Mersey Valley

Mandarin ducks on the Mersey

The day, cloudy and warm but significantly cooler than the past few days, started with a coal tit on the sunflower feeders and a spanking brand new magpie keeping very close to its parent on the washhouse roof before being taken over to the rowan tree to gorge on the berries. The blackbirds hogged the birdbaths to the undisguised disgust of the spadgers and the post brought twenty pounds' worth of rail travel vouchers. I decided I'd listen to the morning session of what has been an enthralling test match, which quickly became a decision to hang on to the end. Which in the end took all day.

I got my tea, India got out, I went for a walk through Ivy Green to Sale Water Park.

Hawthorn Lane 

Blackbirds and woodpigeons sang in the trees as I walked through onto Hawthorn Lane. Magpies and carrion crows fossicked about on lawns, spadgers fussed in gardens and parakeets screamed from the treetops.

Ivy Green 

A song thrush and a nuthatch sang from the margins of the clearing on Ivy Green. Woodpigeons and magpies flew in and out of the tall grass. I kept my eye out for butterflies but they were surprisingly thin on the ground, a few small tortoiseshells, commas and small skippers.

Silver grass miner

Comma

Chorlton Brook 

In the trees by Chorlton Brook, blackbirds and blackcaps joined the singing thrush. Crossing the bridge into Chorlton Ees woodpigeons and wrens joined the songscape, punctuated by the calls of parakeets and jackdaws. I followed the path by the brook. Robins bobbed furtively in and out of the verges, the juveniles more confident than the adults. The singing goldfinches in the treetops and the titmice bouncing through the canopy were almost impossible to see, unlike the magpies and carrion crows.

Chorlton Ees 

The ominous grey clouds drifted over and became ten seconds of rain before moving on. I wondered whether to call it quits now I'd passed the pain barrier and the joints were starting to move freely. I decided I'd dawdle along as see how it went.

Mandarin 

The clouds rolled by as I walked along the river towards Stretford Ees. Great tits, dunnocks and chiffchaffs called in the hedgerows by Turn Moss and another song thrush nigh on drowned them out. A mallard drifted downriver before deciding to fly upstream round the bend. I came to the bend and saw three ducks loafing on the rocks with a grey wagtail. I was surprised to find they were three mandarin ducks.

Stretford Ees 

Reed buntings and goldfinches sang on Stretford Ees. A raven cronked as it flew low overhead, the carrion crows shadowed it from a considerable distance, drifting back once it had passed over the tram line. A flash of bright lime green caught in the sunlight over the river was a couple of greenfinches. As I crossed the bridge I noticed a fledgling grey wagtail on the rocks under the bank.

Great crested grebe 

The lake on Sale Water Park was busy with watersports so all the waterfowl were hugging the banks. I walked round to Broad Ees Dole. The pair of great crested grebes hung out with a group of mallards on the bank. Lesser black-backs loafed on the water by the boaters, a crowd of black-headed gulls joined the mute swans and Canada geese mugging for scraps by the boathouse.

Teal Pool 

Teal Pool was busy with mallards. A reed warbler and a reed bunting sang in the reeds. I spent a while looking through the reeds at the hide. The islands on the pool were exposed and covered in black-headed gulls and mallards. The moorhens, Canada geese and coots picking their way through the crowds were easy enough to spot, the lapwing and teal were trickier. I'd hoped to get a green sandpiper onto the year list but it wasn't happening today. And oddly there was neither sight nor sound of any dabchicks.

Broad-leaved helleborine 

I wandered on. I had a look to see if I could find the broad-leaved helleborine I've seen flowering here the past couple of summers. It was still there but I was about a week late for the flowers.

Mute swan 

Walking along the lakeside a couple of anglers told me that a family of otters had been seen on the lake and were indigent when I answered: "That's good." I know from experience to make sympathetic noises on the subject of goosanders and cormorants but I was taken by surprise this time.

Sale Ees 

It was getting on and the ankle was making warning noises so I wandered over to the tram stop and got the bus back from Chorlton. It came as a surprise to check my notes and find I'd seen forty-odd species of birds. Not bad for quiet July.

Irlam Locks

Sand martins

It was warm again and the pollen count was very high, neither condition likely to make walking very enticing. The small birds were keeping to the shade all day and the rooks, jackdaws, magpies and woodpigeons that littered the school playing field in the early morning left it to the butterflies at midday. In the back garden large whites chased each other, speckled woods chased anything that wandered into their territories, bees and hoverflies zipped about the geraniums. 

I was idly looking out of the window watching all this when something bigger caught my eye. I rarely see dragonflies in the garden, the odd brown hawker passing by, so I was surprised to see an olive yellow dragonfly hawking low over the blackcurrant bushes. I couldn't get a good look at it but put it down as a common darter and congratulated myself on a garden first. About an hour later I glanced out and saw it was still there. It had taken to resting on one of the bird feeders in between sallies to snatch midges so I could get the bins on it for a better look. It was bigger than a darter and had black ladder markings up a yellow abdomen, a female black-tailed skimmer. It was well off its usual haunts, the nearest places I'd be unsurprised to see one would be Stretford Ees or Dutton's Pond.

Black-tailed skimmer

I went out to get a shop done in the tea interval, a personal best at nine minutes twenty-something seconds, just as well as it was nine minutes and thirty seconds between the late-running train to Urmston and the timely train back. There wasn't a cloud in the sky but a pleasant breeze took the edge off the heat as I stood at the station. A late teatime walk looked like a good idea.

Irlam Road, the Canal's on the right

The umpires called stumps and I got the 256 into Flixton. I decided to have a wander over to Irlam Locks to see what was about. Blackbirds, woodpigeons and collared doves sang in the gardens and the hedgerows were busy with house sparrows.

Black-headed gulls 

A few swallows zipped over the fields by Irlam Road. I got to the canal and had to do a spaghetti western squint to see the mallards and black-headed gulls on the water. I walked down the road to the locks, sand martins twittering from telegraph wires and black-headed gulls calling from the water treatment works. About a hundred black-headed gulls loafed on the near side of the lock. A few more bobbed about on the water with a dozen mallards and a pair of great crested grebes. Overhead a handful of swallows and a couple of dozen sand martins swooped and swirled high over the canal.

Black-headed gulls 

Black-headed gulls 

Over on the water treatment works a small crowd of woodpigeons and magpies fed on the grass while more magpies skipped around the black-headed gulls and oystercatchers on the filtration pans. A couple of blackbirds joined them. I could hear a couple of pied wagtails but for the life of me couldn't find them.

Irlam Locks, looking downstream to the railway bridge

I did find the family of grey wagtails skittering about on the downstream side of the lock. They made it easy, taking fly-catching sallies from the bank and from the base of the lock, bursts of silver and lemon yellow over the dark blue water. The few pigeons about kept to the shade, the cormorants were finding it ideal wing-drying weather. Looking down stream there were more mallards hugging the bank and another pair of great crested grebes.

Heron

I crossed over and walked down to Cadishead Way. There was yet another grey wagtail on the lockside and the heron I'd been hearing stepped out from the gate mechanism. A couple more sand martins hawked low over the water in the lock basin.

Box tree moth

A moth fluttered into the overhead buddleias. I thought it a swallowtail moth at first but as it fed on the flowers it moved around and I could see it properly. I've not seen a box tree moth before. They're an invasive species from the Far East that was first recorded in Britain about twenty years ago.

I checked the time. I'd have to get a move on if I was to get the train home and the ankle was hurting abominably so I wasn't going to have a dawdle round. Speckled woods fluttered about the brambles and nettles by Cadishead Way while peacocks settled down for the night.

Irwell Old Course 

Neither ducks, coots nor terrapins could be seen on the Irwell Old Course, the mirrored surface of the water only broken by the occasional fish catching flies on the surface. Woodpigeons sang in the trees and a couple of lesser black-backs flew overhead to the roost at Woolston Eyes.

I got to the station just as the train arrived. Despite the aches and pains I was glad I'd got a bit of exercise done. It was a relief to get home and slowly melt an ice pack on the back of my neck.

Scorchio

It was another ferociously warm day and the pollen count was officially Very High. The blackbird had started singing at ten to four in the morning and the robin — which had for all intents and purposes vanished this past couple of weeks — kicked in five minutes later. The woodpigeons waited until dawn had well and truly broken more than an hour later before they started singing, the robin and blackbird had packed it in long before then. The wren has other things to do and only starts singing once the kids have gone to school and often waits until about ten to set his stall out. The end of the dawn chorus season is always ragged and fitful.

The small birds had the sense to stay in the shade. Four black-headed gulls loafed amongst the woodpigeons, rooks and jackdaws most of the morning before moving on. For once no large gulls came to school for the lunch break.

Tea was called at the Test Match. I decided I'd assay a quick trip out into Urmston to stock up on bird food and cat food, a ten minute job, which it has to be as that's as much time as you've got between the train from Humphrey Park arriving at Urmston and the train back to Humphrey Park departing. (On paper it's twenty minutes but that doesn't take into account the delay caused by the eternally late-running Transpennine Express train. There's a train every two hours and you've ten minutes to get your shopping done.) I got to the station just as the train was cancelled due to signals failure. I took the hint, there's enough in to see the cat through the weekend and there are enough aphids about on the roses to feed the spadgers.

Despite a bumper crop the blackbirds, woodpigeons, blackcaps and squirrels have seen to it that I've only had a couple of handfuls of boysenberries this year. I've fared better with the self-sown raspberries.

I'm used to the magpies, woodpigeons and even a grey wagtail eating the scraps I throw out when I clean the cat's bowl. Today one of the young spadgers was having a go at it, though it just as likely could have been after the flies.

I've received another couple of "Anywhere on the Northern network" return tickets, making it an even dozen burning a hole in my pocket. The weather for next week is predicted to be cloudy and sweaty, it would be no bad thing to spend some of that time sitting drinking tea on an air-conditioned train.

New Moss Wood

New Moss Wood 

I thought it would be a wise move to spend most of the day listening to the Test Match and go out for a teatime stroll. It was still very warm as I watched the swifts wheeling over the station so I decided against a long walk over the mosses. New Moss Wood had the advantage of lots of shade.

I got off at Irlam and walked through the allotments to New Moss Road. The swifts were wheeling round the rooftops here, too. Woodpigeons and collared doves sang from chimney pots, blackbirds and blackcaps from the railway embankment.

New Moss Wood, along one of the rides

New Moss Wood was in one of its quieter moods, or would have been if the blackcaps didn't have to shout to be heard over a song thrush. The small brown objects flitting between brambles patches were as likely to be wrens as speckled woods. The rides were busy with red admirals, large whites, gatekeepers and commas, the trees busy with mostly silent great tits and blue tits. A garden warbler sang from a stand of alders, the chiffchaffs tended to favour the birch trees and brambles. 

A search for any dragonflies proved fruitless, it was a bit late in the day for them, though I was relieved to find the little pools still had enough water for the usual selection of bugs and midges and, hopefully, dragonfly nymphs in the muddy depths.

New Moss Wood 

Woodpigeons clattered about in the treetops and there was a steady traffic of them overhead as they flew between the fields either side of the wood. The grain was ripening, some test cuts had been made and the woodpigeons and pheasant were picking up the spillage. Swifts and swallows hawked high over the barley fields and lesser black-backs started to drift over to roost.

New Moss Wood 

I wandered back to the station, greenfinches joining the goldfinches singing in the trees by the bridge where an invisible warbler squeaked ambiguously and could have been either chiffchaff or willow warbler. The Merlin app picked up a calling spotted flycatcher which turned out to be my knees.

Sun dog

As I got off the train at Humphrey Park a dozen swifts were swirling overhead and there were sun dogs in the low clouds. I was very glad I hadn't gone on a long walk today.

Wellacre Country Park

Coots

It was a nice day for a walk, clear sky and enough of a breeze to keep everything honest. Unfortunately I wasn't up to the planned trip out to Martin Mere and instead took the drastic step of slathering the leg between heel and mid-calf with an inch-thick layer of incredibly fiery rubbing ointment which stung like hell for two hours but seems to have loosened the tendon a lot. I don't know why I haven't done it before (yes I do: it stung like hell for two hours).

All of which is mere preamble to the admission that I was bone idle all day then went for a teatime walk round Wellacre Country Park.

Wellacre Country Park 

I got the train into Flixton and walked down Ambleside Road to Dutton's Pond for a change. I was expecting it to be dead quiet and I was dead wrong. Chiffchaffs, blackcaps, blackbirds and a song thrush were in full song. Families of great tits and long-tailed tits bounced about in the trees. Young chiffchaffs recklessly hung underneath the umbels of pathside hogweeds and only retreated into the bushes when the camera got them in focus. I wondered what the brown mound was on the path ahead, fearing the worst given the number of passing dogs and horses, and disturbed a sunbathing song thrush.

The crowd of mallards drifted aimlessly about Dutton's Pond. I was surprised to find a pair of coots with two youngsters, have they been hiding on this side of the island all the time? The moorhens chicks are now full grown and ashy grey. I looked for any dragonflies and found but the one common blue damselfly zipping round the irises.

Coots

Comma butterfly 

I walked on into Wellacre Wood backed by a songscape of chiffchaffs, blackbirds, wrens and blackcaps and the screeching of parakeets in the trees by the school field. The butterflies were busy. As well as the usual crowd of large whites there were plenty of speckled woods in the trees ready to chase any passing butterfly of whatever species out of their territories. Commas chased each other over thistle patches, meadow browns and gatekeepers flitted about in the long grass and red admirals sunned themselves on brambles.

Gatekeeper 

Red admiral 

Wellacre Wood 

The depths of the wood were noisier than usual, some of the woodpigeons and blackbirds sang in the treetops and great tits called to each other in the undergrowth.

Haymaking 

I looked in vain for any hirundines or swifts over the fields. Magpies and house sparrows accompanied the horses, carrion crows attended the hay making. Lesser black-backs drifted overhead towards the Mersey, black-headed gulls circled and squabbled over the water treatment works by Irlam Locks.

Jack Lane Nature Reserve 

Chiffchaffs and blackcaps sang in the trees in Jack Lane Nature Reserve. A song thrush and a couple of blackbirds sang from the railway embankment alongside. Magpies fossicked about in the hawthorns, to the disgust of the titmice flitting about them. I gave up on trying to find reed warblers and concentrated on finding any dragonflies. Not a sausage. Lots of bugs and beetles on the surface of the pools and plenty of midges and horseflies flying about but no dragonflies. I was scanning round the willows looking for them when I found a reed warbler bouncing about in the branches. It had a beak full of insects when it shot down into the reeds which surprised me as I forgot they have two broods, one in late Spring and one in midsummer. A second bird started singing from the reeds behind me as I moved on.

Twenty-two spot ladybird

The walk down by the railway to Dutton's Pond had more chiffchaffs, great tits, blackbirds, large whites and meadow browns. Woodpigeons bashed about in trees, carrion crows and magpies rummaged about in the fields. Two of the coots struck a pose on the pond so I could be sure I hadn't imagined them.

I decided not to take a pull up Green Hill and walked through to the river instead. The blue tits and great tits were very active and a family of long-tailed tits worked their way through the willows at the base of the hill.

Looking over the river at Flixton Bridge a kingfisher shot out from under the bridge and disappeared round the bend upstream of the garden centre. Which was nice.

Leighton Moss

Black-tailed godwits, black-headed gulls and avocets

Another nice, not too warm yet, day so I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed up to Leighton Moss. The idea was to have a gentle toddle round the reserve but the lesser yellowlegs that was found on the Eric Morecambe pool last night was reported again this morning so I'd have a walk down to the coastal pools instead.

It was a quiet trip up on the train. I think I saw more large white butterflies than woodpigeons. Silverdale Station buzzed reassuringly, goldfinches and greenfinches sang in the trees while spadgers and blue tits fussed about in the old station house garden. 

Slackwood Lane 

As I walked down Slackwood Lane blackcaps sang in the trees by the golf club and in the copse at the corner of The Row. I turned onto New Lane where swallows hawked low over the fields and road and a buzzard lazily drifted over the trees behind the farmstead. I negotiated the level crossing and Quicksand Pool Bridge, both places where the pedestrian needs to be wary of blind bends. A sedge warbler in the drain by the road took loud exception to me, even louder once the camera appeared and it disappeared into the depths of rank foliage.

From Quicksand Pool 

I walked down the path to Quicksand Pool and the car park, keeping an ear out for any cars driving down behind me. I thought I heard an incoming so I stepped off the path and looked back. The car I heard passed by and on into Warton. A large bird caught my eye as it floated over the reedbed behind the wall. At first I was seeing it head-on and thought it might be a buzzard but it didn't have light underparts and it was all wrong for a marsh harrier. The penny dropped as the bittern lowered its landing gear and disappeared into the reeds.

It was a pleasant walk down to the hides, a clear blue sky and enough breeze to keep it fresh. Greenfinches and goldfinches sang in the trees, chiffchaffs and robins flitted about, the wind blew the song of a skylark in from the marsh.

From the Eric Morecambe Hide 

I went straight to the Eric Morecambe Hide, which wasn't silly busy but all the windows along one side were occupied. I stood behind and had a scan round at the silhouettes on the pool. Lapwings… an oystercatcher… lots of redshanks… some dunlins feeding in the water with redshanks… a greenshank on an island with some redshanks… greylag geese… Way out in the distance a male marsh harrier drifted over a herd of mute swans on a far pool.

Redshanks, dunlins and lapwings 

One of the other birdwatchers breathed a loud sigh of relief: "Got it again! It's come out from behind that island but it's still a long way out." I listened as people found the lesser yellowlegs and lost it again, all the while trying to tell everyone else where to look. It sounds more chaotic than it actually is, there's something organic about the dynamic. I was being no bloody use at all until finally I picked up on the last landmark somebody had mentioned and saw the yellowlegs walking briskly past a redshank, giving me an opportunity to compare and contrast. Somebody beat me to the call. No matter, it isn't a competition. Lesser yellowlegs remind me very much of greenshanks although they're a bit smaller and darker. Compared to a redshank they look more lightly built and graceful, they're about the same size but look smaller. In a good light the legs would be a dead giveaway, in this light where the birds were largely silhouetted against the water it was a lot more difficult. Hard work but a nice bird.

The Allen pool

I went over to the other side of the hide to look over the Allen pool. I'd heard the calls of black-headed gulls and the pipings of avocets and godwits on the way in. A few dozen black-tailed godwits, most of the adults in full fox red breeding finery and the juveniles in greys, roosted on the pool with a couple of dozen avocets. The sun was behind me so the lighting picked up the colours a treat.

Black-tailed godwits and avocets

Black-headed gulls, black-tailed godwits and avocets 

Avocets

As I was walking back one of the other birders offered me a lift back to Leighton Moss, which was good of him. He was off to Foulshaw Moss to see the ospreys. I thanked him and wished him luck with the ospreys and hoped he got a brace of tree pipits to go with them.

I had twenty minutes more than I'd bargained for for a nosy round. I was keeping an eye on the clock, I wanted to get the Manchester train and was feeling superstitious about it after just receiving the latest batch of Delay Repay travel vouchers (and there's more on the way). The feeders by The Hideout were busy with greenfinches, goldfinches and great tits with a gang of mallards gathering up the spillages. 

Great crested grebes and coots

The pool at Lilian's Hide was noisy with black-headed gulls and busy with coots and mallards. A few dabchicks dived about the reed edges. An eclipse drake pochard mingled with a crowd of eclipse drake mallards, only bringing attention to himself when he dived and bobbed back up again. The great crested grebes had a humbug in tow. Way over I could see one of the great black-back chicks flexing its wings ominously.

A great tit straight out of the bath

I got back to the station with a couple of minutes to spare, stopping to a apologise to the pied wagtail I disturbed as I crossed the tracks to the Southbound platform. The heel was definitely pulling by this stage and became very uncomfortable as I travelled back. I think I'll need to do a long but gentle walk on the flat to ease some movement back in without pulling the tendon further. I'll see how it goes tomorrow.