Third time unlucky

Mute swan cygnets and mallard by the Bolton and Bury Canal

I was running an errand that way so I thought I'd bob over to Elton Reservoir to see if the third time would be the charm and I'd get to see the bar-tailed godwit that's been hanging round these past weeks.

Anyway…

I decided to get the Trafford Centre tram home rather than the Altrincham tram. I thought I'd see what there was in the way of gulls and waterfowl on Salford Quays. Roughly a hundred gulls, mostly black-headed with a couple of dozen lesser black-backs and a few herring gulls; ten mute swans and a handful of coots and mallards.

The tram stopped at lights in Trafford Park Village. "There's something odd about that pied wagtail on that roof," I thought to myself. There was nothing odd about it except that it was a female or first Winter black redstart. I've seen reports of them round here over the years but it's the first time I've seen one.