The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) have just launched a scheme to help redistribute binoculars, telescopes, identification field guides and much more from those that don’t need them anymore, to those that do.
This species first appeared in Liverpool at Springwood Crematorium in October 2019, a single fruitbody under some Cupressus leylandii near the access road. There are only 38 previous UK records on the national database. A rarity in this area, the only previous record for the North West was in 1953 at Blundellsands. This was also the first UK record.
Following on from a rainy December, January was another wet month. Although it rained on only about 14 days, there were two exceptionally wet periods, from 13th-16th and 18th-20th, the latter coinciding with named storm Christophe. This storm produced the wettest 3-days in Northwest England and North Wales since records began in 1891.
It was a wet one; measurable rain fell in Formby on 20 days during December. The 13th, 19th and 26th were especially damp, the latter coinciding with named storm ‘Bella’. It was also relatively mild, with frost largely restricted to a few mornings late in the month. There was no snow; indeed, it is now ten years since the last major snowfall here in December 2010. Unsurprisingly, the sand-dune water-table at my measuring point in the Devil’s Hole blowout rose by about 9cm (3.5 inches), in marked contrast to the previous month, when there was no change in the level.