Rainford Mosslands

Lapwing 100 Dairy Farm Road

Eccleston Mere

Kingfisher 2
Mute Swan 2 adults
Tufted Duck 5
Buzzard 1

Hilbre Island

It was a beautiful day on Hilbre Island today, though that did have the downside of attracting a few too many people and too few birds. There were two Wheatears on the west side and a scattering of Turnstones around the island, including one in summer plumage, as well as good numbers of Sandwich Terns, but it was very much a day to spend botanising. Rocky coastlines are a pretty scarce commodity in this part of the UK, and it's difficult to think of many between Morecombe Bay and Llandudno, and as such Hilbre has several species of plant which are rare in the North West. These include notably Rock Sea-Lavender  Limonium binervosum, Rock Sea Spurrey Spergularia rupicola and the fern Sea Spleenwort Asplenium marinum.

 

 
Rock Sea-Lavender Limonium binervosum is a rare plant throughout the UK, and the race which grows on Hilbre occurs at only five localities in the UK. It's also a frustratingly difficult plant to photograph!

 
Harebell Campanula rotundifolia and Rock Sea Spurrey Spergularia rupicola.

 
Sheepsbit Scabious Jasione montana and the fern Sea Spleenwort Asplenium marinum. I'm quite a fan of ferns, and Sea Spleenwort is a particularly interesting species. Unlike other ferns it has a very leathery feel (like many coastal plants) and it requires salt spray for its survival.

 
Spear Mint Mentha spicata (although it's possibly a hybrid) and Seaside Centaury Centaurium littorale.

 
Grayling and Grey Seal. Graylings always land with their wings closed and sit in such a position as to minimise their shadow, as this one is demonstrating perfectly! They're so confident in their camoufalge that they can be quite approachable.

Eccleston Mere

Mute Swan 2 adults
Tufted Duck 5

Queens Park

Holly Blue butterfly 1 flying high up through trees.

Rainford Mosslands

Siskin 10 adults and juveniles in Dairy Farm Road
Lapwing 70+ Dairy Farm Road
Corn Bunting 1 singing Dairy Farm Road
Buzzard 1 Old Coach Road

It would be great to think that the Siskin are local breeders. There certainly seems to be some good habitat for them near Dairy Farm Road.

Eccleston Mere

Mute Swan 2 adults
Tufted Duck 6

Still very quiet at the mere.....


Walking around the mere this evening I noticed quite a lot of freshwater Swan Mussels Anodonta cygnea in the water. I've seen Common Scoter on the mere swallow them whole in the past, and once watched a Velvet Scoter at close range on an inland lake swallow three in 45 minutes! They can grow quite large, and the photo above (taken about 4 years ago) is quite typical. The scale on the rule is inches of course. Occasionally there is a "wreck" and lots of them get washed up on the shore.

Rainford Mosslands

Swift 20+
House Martin 30 +
Swallow 10+

All over Clare's Moss, Old Coach Road.

Rainford Mosslands

Lapwing 70 Dairy Farm Road
Corn Bunting 1 singing Dairy Farm Road
Yellowhammer 2 singing Dairy Farm Road
Goldfinch 20 Dairy Farm Road

Eccleston Mere

Buzzard 1
Tufted Duck 4
Mute Swan 2 adults


Hemp-agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum and Square-stalked St. John's-wort Hypericum tetrapterum.


For those of you that know your plant communities, this is a nice bit of fen in the south-west corner of the mere. It's community S28b and has the following species:

                                        Domin score
Alnus glutinosa                         1
Angelica sylvestris                    2
Anthriscus sylvestris                 1
Arrhenatherum elatius              2
Cardamine flexuosa                  2
Carex acuta                              9
Chamerion angustifolium          2
Epilobium hirsutum                   4
Equisetum arvense                   1
Galium aparine                         1
Holcus Mollis                             2
Iris pseudacorus                       4
Juncus effusus                          2
Persicaria amphibia                   4
Phalaris arundinacea                 4
Rumex obtusifolius                    2
Salix alba                                  1
Scutellaria galericulata              1
Solanum dulcamara                   4
Stachys palustris                       2
Typha latifolia                           4
Urtica dioica                              2

The most interesting thing about this community is that it is dominated by the sedge Carex acuta (Slender Tufted Sedge), which is unusual for two reasons. The first is that the sedge here grows in tussocks, and the second is that it is very unusual for this sedge to dominate a community as it does here.

Roadside flowers

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, it's not due to lack of effort, I just haven't seen much worth reporting in the past couple of weeks. I have however noticed lots of beautiful roadside flowers on my bike rides around the mosslands.

I suspect that most or all of these plants are only there because they were sown in a batch of widlflower seed at some time, but does that matter? I'm not sure, I can think of good arguements for and against, but one things for sure, they're a spectacular sight at the moment.


Chicory Chicorium intybus growing along the East Lancs between Windle Island and Knowsley.


Field Scabius Knautia arvensis growing at the side of the Rainford bypass between the bypass and St Helens road.

 
Nettle-leaved Bellflower Campanula trachelium, a single plant growing next to the East Lancs, and Perforate St. John's-wort Hypericum perforatum also growing at the side of the East Lancs. The latter differs from the more common (in St Helens) Square-stalked St. John's-wort Hypericum tetrapterum in many ways, but perhaps most notibly in its round stems and petals with black dots on the edges.

Bird on the mosslands are few and far between at the moment, but there were a few:

Corn Bunting 1 singing Dairy Farm Road
Great-spotted Woodpecker 2 Old Coach Road
Buzzard 2 Old Coach Road
Tree Sparrow 2 Old Coach Road