Tag Archives: nature
Excitement on the Allotment and then Back to the Prom
It’s a few days later and I’m back on the plot, with another walk along the Prom beckoning. The robin has been for its suet treat, four noisy parakeets have flown over, and I have found three small, brown pellets … Continue reading
A Late August Stroll along Otterspool Prom
It’s a pleasant morning and the tide is high at 11am so, after a couple of hours on the allotment (not many birds about, just a chiffchaff “hweeting” away before it departs these shores for warmer climes), I take a … Continue reading
Learning about the Veteran Trees of Childwall Woods, Part 1
I don’t go to Childwall Woods often, but I should, as one February morning last year I saw nine sparrowhawks displaying in the sky at the same time – a truly memorable occasion. Sparrowhawk after sparrowhawk came in from all … Continue reading
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Tagged local history, nature, sparrowhawk, trees
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Rambling around Hale, Part 2
Resuming the walk along Within Way, I see a young whitethroat perched on a hedge down a side track, beak full of small caterpillars. It darts into the opposite hedge – maybe helping to feed the next brood?
Rambling around Hale, Part 1
Preamble (pun intended) This shortish (approx. 2 miles) walk takes in a range of habitats – hedgerows, farmland including wheat and vegetable fields, estuary and mud flats, shore and scrub – and a lighthouse, and can be extended into Hale … Continue reading
Sitting with Sparrowhawks, Part 4
Although the three young sparrowhawks have fledged, the whole family still visits the area around the nest site, so I do, too. It’s also a lovely spot for a quiet, mindful sit – as Claire Thompson describes in her beautifully … Continue reading
A Morning’s Birding at Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve
This morning, the hedgerows around Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve are bouncing with life, with adult goldfinches being chased by and feeding hungry pale-faced fledglings, and whitethroats skulking amidst blackberry thorns, muttering their scratchy call.
Sitting with Sparrowhawks, Part 3
As I walk through the wood, an adult buzzard flies off low among the trees from its perch on the large broken tree trunk that guards the way to the sparrowhawk nest. It is soon circling higher up, calling constantly. … Continue reading
Not the Bird We Were Looking For
This post begins with a note of caution: if a friend asks you to go on a ‘twitch’ (birder term for looking for a locally scare bird that’s been reported in the area) to a woodland that neither of you … Continue reading
A Swift Memory
Thinking about those swifts hawking around Speke Hall meadow in June reminded me of my first swift encounter this year, in mid-May. Continue reading