 |
| Stretford Ees, the end of Kickety Brook |
Stretford Ees was busy with goldfinches and woodpigeons and a willow warbler sang, appropriately enough, from a stand of willows near the end of Kickety Brook. There were reed buntings around but I only saw them when I accidentally flushed them out of the long grass as I walked past. The grass flashed electric blue with common blue damselflies, the only dragonflies out this visit.
Turn Moss was fairly busy with families and sportspeople so I walked down Hawthorn Lane to see if anything was lurking in the hedgerows. There were a few robins and great tits, a nuthatch making a performance out of pecking open an acorn and a chiffchaff working the high branches. I wandered over to the car park on Turn Moss Road where eight ring-necked parakeets were flitting about and disappearing into the treetops screaming the odds.
I crossed over the road to Longford Park but that was far too busy for much birdlife.
I thought I'd have a look if the barriers were still up around Rye Bank Fields as it's been closed off "for surveying work" all year. It was still closed off, including the paths only known to cats and kids, including the one where you have to walk through the holly bush to find the start of the trail. It turns out that the barriers had been removed at the Firswood end so I had a wander. Turns out that when the developers moved in to start housebuilding the survey found asbestos in the ground. This has put off any further development a while. It also turns out that the open entrance is the result of what one of the locals calls: "Slightly concerted effort." This time of day and year it was fairly quiet: a few woodpigeons and magpies, a jay and a couple of parakeets. I'm glad there's a way in, however unofficial, this is the time of year passage migrants drop in.
 |
| Rye Bank Fields The green line across the picture is Nico Ditch, I'm standing in the Kingdom of York having crossed over from Mercia. |
No comments:
Post a Comment