Bar humbug

Bolton and Bury Canal, Radcliffe

It was rankling with me that I still haven't got bar-tailed godwit on the year list and that the long-standing individual at Elton Reservoir has evaded me. So I toddled off to have another try. Long story cut short: "It was showing well up to ten minutes ago then an idiot shouting into his mobile 'phone scared it into hiding." I gave it twenty minutes to reappear and gave up. I've an errand to run near there later this month so I'll have another go then.

A bright sunny day and quite warm until the clouds rolled in. Needless to say, after a bright morning it started raining when I got to the station. A small flock of fieldfares over Trafford Park Station was another hint of Winter. 

Nay matter, it was bright enough when I got off the tram at Radcliffe. I wandered down the canal and waved and exchanged "How you doings" with a friend I bumped into. The sheep in the fields on the other side of the canal were accompanied by Canada geese and black-headed gulls. Blackbirds were busy in the hawthorn hedge by the towpath and a family of house sparrows chattered noisily in the bushes by the Withins Lane bridge. A few yards ahead a dozen remarkably quiet redwings flew overhead in the direction of Bury town centre.

Goosanders, River Irwell

A quick nosy at the River Irwell was rewarded by a heron and a trio of goosanders.

A pair of kestrels hovered over the field approaching Elton Reservoir. About a hundred black-headed gulls and a couple of dozen lesser black-backs were on the reservoir and I was glad to see a dozen great crested grebes about. I scanned the rafts of coots and tufted ducks for anything out of the ordinary and saw lots of coots and tufted ducks.

I had a look at the flooded field the godwit has been reported as being on. Lots of jackdaws and black-headed gulls with the horses (and for the first time ever not a single pied wagtail), no godwit. I noticed a couple of birders on the bank of the reservoir who looked to be staking out the field. I asked them if they'd had any joy with the bird. Ah well. I thanked them and wished them luck.

There's always the next time.