Wellacre Country Park

Swallow

It was a pleasant afternoon, and getting warmer, I didn't fancy travelling anywhere very far so I had a wander round Wellacre Country Park, which is getting to be a habit.

I bumped into the first mixed tit flock almost as soon as I'd got off the bus and walked towards Wellacre Wood. I noticed a goldcrest fidgeting through a hawthorn bush and a couple of blue tits noticed me. I was quickly told to move on my way by great tits and long-tailed tits. The goldcrest quietly went about its business.

Wellacre Wood 

The wood was littered with falling leaves. Ring-necked parakeets called in the treetops, blackbirds muttered in the undergrowth, robins squeaked and practiced their vocals. Deep in the wood I stood to one side to let a lady and her dogs past. She waved me on, her cat, which was also on the walk, was on a sit-down strike under a bush. 

House sparrows 

I left the wood and walked round to Jack Lane. A migrant hawker passed by. Besides being smaller and distinctly bluer they differ from Southern hawkers in not stopping to have a close look at you. The house sparrows I hadn't been seeing last time were out in force today, forty-odd of them dust bathing on the path. Swallows and sand martins zipped about low over the fields and hedgerows and groups of young swallows twittered about in the tops of hawthorn bushes.

Swallows

Swallows

Swallows

Swallows

Jack Lane Nature Reserve 

Large whites, speckled woods and common darters fidgeted about the brambles at the entrance to Jack Lane Nature Reserve. A mild, damp week had perked up the vegetation though the pools were just mostly only slightly muddier than last time. I could see where moorhens had been, and where a dog had chased a moorhen into the reeds, but didn't see any of them. A reed warbler had a bit of a sing to itself from the depths of the reeds. A loud cronking overhead made me look up and see two immature ravens flying over to Irlam. Do they commute between the Mersey Valley and Irlam or for ravens do all roads lead to Irlam, I wondered.

As I walked by the railway embankment chiffchaffs and blue tits bounced through the trees. High overhead a soaring kestrel did a very good impersonation of a sparrowhawk and had me fooled for a moment. Lesser black-backs headed for Woolston Eyes. Speckled woods and large whites fluttered about in the wayside. 

Heading for Dutton's Pond 

By chance I was watching a large white fluttering about the canopy of a willow tree when I spotted another butterfly which wasn't one of the regulars. It was a bit smaller than a gatekeeper and at first looked to have plain foxy brown underwings. It stayed high up and I was only getting fleeting, erratic sight of it. As it flew across the path I got the sense of an inner underwing and outer underwing but no conscious sense of a line between them. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that it was a brown hairstreak. Either that or something considerably rarer. There are plenty enough blackthorns locally to support a population of brown hairstreaks but I didn't think we got them round here. Way, way back when most of our roadside trees were elms, there used to be reports of white-letter hairstreaks but I can't see that happening these days, Dutch elm disease did for the lot of them.

A mallard, a moorhen and a coot pottered about on Dutton's Pond. I rather hoped there was more of the same on the other side of the island.

The blue tits made an appearance as I walked by Green Hill and they joined a wren in making disapproving noises as I passed by. Goldfinches twittered in the treetops and half a dozen pigeons courted on the roof of the abandoned barn at the end of Carrington Road. A mixed tit flock — blue tits, long-tailed tits, chiffchaffs and goldfinches — in the trees by Flixton Bridge were a nice coda to the walk.

Jack Lane 

Salford Quays

Black-headed gull 

I was feeling better by teatime and felt the need to go out for a walk to clear my head and get some exercise. I decided on a stroll up and down Wharfside to see if I could find the usual yellow-legged gull.

I got off the 30 bus at Imperial War Museum North. There were plenty of lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls and perhaps a handful of herring gulls flying overhead to the Ship Canal. A lot of pied wagtails were feeding on the grass prior to going to roost. As I turned the corner onto the path to the canal side a juvenile peregrine shot overhead at rooftop height. I know peregrines nest locally, it was about time I had some luck seeing one of them. This was a very young-looking bird, dark and rusty underneath with sooty brown upperparts.

Lesser black-backs and herring gulls 

There was a raft of dozens of large gulls having a wash and a brush-up on Central Bay. Lesser black-backs outnumbered herring gulls about three to one and the mixture of ages was made the more bewildering by most of them being in moult out of Summer plumage. The dozens of black-headed gulls were dotted about on the water or lined up on the railings by the Lowry, most of the youngsters now only being slightly browner than the first-Summer birds. On the way in I'd seen a report of a first-Summer kittiwake on Clipper Quay so I kept an eye out just in case it had drifted over this way. I found an adult common gull in the crowd and another flew overhead.

Black-headed gull 

Black-headed gulls 

Fishing cormorants snaked their way around the gulls. It's a sure bet that if they had caught anything they'd have surfaced well away from them. Mute swans, Canada geese and coots mugged for scraps over at the entrance to the Ontario Basin and pigeons littered the far quayside.

Black-headed gulls 

Passing South Bay

Canada geese, mallards and coots loafed on the bank at Clipper Quay while moorhens and pigeons pottered about. There were a few black-headed gulls and a young lesser black-back but nothing that might be a kittiwake. A chap on the far quayside was feeding a crowd of black-headed gulls, I'm told he does this so he can get close enough to read the numbers on the rings on their legs. I don't have much luck at that, on the few occasions I've managed to read the full number most have been ringed locally though a handful have come from further afield, one of them was ringed in Estonia. None of his excited throng turned out to be a kittiwake.

A birdwatcher searching for the kittiwake had told me the yellow-legged gull had been on the boat parked in South Bay when he'd walked up. I had a look over but the boat was now outlined in black-headed gulls standing shoulder-to-shoulder. I decided to walk up and have a look at Pomona and see if I have better luck on the way back.

Walking up to Pomona

Pomona was quiet even by its lights: three black-headed gulls, a couple of pigeons and a passing lesser black-back.

Black-headed gull 

I did have more luck on the way back, the yellow-legged gull was in the crowd bathing in Central Bay. A few more herring gulls flew in. I couldn't see anything that might be a candidate for a kittiwake. I wasn't too disappointed, it had been the walk I'd needed.

The Millennium Bridge over to Salford 

Spadgers

Some of the kids.

Waiting for the squirrel to get off the seed feeder

Some of the lads

A couple of the youngsters 

Cock sparrow, I nickname this one Silvercheeks

Silvercheeks. Whenever I see him appear in the garden I have to look twice to make sure it's not a great tit.

I think the cock sparrow on the left is the oldest in the flock now, he's five or six years old

Stalybridge

Walkerwood Reservoir 

It was a mizzly sort of day. I've not had much exercise this week so I thought I'd give the knees and wind a bit of an airing with a walk through Stalybridge Country Park and up to Brushes Reservoir. I told myself I wasn't going to carry on over Swineshaw and into Tintwistle. In the event the question didn't arise.

Stalybridge Country Park 

I got the 348 from Stalybridge Station, got off at Parkfields, walked up Grafton Street and then into the country park. At first it was very quiet indeed, just the sound of the jackdaws and woodpigeons on the rooftops behind me. Then I bumped into the first mixed tit flock, the squeak of a chiffchaff and the tutting of long-tailed tits putting me on the alert. There was a big family of long-tailed tits, a couple of chiffchaffs, at least half a dozen blue tits and a couple of pairs of great tits. This time of year I'd expect them to still be skulking undercover but like so many other things Autumn has come early for mixed tit flocks. I bumped into another up near Brushes Road, this one including a few goldfinches and a nuthatch in the mix. In between, a couple of jays were being surprisingly showy and a great spotted woodpecker called from the treetops.

A willow warbler called and nearly sang in the trees by Brushes Road. Swallows skimmed over the dam of Walkerwood Reservoir. Absolutely nothing was on the water or the edges of the reservoir.

Brushes Road 

Stalybridge Country Park 

Walkerwood Reservoir 

Chiffchaffs and robins squeaked and blue tits churred in the wayside along Brushes Road. Swallows hawked low over the hillside and its grazing rabbits. Lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls drifted up the valley and a kestrel hovered low over the crest of the hill.

Brushes Road 

Walkerwood Reservoir 

It was good walking but my wind was struggling. I've been like this a couple of days, it might be the sudden change in humidity, I may have caught my first Summer cold since lockdown, it might just be male pattern hypochondria. At the gate to Brushes Reservoir I stopped to catch my breath and have a good cough. There was no question of my being daft enough to trot blithely over Swineshaw. I decided I'd see the reservoir then make my way back.

Brushes Road 

A mixed tit flock — blue tits, great tits, chiffchaffs and chaffinches, worked its way through the hawthorns, heathers and bilberries on the wayside: woodpigeons clattered about in the trees; robins and dunnocks fossicked about the roadsides. I had a scan over the reservoir and couldn't see anything except swallows flying down the valley.

Brushes Reservoir 

At this point I got a 'phone call about a family emergency so I started back at a rush. At the top of Besom Lane my brother rang to say all was sorted and there was no need to rush back. I stopped to catch my breath and watched a crowd of carrion crows and jackdaws fussing about in the field by the lane. Another mixed tit flock bounced through the hedgerow, a large flock this time which incorporated a big flock of goldfinches. It may have been a big flock of goldfinches incorporating a mixed tit flock. A male blackcap gorging on haws was a nice surprise, right at that moment I was in the market for a boost to my morale. A jay flew up the hill and did its bit for the restoration of oak woodlands, caching at least three acorns in the grass. 

Besom Lane 

I walked down into Millbrook and waited for the bus to Stalybridge, watching the pigeons and jackdaws flocking prior to going to roost. I got a 'phone call telling me to hurry back, which I was doing anyway. When I got back I found there had been absolutely no need to hurry after all. Which wasn't the pleasant surprise it should have been.

Home thoughts

My word, even the parakeets won't eat the rowan berries. I can't say I'm particularly sorry about that, it's hard enough work keeping the regulars fed. The spadgers found the fat balls yesterday, it gives it another day before I'm going to have to resupply the feeders. Still, it's nice to see a crowd of them again. I've been mentioning signs of Autumn all week, the return of the coal tits to the back garden is yet another. 

It's going to be another very wet night followed by another sun'n'showers day. It'll be the first fully free day of the week for me, I've a few ambitious plans that will like as not come to nothing.

Pennington Flash (again)

Glossy ibis

It had poured down throughout the night, which is no bad thing. I had an errand to do first thing, I decided I'd move on from there and spend the day on a tour of Greater Manchester, visiting a few of the sites I've not got round to yet this year. First, though, I'd go over to Pennington Flash for the glossy ibis that arrived yesterday evening. I don't see so many glossy ibises to want to pass over one turning up locally.

As the 126 pulled into Leigh Bus Station I saw the report that the ibis had flown away from the Horrocks spit. Ah well. I headed for the flash anyway, I'd have a look to see what else was about on the flash, check out the Charlie Owen Hide then move on.

A robin sang by the St Helens Road entrance and great tits creaked, clicked and chunnered in the hedgerows. The trees have been so stressed by the heatwaves they've begun prematurely dropping their leaves. Dampened by the overnight rain it was all very autumnal.

Pennington Flash 

There may have been more Canada geese on the car park. Some of the drake mallards were nearly out of eclipse and were jockeying for positions close to ducks. No swifts or hirundines over the flash, giving uninterrupted free rein to plunge-diving common terns.

The ibis had flown but I still had a look at the spit from the F.W.Horrocks Hide. Fewer lapwings, more coots, and a couple of dozen great crested grebes in a raft at the end of the spit.

The drake gadwalls on the pool at the Tom Edmondson Hide were almost completely out of their eclipse colours already, another early sign of Autumn, I expected at least another couple of weeks of bafflement as they and their youngsters mingled with not-quite-full-grown mallards. A heron stalked the pool and the cygnets were cruising about with their parents again.

Heron

Another pristine drake gadwall dabbled on the Kidney Pool with a small group of teals as a brown hawker patrolled the tops of the reeds.

I could only find a handful of lapwings at Ramsdales.

A dried-up dragonfly pond

Yay! A puddle!

Chiffchaffs squeaked, robins sang and a mixed tit flock bounced through the willows as I walked round to the Charlie Owen Hide. A migrant hawker patrolled the hawthorns in the open scrub by the golf course.

From the Charlie Owen Hide 

As I approached the hide a birdwatcher came out and said: "There's a glossy ibis on the pool if you're interested." Amazed by my luck I thanked him, went in and it was the first bird I saw. I still thanked the birdwatcher sitting in the hide who pointed it out to me. On the right-hand side of the patch of greenery that was the shallow end of the pool there was a grey streak of grey mud and the ibis was fossicking about on there. The rather flat dark colouration suggested that it was a juvenile bird.

Glossy ibis 

Glossy ibis 

Glossy ibis

Glossy ibis 

The remains of the pool on the left were crowded with gadwalls and teals.

I decided to move on but circumstances required that I bob off back home. I just missed the 126 and 35 at Leighton Bus Station (they leave at the same time) so I got the V1, hoping to connect with the 132 at Sale Lane. As it was, I'd have a 25 minute wait there. It worked out quickest to stay on the bus into the city centre and get the bus home. (Wednesday edit: all well in the end.) A bit of a dash about but it was jolly nice to have seen the ibis.

High Rid Reservoir

Grey wagtail

It was a cool (high sixties), cloudy day. Once in a while there'd be half a minute of light rain. I've undercooked the walks round Lostock and Horwich so far this year so I thought I'd have a look at High Rid Reservoir and have a general potter about to ease me into the week.

High Rid Lane

I got the 576 to Ox Hey Lane (the 575 and 576 both stop here) and walked up Fall Birch Road to the reservoir. It was quiet going: a robin sang, a goldfinch twittered, carrion crows, magpies and woodpigeons flew overhead.

High Rid Reservoir 

The reservoir was busier. Small rafts of mallards and coots bobbed about at the sides. A dozen Canada geese steamed across the reservoir. A few herring gulls, lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls loafed on the water. A tufted duck and her duckling kept away from a small raft of tufted drakes. A family of dabchicks fed as a group in a line with a parent at either end, a couple of pairs of dabchicks cruised about, the great crested grebes were all adults and kept to themselves. Needless to say, I double-checked all the gulls, ducks and grebes, just in case. The grey wagtail and pied wagtails working the margins were very skittish.

Tufted duck and duckling

Grey wagtail 

Dabchick

Tufted duck and duckling 

I'd been impressed on the walk up by how green the grass still was. The little pond by the reservoir still had some water in it and the vegetation around it looked lush. A willow warbler squeaked in the trees and a whitethroat razzed a passing spaniel. I dropped down to the path along the wall by the pond and checked out the trees. Autumn passage has started for some birds, it's worth checking isolated pockets of trees on hillsides for anything taking a pitstop. I couldn't tell if the willow warbler and whitethroat were Summer residents or passersby, either way they were all I found. I almost missed the pair of stock doves amongst the squadrons of woodpigeons flying down the hillsides.

The pond 

High Rid Reservoir 

I walked back up to the reservoir and carried on walking round. A handful of swallows passed through, a dozen sand martins stayed for a feed.

High Rid Reservoir 

For a change I took the path at the top of the reservoir over to Old Hall Lane. It smelt like it had been muck-spreading time on one of the fields, which explains the crowd of carrion crows and jackdaws rummaging about in it.

By Old Hall Lane 

It was very quiet down the lane until I reached the corner with Old Hall Mews. A great tit called in the trees and I stopped to look for it. I found a treecreeper first. Then a chiffchaff, a goldcrest and three blue tits. Two great tits called but I could see neither. Bumping into a mixed tit flock always feels like a lucky bonus in August.

I started to walk down Old Hall Clough. Two heifers had got out and were walking up the path. I decided to leave them to it, they were at that age where their response to a passing human could be panic or play and either could be dangerous.

Old Hall Clough, with accessories 

Winter Hill from Old Hall Lane 

So I walked up Old Hall Lane to Old Kiln Lane and walked into Doffcocker. I was wondering if I had the legs for a walk round the lodge when I noticed the 574 back to Bolton was due. The advantage of this bus is that I could get off in Great Lever for the buses to the Trafford Centre and save myself getting ensnared in Bolton town centre traffic. 

Instead, we got stuck behind a road traffic accident in Fernhill. I got off, walked up for the 607 to Wigan and got off in Hindley Green where I could get the 132 back to the Trafford Centre. Walking down to Atherton Road for the bus I passed Clayhole Park so I had a quick nosy.

The Clayhole 

The Clayhole is as advertised, a water-filled claypit. Canada geese, mallards and black-headed gulls loafed; mute swans cruised; pigeons, coots and moorhens pottered about and there was the inevitable scramble at the rustle of a bag of scraps.

The rest of the journey back was, mercifully, uneventful.