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| Rye Bank Fields |
An afternoon stroll around Longford Park and Rye Bank Fields.
Longford Park was August Bank Holiday busy, which didn't stop two or three mixed tit flocks working their way through the trees accompanied by nuthatches, treecreepers and chiffchaffs. A couple of ring-necked parakeets footled round the treetops near the children's play area and a passing sparrowhawk flew overhead.
Despite only being separated from Longford Park by a couple of lines of trees, separated from people's houses by garden fences and being right next to sports day at Longford Stadium Rye Bank Fields was completely different again. Dead quiet, with just a few small kids playing by their house and three people passing through.
This area is owned by Manchester Metropolitan University and used to be one of its recreation grounds but over the past few decades it's been left fallow and nature has taken over. For me this is part of its charm, it's nothing special but that's precisely what makes it special: there's a danger that all we'll have left in the end are a collection of "special" places where we have to drive out to enjoy remnant pieces of managed nature. Needless to say, there are plans to build on it.
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| Save Ryebank Fields |
The trees by the stadium were full of a mixed tit flock that included a big family of long-tailed tits and a willow warbler sharing a poplar tree with a couple of chiffchaffs just to keep me on my toes.
At the other end of the fields, towards Rye Bank Road, a pair of jays were being very noisy in the oak trees. There's a half-dead sycamore just by these trees and something pale caught my eye as it flitted about and returned to a dead branch. Nice to see my first spotted flycatcher of the year.
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| Spotted flycatcher, Rye Bank Fields |
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| Spotted flycatcher, Rye Bank Fields |
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| Spotted flycatcher, Rye Bank Fields |
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