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Wirral Way
The Wirral Country Park is a country park on the Wirral Peninsula, England, lying both in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the county of Merseyside and in the borough of Cheshire West & Chester in the county of Cheshire. It was the first designated country park in Britain, opening in 1973. The park is located along the Wirral Way, which follows the track bed of part of the former Birkenhead Railway route from West Kirby to Hooton. The old line, which closed in 1962, follows the estuary of the River Dee for between West Kirby and Parkgate. The route then heads inland, across the Wirral peninsula, to Hooton. There are two visitor centres along the Wirral Way. The visitor centres are located near to the site of Thurstaston railway station, at Thurstaston, and at the preserved Hadlow Road railway station, in Willaston. History Work began on the park in 1969, and the park was formally opened in 1973 by Lord Leverhulme. The park's creation followed a successful campai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirby Park Railway Station
Kirby Park railway station was a station on the single track Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Birkenhead Railway, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. History The Birkenhead Railway, owned jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and North Western Railway (LNWR), had initially opened a branch line from Hooton to Parkgate in 1866. An extension to West Kirby was completed twenty years later although Kirby Park station did not open until 1 October 1894. It was named after Kirby Park, the area surrounding the house Kirbymount, formerly the summer residence of John Hurleston Leche XV of Carden. Originally considered an experimental station, it was constructed primarily of timber to the south of the current West Kirby railway station and served largely as a school stop for the nearby Calday Grange Grammar School. Closure Kirby Park railway station closed before most of the stations on the line on 5 July 1954, however for school purposes it remained open until 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viscount Leverhulme
Viscount Leverhulme, of the Western Isles in the Counties of Inverness and Ross and Cromarty, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom created in 1922 for the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Baron Leverhulme. He had already been created a baronet, of Thornton Manor in the parish of Thornton Hough in the County of Chester, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom in 1911, and Baron Leverhulme, of Bolton-le-Moors in the County Palatine of Lancaster, in 1917, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. His grandson, the third Viscount, was Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire between 1949 and 1990 and Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from 1980 until 1993. The Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital at Liverpool Veterinary School is named after him. He had three daughters but no sons and on his death in 2000 the titles became extinct. The ''hulme'' section of the title was in honour of the 1st Viscount's wife, Elizabeth Hulme. Lever baronets, of Thornton Manor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hen Harrier
The hen harrier (''Circus cyaneus'') is a bird of prey. It breeds in Eurasia. The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. It migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian birds move to southern Europe and southern temperate Asia. In the mildest regions, such as France and Great Britain, hen harriers may be present all year, but the higher ground is largely deserted in winter. The northern harrier was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the hen harrier. Taxonomy In 1758 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the hen harrier in the first volume of his ''Gleanings of Natural History''. He used the English name "The blue hawk". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a bird that had been shot near London. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his ''Systema Naturae'' for the twelfth edition, he placed the hen harrier with the falcons and eagles in the genus '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peregrine Falcon
The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae. A large, Corvus (genus), crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underparts, and a black head. The peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest bird in the world, as well as the Fastest animals, fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a ''National Geographic (U.S. TV channel), National Geographic'' TV program, the highest measured speed of a peregrine falcon is . As is typical for avivore, bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are Sexual dimorphism, sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males. The peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the tropics. It can b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of eleven genera. They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below, with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap. Terns are long-lived birds and are relatively free from natural predators and parasites; most species are declining in numbers due directly or indirectly to human activities, including habitat loss, pollution, disturbance, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meadow Pipit
The meadow pipit (''Anthus pratensis'') is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated population also occurs in the Caucasus Mountains. It is migratory over most of its range, wintering in southern Europe, North Africa, and south-western Asia, but is resident year-round in western Europe, though even here many birds move to the coast or lowlands in winter. Taxonomy The meadow pipit was formally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Alauda pratensis''. The type locality is Sweden. The meadow pipit is now the type species of the genus ''Anthus'' that was introduced in 1805 by German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. The species is monotypic; no subspecies are recognised. The generic name ''Anthus'' is the Latin name for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skylark
''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are known from the fossil record. The current genus name is from Latin ''alauda'', "lark". Pliny the Elder thought the word was originally of Celtic origin. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Alauda'' was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The type species was subsequently designated as the Eurasian skylark. The genus ''Alauda'' has four extant and at least two extinct species. Formerly, many other species have also been considered to belong to the genus. Extant species The genus contains four species: Extinct species * †''Alauda xerarvensis'' (late Pliocene of Varshets, Bulgaria) * †''Alauda tivadari'' (late Miocene of Polgardi, Hungary) Former species Previ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Lapwing
The northern lapwing (''Vanellus vanellus''), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tew-it, green plover, or (in Ireland and Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Eurosiberia. Behaviour It is highly migratory over most of its extensive range, wintering further south as far as North Africa, northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of China. It migrates mainly by day, often in large flocks. Lowland breeders in westernmost areas of Europe are resident. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America, especially after storms, as in the Canadian sightings after storms in December 1927 and in January 1966. It is a wader that breeds on cultivated land and other short vegetation habitats. 3–4 eggs are laid in a ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders, up to and including horses and cattle. In winter, it forms huge flocks on open land, particularly arable land a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Shelduck
The common shelduck (''Tadorna tadorna'') is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus, ''Tadorna''. It is widespread and common in the Euro-Siberian region of the Palearctic, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the Maghreb. Fossil bones from Dorkovo (Bulgaria) described as ''Balcanas pliocaenica'' may actually belong to this species. More likely, they are an extinct species of ''Tadorna'' (if not a distinct genus) due to their Early Pliocene age; the present species is not unequivocally attested from the fossil record until some 2–3 million years later (Late Pliocene/ Early Pleistocene). Taxonomy The common shelduck was formally named by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Anas tadorna''. Linnaeus largely based his description on "The Sheldrake or Burrough-Duck" that had been described and illustrated in 1731 by the English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Redshank
The common redshank or simply redshank (''Tringa totanus'') is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. Taxonomy The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Scolopax totanus''. It is now placed with twelve other species in the genus ''Tringa'' that Linnaeus had introduced in 1758. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific ''totanus'' is from , the Italian name for this bird. Six subspecies are recognised: * ''T. t. robusta'' ( Schiøler, 1919) – breeds in Iceland and the Faroe Islands; non-breeding around the British Isles and west Europe * ''T. t. totanus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – breeds in west, north Europe to west Siberia; winters in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cockle (bivalve)
A cockle is an edible marine bivalve mollusc. Although many small edible bivalves are loosely called cockles, true cockles are species in the family Cardiidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Cardiidae Lamarck, 1809. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=229 on 2022-02-09 True cockles live in sandy, sheltered beaches throughout the world. The distinctive rounded shells are bilaterally symmetrical, and are heart-shaped when viewed from the end. Numerous radial, evenly spaced ribs are a feature of the shell in most but not all genera (for an exception, see the genus ''Laevicardium'', the egg cockles, which have very smooth shells). The shell of a cockle is able to close completely (i.e., there is no "gap" at any point around the edge). Though the shell of a cockle may superficially resemble that of a scallop because of the ribs, cockles can be distinguished from scallops morphologically in that co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lugworm
The lugworm or sandworm (''Arenicola marina'') is a large marine worm of the phylum Annelida. Its coiled castings are a familiar sight on a beach at low tide but the animal itself is rarely seen except by those who, from curiosity or to use as fishing bait, dig the worm out of the sand. In the UK, the lugworm species ''Arenicola marina'' is commonly known as the blow lugworm, and rarely exceeds . There is a second species of UK lugworm ''Arenicola defodiens'' commonly called the black lugworm. As well as growing larger than blow lugworm (in line with descriptions for Europe and North America lugworm below) they are generally much darker, often totally black. They can be distinguished by the different wormcasts they produce - ''Arenicola defodiens'' makes a spiral cast, while that of ''Arenicola marina'' is jumbled. When fully grown, the lugworm of the coasts of Europe is up to long and in diameter. Other species on the North American coast range from . The body is like that of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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