Allerton Towers lodge – image by Sue Adair CC BY-SA 2.0
Back on the footpath that links Calderstones Park with the golf course and Allerton Towers, I continue past the golf club and on towards the course itself, wondering what other species will be found along this part of the walk.
Usually, I cross the golf course with trepidation but there is no one playing today, which is strange for a Sunday – unless the course is closed on New Year’s Day. I soon arrive at Allerton Towers, a 35-acre former park estate, where the lodge, stables, former laundry and part of the orangey remain. Here, I bump into a fellow birder, who’s already racked up 70 species this morning on his patch but is now dog-walking. We exchange pleasantries and then part. These short but uplifting encounters that come about through birding certainly make life more enjoyable!
Allerton Towers orangery
I walk past the old and now sadly ruined orangery towards my favourite part of this site, the old stables and laundry, which are next to the partially walled garden. There was a female blackcap presumably overwintering here a in mid-November, but she’s not showing herself today. It’s a lovely spot to take a mindful moment, though: there’s a young blackbird bathing enthusiastically in a puddle near the building, a dunnock hopping around behind him, and a robin singing an uplifting ‘spring is on its way’ song in the bushes. How lovely it would be to buy this building and the land and make a home and a garden here – but it’s a Grade II listed building, so presumably it either has to stay as it is or would take millions to restore. At least its listing means it will be preserved – I hope.
Allerton Towers laundry and stables – image from Historic England website (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1359651)
There are a number of stories associated with the site. Tom Slemen tells one about a mysterious woman in white (https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/a-white-lady-haunts-ruins-25465427) who haunts the ruins and who is apparently only seen around Yuletide – she did not put in an appearance today, though. More prosaically, the site’s history is that the original buildings were designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, who also designed St. George’s hall, in 1847 for the Earle family. The house was of Italianate design with an impressive white exterior and said tower. Sadly, it was demolished by Liverpool Corporation in 1937, 13 years after they had purchased it, due to extensive dry rot. Only the lodge remains, and part of the aforementioned orangery – both leaving the viewer with a wistful impression of what this site must once have looked like. Liverpool Parks have a couple of photos of the mansion house, from 1926 and 1937 (
).
A close up of the ginkgo leaves taken 131122
Reluctantly leaving this peaceful space, I walk down past the gingko – which looked spectacular in autumn – and out onto the main road for a moment before turning back along the bridleway that meets up with the golf course path. A buzzard mews high above, lost in the fluffy white clouds that are now crowding into the blue sky as I retrace my steps.
Back at the park, I decide to have one last look for siskin, and am rewarded with… a stock dove – which is a pretty bird that looks like a combination of feral pigeon and woodpigeon. Then I wade through the mud by the lake, cursing myself for allowing an off-lead, uncontrolled dog and its owners to move me off the path, and head back down the hill for home – stopping to scan that last LTT flock and wonder where all the jays were today.
Stock dove – image by Frank Vassen from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 httpscreativecommons.orglicensesby2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Total: 30 birds – mission accomplished 🙂