Stretford

Victoria Park, Stretford

I thought I'd best extend today's walk because I (physically and mentally) needed the exercise. I considered a stroll over Stretford Meadows but I want to save that for when I need to go into Stretford for the shops (the plan being to go over the meadows, past Kickety Brook then along the path on Stretford Ees to come back onto Chester Road and thence the shops).

As a compromise I decided on a route that took me through a couple of little parks and then a loop back. So I crossed over at the station, walked down to Moss Park, then down to Victoria Park and then back home. A mile and a bit each way, with the advantage that I'd be recording for three one-kilometre squares on BirdTrack. It's eerie walking down nearly empty streets, like going for a stroll very early on a Summer's Sunday. The parks were modestly busy but it was easy enough for everyone to keep their distance from each other.

Nothing desperately exciting about but a nice change. The most striking thing was the number of chaffinches: half a dozen singing in each park whereas it's been a couple of weeks since I last saw any at all in Lostock Park. It's odd that our being in a small triangle bounded by the railway, Trafford Park factories and the motorway should have such a bearing on the presence — or not — of chaffinches. It was also nice to hear a nuthatch, though frustrating not to be able to find it in its ash tree despite the lack of foliage for them to hide behind.

The thin passage of lesser black-backed gulls continues, just odd ones and twos, all drifting generally Southwards.