Mersey Valley

Chorlton Water Park

After a third bad night's sleep I thought I'd have a lazy day, try to catch up with some sleep and listen to the cricket but a neighbour set to what sounded like complex root canal surgery in his garden. After a while I decided rest was a lost cause and decided to go for a couple of hours' walk. I had enough energy in me for a stroll round Chorlton Water Park, a wander round Barlow Tip and along the river as far as Jackson's Boat, through Hardy Farm then home. Most of the way it was busy with people but not silly busy, though being a Saturday there were plenty enough who thought social distancing involves walking three or four abreast along narrow paths which didn't improve my grumpiness. Anyway…

Predictably Chorlton Water Park hosted dozens of coot, mallard and Canada geese, with a couple of swans and a few moorhens. An adult great scrested grebe had a well-grown youngster in tow that hadn't quite twigged it was too big for a piggy-back ride. An older juvenile, already starting to get its black crest, was feeding amongst coots on the far side of the lake. Passerines in the trees were very quiet, save for one chiffchaff which calling from the lakeside by Barlow Tip. Even the ring-necked parakeets were heard not seen.

Barlow Tip was very quiet: it was barren of birds until I got to the service road that cuts through this area. Even then, aside from a couple of Canada geese flying through, it was just contact calls and alarm calls with the birds themselves skulking in the leaves. A couple of chiffchaffs and a whitethroat were the only warblers and a family party of long-tailed tits demonstrated that even they can be inconspicuous when they've a mind to.

A grey wagtail was in the usual place along the river and there was another cormorant, a young-looking bird, fishing under the tram bridge as I approached Jackson's Boat. At least half a dozen ring-necked parakeets were noisily flying in and out of the trees by the pub. The first and only swift of the day flew overhead, hirundines had been notable by their absence.

Hardy Farm was quiet, just a few magpies fossicking around and a small flock of woodpigeons on one of the fields. Consolation came with a large female sparrowhawk that barrelled past, I hadn't managed to see one in the whole of July.