Site Information

Childwall Hall  pictured was built by (your starter for ten now) Bamber Gascoyne in 1780 and designed by the famous architect John Nash. In 1949 the  building was demolished, unfortunately past renovation.

Childwall Woods, Fields  and the Black Wood are approximately  6 miles from the city centre in the South East suburbs of Liverpool, a site of nature  conservation value and has been named a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) area, the first in the city for 20 years. There are sixteen types of trees in the woods, the dominant tree  is Beech with a mixture of other deciduous and evergreen species throughout  including English Oak, Sweet  and Horse Chestnut, Lime, Silver Birch, Sycamore, Whitebeam and Yew. The bird list for the site stands  at, at least 60 species with Grey Partridge being notable in this urban area.  Kestrels and Sparrowhawks regularly nest in the woods along with Great and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.  Heron's investigate the marshy wet areas of the fields and in the autumn  Long tailed tits and Goldcrest can be seen flitting through the woodland treetops.

Childwall fields  is an 8.7 ha site, formerly a landfill site which was closed in the early 1970's. Used briefly for a college sports ground,  it has in recent years been planted with native deciduous trees as part of the Mersey Forest project .The area is capable of supporting very productive woodland and a wide range of species. 

The site is valued because of its wide range of urban wildlife. Sixteen species of butterfly have been recorded on the Fields, this includes small blue, small copper and red admiral butterflies. The grasslands put on a spectacular show of English bluebell, Common Spotted and Southern Marsh Orchids in early June, with buttercups providing a golden backdrop in the early summer.  Bats, grey squirrels, voles and foxes are also regular inhabitants of the area.

The view from the fields on a clear day is superb, looking over the Lancashire and Cheshire plain with the peak district to the south east and the west pennines and pendle hill to the north east. In the foreground the Widnes \ Runcorn Bridge crosses the River Mersey  at the narrowest point in the inner estuary.   

Location -  South East Liverpool, OS Grid Ref. SJ 410890.

Woolton woods & Camphill

Another 30 hectares of mature woodland and  open parkland in Liverpool. Woolton woods originally formed part of the estate of Woolton Hall and was owned by various prominent Liverpool families until being handed over to  Liverpool Corporation  to be used as a recreation ground for the Liverpool People.

A prominent feature of the woods is the walled garden originally the old kitchen garden with it's floral cuckoo annual bedding and herbaceous borders presented  to the public in 1927 by he Gaskell family.

map

E-mail : park.rangers@liverpool.gov.uk

Bird list for recent field trip 12 Feb 07  -  Childwall Woods.   Blackbird, Black headed Gull,  Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Jackdaw, Jay,  Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Nuthatch, Robin,  Song Thrush, Treecreeper, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Registered charity no. 207076
Unless otherwise stated,  copyright Laura Bimson/RSPB.