Black-tailed godwits, Leighton Moss

Friday, 9 May 2025

Cumbria by train

St Bees Head from Netherton 

The ankle was the better for a day's rest but still wasn't quite right. I thought it wise to give it another day, especially after a phenomenally bad night's sleep, but I didn't want to waste what looked like being a very agreeable day so I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed North.

The Barrow train was busy but not silly so. I got myself a window seat at Bolton and took in the scarcity of trackside woodpigeons along the way. Three roe deer watched the train go by just after Lostock Station. It was thin pickings for trainbound birdwatching up to Lancaster. The coastal pools at Leighton Moss were very busy with avocets and black-headed gulls. Greylags geese dotted the fields before Silverdale. There were plenty of jackdaws about. House martins wheeled around the rooftops of Arnside.

Kent Estuary from Meathop

The salt marshes of the Kent Estuary were very dry, the haunt of carrion crows and woodpigeons. There was water in some of the gulleys in the salt marsh beyond Cark but not a right lot taking any advantage of it. Scores of eiders sat on the mudbanks of the Leven as the train passed over the viaduct, a few mute swans dabbled in the channels by the river.

The connection with the Carlisle train worked sweetly. I wasn't sure how far to go down the line. There's a tight but doable connection with the down train at St Bees, they can't leave the station until they've exchanged tokens for the single track. The connection at Workington was just as tight, it would be safer to change at Harrington. Or I could go up to Maryport but the problem there is that the down train is for Lancaster and doesn't connect with any Northern Rail services heading South and I'd have an hour and a quarter to wait for the next one. I decided I'd get off at Harrington, which gave me a long stretch of Irish Sea coast to enjoy along the way.

We pulled out of Barrow and passed the line of Canada geese and greylags along the path by the Lower Ormisgill Reservoir. I assume there's actually a reservoir there, we just pass a high grassy bank with geese and, occasionally, a few people dotted about it. Jackdaws and carrion crows were the main feature in the fields and towns along the line, once in a while there'd be a crowd of rooks or some woodpigeons. A hundred or more herring gulls loafed on the roof of what looks like a recycling plant near Sandscale.

Kirkby-in-Furness 

The train passed through Askam and we approached the Duddon Estuary. Scores of black-headed gulls loafed on the emerging mudbanks. Curlews and redshanks dibbled about, pairs of shelducks huddled together, a few herring gulls flew past. The occasional swallow flashed by houses. An orange tip fluttering about Green Road Station was a nice change, every other butterfly of the day was a large white.

We left Millom and started the journey to the Irish Sea. Any train journey has its quota of unidentifiable small brown birds, it's nice when every so often you get to see a robin on a stick or overtake a meadow pipit or flock of linnets flying by the track.

The approach of Ravenglass means it's time to become extra alert. There's always something on the Esk to miss if you're not careful. Today it was fairly quiet, just black-headed gulls, lesser black-backs and redshanks and a small wader I couldn't identify as we crossed the river.

Seascale

The line meets the coast at Seascale and hugs it intimately all the way to St Bees. The only buildings seaward of the line are the houses on the beach at Braystones and Netherton that look worryingly vulnerable to a bad storm. On a day like today it looks idyllic. Herring gulls are almost constant companions, either flying by or loafing on the rocky beaches with oystercatchers and cormorants. More than a hundred herring gulls loafed on the banks of the Calder near Sellafield, together with three redhead goosanders. There were a score or so at Sellafield with a few lesser black-backs and pairs of shelducks and a fishing heron.

Braystones 

We lingered a few minutes at St Bees while the drivers swapped track tokens. The local house sparrows and starlings were being kept busy by hungry mouths. Not far out of St Bees we passed a red deer hind grazing in the middle of a field. We passed more crows and jackdaws on the inland stretch to Whitehaven and then resumed the hugging of the coast.

Just past Bransty the train disturbed five whimbrels that had been loafing on the rocks, the white on their rumps stretching halfway up their backs. Here and there crowds of herring gulls loafed on the rocks. The train slows down near Lowca, today it gave me the chance to identify the rock pipit flitting about the rocks near the trackside. Near Ghyll Grove the crowds of herring gulls were liberally peppered with cormorants. I nearly missed the three smaller, skinny shags at the edge of one crowd and may well have missed more.

Near Bransty 

I got off at Harrington and waited the ten minutes for the train back to Barrow. The sparrows and starlings were busy here, too, and a blackbird sang non-stop. When the train arrived I sat on the inland side to see what I'd missed on the way up.

Harrington Station, seeing off the train to Carlisle

The slow stretch near Lowca gave me the chance to find both the pair of stonechats fussing about on the steep bank above the track. There were plenty of jackdaws and herring gulls about and the occasional swallow flitted by. Nearing Bransty I noticed a pair of ravens fussing about a small crag but couldn't spot any nest. 

After a long wait for the up train at St Bees we set off again down the coast. Near Howman a couple of house martins zipped about the trackside banks and a little further along I was surprised to see a peregrine sitting on a post staring down at the train. Quite a lot of the gorse scrub about Netherton and Braystones had been burnt off. A crowd of herring gulls loafed on the Esk near Braystones. 

Near Drigg

We headed back inland, more jackdaws, herring gulls and woodpigeons along the way. The Esk near Ravenglass was unusually quiet, a couple of shelducks and a little egret. Flocks of rooks were busy in the fields between Ravenglass and Millom.

The osprey's nest on Arnaby Moss looked deserted. I hope that just means they've found a better des. res. The Duddon mosses were quiet save of carrion crows. I started to worry that the delay at St Bees would have us missing the connection with the Manchester train at Barrow but when I checked I found I didn't have anything to worry about as it had been cancelled.

The journey back to Lancaster from Barrow was more of the same. A couple of herons stalked the Duddon while fifty-odd eiders loafed on the mudbanks. A buzzard wheeled over Grange-over-sands, inevitably harassed by carrion crows. There were still wet patches on the golf course. Approaching the Kent near Meathop a young red deer stag, his single point antlers in velvet, walked along the side of a field. There was too much leaf cover to see the egretry. Lapwings, shelducks and black-headed gulls fossicked about on the mud of the Kent. There were a lot of greylags about on the stretch between Arnside and Silverdale. A flock of upwards of fifty black-tailed godwits covered one of the pools inland of the Allen and Eric Morecambe pools.

Kent Estuary at Arnside 

I got to Lancaster and had an hour and a quarter to wait for the next Northern train South (the old man's explorer ticket is only valid for Northern trains). It made a long day unnecessarily longer. When I got into Manchester my next train home would be quarter to ten and I had half an hour's wait for the next 256 home. I got the 250, I'd walk home through the park, and struck lucky: in Hulme I caught sight of the 256 I'd missed and the 250 got to Trafford Bar as the 256 was sat at the traffic lights just before and I made the connection. A lucky ending to a very pleasant day.

It had been a bone-idle way of seeing fifty-odd species of birds.

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

New Moss Wood

Red admiral 

I decided I'd go for a walk across the Salford mosses to try and get some movement back in the knees and ankle. I want to take advantage of the decent walking weather before the hay fever season begins in earnest. I listened to the blackcap singing in the back garden as I had an early lunch then got the train to Irlam, reeking of tiger balm, camphor ice and Doctor Driscoll's fiery rubbing liniment in no particular order. I thought I'd walk through the allotments, have a nosy at New Moss Wood, walk up to Little Woolden Moss and have a look for yellow wagtails.

By the time I'd walked through the allotments and got to Moss Road I was ready to pack it in. The singing blackcaps, robins, blackbirds and chiffchaffs weren't a sufficient distraction. I gave the ankle another blast of freezing spray and headed for New Moss Wood.

New Moss Wood 

Whether it was the spray or the softer ground underfoot I don't know but it wasn't a bad walk around the wood. The great tits, robins and blackcaps were making most of the noise with the chiffchaffs, blackbirds and whitethroats as support. The wrens contented themselves with chakking at me as I walked past and a couple of pairs of blue tits were a bit tetchy, too. A lot of noise preceded a carrion crow escorting a buzzard out of the wood and into the fields beyond 

Blue-tailed damselfly

I had a nosy at a couple of the dragonfly ponds, expecting to see nothing and finding a couple of broad-bodied chasers, a male and a female, flitting round. Common blue damselflies zipped about the nettle tops in the rides. Every year I find myself puzzling over skinny damselflies with fluttery flight and every year they're blue-tailed damsels. Nearly all the butterflies were large whites but a couple of red admirals fluttered about a stand of nettles and brimstones fed from red campions.

New Moss Wood 

I did a circuit of the wood and asked myself if realistically I could walk up to Little Woolden Moss, have a walk round and come back. Realistically it wasn't on, so I gave up. I'm annoyed with myself for giving up even though it was the sensible thing to do. I walked back into Cadishead, resisting the allure of singing willow warblers down a side path along the way, and got the buses home. I think I'll give the legs a rest tomorrow.

New Moss Wood 

I got the bus back to the Trafford Centre. Every fourth bus stop had a pair of swifts flying overhead. Spring is in the air.

Tuesday, 6 May 2025

Marshside

Sedge warbler 

It was a slightly sunnier day though that wind still had its edge. The knees and Achilles tendon were still protesting about yesterday's climbing about on steps so I thought I'd have a gentle toddle around Marshside and not aggravate them.

The train journey to Southport was nicely uneventful. I'm seeing a lot fewer woodpigeons along the railway tracks lately, partly because they're too busy to be loafing about on trackside furniture and mostly because there's already so much leaf cover. The fields of barley are well-grown, the pheasants are just disembodied heads above the green.

Marshside Road, looking over to Sandgrounders 

I got the 44 bus and walked down Marshside Road. There was a constant traffic of starlings and house sparrows overhead on shopping trips to the marsh for greedy mouths back at the nest. Some of the house martins were hawking low over the rooftops, others were bringing back gobbets of mud for nest-building.

Lapwing 

More of the Canada geese and greylags had goslings. Lapwings chased off any carrion crow, jackdaw or herring gull that passed by and tormented any that dared to land. Pairs of mallards and shovelers lurked in the drain at the edge of the marsh, a couple of little egrets fossicked about on the banks. Rimmer's Marsh near the roadside was a sea of woodpigeons, heads down busy feeding. Beyond them nesting black-headed gulls were dotted irregularly across the marsh, marking out what would be islands in a wetter Spring.

A couple of whitethroats sang in the remaining bits of hedgerow, a sedge warbler sang in the drain at the junction. The pair of stonechats made an appearance, struck poses on the fenceposts then disappeared into the rank vegetation at the side of the drain.

Black-tailed godwits 

About forty black-tailed godwits twittered and fed on Junction Pool with a couple of avocets and a few ruffs. Pairs of redshanks struck courtship poses with the white patches on their wings flashing like semaphore flags. A few mallards and gadwalls dabbled at the edges of the pool, a black swan sailed in from the sidelines and went to sleep in a corner.

Black-tailed godwits 

Black swan and black-tailed godwits 

Black-tailed godwits and avocets

I walked down to Nel's Hide to a backing track of singing skylarks, sedge warblers and whitethroats and calling black-headed gulls and herring gulls. I had no luck finding the Mediterranean gull again, going or coming back. Swallows and house martins twittered as they swooped over the the marsh and up and over the bund just over head height.

Ruff

Snipe

Nel's Hide was noisy with black-headed gulls and a sedge warbler parked in the bushes by the window. A couple of families of mallard ducklings dibbled across the pool in front of the hide. A snipe, a ruff and a dunlin in smart breeding plumage fed in the mud by the sides of islands. Shovelers dozed, gadwalls cruised about, pairs of Canada geese and greylags steamed round the pool or dozed on islands. Redshanks fidgeted, lapwings flew in for a quick wash and brush-up, half a dozen swifts swooped in for five minutes before swooping back out again. 

Shoveler

Sedge warbler 

Mallard ducklings

Carrion crow 
When this bad boy turned up the ducklings all ran to their mother, and who can blame them?

I wondered if the snow goose was still about. There's a fine line between finding something because you're looking for it and finding something because you're hoping it's there even though it isn't. Having had a long, hard stare at the white object amongst the distant Canada geese halfway across to Hesketh Road I concluded that it was an inanimate object of some kind. Ten minutes later I glanced over that way again and it had moved ten feet and had a neck. Five minutes later it was just a white lump again.

Junction Pool 

I walked back and headed for Sandgrounders. Blackcaps, robins and goldfinches sang from the sand plant as I walked by. The islands on the pool by Sandgrounders were packed with nesting black-headed gulls, the banks were littered with Canada geese.

Black-headed gulls 

It was fairly quiet at Sandgrounders besides the nesting black-headed gulls. A few avocets and a black-tailed godwit fed ankle-deep in the water. A little ringed plover skittered around on the mud. A pair of avocets at the back of the pool, at the mouth of the little creek, were being very aggressive, chasing off redshanks and starlings that happened to land nearby. The reason became apparent when two young chicks, perhaps a day or two old, waddled into sight.

Little ringed plover (left) and avocet 
In case you were wondering how little a little ringed plover is.

I headed back for the bus on Marshside Road. The snow goose was still distant but distinctly goose shaped when I looked over at Rimmer's. A kestrel flew by and hovered over the sand plant. The starlings and house sparrows were busier than ever feeding hungry mouths.

Burnet rose 

I'd hoped a gentle toddle might have done the knees a bit of good after yesterday. My hopes were dashed, it was a very uncomfortable journey home. I don't know whether to have a rest tomorrow or go for a long walk on the flat in the hopes I walk out the stiffness, I'll see how it feels tomorrow.

Monday, 5 May 2025

Woolston Eyes

Moorhen and chicken, Woolston New Cut 

I thought it might be no bad idea to avoid the bank holiday crowds. A golden oriole has been reported at Woolston Eyes. I had little hope of hearing, let alone seeing, it and it hadn't been reported again after first discovery but it was an excuse for a pleasant walk in agreeable surroundings.

Blackbird, Woolston New Cut

It was a grey and cloudy and decidedly cool day, the wind keeping that cutting edge to it. I got the train to Padgate, walked down to the brook and walked down the brook to Paddington Green and thence down the New Cut to Woolston Weir. Blackbirds, robins and dunnocks skittered around on the paths when they weren't singing in the hedgerows with the blackcaps, pairs of blue tits and great tits silently went about their business, woodpigeons and magpies clattered about, wrens jumped out of hiding, exploded in song and disappeared again. I don't know if it's a trick of memory but there seems to be a lot more birdsong this year even though the dawn choruses are more thinly attended.

Woolston New Cut 

There wasn't a lot of water left in the canal cut and that smothered in willow down. A family of moorhens fossicked about in the mud as I passed Grey Mist. Over on Grey Mist itself I spotted a pair of not-so-very-young coots, full grown but still being fed by their parents.

Great crested grebes and tufted ducks, Woolston Weir 

A pair of great crested grebes were nesting just upstream of the gates at Woolston Weir. A couple of tufted ducks and a shelduck dozed close by while a pair of gadwall hugged the far bank.

Herring gull, Woolston Weir
A puzzle at this angle…

Another pair nested just downstream of the gates where the river branches out, despite the congregation of a dozen very noisy lesser black-backs. A herring gull loafing beside them looked a bit out of place and somehow "not right" from the bridge across the gate but looked like a perfectly ordinary herring gull from the top of the rise on the other side. The different a change of angle and the drop of water falling off the end of the beak make.

…a dead straightforward herring gull from this

Walking along the path down to the Ship Canal Cetti's warblers joined the chorus of blackcaps, whitethroats, chiffchaffs and robins.

River Mersey side-branch, No.3 Bed on the other side

The flowers on some of the brambles by the path weren't a lot smaller than dog roses

Mute swans and mallards cruised the canal, a couple of cormorants sat by the side looking very alert though I was blessed if I could see how they'd see anything in the choppy water.

Cormorant, Manchester Ship Canal
I was cursing the background noise until I realised that was the picture.

I turned into the path to the bridge, let myself in through the locked gate and walked over into the reserve. The last time I did this I only went as far as midway across the bridge to get a photo of the ferruginous duck. Today I thought I'd best explore the Southern half of No.3 bed.

Gadwalls and pochards, Woolston Eyes 

I climbed the rise and had a look from the first viewpoint. I was immediately struck by how many pairs of gadwalls were crowded on the pools. A few pairs of pochards were dotted about, a few more lone drakes dozed on the water. Every raft and island had nesting black-headed gulls on them and their calls were a constant background noise to the visit.

The first Hide I came across was the Sybil Hogg Hide, overlooking a reedy corner where reed buntings sang, mallards and gadwalls lurked and coots fussed about. Way over the other side a female marsh harrier lurched into view from the reeds, floated gently over for less than a minute then disappeared back into them.

This Hide didn't seem to have a name

I walked round and followed the sign pointing to more hides, the first of which was an old shipping container on high scaffolding. The knees had noticed the change in the weather, the ankle was a bit dodgy, did I want to do this? Yes I did, and did. 

No.3 Bed

The climb was a bit scary but worth it, the views across the reserve were superb. Distant dots proved to be black-necked grebes. Great crested grebes and dabchicks were a bit closer in the channels of the reeds. Greylags and Canada geese cruised about in pairs. I had bird's eye views of coots and moorhens but couldn't see the water rails I was hearing. There were yet more gadwalls, easily outnumbering the mallards, tufted ducks, shovelers, shelducks and pochards combined.

The view from the hide

If the climb up to the hide was scary the descent was terrifying, I almos kissed the ground when I reached it. I've an okay head for heights but I'm very windy on ladders. Still, it was worth it for the views.

Black-headed gulls 

The steps up to the Morgan Hide weren't remotely scary. Black-headed gulls dozed and squabbled on their nests, families of Canada geese grazed, there were yet more gadwalls. A buzzard was chased across the reserve by a pair of carrion crows.

Canada goslings 

The black-necked grebes were showing well but keeping their distance, which was frustrating. A bunch of them were closely shadowing a pair of pochards, following them down as they dived. Presumably the pochards' grubbing about for snails and the like disturbs prey for the grebes. About a hundred yards to the right another couple of black-necked grebes were keeping similarly close tabs on a lone drake pochard so it must be an established behaviour.

Black-necked grebes and pochards

The next hide was the Frank Lumley Hide. The leg joints said: "Let's not," and I agreed. Perhaps next time.

The Frank Lumley Hide 

From the Warrington Rotary Hide 

The Warrington Rotary Hide was another shipping container on scaffolding but a lot less intimidating. This corner of the pool meets the light woodland so it has a different feel to it. The birdlife was much the same as in the more open areas though the black-headed gulls were a bit more thinly spread.

Cowslips

I followed the path round the meadows and its singing whitethroats, blackcaps and chiffchaffs. And a patch of hawthorn hosted a singing blackcap, a singing robin and a singing garden warbler and was as confusing as all get out. Luckily I actually saw the garden warbler so it wasn't just an acoustic hallucination.

The bridge across the river

I had wondered if the path linked up to the path leading round the Western edge of No.3 Bed. It didn't, it swung round and took me back to the Sybil Hogg Hide. I crossed back over the river and considered the options. The knees pointed out I'd been walking for four and a half hours and had been climbing up and down long flights of steep steps along the way. I didn't have the legs to go round to the other entrance to the reserve and walk along the Western edge of No.3 Bed in the hopes of hearing or seeing the oriole over on No.4, if it was still there. There'd been no reports of it since early morning. The only real question was whether to head back to Woolston for the 100 back to the Trafford Centre or walk on and cross into Thelwall for the Cat4 to Partington?

Latchford Locks 

I headed for Thelwall. A pair of great crested grebes cruised the canal by Latchford Locks. I had quarter of an hour to wait for the bus, adding a passing swallow to the day's tally. The journey home worked exactly right, a five minute wait for the 247 at Partington which got me to Flixton with five minutes' wait for the train home. It's nice when it works.

As it happens the oriole was found singing on No.4 Bed about the time I was crossing Latchford Locks. It would have been nice but it would have been the cherry on an already rich slice of cake.