyond the hedge next to the wildflower meadow. Light-coloured, about the size of midges. I wonder what they were? It seems very late for them. A mixed flock of Starlings and Redwings flew past. In the hedges we spotted a Long-tailed Tit, the wonderful golden leaves of a Guelder Rose and bright red rose hips.

It was a dispiritingly damp and drizzly day, but we all made it to William Brown Street, despite the clock change. This was our second “fossil” walk following the guidance in the booklet published in 2001 by the The Liverpool Geological Society called “Rock around Liverpool”. Today’s plan was to look at the old flagstones around the Museum and Art Gallery.

The old flags (“made of a fine mica-rich sandstone, probably the Haslingdon flags of Upper Carboniferous age”) show ripples and flutes – “ovoid hollows cut by currents in thin muddy partings in the sandstone which are then filled by the overlying bed of sand”. Here’s one from the junction of Byrom Street.

There are said to be “protruberances caused by a ragworm-like animal” outside the doorway of the International Library. We didn’t find them, but they are probably obscured by the hoardings protecting the refurbishment. We did spot what looks suspiciously like pairs of fossil worm burrows on the pavement on the west side of St John’s Gardens (opposite the tunnel entrance), in line with the first half-turret north of the steps and eight courses of flags in from the pavement edge. The paired holes are about three inches apart.

There is also said to be a horizontal burrow of a marine worm “near the side door of St George’s Hall and adjacent to the mid-bollard between the door and the lamp standard”. We couldn’t find that, despite identifying what we thought was the right spot, but there is one suspiciously new-looking flag there, so maybe the fossil burrow has been removed. Five flags east of the the parking circle are several flags showing “an elongate rounded hollow representing the remains of a Carboniferous Coal Measure tree root known as Stigmaria.”

The bollards around the Wellington Column are made of a “nodular limestone from North Wales.” They include cross-sections of large Productus shells, the same as the ones in the steps of the Victoria Monument (see 16th September). There is also one splendid radially-symmetric creature which looks like a coral, in about the sixth bollard from the steps, south of the fountain.

We took a break from the rain in the Walker Art Gallery. As part of the Liverpool Biennial art event, the artist Patrick Murphy has placed some brightly coloured pigeons on the outside of the building. The blurb says “Here they are welcome, colourful visitors. However, the installation also evokes questions about … feelings of being accepted or marginalised. The pigeons can be seen to represent any group that struggles to find a natural home.”

The base of the William Rathbone statue in St John’s Gardens is of limestone, and shows “fine sections of crinoid jointed stalks”. I take that to mean round cross-sections. There are also more Productus shells and some wonderful tower shells. The vertical one on the second picture below is about 2½ inches long.

Then we went on our pub crawl, starting at Dr Duncan’s with its magnificent tiled ceiling, followed by the Grade II listed Crown on Lime Street with a wonderful plastered ceiling. Then the great Gin Palace on the Adelphi corner, the Vines (also known as the Big House): this is Grade II* listed (a higher classification than just Grade II), and the staff let us in to see the decaying splendour of the little-used ballroom.  The Central Commercial Hotel opposite Central Station is a riot of glittering cut-glass mirrors, and is also Grade II.

The manager of the Beehive at the bottom of Mount Pleasant confided to us that the bar was where “the Cameo murder was planned” in 1950. The Roscoe Head on the corner of Roscoe Street and Hardman Street is one of only seven pubs in Britain to have been included in all editions of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. The Philharmonic was very quiet, and I achived a lifetime ambition of sneaking a glimpse of the marble urinals in the Gents! Some of the less worldly-wise members of the group had to have it explained to them why the two lounges are called Brahms and Lizt (very little to do with classical music!).

At the The Cracke, John Lennon’s pub, we sat in the tiny back room called the War Office, and then we made our final call of the day at Peter Kavanaghs on Egerton Street. This is also Grade II listed, and has an eclectic mix of interesting old junk hanging from the ceiling: gas masks, chamber pots, old radios and toy prams. The snugs contain wall paintings of scenes from Hogarth and The Pickwick Papers. Earlier on, Olive had found a very damp tenner in the street, so finally, at our ninth pub, it was drinks all round!

It was very damp and misty at the Muirhead Avenue / Oak Lane entrance to Croxteth Park.

50+ Jackdaws were calling over the woods and there were Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls feeding on the dewy grass. All the other birds were lying low, except for Magpies and Feral Pigeons. On a grass verge near the Hall we noticed what appeared to be a failed Sparrowhawk kill. The remains looked like Wood Pigeon wing feathers, but there was no down and no corpse! Did it survive?

There was a lovely crop of small bracket fungi on an old log. Possibly young Turkey tail Trametes versicolor.

We looked at the special tree on the lawn, the Lucombe Oak, but the star of the day was a bronze beech tree nearby. The Lime leaves were also turning golden yellow.

There were Moorhen on the verge of the pond, and a few Mallards scooping up the duckweed. The fishing lake had a working fountain, but it was probably there to oxygenate the water, because the water was covered with green scum. There were no Mallards on it but we could see tracks where they had been. A Jay flew over as the sun tried to come out.  In the woods a Himalayan Balsam was still in flower. The shop had a competition to guess the weight of a pumpkin, and outside a man was giving donkey rides.

It was a beautiful sunny day, with golden leaves falling and a Wood Pigeon and a Blackbird working through the red berries on my own Cotoneaster as I started out.  A lovely day for the Liverpool Marathon. We met at Central Station, newly refurbished at ground level and on the Wirral Line platforms, but not yet open for the Northern Line. After a rail replacement bus from Birkenhead North we strolled down The Kings Gap to the beach, where we met Chris Butterworth on his way to his WEBS count (Wirral Estuary Bird Survey).

The tide was half way out, and there were thousands of birds on the shore, all arranged in bands parallel to the shoreline. A few dozen Shelduck were on the water with several hundred Knot and Lesser Black-backed Gulls at the edge and a few Dunlin and two or three Curlews amongst them. Some Bar-tailed Godwits were in the shallows, then a layer of Oyster Catchers, then mixed Herring Gulls, Common Gulls and Black-headed Gulls on the sand.  Amongst the clumps of Spartina grass on the beach some BHGs were holding individual pools and pattering around in them. Over a thousand Oyster Catchers took off, low over the water, heading north-east towards New Brighton. The wind generators on the horizon were still, the sea was sparkling and there was a rainbow off towards Hilbre Island.

Most of the dog-walkers were close in by the promenade, but as we watched a lady with an energetic dog was closing in on the birds. Luckily she didn’t quite allow her dog near enough to make the birds take flight, but the nearer ones were watching it closely and shifting uneasily. What are some people thinking of!

After a quick visit to the Hoylake Lifeboat Station we had our lunch in the little park off Meols Parade. It’s quite a suntrap there, out of the breeze. House Sparrows were lined up on top of a hedge, watching us curiously and a Robin came down onto the circular Bowling Green, whch was full of worm casts. There was a big bumble bee on the purple flowers of a plant like a Sedum, and we saw a dark butterfly heading out into the Estuary.

On the little beach by the old Lifeboat Station (now a Museum) a Carrion Crow was poking about in the seaweed. It picked up something round and white, like a pickled onion, and flew off. It was immediately mobbed by two Herring Gulls, hoping to claim its booty, but it managed to hold on to it and got away.

The museum had an amusing poster outside giving the bathing regulations for 1897. “Every male person above the age of 12 years shall while bathing wear suitable drawers or other decent or sufficient garments … Every female person above the age of 8 years shall while bathing wear a suitable gown or other decent and sufficient garments … as to prevent indecent exposure of the person.”  Sea bathing was also strictly segregated, with women in their demure gowns restricted to about 200 yards of beachfront near The Kings Gap, then a no-bathing-area 200 yards wide before men in “suitable drawers” were permitted to get into the water.

(Report and pictures by John Clegg) 

Owing to flooding on Sefton Meadows we had to change our plans. We took the 11am ferry to Woodside to the Wirral Bus and Tram show. At Woodside we boarded a Liverpool Corporation tram for the short ride to the Transport Museum. After looking around we got onto an old Wirral bus for a trip to Port Sunlight Village and back. The we returned to Woodside on a Wallasey Bull Nose open-end tram.