Salford Quays

Pied wagtail 

The plan had been to get the morning's errands done and dusted then shoot over to Southport to try and catch the Temminck's stints at Marshside. Temminck's stints are another of those blink and you miss them Spring passage specialities. As it was, I got so wet and chilled to the marrow running the errands I decided what I really needed was a pot of tea and my lunch. 

It hadn't been an altogether duff morning. The fledgling starlings are being coaxed from their nests in the eaves of rooftops, their parents standing on nearby telegraph poles singing and beating their wings to encourage them. They may come to regret it: there were already plenty of adult starlings zipping round each with two noisy begging fledglings almost hanging from their tail tips. I think some of the baby spadgers will be out in the next few days, I've stocked up in fat balls for the feeders in the fruit bushes (the adults get a free meal in return for stuffing the youngsters full of aphids). Both blue tits are coming in together, a sure sign that the nest they've got a few doors down have hungry mouths to feed. Both the baby dunnocks and baby robins have learned not to make themselves conspicuous.

The rain abated though it was still blowing a hooley and cold with it so I went over to the Trafford Centre and played bus station bingo. The 126 was in but I didn't want to revisit the Leigh area so soon so I got the next bus, the 250, and walked up from Sir Matt Busby Way to Wharfside to see what was on the Ship Canal and the quays.

Herring gull 

The raft of about a dozen large gulls was a far cry from the Winter roosts. There were equal numbers of lesser black-backs and herring gulls, none of the herring gulls were adults. 

Canada goose

I walked along the wharfside past the tram stop towards Pomona, accompanied part of the way by a very smart male pied wagtail. There wasn't much on the water along this stretch except a couple of cormorants. Half a dozen cormorants were loafing across a litter barrier drying their wings. Over on the muddy beach on Cotton Quays a pair of Canada geese pottered about with their goslings in the company of a flock of pigeons, a moorhen and half a dozen second-calendar-year black-headed gulls, most of which hasn't fully moulted into their brown hoods. A little further on another Canada goose was still sitting on her nest.

Three cormorants were fishing as a team under the Trafford Road Bridge. There must be a huge fish population in this stretch of the canal to support the year-round population of cormorants. A mute swan dozed on the opposite bank and a song thrush sang from the bankside bushes, which was unexpected.

Herring gulls 

I walked up to Pomona, which was dead quiet, and walked my way back. Which was easier said than done with the wind in my face. Half a dozen lesser black-backs had settled on Cotton Quays and the geese were keeping their goslings well away from them. One of the gulls bobbing on the water just away from the group intrigued me. It was a third-calendar-year bird with a distinctly paler grey saddle than the other birds. From the views I was getting I wasn't sure if it was an unusually pale lesser black-back, a yellow-legged gull or a trick of the light so I kept it in view as I walked along until it swam behind one of the concrete islands. I quickened my pace to try and catch it on the other side and swore as most of the lesser black-backs flew off to join the raft in the bay, taking the bird with them. Ordinarily this would be good news as an open wing view would clinch the identification but they were off an away before I got past the island and I just got a confusion of tail-end views.

Lesser black-backs and herring gulls 

My hopes that I might pick the gull up again as I walked towards the Millennium Bridge were confounded as the tour boat sailed through the raft and the gulls dispersed, leaving a few young herring gulls and the three fishing cormorants in its wake.

Grey wagtail 

I crossed the Millennium Bridge and was pleased to find a pair of grey wagtails busily feeding on the dockside without much care about the passersby. They've become a settled part of the canalside life of Salford and Manchester city centre.

Salford Quays 

New Moss Wood

New Moss Wood 

It had been a busy day but I needed some exercise so i got the train to Irlam for an hour or so's walk round New Moss Wood.

It was a sunny and cool afternoon. The afternoon had been cooler than the morning as the wind shifted and got an extra bite in so I put on my big coat and felt overdressed waiting for the train in the sunshine. I walked down Liverpool Road and then through the allotments to Moss Road, congratulating myself on the choice of coat whenever a cloud passed over the sun or I stepped into the shadows. Blackbirds and robins sang all the way, goldfinches and a coal tit sang in the allotments, chiffchaffs and a song thrush from the railway embankment.

I'm finding that little stretch of path between Moss Road and the bridge over the old Altrincham line very productive lately. Wrens, dunnocks and robins sang in the hedgerows, greenfinches and a willow warbler sang in the trees and a bramble patch near the bridge had its whitethroat. I struggled to see many of them and suspect I missed hordes of titmice silently going about their business.

Moss Road 

The fields along Moss Road were green and largely birdless. A carrion crow walked across the middle of the turf field opposite the wood and cock pheasants called at each other from the corners. Way out further a couple of lapwings scuttled about a field margin. It was a stark contrast to the houses and gardens at the bottom of the road where house sparrows and goldfinches bustled about the hedges and blackbirds, robins and woodpigeons sang.

Walking into New Moss Wood 

Walking into the wood I passed two singing whitethroats, one taking to the air for a solo before disappearing back into the brambles. The wood was lively with song but the singers were largely invisible in the trees or else fleeting glimpses of tiny figures dashing between cover. Even the robins were coy. Blackbirds, robins, blackcaps and wrens provided most of the songscape, one song thrush singing from the depths of the oak and alder canopy while another hunted in the bracken. Chiffchaffs outnumbered the willow warblers about two to one, they tending to favour the rides in the centre of the wood, the willow warblers preferring the margins and the patches of wet birch and willow. The rides also provided some sheltered open space where red admirals could flutter about the nettles without being blown into the next county. 

New Moss Wood 

New Moss Wood: one of the rides

The gusty wind was making itself known in the wood and I found myself constantly reacting to leaves suddenly shaking in the breeze. Titmice bounced through the trees, more of than not I was only finding them when twigs were bending against the general trend though every so often a pair of great tits would see me off their patch. A pair of long-tailed tits I found by pure dumb luck as they ferried beakfuls of food through some hawthorns. The nuthatch and the great spotted woodpecker that took exception to me were noises off from somewhere in the canopy.

Woodland edge

One of the dragonfly ponds 

Returning to Moss Road I accidentally disturbed a couple of linnets feeding by the roadside. A little further on the only swallow of the day was swooping low over the turf field.

I walked into Cadishead for the bus to the Trafford Centre. The urban songscape was rich and full: blackbirds, robins, wrens, dunnocks, collared doves and goldfinches, even a couple of cock sparrows joined in. Starlings whizzed to and from as they had mouths to feed in eaves. While I waited for the bus three second-calendar-year black-headed gulls circled low over the rooftops of Liverpool Road and I couldn't work out what they were after. I'll never know, the bus finally turned up before I found out.

Longendale Trail

Wren

It was another bright, if cool, Spring day and I felt disinclined to do anything with it. After getting the morning errands done I spent the next couple of hours maunging round the house and garden reviewing the status of Things To Be Done, with no intention of doing anything about any of them except beat myself about the head for having not done them, I decided that I really should get out, get some fresh air and get my head in a better place. I didn't want a route march or anything giving me the opportunity to give myself a good nagging so I got the trains for a walk up and down the stretch of the Longendale Trail between Hadfield Station and the bench above Valehouse Reservoir, which is both undemanding and picturesque and offers that kind of birdwatching which offers it to you on a plate but only if your head's not too busy to notice.

Joining the Longendale Trail 

Walking down the cutting at the start of the trail the trees and the pathside were busy with robins and blackbirds, many of which barely moved by to allow the passage of dogs and walkers. Chaffinches, chiffchaffs, dunnocks and wrens sang from the trees by the trail and somewhere in the background a song thrush was yelling its lungs out. Magpies and woodpigeons clambered about in the canopies, starlings and jackdaws ferried food from fields to rooftops, and the rustlings about in bushes were blue tits, goldfinches and house sparrows. It was that full-on Springtime experience where the snapshot is empty greenery and the movie a crowd scene.

Blackcaps and great tits joined the songscape and some of the robins decided they'd best get a song or two in, in between scowling at passersby for disturbing a rummage. As I approached the end of the cuttings and more open country willow warblers and greenfinches joined the chorus.

Bottoms Reservoir 

Rabbit

The fields above Bottoms Reservoir were peppered with jackdaws and starlings, and a flock of Canada geese grazed at one end. A handful of rooks pottered about between the gamboling lambs. I was surprised to find a couple of siskins in the treetops. Titmice bounced through the hawthorn hedgerows, a pair of long-tailed tits found a magpie and gave it a damned good mobbing until it got fed up and went to join the jackdaws. And as ever the trackside rabbits paid little heed to passersby unless their dogs were off the lead.

Long-tailed tit

Long-tailed tit

Stitchwort

The hathorn hedges sounded busy

I couldn't see the lapwings and pheasants calling from the hillside or the curlew and oystercatchers somewhere in the valley. I did spot the passing swallows. A whitethroat quietly disappeared into the hawthorn it had been singing from. I always expect more whitethroats than I find along here. Despite the cool weather a green-veined white fluttered about the trackside cowslips.

The Longendale Trail 

I sat down and listened to a coal tit and a dunnock trying to out-sing a wren and a blackbird while blue tits bounced about in the tree next to the bench. A couple of black-headed gulls flew down the valley towards Bottoms Reservoir. I'd bought myself a quarter of midget gems from the shop by the station so I could give myself a reward for getting to my destination but somebody had eaten them along the way. It didn't matter, it was all very pleasant anyway.

Destination sit-down

On the walk back most of the Canada geese had moved down onto Bottoms Reservoir to join the mallards and moorhens already pottering about down there. The songscape ran on unabated, I'm taking them in while I can, it's going to be a devil of a job finding any of the birds when it all goes quiet for the post-breeding moult.

Chaffinch

I'd dawdled a bit and had had to wait a couple of minutes while a couple of blackbirds finished their punch-up on the path but I still managed to get the train back to Manchester, just, and headed off home with the demons back in their boxes for a bit.

Cowslips

Leigh bumper bundle

Buzzard, Byrom Hall Wood

I really wasn't in the mood for doing anything at all today, it was even an effort to make a pot of tea. I saw the reports of an osprey at Pennington Flash. I wondered if I should go and see if I could see it. According the the reports the bird was at the West End in the area where Hey Brook runs into the flash. I could walk in from Slag Lane along the path past Mossley Hall then onto Byrom Lane to the sailing club, a very different type of walk to the usual one around the hides on the East side. After passing through the woodland edge by Slag Lane there's a long stretch of meadows and reedbeds which give views of the flash between the trees. If the osprey was in one of the trees along here or fishing over this end of the flash I might have a chance of seeing it. It would be hard luck if it was in the trees on the private land around Mossley Hall though in that case I might strike lucky from near the sailing club. And I had every expectation I'd be unlucky anyway, there hadn't been any reports of it since early doors and it had probably moved on.

So off I went.

I got the 588 to Plank Lane, got off just after the canal bridge and walked down Slag Lane and joined the path opposite the recycling centre. Robins, blackbirds, blackcaps and chiffchaffs sang by the roadside and willow warblers and song thrushes could be heard in the trees beyond. There were plenty more in the trees as I walked down the path.

The path to Mossley Hall 

The path crossed Hey Brook and I soon came out into more open meadow landscape and I caught my first sight of the flash, largely hidden by trees and reeds. The songs of a couple of reed warblers drifted over the meadows. A sedge warbler belted out a number from a bramble patch next to the path. Some angry words from passing jackdaws were directed at a sparrowhawk rising on the thermals above the meadows.

Pennington Flash 

I wasn't seeing anything larger than a woodpigeon in any of the trees by the flash, and not many of they. A few lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls flew by and jackdaws passed to and from overhead. I reached a large meadow with an open view of the flash and had a scan round. I couldn't see anything in any of the trees on either side of the flash. On the water there were mute swans by the near bank with pairs of gadwalls and tufted ducks. Further out, pairs of great crested grebes cruised about. A moment's flutter as a large white shape flew in was caused by a young great black-back.

Meadows by Pennington Flash 

I spent a few minutes allowing myself to be diverted by the orange tip butterflies skittering about the meadow before returning to the search. If I had no joy I'd walk on to the sailing club and try my luck. A few herring gulls flew past to join the raft of large gulls I could see in the distance. A heron flew into the mouth of the brook. Then I noticed something large rising above the rucks over on the other side of the flash, a big pale bird doing lazy circles as it rose on the thermals. I had a look through my binoculars fully expecting it to be another great black-back. It wasn't. Even at this distance it was obviously the osprey, luckily for me there's not a right lot looks like an osprey that isnt one. It came closer to the flash as it circled and I had a moment's hope it might be coming this way but it headed back and it soon became apparent that the circles were drifting over towards Plank Lane. I kept watching, just in case, but it kept its distance. Ah well, I'd had my bit of luck and seen it.

As I stood wondering what I wanted to do next a bird shot over at treetop height. "That's a dark-looking kestrel," said the boy birdwatcher looking at a hobby through his binoculars. In my defence, I'd had my surprise of the day with the osprey and wasn't expecting a bonus bird within a few minutes. Luckily it was a big open area so the bird kept in view long enough for the penny to drop.

Helmeted guineafowl

I'd learned my lesson and was on as close to an alert as I can manage these days as I followed the path past Mossley Hall and on to Byrom Lane. I was watching swallows zinging about when I realised there was a soft chuckling noise coming from the field behind me. The flock of guineafowl were almost hidden in the grass.

On reaching Byrom Lane I decided not to head for the sailing club then walk round to St Helens Road. Instead, I turned and walked back to Slag Lane, crossed the road and walked through Byrom Hall Wood into Lowton. 

Heading for Byrom Hall Wood 

It was a nice day and a nice walk. Swallows flitted about the farm buildings at Byrom Hall. A buzzard called as it floated by and off towards Abram. Three lapwings looked to.be headed for Pennington Flash. Greenfinches and whitethroats sang in the fields and hedgerows. Blackcaps, robins, chiffchaffs, willow warblers, blackbirds and wrens sang in the woods. Titmice quietly bounced through the trees, goldfinches twittered, and young magpies rattled at parents that expected them to get their own dinners by now.

Byrom Hall Wood 

A nice gnarly oak

Thinking I was taking a route straight through to Wigan Road I took a meandering footpath that seemed to go round the back of every house on the estate. I eventually got to Wigan Road and didn't have long to wait for the 610 and the start of the long journey home.

Marshside and Crossens

Ruff

Marshside's having one of its golden patches for waders and it's getting its share of a very good passage of wood sandpipers so I headed that way to try my luck.

The weather was officially "changeable" but started cool with light cloud and got warmer. I thought the Canada geese had abandoned their nest on Pomona Dock so I was pleasantly surprised to see the goose with three goslings as the train chugged into town.

The train passed the woodpigeons, rooks and jackdaws of West Lancashire without incident and I didn't have long to wait for the bus into Marshside. It was a bright and sunny, but still cool, lunchtime when I arrived. The spadgers and starlings of Marshside were frantically busy with mouths to feed and the first couple of house martins were hawking over the rooftops.

Lapwing

The marshes looked deceptively quiet. An illusion quickly ruined by the arrival of flocks of starlings and house sparrows and a pair of lapwings taking exception to a passing jogger. The regular networked layout of greylags, Canada geese and lapwings had been disrupted, there were few greylags and lapwings dotted about, the greylags that were around were mostly in small groups, there just weren't many lapwings. The very few pairs of shelducks took some finding, I saw more shovelers in flight than on the ground and the crowds of wigeon and teal of just a few weeks ago were a vanished memory. 

Sutton's Marsh 

A reed warbler sang from a tiny patch of reeds and somehow remained invisible, all I could find to see was a couple of wrens twitching about in the depths. Over the road, goldfinches and whitethroats sang from the remaining patches of hawthorn hedge.

Junction Pool 

First stop was the Junction Pool where a few mallards and a drake wigeon puttered about and a handful of redshanks and ruffs fossicked about in the mud. A smaller, slimmer bird could have been a wood sandpiper but as a silhouette against dark, wet mud it wasn't a safe identification. 

I moved on to the Halfway Viewpoint for a better look, with the sun behind me. I found that the ruffs and reeves (female ruffs) easily outnumbered the redshanks, most were hidden from view from the junction by muddy ridges as they rummaged about in a couple of channels. The ruffs were also quite dark individuals, which wouldn't have helped with the light behind them. The russet ruff on one of them would have showed up a treat had he fluffed it up. Two had black ruffs, an all-dark bird disappeared into the shadows, the other was betrayed by his bright white horns.

I was struggling to find the potential wood sandpiper, the change in angle of view foxed me for a bit and the group of waders in question had dispersed. My eye kept being caught by redshanks and reeves as they skittered about. Then a smaller, slimmer wader dashed across a small pool and into some tall grass and I had me a wood sandpiper on the year list. There might have been two but I wasn't confident of the brief glimpse I had of the second candidate.

The path by Marine Drive 

The high bank between the marsh and the path to Nels Hide was smothered in a blue haze of alkanet. I noticed that some of the Duke of Argyll's tea trees that had been cut down were bouncing back, a very active sedge warbler sang from one, always keeping a few twigs and branches between itself and the would-be photographer.

Reeve (left) and ruffs

Even before I'd sat down at Nels Hide I'd noticed the ruffs on the mud immediately in front. A fluffed-up dandy of a ginger-ruffed male stood out a mile, a darker bird with his ruff flattened down most of the time was less conspicuous. The ginger lad sported himself about a lot and every so often would dash over to a passing reeve to show off a bit. The reeves played hard to get.

Redshank (top), reeve (left) and ruffs

Ruff

Ruff

Ruff

Ruff

Ruff

Ruff

Ruff

Reeve and ruff
The ruff noticed the reeve walking his way so he ran over and started displaying to her. 

Ruff
The darker bird only erected his ruff once the ginger bird had flown off.

Ruffs come in a bewildering variety of plumages and not all the males have ruffs, a tiny percentage look like reeves. There was a nice mixture peppered about the marsh between Junction Pool and Nels Hide.

Ruff, one of the dark birds from the Halfway Viewpoint 

Ruff
I don't know if this bird is still moulting into breeding plumage or has completed it and doesn't have a ruff.

Besides the ruffs there were a few redshanks, coots and mallards had fluffy youngsters in tow, and a couple of dozen herring gulls were having a wash and brush-up. I was feeling so perked-up by the views of ruffs that I started scanning the marsh between Nels Hide and Hesketh Road for spoonbills, ibises and who-knows-what and it serves me damned well right I didn't find any. There's no need to be greedy.

Spindle tree

Walking back in the warming sun I noticed the spindle trees by Nels Hide were in full flower, hopefully they'll be spectacular in Autumn. On the way over the skylarks and meadow pipits had been quietly flitting about the outer marsh, on the way back the sunshine seemed to coax some of the skylarks into song and meadow pipits fussed about on the bank by the path, vanishing into the alkanets whenever I passed too close by, just leaving a short, sharp call behind them.

Alkanet

Pollen beetle on burnet rose

On the way over to Sandgrounders I noticed the vetchlings and dewberries on the verge were in flower and I started to have half an eye out for orchids. And I tell my father off for being impatient. The burnet roses were already in full bloom and were busy with insects.

Black-headed gulls, moorhen and tufted ducks

The pool by Sandgrounders was noisy with nesting black-headed gulls. A few tufted ducks, coots and gadwalls loafed about, avocets and redshanks paddled round the edges and Canada geese dozed on the banks. It was more of the same at Sandgrounders, with a few mallard families and pairs of shovelers also cruising about and a handful of black-tailed godwits rummaging about on the marsh. Over on Polly's Pool about a couple of dozen black-tailed godwits lined up in a roost.

I didn't stop long and carried on walking by Marine Drive. Over on the outer marsh all the geese were Canada geese and a dozen little egrets shrimped in the bigger pool. A female marsh harrier drifted over from the marsh towards the road then veered off into the estuary. The sun brought out the butterflies and I found myself tiptoeing round peacocks, small tortoiseshells and wall browns that were basking on the path. I also found myself keeping having to apologise to the linnets and goldfinches disturbed as I passed too close to the dandelion patches they were feeding in.

By Marine Drive 

Walking along the bund by Crossens Inner Marsh 

I crossed over to have a look at Crossens Outer Marsh from McCarthy's. It looked deserted, the dark bands of thousands of geese replaced by grey hazes of scores of woodpigeons. There were meadow pipits, skylarks and starlings out there feeding in the grass, small flocks erupting when a kestrel hovered over or a buzzard passed overhead.

I wondered if I had the legs for the walk round to Banks Marsh to see if the American golden plover reported yesterday was still about. Regretfully I had to admit I hadn't. I crossed back over and walked back into Marshside along the bund. A couple of swallows hawking over the marsh and water treatment works were, hopefully, a precursor to the Summer crowds.

Avocet chicks

A lapwing was having a running spat with a couple of avocets. At first I thought the avocets had wandered too close to the lapwings' chicks. It turned out to be the other way round: the lapwing had been warned off by the avocets and it was having a tantrum about it.

Avocet and chicks

I had a sit down on the bench at the boundary between Marshside and Crossens Inner Marsh and surveyed the scene as house sparrows, starlings and dunnocks rummaged about the brambles nearby. Neither marsh looked crowded though there were plenty of birds about. On Crossens lapwings, redshanks and avocets paddled about while mallards, shovelers and a mute swan cruised the pools and channels. On Marshside Canada geese and lapwings were peppered about the nearby marsh and the black-headed gull colony was heard as much as seen. It was an easy and uneventful journey home after a very nice walk.

Avocet