Mersey Valley

Kestrel, Stretford Meadows 

I wasn't feeling particularly energetic today so I opted for a short toddle over Stretford Meadows in the Spring sunshine. 

Dry

The hedgerows by the garden centre were stuffed full of spadgers, dunnocks and great tits and a pheasant called from somewhere in the trees. I was amazed by the baked, nearly hard, mud surface at the entrance to the meadows. Chiffchaffs and robins sang in the trees, a pied wagtail flew off from the mostly-hidden little brook and orange tip butterflies chased each other in the undergrowth.

Stretford Meadows 

Out in open country it was still a lot early for whitethroats and orchids, robins and goldfinches sang from hawthorn bushes and lesser celandines glistened in the sun. Magpies bounced about as usual but the carrion crows were preoccupied in the trees. Odd ones and twos of woodpigeons passed by, a couple of lesser black-backs flew past and pairs of collared doves and stock doves flew circuits of the meadows.

Kestrel, Stretford Meadows 

I found a muddy patch by the cricket pitch and walked it for reassurance's sake even though my boots scarce left an imprint. I meandered round the top of the mound and took the paths that are usually damply off-putting just because I could. The usual male kestrel flew in to see what I was doing, or more likely see if I was going to flush out any food items, and sat in the female's usual tree to watch me pass by.

Comma, showing the comma on its hindwing, Stretford Meadows

The same Comma, sunbathing

Walking by the bramble patches, sheltered from the wind by the trees at the Sandy Lane side of the meadows, there was a profusion of butterflies. Orange tips, small whites, small tortoiseshells, peacocks but mostly commas. I had to take evasive action as a pair of commas chased a peacock out of what was evidently their territory.

Small white, Stretford Meadows 

Walking to Stretford Ees 

I walked down by Kickety Brook into Stretford Ees. A blackcap added to the songscape by the motorway and a song thrush sang by the canal. Another song thrush quietly minded its own business as it rummaged about by the side of the brook. I was very struck that I hadn't seen or heard any parakeets yet.

Song thrush by Kickety Brook 

Chiffchaffs, robins and great tits sang in the trees by the tramlines, wrens and a nuthatch just sort of exploded in song. The river was lower and calmer than it was earlier in the year, babbling over the shoals at the curve near the bridge, a pair of mallards bobbing along with the current.

Sale Water Park 

Sale Water Park was busy with people, understandable on a sunny afternoon and many had evidently headed straight here from the school run. There was a handful of lesser black-backs out on the lake at this end and a few coots puttered about in the reeds. The black-headed gulls had evidently all departed for their breeding colonies.

A mallard drifted about the teal pool on Broad Ees Dole and a mute swan dozed in the trees. The pool by the hide looked deserted at first, the dabchicks seemed to have it all to themselves. A heron flew by but didn't land, a drake gadwall cruised the far bank and a pair of moorhens were making baby moorhens on the near bank. Three Canada geese cruised in, had a quarrel and cruised out again.

Dabchick, Broad Ees Dole 

Honestly, it is a dabchick

I walked by the Sale Water Park lake. A few swans cruised about, a herd of swans clustered in the far corner of the lake. The pair of great crested grebes kept to midwater away from people, dogs, swimmers and excitable mute swans. The usual crowd on the slipway was a couple of Canada geese and some coots, the ducks were otherwise engaged.

Mute swans, Sale Water Park 

A crowd of Canada geese dozed on the pontoon with a couple of lesser black-backs and a pair of cormorants which kept making a start at courtship rituals then kept thinking better of it.

Cormorants and Canada geese, Sale Water Park 

A few of the mute swans and Canada geese retreated to Barrow Brook for a doze. One of the mute swans was sitting on last year's nest half-hidden in the trees but I wasn't convinced it was nesting, it would have been a lot more grumpy about the other swans and geese being so close.

Mute swan and Canada goose, Barrow Brook

I sat by the café and watched the feeders for a short while. The squirrels were keeping the titmice at bay, scurrying off at the approach of dog walkers and leaving the field open for great tits and nuthatches to dive in. The only ring-necked parakeet of the day squawked loudly as it flew by at treetop height.

I sloped off under the motorway and caught the 248 into Davyhulme for the shopping I was going to do after walking round Stretford Meadows.

Cutacre

Carrion crows, herring gulls, lesser black-backs and Canada goose, Swan Lake 

There have been reports of that pair of garganeys at Cutacre every day so I thought I'd have another go at them. It was another bright, sunny day with a fresh breeze so I reckoned it ought to be a good walk.

I got the bus into Tyldesley and walked up Common Lane. The robins, wrens and chiffchaffs sang in the trees, great tits, blackbirds and spadgers rummaged about in the hedgerows. There was a profusion of peacock butterflies and orange tips and a few large whites and small tortoiseshells, the difference a bit of warm weather makes. A blackcap singing in the trees by the kennels added another Spring note.

Lesser black-backs 

As I was approaching Engine Road I bumped into a birdwatcher who was walking back. He'd just been unsuccessful on his third attempt to see the garganeys. We can get quite competitive about the birds we've missed seeing, he reckoned I'd probably see them. Spoiler: I didn't. 

I apologised to a chap with a telescope for putting the mockers on his luck. He was happy to blame me but was grateful for my confirming he was looking in the right place, he'd been all over the shop before arriving here. He had my sympathy, been there and done that.

Carrion crow and herring gulls 

There weren't quite as many gulls on Swan Lake as last time and considerably fewer black-headed gulls. Most of the large gulls were herring gulls of various ages, mostly subadults. There were nearly as many lesser black-backs but they were nearly all adults. The Canada geese, mallards, gadwalls, moorhens, coots, tufties and mute swan were all present and correct but I could only find the male teal this time. I had a walk around the lake walking anticlockwise along the bank and meeting a rough path on the other side. A cormorant and a pied wagtail made an appearance, a pair of oystercatchers flew in. No garganeys.

Oystercatchers 

I took a meandering route up to Logistics North, checking the pools and brooks to see if the garganeys had moved in there. There were plenty of pairs of gadwall lurking about with the moorhens and a dabchick. Linnets and reed buntings flitted about and skylarks sang above the open meadow. It was rather nice even if the birdwatching was frustrating.

Coltsfoot seedhead

Rather a lot more frustrating was the forty minute wait for the 20 bus back to the Trafford Centre that was due in fourteen minutes' time. I'm going to have to stop paying any attention to the Bee Network web site.

Mosses

Lapwings, Chat Moss 

It was a lovely Spring day, I thought I'd have a short dawdle on the Salford mosses and ended up having a five hour walk.

Stock doves, Irlam Moss 

As I started the walk down Astley Road a couple of robins sang from the trees and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of house sparrows and blackbirds between gardens and hedges. The hedgerows down the road were busy with twittering goldfinches and greenfinches, a couple of chaffinches sang, pairs of great tits and blue tits bounced through the trees and there were plenty more blackbirds. There was plenty about but they were nearly all keeping their distance. A couple of carrion crows shadowed a tractor as it mowed a field of turf by Roscoe Road while closer by a flock of woodpigeons, a couple of pigeons and a pair of stock doves provided a neat identification primer. 

Goldfinch, Irlam Moss 

Approaching the motorway

What's becoming the usual buzzard lumbered out of the trees by the motorway. Unusually I didn't see any kestrels all the way down Astley Road.

The fields of turf were dotted with lapwings in surprisingly regular grids. A gang of a dozen magpies fussed about each other in one corner, carrion crows busied themselves in the rough margins while the pied wagtails kept to the huge dung heap which is now being excavated to provide top dressing for the fields. Pairs of mallards flew past every so often, it wasn't obvious where they were going or where they had been. I might have missed the mistle thrushes silently working their way through the trees had it not been for a cock blue tit's singing and courting. I was trying and failing to get a photo of him as he bounced about the birch twigs with his blue crest fully erect when I noticed the thrushes. Chiffchaffs sang in the trees by the paddocks with the robins and blackbirds.

Lavender Lane 

The usual male kestrel was in the field by Lavender Lane, which came as a relief though he was perched on a post way over the other side then went hunting over the fields beyond. I hadn't seen a marsh harrier about here for a while so was pleased as a female drifted past the kestrel and out of sight. I was hoping to find a wheatear or two in the rough but had no luck.

Little Woolden Moss 

I bumped into one of the regulars and we had a chat, he showed me a "disappointing" photo of a firecrest that would have had me made up for a month. He joined me as I had a quick look at Little Woolden Moss. The pools were littered with birds: every stick and post had a black-headed gull calling from it, pairs of Canada geese cruised about. Curlews called but weren't seen, the usual gang of crows got mobbed by lapwings as they passed over the fields beyond. Chiffchaffs were singing by the entrance, a willow warbler sang in the scrub by the pools. Give it another week and there'll be dozens of them.

Lapwings, Chat Moss 

We split up and I walked down Twelve Yards Road. A couple of skylarks sang and a linnet twittered past. One of last year's young kestrels was sitting on the ground in a field of rough pasture, wood pigeons and carrion crows rummaged about barely visible over the emerging barley in the field opposite. There were a lot more on the more recently-ploughed fields, together with lapwings establishing their nesting territories with close-quarter mock air battles, by some miracle never quite hitting each other in the process. The combatants would then retire to their corners and resume the display flying around their partners for a few minutes before returning to the fray. The manoeuvrability of a lapwing is something to behold.

Lapwings, Chat Moss 

Twelve Yards Road 

At the corner of Cutnook Lane I headed North up the path to Croxden's. The trees were noisy with the songs of robins, wren, chiffchaffs and blackbirds and the objections of great spotted woodpeckers and a treecreeper as I passed by. Fighting the glare of the sun I could make out a few mallards on the pools beyond the birch scrub by the path.

Walking up to Croxden's 

Carrion crows and magpies were dotted about the open peat at Croxden's and a few black-headed gulls and lesser black-backs passed low overhead.

Croxden's Moss 

Walking through the willow scrub I was seeing robins and blackbirds and hearing chiffchaffs and willow warblers. I wondered if the green-winged teal was still about, it was but took some finding as it was hidden in a group huddled on an island amongst reeds. The first time I looked at the group I took the white vertical stripe on its breast as a bit of dead reed catching the light.

Walking back to Cutnook Lane 

I walked back down to the junction of Cutnook Lane where a pair of buzzards circled at treetop height. The walk down into Irlam was noisy with the songs of robins, blackbirds and song thrushes and the chattering of magpies. I was dead jammy and got to the bus stop on Merlin Lane just as the 100 to the Trafford Centre arrived.

First quarter review

Whooper swans, Martin Mere 

It was a slow start to 2025. The New Year brought floods and a cold snap which made birdwatching both hazardous and uninviting. The record flooding on the Mersey Valley put the block on most of the local sites and a peculiarity of the weather lead to my having to go North to avoid treacherously icy walking conditions.

Oystercatchers, Meols

Things settled down mid-January to the milder eternal twilights that have become our Winter norm and the birdwatching settled into a routine. The routine being that I'd go out, see lots of birds and dip on whatever it was I'd gone out to see, with a few notable exceptions. But then I've added the shore lark at Oglet to my life list and the year list so far includes Kumlein's gull, black redstart, ferruginous duck, red-necked grebe, surf scoter, hooded crow, spoonbill, spotted redshank, ring-necked duck, green-winged teal, red-crested pochard, great northern diver… okay, perhaps I'm not doing so bad after all. 

It was a Winter thin on fieldfares, geese and warblers for some reason, I can't spot an obvious reason why. Of course, if birdwatching was predictable there'd be no fun in the doing of it.

Bullfinches, Leighton Moss 

Spring came early to late February, which again is becoming the norm, and the chiffchaffs started singing ridiculously early in March. In fact, I'd been unlucky not to see a February sand martin, there were individuals flying by everywhere except where I'd happen to be on a given day, a condition that prevailed throughout March, too.

Black-headed gulls and herring gull, Pennington Flash 

Totals so far for the year by recording areas:

• Greater Manchester 89
• Cheshire and Wirral 88
• Cumbria 48
• Denbighshire 32
• Derbyshire 41
• Flintshire 29
• Lancashire and North Merseyside 118
• Yorkshire 56

The year list is currently a nice round 150.

I've managed to visit a few new places and there are a lot of places I didn't get round to visiting and it's keeping me out of mischief. So that's all right then.

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

St Aidens

Black-necked grebe and black-headed gulls 

I was feeling tired and jaded so I thought I'd have a bit of novelty. I got the train out to Castleford for an afternoon wander round the lakes and reedbeds at St Aiden's. I've got some "go anywhere on the Northern network free" tickets burning a hole in my pocket, with more to come, but decided not to use them today as it added an hour to the travelling time either way, I can use them on some other jaunts into Yorkshire. 

I got the 141 bus to Fleet Lane in Methley, which turned out to be more complicated than anticipated when we had to wait at the bus station for a replacement bus as the one that pulled in had broken down then I had a panic when two stops before my destination the bus reversed down the road, did a three point turn and headed off in the other direction, which turned out to be due to a diversion for roadworks.

Greylags, Methley Lane 

I got off and crossed over. A mixed flock of greylags and Canada geese were grazing on the field by the road.

I walked down Station Road, crossed the railway and went through the little cut taking me to the banks of the Aire where the first of the many invisible Cetti's warblers of the day was singing by the bridge. I crossed over and was in St Aidens.

River Aire

It was a first time visit for me. I had a look at the map and decided my best bet was to carry on straight ahead, go over the causeway across the main lake then swing round for the reedbeds to the North and West and loop round back to the bridge and decide then what I had left in time and legs for further exploration.

Approaching the causeway

Black-headed gulls, goosanders and gadwalls on the main lake

Walking up the road I'd been seeing and hearing lots of black-headed gulls. In the short time I reached the lake the noise had ratcheted up more than somewhat. There were hundreds of them on the lake, mostly paired up and many busy courting and nest-building. Lots of mallards flew about but it was mostly gadwalls and tufted ducks on the open water. A few teal dozed and squabbled at the edges of reedbeds, a handful of goosanders were asleep on an island, there were a lot of coots and a few herring gulls and lesser black-backs loafed to one side. I was walking through clouds of midges but there was no sign of any hirundines about to mop them up.

Black-headed gulls 

Gadwall

The sun had emerged from the thin cloud and it was becoming a warm Spring day. I wandered round, the big lake giving way to smaller, connected pools girt with gorse and reeds. There were fewer black-headed gulls and more ducks. I could hear the hinneying of dabchicks — I managed to see a pair later in the afternoon — and was tripping over Cetti's warblers every five minutes. Scanning the pools I could see great crested grebes cruising about then I saw my first black-necked grebe of the year.

Black-headed gulls, great crested grebe and coots

Coot, black-necked grebe and black-headed gulls 

Black-necked grebe and black-headed gulls 

Scarce fifty yards further along a pool held about a dozen black-necked grebes, all of them strikingly backlit. They didn't seem remotely bothered by us people stopping to stare at them. One, barely ten yards away, was making a start on nest-building, diving and bringing up bits of muddy vegetation that it patted down onto a tiny mound protruding from some thin reeds.

This black-necked grebe was busy nest-building, diving down for bits of muddy reed to pile up on the little mound by its side.

Other black-necked grebes were busy courting. One pair had me puzzled before I realised it was an adult and a first-Winter bird.

Black-necked grebes and great crested grebes 
This pair of black-necked grebes looked to be an adult and a first-Winter bird.

I'd heard there was a long-staying Slavonian grebe about and wondered if I'd manage to see it. Left to my own devices I wouldn't have. Luckily a chap noticed I was scouring round and asked if I'd seen it. He put me on to it though it took an embarrassingly long time, I just wasn't seeing it. It didn't help that it was spending a lot of time underwater but that's no excuse for not seeing something all of nine feet away in thin reeds. I finally clocked it and apologised for being such a slow study. I've only ever seen Slavonian grebes in Winter plumage and nearly all from a distance so frustrating as it was it was good to see the dark head and the emerging golden plumes that have the Americans calling it horned grebe.

The Slavonian grebe was being awkward

Great crested grebes and black-necked grebe 

Western reedbeds 

I carried on walking round to the noise of black-headed gulls, Cetti's warblers and greylag geese and the occasional wittering calls of passing oystercatchers. Then I heard the bittern.

St Aidens 

I followed the path round to where it meets Swillington Ings. Nearby to one side there was a booming bittern, to the other there were duelling Cetti's warblers in the pathside gorse bushes, I gave up trying to see either and just enjoyed the sound, the bittern's boom reverberating in my bones as the warblers' explosions of song drowned out the background. 

Black-headed gulls

I followed the curve round and found a colony of hundreds of black-headed gulls on a small lake. It was almost standing room only as a few oystercatchers and lapwings tiptoed their ways past them. Much to my surprise I noticed a female tufted duck sitting on a nest slap in the middle of the crowd. I guess hiding in plain sight with the protection of a mass of easily-triggered gulls is as good as hiding away somewhere under cover. 

Further along the path left the pools and lakes and curved through open woodland and scrub roughly parallel with the  river on the other side of the embankment. Chiffchaffs, robins and great tits sang and there was a reassuringly lengthy stretch of song from a willow warbler in some birch scrub.

Walking back from the reedbeds

I arrived back where I started, feeling the heat a bit as I'd dressed for the morning not the afternoon. I checked the bus and train times and decided to call it a day. I walked back to Methley Road and got to the bus stop just as the next bus arrived and only had quarter of an hour to wait for the Manchester train. I've added yet another to the "must visit again" list.

I had ten minutes to wait for the train home from Oxford Road. I spent it in the company of a grey wagtail that was skittering about on the wall opposite platform five.

Grey wagtail, Manchester Oxford Road Station