The Naturalists' Notebook

The weather wasn’t encouraging when we met at Lime Street Station for the 10.01 Manchester train.  We left Lea Green station at 10.25 and walked south on Chester Lane in a continuous light drizzle. Turned right into Brickfields Daisyfield nature reserve where a Kestrel was hovering among the electricity pylons. At the far end of the reserve we crossed Walker’s Lane into the King George Playing Fields and stopped to deplore the state of two young maple trees which had been burnt and ring-barked by vandals. We crossed Jubits Lane and into Sutton Manor Woodland. Wildflowers included Dove’s Foot Cranesbill and Ribbed Melilot, and we were entertained by a young Song Thrush practising short couplets and triplets in a thicket. We could see the Dream  above the trees as we approached but it is always bigger than you expect when you get close up.  Happily, it stopped raining just in time for us to have lunch overlooking the M62 with views towards Helsby and Moel Fammau, and as we started back the sun came out.  Almost immediately two Gatekeeper butterflies appeared, followed by a Comma and a blue dragonfly beside a small pond. More wildflowers included Weld, bright blue Chicory and Yellow Loostrife, and there was a Sparrowhawk over the playing fields. We were back at Lea Green in time for the 2.25 train back to Lime Street.
There is no Sunday Group walk next Sunday, 25th July, because about half of us will be on the MNA Hodbarrow coach trip.

It was a longish walk for us today, about 4 miles along the canal. We took the 10.10 train to Ormskirk then waited about half an hour in Ormskirk bus station for the 2B bus at 11.15 to Burscough Bridge village. We joined the Leeds-Liverpool canal and made our way eastwards to the junction of the Rufford Branch. It was a dry and breezy day, threatening rain but warm in the sun. Lots of bright new butterflies today, two Red Admirals, a Comma, lots of Large Whites, two Small Tortoiseshells, a Green-veined White. We had our lunch at No.2 lock and watched a single-man narrow-boat, the Ephesus Crusader, negotiate its way through No.1 lock and into the second. It’s a very long job for a lone boatman – about half an hour per lock and he had six to pass to get to Rufford Marina. I saw only one Moorhen all day, and no Mallards or Coots, but we saw two Mute Swans near Rufford, a male Reed Bunting carrying food and two Mistle Thrushes with a smaller, browner one (a young Mistle Thrush or a Song Thrush?). There were House Sparrows near Top Lock Cottages, Swallows zipping over rippling barley fields, Yellowhammers singing, a Pied Wagtail near No.6 lock and two big Rabbits. Fringed Water-lily and Arrowhead in the canal.  We arrived at Rufford Marina about 2.30, rather hot and tired (but about an hour ahead of the Ephesus Crusader!) and had time for a loo stop in the Hesketh Arms before catching the 2B bus at 2.55 to Ormskirk and the 3.20 train back to Liverpol Central. 

We had an interesting mixed bag of places to see today. We took the 437 West Kirkby bus from Sir Thomas Street at 10.20, arriving at Upton Road/Grasmere Avenue at 10.45. It was warm and overcast, with a gusty wind and a forecast of heavy rain. Bidston Court Gardens has terraced lawns, a striking copper beech hedge and a wonderful view towards North Wales from the top terrace.  Then we climbed the steep wooded Thermopylae Pass up to Bidston Windmill and came down a different way to Tam O’Shanter Urban farm where we had our lunch.  Our plan for the afternoon was a concert in Vale Park, so after lunch we cut through Flaybrick Cemetery and down Tollemache Road to Birkenhead North Station, where we saw our only notable wildlife of the day – a Pied Wagtail on waste ground and a Kestrel hovering on the far side of the rails. We arrived at New Brighton at 1.45 and we were unfolding our deckchairs at 2.15. There were a few threatening spots of rain just as we arrived , but it cleared up and we settled down to hear the Norman Roy Band give us their Glen Miller Sound in honour of American Independence Day.