Mersey Valley

Chorlton Water Park

It was one of those days when I just wanted to sit around the house drinking too much tea and reading Edgar Wallace stories so I dragged myself out for a walk round Chorlton Water Park to get some of the exercise I've been missing this week.

It was fairly busy round the lake — it was Saturday lunchtime, after all and the weather had cleared up a bit — but not so busy as to feel uncomfortable. As usual on the lake there were dozens of coots, black-headed gulls and Canada geese but there weren't as many mallards as usual (I found out later they were all on the river foraging amongst the bits of vegetation washed down and stranded by the high waters). Gadwall numbers were up to a couple of dozen and there were similar numbers of tufted ducks scattered around. No wigeon or pochard, and just the one great crested grebe which is unusual.

A goldcrest not sitting still for the camera
Chorlton Water Park

The tit flocks in the trees included a goldcrest which was feeding at shoulder height by the path, giving me the opportunity to add to my collection of photos of where a warbler had been a moment ago. The ring-necked parakeets made a racket, unlike the jays which were uncharacteristically quiet, probably because they had their beaks full of acorns.

Barlow Tip

I spent quarter of an hour wandering round Barlow Tip, keeping to the little service path. There was a constant stream of water flowing down the path, run-off from the very wet higher ground where the paths were like thin cocoa. Jays, parakeets and magpies, a few woodpigeons dozing in the alders and a robin singing in the open ground, otherwise quiet in all senses.

As I walked down the river to Kenworthy Woods I was surprised by a flock of eight lesser redpolls which flew over from the woods and on towards Barlow Tip. It took me a moment or two to realise what they were, I don't bump into them often enough to be able to immediately twig the flight call and it's usually their relatively short tails which gets the penny to drop.

Kenworthy Woods

I've not had a proper explore of Kenworthy Woods so I decided to have a bit of a wander, largely keeping to the paths parallel to the little road that runs from Willenhall Road to Chorlton Water Park. I hadn't gone very far when a buzzard flew in, made to settle on a branch in a tree ten yards away, noticed me and flew off down the path. The woods were very quiet, both of people and birds, a contrast to the usual constant kerfuffle through Sale Ees and Chorlton Ees. The parakeets seemed to stick to the stretch by the river, further in there were a few magpies and jays. The only small birds were wrens, blackbirds and robins, I suspect I'd have more luck along the paths nearer Princess Parkway where there's more cover beneath the trees.

I carried on down under the confusion of bridges carrying the M60 and its slip roads and got the bus into town and thence home.