Stretford

Female stonechat, Stretford Ees

It was a quiet Sunday in the garden, the wind had died down a lot and the seed feeders were running low. Both the goldcrests came in to feed on pine cones but weren't up for posing for the camera.

I had to go to the shop for sunflower seeds so I decided to go the long way via Stretford Meadows. 

Stretford Meadows

The alder trees by Newcroft Nursery were busy with titmice and goldfinches and a single greenfinch. The bridleway was looking to get busy so I took the path through the brambles onto the meadows, being the less walked it was the least muddy and rough though it is it was considerably easier going than the main path when I got to it.

About a dozen magpies bounced around the open meadow and the usual pair of kestrels quartered the scrub around the main rise. The usual buzzard rose from the trees on the other side of the motorway and floated over the meadow and over towards Urmston. A trio of linnets was a nice departure from the usual.

The walk along Kickety Brook was quiet until I approached Hawthorn Road where I bumped into a fair sized tit flock, just blue and great tits with a few chaffinches tagging along. There wasn't a lot of cover along the brook side, last week's floods had flattened all the reeds and herbage and the mud was keeping it down.

Stretford Ees

There were still bits of remnant flooding on Stretford Ees. The pair of stonechats were still about though the female was a bit shy until she was flushed by a passing spaniel. A couple of ring-necked parakeets flew low over as I walked over to Hawthorn Lane.

Male stonechat, Stretford Ees

It was getting a bit busy with walkers and dogs so I called it quits after I cut through the cemetery and went off to the shops and thence home.