Stop 2 Holly

Holly 

• Holly provides dense cover and good nesting opportunities for birds, while its deep, dry leaf litter may be used by hedgehogs and small mammals for hibernation.
• The flowers provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The leaves are eaten by caterpillars of the holly blue butterfly, along with various moths.
• The berries are a vital source of food for birds in winter, and small mammals, such as wood mice and dormice.
• is a small fly with larvae that cause discoloured blotches by feeding inside holly leaves.
• If you look carefully you can see where blue tits have fed on the leaf miners. You can see little flaps the birds have cut with their beaks to get to the tasty larvae.

Stop 3 Hawthorn

Hawthorn

• Common hawthorn can support hundreds of other species. It is the foodplant for many caterpillars of moths. Its flowers are eaten by dormice and provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The red berries it produces in the are called haws and are rich in antioxidants. Haws are eaten by migrating birds, such as redwings, fieldfares and thrushes, as well as small mammals.

• The dense, thorny foliage makes fantastic nesting shelter for many species of bird. Hawthorn is a pagan symbol of fertility and has ancient associations with May Day. It was the ancestor of the Maypole and its leaves and flowers the source of May Day garlands as well as appearing in the wreath of the Green Man.

• Hawthorn was never brought into the home. It was believed that bringing hawthorn blossom inside would be followed by illness and death, and in medieval times it was said that hawthorn blossom smelled like the Great Plague. Botanists later learned that the chemical trimethylamine in hawthorn blossom is also one of the first chemicals formed in decaying animal tissue, so it is not surprising that hawthorn flowers are associated with death.

• Its blossoming marks the point at which spring turns into summer. The young leaves, flower buds and young flowers are all edible. They can be added to green salads and grated root salads.

Stop 4 Bluebells a

Bluebells a

• Many insects reap the benefits of bluebells which flower earlier than many other plants. Woodland butterflies, bees and hoverflies all feed on their nectar. Bees can ‘steal’ the nectar from bluebells by biting a hole in the bottom of the flower, reaching the nectar without the need to pollinate the flower.

• In the past bluebells have been associated with fairy magic and some people believed that if you picked bluebells you may be led astray by bad fairies.

Bluebells 2 b

• In the language of flowers, the bluebell is a symbol of humility, constancy, gratitude and everlasting love. It is said that if you turn a bluebell flower inside-out without tearing it, you will win the one you love, and if you wear a wreath of bluebells you will only be able to speak the truth.  

• Bluebells have been used for a variety of different things throughout history. Their sticky sap was once used to bind the pages of books and glue the feathers onto arrows, and during the Elizabethan period, their bulbs were crushed to make starch for the ruffs of collars and sleeves. 

• Blue bells do contain poisons, but their bulbs have diuretic (increases urination) and styptic (helps to stop bleeding) properties, and research on how these flowers could potentially help fight cancer is ongoing.

Stop 5 London Plane

London Plane

• The London plane is thought to be a cross between the Oriental plane and the American sycamore – both of which had been introduced to Britain. By chance, one of each species had been planted in the London nursery garden of John Tradescant, the younger which cross-pollinated to produce a new hybrid. It was first noticed by Tradescant – a famous botanist – in the mid-17th century and named after the city where it originated.

• London plane is valued for its ability to adapt to urban conditions and its resistance to pollution, and is therefore widely planted as a street tree in large cities, particularly London. When this avenue of trees was planted Widnes had a lot more pollution than today, so it was a good choice, as these trees can thrive when many others would not. 

• While very little wildlife is associated with London plane, its seeds may be eaten by grey squirrels and birds have been known to nest in the tree. 

Stop 6 Lilac

Lilac

• Lilac was introduced from the mountains of south-east Europe in the 16th century as a garden plant and has since become naturalised. It is not common, but can sometimes be found in hedgerows and along woodland edges. It flowers in spring (around May and June) and is often used as an ornamental plant in gardens for both its delicately coloured flower spikes and its lovely fragrance.

• Lilac wood is often used for making musical instruments.

Stop 7 Ivy a

Ivy a

• Ivy is particularly important to many insects before they go into hibernation. Some of the main insect species which forage on the nectar and pollen of ivy are bees, hoverflies and common wasps. It is an important food plant for some butterfly and moth larvae such as holly blue, small dusty wave, and swallow-tailed moth.

• Mature ivy is also used as a roosting site for bats. Ivy uses trees and walls for support, allowing it to reach upwards to better levels of sunlight. It is not a parasitic plant and has a separate root system in the soil and so absorbs its own nutrients and water as needed. Ivy does not damage trees and its presence doesn’t indicate that a tree is unhealthy.

Ivy b

• The high fat content of the berries is a nutritious food resource for birds and the berries are eaten by a range of species including thrushes, blackcaps, woodpigeons and blackbirds.

• The leaves are sometimes used to make extracts for medicine. English ivy might help thin mucus in the airways. This might improve lung function in people with breathing difficulty. English ivy might also have antioxidant effects.

• Ivy leaves can also be used as a washing detergent

Stop 8 Horse Chestnut

Horse Chestnut

• Horse chestnut is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It was first introduced to the UK from Turkey in the late 16th century and widely planted. The flowers provide a rich source of nectar and pollen for insects, particularly bees.

• The most famous use of horse chestnut is in the game of conkers. The first record of the game is from the Isle of Wight in 1848. Other uses of the conkers include medicines, as additives in shampoos, and as a starch substitute. Chemicals extracted from conkers can be used to treat strains and bruises. There’s hearsay that if you place conkers around your house it will keep spiders away, but there’s no scientific proof that this is the case.

Stop 9 Mystery Tree

Mystery Tree

• Can you Identify this tree?

• Scientists recently discovered that holly trees adjust their spiky armour in response to hungry animals and changing environments. They can produce some prickly leaves to fend off nibblers while others remain smooth

Stop 10 Yew (Do not touch) a

Yew (Do not touch) a

• The yew is probably the most long-lived tree in northern Europe.

• Unlike many other conifers, the common yew does not actually bear its seeds in a cone. Instead, each seed is enclosed in a red, fleshy, berry-like structure known as an aril which is open at the tip. The fruit is eaten by birds, such as the blackbird, mistle thrush, song thrush and fieldfare; and small mammals, including squirrels and dormice. The leaves are eaten by caterpillars of the satin beauty moth.

Stop 10 Yew b

Yew b

• Yew trees are associated with churchyards and there are at least 500 churchyards in England which contain yew trees older than the buildings themselves. It is not clear why, but it is thought that yew trees were planted on the graves of plague victims to protect and purify the dead, and also in churchyards to stop 'commoners' from grazing their cattle on church ground as yew is extremely poisonous to livestock.

• Anti-cancer compounds are harvested from the foliage of Taxus baccata and used in modern medicine. Yew trees contain the highly poisonous taxane alkaloids that have been developed as anti-cancer drugs. Eating just a few leaves can make a small child severely ill and there have been some deaths linked to yew poisoning. All parts of the tree are poisonous. The oldest tree in the UK is this yew in a churchyard in Perthshire (estimated 2-300 years old)