Urban birdwatching: Liverpool

Cormorant, Speke Hall

Lying awake, I'd noted the progression of the dawn chorus from the robin starting to sing at the darkest hour, soon joined by the blackbird, the magpie that chattered through as the first grey light was showing, the woodpigeon singing at daybreak as the carrion crows woke up, then the wren and the blackcap kicking in and the robin shortly joining them and the blackcap didn't stop for hours. At five past eight I was still wide awake and told myself I might as well get up, it was one of those nights without sleep and the next thing I knew it was half ten. I'll probably sleep through the dawn chorus come Dawn Chorus Day.

Given the circumstances I decided I'd have an easy day of it and try and avoid much Bank Holiday frivolity. The great-tailed grackle is still singing at Speke Hall and I'm still irritated at having such a fleeting look at it so I headed thataway.

Speke Hall 

I got the train to Liverpool South Parkway, got the 80a to Speke and walked down to Speke Hall. There were lots of small birds about in the parkland and precious few to be seen. Blackcaps, wrens and robins sang from the hedgerows, blackbirds and song thrushes sang from trees, whitethroats and greenfinches sang from hawthorn bushes, and I was seeing woodpigeons and magpies.

There was a Bank Holiday event going on at Speke Hall so I kept my distance. 

Walking round the pond

I took advantage of the results of the unusually dry and windy April weather to do a circuit of the pond, in ordinary circumstances one ten-yard stretch of the circumference would be impassible. Moorhens, mallards and a pair of coots pottered about. The coots were making such a production of their not nesting that I took it for granted they had a nest somewhere. I'd just completed the trickiest part of the circuit — limboing under a fallen tree then crossing a muddy rill by walking along a stick toe to heel — when I spotted the nest and the chicks under the tree I was leaning against to get my balance on a muddy slope.

Coot with nestlings

I left the pond and walked out onto the meadows. The grackle had been reported as singing from a copse in the corner of the meadow nearest the roads. This is all new territory for me, I wasn't sure whether or not the copse was part of the field margin. The best bet seemed to be to do a circuit of the meadow following the margin and see if I could hear or see anything unusual.

The meadows

There were plenty of singing blackbirds and whitethroats and the rattling of magpies. Every so often the soundscape would be punctuated by passing carrion crows, gulls or, a couple of times, ravens. Black figures flying across the treeline were jackdaws. As I approached one corner I realised that some of the trees in the next corner stood out like a little island in the meadow. I was also starting to hear noises that weren't quite magpie or blackbird. 

The copse in question 

As I got nearer to that corner, and that copse, something in the trees let out an oddly metallic whoop. This was followed by a sporadic squeaks, chatters, croaks and whoops. Some of the sounds were similar to the blackbirds and magpies in the background, some reminded me of starlings and mynah birds. It took a while to actually see the bird, it was sitting midway up a mostly bare tree surrounded by trees in full leaf. Irnoically, I got the best view of it as I was walking back and the bird jumped up near the top of the tree. I contemplated walking back then realised that even if the bird didn't take objection there'd be no point as the lay of the land meant that the closer I got the more the grackle would be hidden by leaves. I'd seen the bird and heard it, and for a lot longer than my last fleeting vision, so I was content.

Great-tailed grackle
The least-worst of a lot of bad photos.

Walking back past the pond a cormorant was sat by the bank drying its wings not really a lot fussed as I passed by. On the other side of the pond a couple of ravens were tormenting a couple of carrion crows in the treetops until they all got bored with it and flew off in separate directions.

Cormorant

It wasn't yet teatime and I'd bought a Saveaway ticket so I thought I'd drift around the outskirts of Liverpool visiting places I've not been in yonks. The 82a was the next bus to come along so I got that as far as Sefton Park and had a bit of a wander.

Sefton Park 

The soundscape of Liverpudlian municipal parks is nigh identical to those in Greater Manchester, including the background screech of ring-necked parakeets. Blackbirds, blackcaps, chiffchaffs, robins, wrens and song thrushes sang, titmice quietly fossicked about in the undergrowth while magpies and woodpigeons clattered about. Canada geese, mallards and coots cruised about on the pond, herring gulls and lesser black-backs elbowed the waterfowl out of the way and scrabbled for food thrown for the birds.

Sefton Park 

The plan was to walk through the park and get the 68 which goes to Bootle and get off at one of the train stations along the way. The plan was. There were no buses stopping round that end because of diversions so I ended up walking up Greenbank Road to get a bus into Liverpool from Smithdown Road. I popped into Greenbank Park along the way to have a look at more Canada geese, mallards, coots and moorhens and hear more blackbirds, blackcaps and robins.

Greenbank Park 

I struck lucky in Liverpool and only had to wait twenty minutes for the train straight back home, which saved on a lot of messing about. I'd had a nice trip out, I'd revisited a few places and the birdwatching was plenty good enough for a Bank Holiday Monday.