Martin Mere-ish

Pink-footed geese

Definitely one of those days. I missed a change in the train timetable so spent nearly an hour waiting for a train, had to do the planned walk the wrong way round and on the way home found out I was within a hundred yards of a life tick. Ah well, never mind, it's all part of the game.

The plan was to get the train to New Lane, walk around the periphery of Martin Mere on the public paths then on to Burscough Bridge and home. Up to a couple of weeks ago if I wanted to get to New Lane I could get to Oxford Road and either wait half an hour for the stopping train to Southport or else get the quick train to Wigan and pick the train up there (35 minutes at Wigan is more pleasant than 30 minutes at Oxford Road). That's changed now: the stopping train goes from Victoria and all the connections from Deansgate or Oxford Road just miss it. So I had a fifty minute wait for the train to Burscough Bridge. Which broke down at Oxford Road and left quarter of an hour late. To be honest, had I worked out beforehand it would take an hour and forty minutes to get to Wigan from home I'd have got the bus and had quarter of an hour to spare. Anyway… by the time I arrived in Burscough the morning fog had lifted and it was becoming a fine, warm afternoon.

Red Cat Lane, Burscough

Walking down Red Cat Lane it came as a relief to find fifty-odd rooks dividing their time between the stubble fields, a half-harvested field of carrots and the paddocks by the stables. They were joined by similar numbers of jackdaws and woodpigeons. A few starlings had flown over and I thought the flock of black dots rising and falling a couple of fields away were more of the same until they came my way: at least a hundred and fifty skylarks, the biggest flock I've seen in ages. A single pink-footed goose flew over and I spent a while making sure of its identity, bearing in mind the adage that any single bird that should be in a flock could be something different. As I approached the junction to Curlew Road a couple of skeins flew out from Martin Mere.

At the corner of Curlew Lane a wagtail flew over and just as I was a out to tick it as another pied wagtail from the farmyard I realised it was the wrong shape; it turned out to be a very spruce male yellow wagtail, the latest I've ever seen by a couple of weeks.

One of the hedges along by Hawthorn Lane had some tree sparrows but they weren't up for being easy to find. It was only when a couple were accidentally flushed by a particularly clumsy woodpigeon that they came into sight. No corn buntings today, which was disappointing, and not many linnets or goldfinches, they were probably all in the big field of barley stubble over by the railway line.

Martin Mere's open now but are only admitting people who've booked ahead, which is entirely reasonable in the current circumstances. There's no point in my making a booking as between the trains and the walk down I can't be sure of a time of arrival so it saves stress all round of I don't try. Instead I walk up the side of Martin Mere, along the outer margin of the reedbeds and then take the path beside the railway line to New Lane, which is a nice enough walk and there's enough to see to be worthwhile birdwatching.

Reedbed walk

As I arrived at the reedbed path a Cetti's warbler was singing by the gate and a reed bunting was calling by the pool. The first mixed tit flock of the day was joined by some chaffinches and a bullfinch. Given it's late September and how cold it was yesterday there were a lot of butterflies and dragonflies about. Most of the butterflies were large whites and speckled woods, with a few small tortoiseshells still finding thistles to feed on. A few migrant hawkers patrolled the tops of the reedbeds, the paths and hedgerows were buzzing with darters, mostly ruddy darters with a few black darters close to the pools and a couple of common darters sunning themselves on gateposts.

Pink-footed geese

For all that I knew I was near water the only wildfowl I could see or hear most of the way were the hundreds of pink-footed geese that were either feeding out of sight in the fields behind the reeds or flying overhead to forage on the farmlands. It was only when the path reached the end of the reedbed that I could finally see a couple of the pools. A hundred or so lapwings milled around the edges and I could see at least a couple of dozen teal on the water.

As I approached the railway line a pair of buzzards rose from the field and soared off towards the West. The crows and starlings that were feeding in the field carried on as if I wasn't there.

Black-headed gulls, New Lane water treatment works

The walk down to New Lane Station was pretty quiet until I got to the water treatment works where sixty-odd black-headed gulls were loafing on the roof one of the sheds.

On the way home I found out that a Wilson's phalarope had been spotted at Martin Mere at the same time as I was walking round it. A lifer for me. Ah well. I'd have probably have just missed it anyway.

Elton Reservoir

Mute swan cygnets

A cold and dreich start to the day — especially after yesterday's late burst of Summer — so I bobbed off over to Elton Reservoir, the least exposed of the two locations I had in mind for today. The skies were leaden but mercifully it was a dry day.

We're in that time of year where it's a good idea to check flocks for that odd bird out. I'd made a start with a dawn check of the gulls on the field across the road; predictably they were mostly black-headed gulls with a few lesser black-backs and herring gulls but every so often (well, twice over the past five years) there'll be a first-Winter yellow-legged gull drop in for a day. Anyway, it didn't happen today. Nor did it happen at Elton Reservoir. And all the starlings were starlings and all the tufted ducks were tufted ducks. And very nice, too.

Blackbird and song thrush

The hedgerows were heaving with birds: mixed tit flocks, charms of goldfinches, small flocks of greenfinches and hawthorn bushes full of blackbirds and song thrushes. It's good to see flocks of greenfinches, for the past few years the most I've seen at a time have been small family groups. It's not going to be long before the thrushes are joined by redwings, it certainly felt that way today despite most of the trees still being in full leaf. Just the one chiffchaff here today, another sign of season's turn.

Great crested grebe

Withins Reservoir was very quiet so I decided to take the path past the stables over to Ainsworth Road and then for the bus. The fields with horses were busy with woodpigeons, jackdaws and magpies. The empty pasture was peppered with meadow pipits and carrion crows and a kestrel patrolled the hedge margins for unwary rodents.

The weather may not have been splendid but Elton Reservoir always delivers a decent couple of hours' birdwatching.

Salford

Juvenile kestrel, Worsley opposite the RHS garden site

I've been looking at the gaps at my local birdwatching map lately. I haven't explored the area of farmland South of the Bridgewater Canal near Astley and Boothstown at all so I decided a fine, sunny Sunday afternoon would be a good time to make a start on it. The plan was to walk down the canal from Boothstown Marina to Worsley but the Sunday bus connections involved a long wait at the Trafford Centre, so plan B was to walk from Worsley to Boothstown but my bus was late so I missed the connection, so instead I walked from Monton to Worsley and thence to Boothstown.

I got off the bus at Monton Green and walked down Duke's Drive into Broadoak Park. It's a nice walk but being Sunday it was very busy with cyclists, few of whom believed in either pedestrianism or social distancing. The wooded sections of the walk hosted its share of robins, woodpigeons and blackbirds, a couple of mixed tit flocks moved through the undergrowth and jays were busy collecting acorns. Woodpigeons, jackdaws and magpies accompanied the cattle in the big field and a buzzard soared overhead. In the little wooded area at the end of the path, as it approaches Worsley Road, a dozen woodpigeons were feeding on fallen beech nuts and a great spotted woodpecker called from high up in the trees.

I joined the canal towpath at Worsley and carried on under the motorway bridges and on towards Boothstown. There's not much in the way of waterbirds on this stretch of the canal away from the marinas, the iron staining from the old coal workings makes the water an opaque orange, which makes for picturesque photographs but doesn't encourage water plants or fish.

There was a lot of shooting going on over the other side of Botany Bay Wood (I think there's a clay pigeon centre there), each shot brought dozens of woodpigeons over the canal. A tractor ploughing over a field of stubble on the other side of the canal by the new Royal Horticultural Society garden site attracted no birdlife whatsoever which surprised me considerably. Woodpigeons and jackdaws flew over the stubble fields South of the canal but the only bird I could see on the ground was a juvenile kestrel that had just had a wash in a large puddle.

Approaching Boothstown there was another mixed tit flock moving through the hedge margins, including a singing chiffchaff. A couple of jays collected acorns from the trees around the marina.

Oddly enough the highlight of the day was being chakked at by a mistle thrush as I walked past a pub garden on the way to the bus stop. I haven't seen or heard a mistle thrush all month, even the usual pair in the local park have been hiding away.

Stretford and Mersey Valley

Heron, Broad Ees Dole

Had a wander across Stretford Meadows in bitter cold wind this lunchtime. Seems strange to spend an hour there and not hear or see any warblers, the first time since early March. Birds of prey, on the other hand were very much in evidence: a buzzard drifted over from the motorway and soared off towards Trafford Park, a pair of kestrels were hunting over the meadows and a sparrowhawk was being mobbed by a magpie over the cricket ground and retreated down Urmston Lane.

Stretford Meadows

A couple of meadow pipits and a linnet dropped in and I disturbed a large charm of goldfinches on a patch of great willowherb at the top of the mound. Other than that, if it wasn't woodpigeon or magpie it didn't seem to be there.

Kickety Brook

I walked down by Kickety Brook and through Stretford Ees, both very quiet, and on to Sale Water Park. A couple of dozen black-headed gulls fussed around on the water park and a couple of lesser black-backs loafed on the water. The usual mallard, mute swans and Canada geese milled about the walkway by the Boathouse.

Broad Ees Dole

A couple of migrant hawkers buzzed past over the reeds as I walked into Broad Ees Dole, a sign that the wind had dropped and we could still pretend it was Summer-ish. A dozen mallard and a couple of dabchicks were on the teal lake. The pool in from of the hide hosted half a dozen each of dabchick, gadwall and teal and a heron dozed on the island despite the squabbling of moorhens.

I got a cup of tea and spent a while overlooking the feeding station by the café. It was surprisingly quiet, just a few great tits and blue tits, together with a nuthatch and a coal tit. By this time the clouds had rolled in ominously and I had places to be so I called it quits for the day.

Pennington Flash

Young song thrushes bathing

The Met Office told me the weather would be better than it was in Stretford so after a late morning wander round my local patch I got the buses to Pennington Flash. Just as I got off the bus at the entrance to the country park it started raining.

I've never seen Pennington Flash so quiet of people, not even on a lousy Winter's afternoon. Mind you, it felt like a lousy Winter's afternoon, the more so as it was only a couple of days ago I was feeling overdressed wearing a gilet. The lack of human traffic may have been the reason why the brook was heaving with mallard all quietly practising their nodding head courtship displays.

Tufted duck diving

All the usual suspects were out on the water. The tufted ducks were in a bit closer than usual, possibly because there wasn't the usual fuss and frenzy on the car park as nobody was there to throw food around. There's been a marked increase in the number of gulls with about a hundred black-headed gulls floating about and a couple of large rafts, each about forty strong, of lesser black-backs. There was a handful of herring gulls but I couldn't see any common gulls, which is strange this time of year.

There were fewer lapwings at the Horrocks Hide and most of they at the far end of the spit with a few cormorants.

Walking down the path towards the Tom Edmondson Hide I encountered the inevitable mixed tit flock working its way through the willows and by the path close to Pengy's pool there was a singing chiffchaff and the very brief appearance of a water rail.

A dozen gadwall were on the Tom Edmondson pool with a couple of moorhens. The pool on the other side of the path held a few shovelers, including a couple of young drakes starting to moult into adult colours and looking like patchwork dolls.

From the screen by Ramsdales Hide I could see a couple of dozen teal dotted about amongst the gadwalls and shovelers and a group of seven juvenile (I think) snipe on one of the little islands. The usual Cetti's warbler sang from the rough scrub at the corner of the main path.

Snipe

The wind had picked up and the rain was getting heavier so I put aside the plan to wander down the canal end to see if any redpolls were about in the trees. All the small birds along the path had gone into deep cover so the chances of seeing any redpolls that may have been there were extremely slim. I decided instead to walk back and see if anything was around the Bunting Hide. I pretty soon decided against this as the rain was bouncing off the path and this seemed to be a hint that it was time to call it quits.

The rain had eased down to a heavy drizzle by the time I got to the cattle pasture. I noticed some movements on the path ahead of me: a pair of robins and a couple of young song thrushes bathing in puddles. A goldcrest flew down and bathed in what could only be described as a damp patch on the path. The robins moved on, to be replaced by a chaffinch. The song thrushes lingered awhile then noticed me and ran into the hedge. Whereupon a treecreeper flew down for a very quick splash before being chased away by another chaffinch which was joined by a blackbird and one of the song thrushes. The treecreeper came back, flew down to the biggest puddle, decided it was too busy and flew off again. All told it was quarter of an hour before there was a lull in the proceedings and I could walk past without disturbing any bird's ablutions.

Song thrush bathing

Goldcrest bathing

Blackbird bathing

A wet, cold but rather productive couple of hours' birdwatching. Needless to say the sun came out and stayed out once I was on the bus home.

Local patch

Barton Clough

Had a wander round my local patch before moving on to Pennington Flash. Fairly quiet again.

• Black-headed Gull 2 overhead
• Blackbird 5
• Carrion Crow 4
• Dunnock 2
• Feral Pigeon 6 overhead
• Goldfinch 1
• Great Tit 2
• Greenfinch 1
• Herring Gull 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 4
• Magpie 11
• Meadow Pipit 1 overhead
• Robin 7
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 15
• Wren 3

Home thoughts

Now that the woodpigeons have finally got round to eating half the rowan berries the blackbirds have moved in to fight over the remainders. They're so busy squabbling with each other most of the time they don't notice the woodpigeons haven't finished yet.

Thinking about this year's birdwatching I've concluded I'll be lucky to get over 175 species on the year list, small beer in the wider bear garden of concerns. It's not been all bad: a few of the birds I missed on Spring migration I've managed to pick up on their way back and I've managed to visit quite a few new places despite everything, including a couple within walking distance. I'll have to draw a new tread on my walking boots with a biro.

I'm old enough to remember when these were new boots.

One good tern…

Redshanks and turnstones

It was looking like being the last rain-free day of the week and there was a lunchtime high tide so I decided to go over to the Wirral to see what the sea would bring in. (To be honest, I was hoping for my first Sandwich tern of the year.)

I set off from Meols for Leasowe Lighthouse with the light and a strong wind behind me and an hour before high tide. There was plenty of exposed sand still on the beach, littered with loafing gulls, mostly black-headed and lesser black-backs with a lot of herring gulls scattered about far out near the water line. Curlews were dotted here and there across the beach and a hundred or more oystercatchers were busy working the soft mud around the creeks except the one where a small group of people were picking cockles. I could hear redshanks but it was only when I got to the end of the Parade that I could see them, a couple on the sand and then a couple of dozen of them on the creek nearest the sea wall. There was a flurry of movement and more redshanks emerged over the bank accompanied by a score of biggish sandpipers. At first I thought they were knots but then I started to have my doubts and it was only when I confirmed four toes in their footprints and one of the birds opened its wings to show a dark rump that I was convinced I was right in the first place. I'd be no bloody good identifying rare peeps.

Knots

Knot

Redshanks and knots (spot the dunlin!)

Redshanks, knots, lesser black-back and great black-back
If I were a knot I wouldn't be comfortable that close to the great black-back.

Redshank

I walked down the path towards the groyne as the tide drifted in. The herring gulls and oystercatchers flew in to the high parts of the beach by the Parade. By the time I got to the groyne the tide was lapping at the stones at its base and the redshanks and knots had flown in to take refuge. There was a grey plover at the very end of the groyne and a couple of ringed plovers perched like kings of the castle on top. A sudden flash of bright sandy brown caught my eye: a wheatear flew in, took a few minutes' breather then flew off low over the water, battling with the wind. I moved on a little and from the leeward side of the groyne I could see a dozen turnstones and a few dunlin. A yacht taking advantage of the rising tide sailed close to the groyne and brought all the redhanks up, gathering up a few turnstones and knots along the way. They circled the groyne a few times until they were sure the yacht was safely on its way.

Lesser black-back, redshank and knot

A plucky wheatear about to launch itself into the wind

Redshank, turnstone and kno

Redshank, turnstone and knot

I could hear a tern somewhere over the water. It took me a few minutes to find it and even then I only just caught it before it shot off into the wind. Just the one tern, and luckily for me it was a Sandwich tern.

I headed inland towards Leasowe Lighthouse. There were linnets about in the short grass, goldfinches twittered in the bushes and swallows hawked low over the ground.

Leasowe Lighthouse

Beside the path, at the wooded bit by the pool, a mixed tit flock worked its way through the willows, flew across the path into the stunted white poplars and back again. More than a dozen long-tailed tits, half a dozen great tits and at least as many blue tits, with a chiffchaff tagging along. I followed them to the pool, disturbing four moorhens on the water and a great spotted woodpecker that had been pecking about a dead branch. As I walked past the lighthouse I noticed a male kestrel was using the railing about the light as a look-out post.

Past Kerr's Field, which only hosted a brace of magpies and half a dozen black-headed gulls and on for the train at Moreton. While I was waiting for the train I noticed a report of a little stint at Marshside. I considered going for it, in fact if the Southport train had been the first or second train to come in at Moorfields Station I would have done even though there wouldn't have been much daylight left by the time I got there. As it was, I took the second train and maxed my day saver tickets by getting home by a circuitous route via Kirkby and Wigan.

Northwich woods and flashes

Dabchick. Neumann's Flash

I went for a wander around the Northwich flashes. The juvenile black-necked grebe that had been on Neumann's Flash over the weekend had last been reported early on Sunday so it was unlikely to still be around but it's a short hop on the train and it was a nice day for a walk.

As I walked across the bridge over Wade Brook, just by the car park, I could see a couple of small groups of mallard on the water and robins sang in the bushes by the paths. I took the path round Ashton's Flash which was fairly quiet: just a dozen black-headed gulls and half a dozen coot. A couple of buzzards called loudly as they rode the thermals over Marbury Country Park.

Things changed when I got to the bund separating Ashton's Flash from Neumann's Flash. Chiffchaffs called from the birch trees, a couple of jays screeched past and a couple of water rails were having a blood-curdling squealing match in the reeds.

The hide on Neumann's Flash was occupied so I stood outside and scanned round. There were plenty of waterbirds: a large flock of Canada geese, a dozen mute swans, a few dozen coot and mallard and smaller numbers of gadwall, shoveler, wigeon, teal and tufted duck. A few moorhens bobbed in and out the reeds on the other side of the water. More Canada geese and a few greylags loafed on the mud bank on the Eastern side of the flash, together with a dozen teal and fifty-odd lapwings. A dabchick was busy preening just by the hide, taking not one whit of notice of a group of Canada geese that passed by within inches.

Dabchick. Neumann's Flash

Dabchick. Neumann's Flash

Walking back from the hide to the bund I noticed a lot of red dragonflies flitting around the tops of the reeds. At first I thought they were common darters but a couple of them landed close by and I noticed they had a flattened tailfin affair, identifying them as ruddy darters. I'm guessing all the females with them were ruddy darters, too, I honestly can't tell them apart from female common darters.

Ruddy darter, Neumann's Flash

A little further down the bund I encountered a mixed tit flock: mostly blue and great tits with a family party of long-tailed tits and four chiffchaffs. One of the chiffchaffs decided to pick a fight with one of the long-tailed tits and got a shock when the victim turned and chased it off. I've not seen that happen before.

Just after that a flock of twenty-odd curlews flew in and landed by the lapwings.

I carried on along the path round Neumann's Flash. The hedgerows were full of goldfinches, blue tits and singing robins and a chiffchaff deep in one of the trees practiced a bit of song. The hide on the Eastern side was pretty quiet and not much of the water was visible behind the reeds.

I got to the fork in the path by Daisy House Fields. A Cetti's warbler was singing in the rough vegetation in the ditch by the path and I spent a few fruitless minutes trying to catch sight of the songster. The vegetation thins out again at this side of the flash so bits of the water are visible. I had a scan of these: more Canada geese, swans and coots congregated round the little island and a few black-headed gulls loafed on the water. There was something else at a distance bobbing round in an inlet at the corner of the flash almost entirely obscured by reeds. After a bit of fidgeting round I found a gap where I could get a better view of it. At first I decided it was just another juvenile coot, a dark cap, pale face and front of neck, then it turned in the water and it dawned on me that juvenile coots aren't that much smaller than black-headed gulls and don't have abruptly truncated rear ends. It dived for a few minutes and when it bobbed up I got a better look at the shape of its head and bill, a nice juvenile black-necked grebe, similar to but not as neat as an adult in Winter plumage.

I carried on down the path trying to find anywhere with a better, closer view but with no luck. I spent a while in the hide on the West side of the flash hoping the grebe might drift out of the inlet and into sight but it wasn't for doing it.

Neumann's Flash, looking out from the West hide

I had an hour and a half before the next train so I took the path that meanders through Daisy House Fields and into the woodlands over Forge Brook and out again. A goldcrest in a mixed tit flock by the brook was the only addition to the day's tally.

So I got the nice walk and added black-necked grebe to the year list as a bonus.

Etherow Country Park

Mandarin duck, Etherow Country Park

I bobbed over for a walk around Etherow Country Park and Keg Wood, the idea being that although the country park would be busy the wood wouldn't be and by the time I'd had a wander round and was on my way back the bulk of the crowd would be going home for tea. And if the worst came to the worst I'd have added mandarin duck to the month list (as it happens, for nearly an hour I thought that wasn't going to happen).

The lake by the car park hosted the usual suspects for this time of year: black-headed gulls, Canada geese, coot and mallard. The usual pair of Muscovy ducks were fossicking round in the creek beyond the garden centre; I've no idea where the full-grown youngster has gone.

Etherow Country Park

Up near the weir there was just the one grey wagtail, a female, feeding on the river. Up to this point I hadn't seen a single mandarin duck, it came as a relief as a couple of dozen of them flew up off the river and over into Keg Wood.

Keg Wood was noisy with robins singing and wrens taking exception to my passing by. I was most of the way to Sunny Corner when I encountered the first mixed tit flock. A couple of nuthatches took the vanguard, closely followed by a few great tits, blue tits and long-tailed tits following them, a treecreeper and a couple of goldcrests trailing behind. I sat in the "bus shelter" at Sunny Corner for five minutes to see what might turn up, just a squirrel and a couple of magpies this time.

By Sunny Corner, Keg Wood

I bumped into a second, smaller tit flock on the way back: a few great tits and blue tits, a nuthatch and a chiffchaff.

I had toyed with the idea of taking the track up the hill through Keg Wood and wander down to Hattersley for the train but it was getting a bit late to be tacking a three-and-a-half mile detour to the walk. I think I'll come back in a couple of weeks to specifically do that walk.

Back in the country park there were more mandarins on the river and a couple of pairs on the pool by the weir. A couple of cormorants loafed in the dead tree on one of the islands in the model boating lake.

Cormorant, Etherow Country Park

 A nice afternoon's walk, enjoy them while I can.

Mosses

Mayweeds, Chat Moss

A warm sunny Saturday and I wanted to avoid the crowds so I opted to go for a wander across Chat Moss, heading off West to Barton Moss for a change (I've not done this walk in ages). I made the mistake of starting to read a book when I was letting my breakfast settle so it was only once I'd finished it mid-afternoon that I set off.

It was a bright, mild afternoon but with a stiff wind which made birdwatching difficult — it's only when the wind rattles through my ears I realise how much I rely on my hearing small birds in hedgerows, and half the time the movements that caught my eye were falling leaves or passing dragonflies.

Cutnook Lane was mostly quiet birdwise, if it wasn't for the woodpigeons scattering each time somebody over on one of the farms fired a shotgun I wouldn't have seen anything at all before reaching the fishery. On the plus side there were lots of dragonflies, nearly all black darters with a handful of brown hawkers patrolling the roadside ditch.

I'd nearly arrived at the junction with Twelve Yards Road before I found anything in the hedgerows besides singing robins. A mixed tit flock with at least eight long-tailed tits accompanied by great and blue tits flitted across the lane. There were at least two other birds in there but they were directly between me and the sun and I lost them before being able to make any serious attempt at identification. The whole flock moved on quickly with the arrival of some loud walkers (the only such interruption of the afternoon). I'd moved to one side to let the walkers pass, a mistake as a gust of wind brought a shower of acorns on my head. ("An acorn falleth on my head. Discovereth not the law of gravity today. Went home.")

Twelve Yards Road

At the junction I turned right and walked on down towards Barton Moss Road. Unlike the walk down to Four Lanes bits of this stretch are lightly wooded and the hedgerows have mostly been superceded by maturing trees. On a less windy afternoon this would be quite rewarding, as it was the wind in the leaves even drowned out the noises of woodpigeons clattering out of the trees. There were a few chaffinches and great tits about but everything else was lying low. Plenty of dragonflies here too, mostly black darters again with migrant hawkers patrolling the last of the unharvested barley fields and a couple of common darters weaving round a patch of Himalayan balsam.

Buzzard hovering, Chat Moss

Out on the stubble fields there were scores of woodpigeons and a few carrion crows. Further out there was a buzzard hovering in the wind. Buzzards look ungainly when they're hovering but there's a subtlety to the way they work their wings which is nice to watch.

Chat Moss, approaching Barton Moss Lane

Then over the motorway and onto Barton Moss, pausing only to say hello to a daft friendly bulldog. At first I thought there were only a few woodpigeons and a small flock of rooks out in the stubble field to the west of the road but a mixed flock of small birds rose up above the high hedgerow halfway down. It took a while to unpick the throng: half a dozen each of swallow and house martin in a loose group that eventually floated over onto the aerodrome; a dozen or more each of goldfinch, meadow pipit and skylark. The pipits had a look of being a migrating party: the second time they rose up they carried on Southward. It would have been a bit more sporting if more of the birds had moved over across the lane so I didn't have to squint into the sun.

The stop for the bus back to the Trafford Centre is at the end of Barton Moss Lane so after ten minutes' wait I was back off home.

Notlob

Male wheatear, High Rid Reservoir

I'm trying to fit a lot of birdwatching in before last April's full lockdown gets reimposed but after taking yesterday off to listen to the cricket I'd lost momentum a bit and couldn't decide where to go or why. So I bobbed over to High Rid, partly to get me going somewhere, partly because I think it's underwatched and underreported, partly in the hope some of the passage migrants seen up on Winter Hill might drift across the road and save me a climb.

It was one of those September days where by lunchtime it was like a warm Summer's teatime and lit accordingly. The walk up Fall Birch Road was punctuated every twenty yards by robins.

Gulls following the plough

As I reached High Rid Reservoir I could see that there was a raft of gulls on the water and beyond that a couple of hundred gulls, jackdaws, rooks and carrion crows followed a tractor that was ploughing up a field of stubble. Most of the gulls were black-headed, with a few dozen lesser black-backs and a handful of herring gulls. I saw a common gull fly in as I was walking down the road but that was the only one I saw. A young buzzard flew in to the field expecting to get a free worm feast but a dozen jackdaws flying in close formation chased it off. Another buzzard soared over the field and drifted over towards Lostock, accidentally spooking a kestrel in the process.

A couple of dozen mallards dozed by the water's edge but there was just the one tufted duck on there. A couple of dabchicks bobbed up and down, careful not to get too close to any of the large gulls. A snipe flew over, circled the reservoir then headed East, the only wader of the day.

High Rid Reservoir

There were goldfinches and chiffchaffs in the trees by the reservoir and plenty of woodpigeons lumbering about. Linnets and meadow pipits fed in the remaining stubble in the field, it took me ages to find them even though I was hearing them all the time. It took even longer to find the skylarks.

Over by the sluice that becomes Bessy Brook a juvenile grey wagtail caught my eye. As I was watching it a couple of birds bobbed up and sat on the wall. A couple of wheatears, a male and a female type. The male was quite skittish, the other didn't mind my being there.

Wheatears, High Rid Reservoir

Wheatear, High Rid Reservoir

Wheatear, High Rid Reservoir

It had become a nice afternoon and I wasn't in any rush to get back to Bolton so I decided to carry on walking from the reservoir down Old Hall Road. It's a new walk for me and I found it very enjoyable. It starts off as a rough cobbled path by the golf course and eventually becomes a lane leading onto Old Kiln Lane. I stopped to watch a couple of goldcrests in a conifer. They were accompanied by a couple of finches I couldn't identify: not chaffinches because they were streaky, not siskins because they were too big and had warm brown breasts, and I couldn't get a good enough view of them to justify my identifying them as crossbills. A little further along I spent five minutes watching a dogfight between a jackdaw and a kestrel.

Jackdaw and kestrel

Jackdaw and kestrel

Jackdaw and kestrel

I got to the main road from Old Kiln Lane and decided to cross and carry on down to Doffcocker Lodge, a new site for me. I was surprised by its intimacy, it's almost people's back gardens. There were a couple of dozen each of tufted ducks and coots and a few mallard. A pair of great crested grebes had a couple of surprisingly young juveniles in tow.

Great crested grebe and young, Doffcocker Lodge

Tufted ducks, Doffcocker Lodge
A lot of Winter disappointment can be put down to looking at a possible scaup and finding a tufted duck lying on its back.

After half an hour's wander I got the bus into Bolton and got off home via a circuitous route because I've been getting bored of the train journey from Bolton to Salford Crescent.