Stretford

Heron, Stretford Ees

My word I needed that walk, just long enough to get past the painful joint barrier and get everything moving the way it's supposed to. Down to Stretford Meadows, past Kickety Brook, through Stretford Ees and back round from the river to Turn Moss and back again. I had a look at going over the motorway and following Ousel Brook to where it meets Kickety Brook because I've not done that bit of walk but the motorway bridge was closed for the duration.

My first willow warbler of the year was singing from the paddock next to the garden centre alongside a chiffchaff and a couple of blackcaps, when all weren't being drowned out by wrens. I wasn't far down the path when a buzzard flew low over and on towards the town centre.

Reed bunting, Stretford Meadows

I had hopes of getting the first whitethroat of the year on the meadows but no joy today. Nice to see a reed bunting flitting around the bushes on the first rise. On the open meadow all the birdlife was overflying: a handful each of swallow, jackdaw and stock dove and a couple of lesser black-backs.

Following the path down by Kickety Brook the trees were busy with blue tits and great tits and more singing blackcaps, chiffchaffs and wrens. The path itself was thick with cyclists. Passing under Chester Road and into Stretford Ees most of the birdsong was robins (they've been quiet at home the past couple of days). A couple of jays flew by and a great spotted woodpecker called and flew off towards Hawthorn Road.

Moorhen, Stretford Ees

The ground becomes more open on the other side of the Bridgewater Canal aquaduct, a pair of herring gulls were fussing about on the field on the other side of the brook. House sparrows and robins were busy in the little hawthorn bushes. Walking along towards the pool at the end of the brook a couple of blue tits shot by and the small flock of goldfinches twittering in the trees by the pool suddenly went quiet. A brute of a female sparrowhawk cruised past and then rose over the river, only to be chased off by a carrion crow that flew in from Turn Moss just for the pleasure of doing so.

A moorhen was mooching round on the pool and a heron was hunting along the far side near the wall. I almost missed the pair of mallard asleep amongst the flag irises. The psychological impact of seeing my first mallard for over a month isn't to be sniffed at!

Stretford Ees, the pool at the end of Kickety Brook

I dropped down to the path by the river, which was considerably more well-behaved than the last time I saw it. A pair of grey wagtails were working their way along the riverside and a couple more mallard dozed on the water.

I decided against continuing on to Chorlton Ees and then either Sale Water Park or Chorlton Water Park, partly because I'm just getting back into the hang of having longer walks but mostly because it was so busy with people. I walked past Turn Moss along Hawthorn Lane and then back home.