The Naturalists' Notebook

It was an overcast, muggy day, with a few spots of rain. We took the 80A bus to Banks Road / Garston Park and made our way through the Speke and Garston Coastal Reserve down to the shore path. On the mud were lots of Knot, some Redshanks, Oystercatchers, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a few Curlews, Lapwings, a small horde of Ringed Plovers (perhaps 50-100) and one Greater Black-backed Gull. A small party of young Swallows flew south and some Goldfinches passed through. One Cormorant was sitting on a tall pole, silhouetted against the grey river. (Tracey Emin was paid megabucks for a sculpture just like this!)

We walked southwards along the shore path between wild edges of Bracken, Reeds, Bindweed, Nettle and Rose Bay Willowherb. There are very few Cinnabar Moth caterpillars on the Ragwort this year, so it’s blooming beautifully. Spear Thistle, Wild Mint, Common Bistort, Teasels, and Yarrow with some pinkish flowers caused (according to my book) by cross-pollination from garden cultivars.

Spear Thistle

Wild Mint

Common Bistort

(Pinkish) Yarrow

The only butterflies we saw were one each of Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

In a small park near the B & M warehouse there is a path leading back to the old airport building. When they landscaped it the men with the diggers had fun making rows of mounds on either side of the path, and now it looks like a processional way lined with the burial mounds of ancient kings. Some flowers prefer the drier conditions on top, so some of the mounds are capped with gold. At the back end there is an area like an amphitheatre with four mounds arranged like a star.

We tried to get into Speke Hall by the back way but the gates were welded shut. Someone has decided that all visitors will come in through the turnstiles!  It was drizzling then, so we headed back to town. On the way back we admired the rows of mature trees along Brodie Avenue which were just starting to turn red with autumn. Were they planted after City Engineer Brodie died in 1934 or are they younger than that? There were once tram tracks down the middle of Brodie Avenue so perhaps the trees weren’t planted until the tram tracks were taken up (in the 1950s?).

From Hall Road station we walked along Hall Road East, admiring the houses and gardens. The Rowan berries are red now and the blackberries are ripening. At the junction of Manor Road a narrow path leads through nettles and brambles into the fields around Little Crosby.  It was cooler, overcast and breezy, but we expected it to be sunny later.

We took the left-hand path towards Sniggery Wood, crossed the footbridge over the ditch and entered the wood. It’s quite narrow, with light coming in on either side, but silent and without much wildlife. There were some bird boxes up, and I saw a Robin earlier in the week, but nothing today. The wood is apparently the haunt of groups of anti-social lads who camp and drink. We emerged onto the path to return to Dibb Lane, and spoke to a dog walker who said there is a regular Barn Owl over the fields and that he had seen Weasels playing on Ackers Lane.

On the south-west side of the path was a meadow with sparse wheat and wildflowers, including a lovely blue one which may have been Perennial Flax. The field of Oil-seed Rape had recently been harvested, while the potato field to the south was in flower. The only birds were two Lapwings and a Wood Pigeon. The rain started then, and just as we got to Little Crosby Village there was a heavy downpour, so we dived into the Wellbarn and through an open door into the office of a small aromatherapy business called Carribean Essentials.

We had a damp lunch in the churchyard then walked up Delph Road where there are two big buddleias. Earlier in the week I’d seen a Peacock and a Comma, but there was only a Green-veined white today. On the lawn at the back of The Courtyard restaurant  we saw a Blackbird and a Robin.

Then the sun came out as we made our way back along Dibb Lane. The long hedge was full of Wild Roses and ripening Rose Hips. About a dozen white butterflies and a Meadow Brown emerged into the sunshine. The young Swallows were out too. Along the path leading to Sniggery Wood a Magpie was stalking slowly, hunting for something. Then a Moorhen passed us in heavy flight, long legs dangling, heading for splashdown in the ditch.

At home, the first Peacock of the year was feeding on my own Buddleia.

It was a very hot and sunny day, with the threat of thundery showers, but we missed one downpour whilst we were on the bus. The park lake had only pigeons at the south end, but there were lots of Black-headed Gulls and Coots at the top. I counted five Coot nests, some of them still with youngsters, since Coots nest all through the summer. One Mallard had four very late ducklings. There was a Mute Swan and a well-grown cygnet on the island, some Canada Geese, a Moorhen and just one Little Grebe. I got rid of the last of the duck and swan food to the BHGs, who dived for it enthusiastically, and the very last crumbs went onto the bird table by the Palm House.  Near the bandstand in the upper lake, a very young Heron posed picturesquely on the bank.

The terrapins were probably all removed when the lake was drained a few years ago, but the rats are still flourishing. One was creeping out of a crevice under a rock to snaffle turnip peelings left by someone. Did they think the birds would eat it?

The gardeners are allowing much of the grass to grow long and the lake banks are full of natural wild flowers. This may be why we saw more insects than usual. There were two species of butterfly, a Green-veined White and a Ringlet, plus a Brown Hawker dragonfly and a damsel fly, possibly a Blue-tail. Clouds of midges or gnats were circling over the water. On the railing I spotted a splendid brown Shield Bug with an orange and brown edging. I think it was Pentatoma rufipes, a common and widespread species which usually lives in trees. It was hopefully climbing up each semi-circular rail top, only to find itself guided down again.

At the Eros statue we were reminded of the flights of fancy of the former Park Ranger, Ritchie Baker, who always asserted that it was “Eros’s younger brother”

The wildflower bank by the Palm House was looking past its best, and the only creatures were the little animals on the Peter Pan statue – mice, frogs, and a lizard. But we nodded to the statues of the secular saints of natural history, Darwin and Linnaeus.

A brief thunderstorm overtook us in the Dell, and as we sheltered under the trees we spotted the Moorhens and Squirrels doing the same under the Rhododendrons.

It was raining hard before we set out, but by the time we emerged from the train at Wallasey Grove Road it had mostly cleared up, and we were greeted by a Goldfinch singing on a telegraph wire.

Today’s birds included Magpies, Starlings and Carrion Crows on the grass and Oystercatchers, Redshanks, one Cormorant, Herring Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Black-headed Gulls on the beach. Some of the BHGs have nearly lost their black head feathers already. Two big brown LBB chicks were begging from their mother. She got fed up and flew away for a dip in a tidal pool but they pursued her relentlessly.

All along the Coastal Drive we noticed the joints in the pavement were full of bits of cockle shell. Have the gulls or crows been dropping them from a great height to break them? A Carrion Crow flew past with one in its beak and we watched it hopefully to see if it would do the trick for us, but it took it over to the grass to fiddle with.

The only butterfly we saw was a Small White, and there were no Cinnabar moth caterpillars on any of the Ragwort. But House Martins were flying about near the Lifeguard station so there must be some insects about.  Parties of Dads and sons were taking advantage of the breezy sunshine to go crabbing, using fresh bacon as bait. It’s the crab’s favourite, we were assured. This weekend was the 11th National Whale and Dolphin Watch. We didn’t see any whales, but near the breakwater a sculptor had carved three pieces of driftwood into a row of leaping dolphins.

Off to Gorse Hill Nature Reserve, near Ormskirk, on a hot and sunny day. We took the train to Aughton Park, the stop before Ormskirk, and headed for Aughton Church. Just opposite, a footpath leads up through barley fields to the reservoir. House Sparrows were tweeting in the shrubbery opposite the church, a few young Swallows swooped above, and we were interested to see a large number of Banded Snails clustering on dried umbellifer stalks.

The gate to the reservoir was secured with an amazing set of 10 padlocks.

Further along we went through a field of very confident and inquisitive black ponies. One tried to get into Olive’s backpack, one gave Sheena a “friendly” nip on the arm and two clustered around the stile, making it hard to get over the stile and away from them!  But then we were in amongst the farmer’s fields. One was growing two types of Kale, the normal green curly variety, and the taller and darker Black Tuscan kale. We saw ripening fields of all three main grains – wheat, oats and barley, the barley catching the sun and looking as if it was made of bronze.

We had lunch on a verge near the top of Gaw’s Hill. Although only 81 meters (265 feet) high, the Lancashire Plain is otherwise so flat that we could see Blackpool Tower and the funfair ride called The Big One on the horizon. Butterflies were scarce. We saw just one Painted Lady and a couple of Meadow Browns. Back in the woodlands we heard Greenfinch singing, a few young Great Tits cheeped in the bushes and, our best bird of the day, a Yellowhammer which was calling, then seen perched on a wire.