Stretford

Lesser black-back (a male?), Trafford Park

Another mild, sunny day and another steady stream of activity in the garden, birds coming in in dribs and drabs and I probably missed most of them. It seems to be the unpaired long-tailed tit's turn to be the hanger-on with the spadgers.

• Collared Dove 1
• Dunnock 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 1
• House Sparrow 11
• Jackdaw 1
• Long-tailed Tit 1
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Starling 1

Another quiet gull day on the school playing field. A quiet woodpigeon day, too, I wonder where they were.

• Black-headed Gull 10
• Carrion Crow 3
• Dunnock 1
• House Sparrow 2
• Jackdaw 11
• Magpie 1
• Rook 5
• Woodpigeon 1

Robin, Barton Clough

I had a wander round my local patch. The park was busy, and looked to have been busy all day, but the old cornfield was OK. It was all a bit quiet but there was plenty about once I got my eye in. I noticed that somebody's put another couple of bird feeders up, this time in the little apple tree. It was a pair of male bullfinches squabbling over the attentions of a female that made me notice them. It's not something I'd do myself, I'd worry about them being vandalised or similar and just becoming more plastic litter, but it's a kind thought by somebody.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 5
• Bullfinch 3
• Carrion Crow 2
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 8 overhead
• Goldfinch 9
• Great Tit 3
• Greenfinch 1
• House Sparrow 4
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Magpie 16
• Mistle Thrush 2
• Robin 8
• Song Thrush 1
• Woodpigeon 13
• Wren 2

Lesser black-back (female?), Trafford Park

I wanted to stretch my legs a bit and had a wander down theBridgewater Canal through Trafford Park and round into Stretford town centre. It should have been a nice walk but the cyclists were out in droves. (It's an odd thing: scallies and rough-looking blokes on old bikes say thank you when you let them past, the respectable-looking ones just barge past). There were plenty of lesser black-backs about, they seem to be pairing up ready for nesting on the flat roofs of the industrial estate. The Canada geese along the canal were arranged in evenly-spaced pairs about fifty yards apart and all the mallards had gone missing, which is usually a sign they're up to something.

Woodpigeon, Trafford Park

The bushes and scrub along the canal sides were full of small birds. Goldfinches, dunnocks and robins were holding singing territories and a pair of wrens were doing their best to move a couple of magpies away from their Buddleja bush. Blue tits, great tits and long-tailed tits flitted about generally, the  trees and bushes by the junction between the two branches of the canal were particularly busy. 

I carried on past the mute swans, pigeons and starlings on the marina and down onto Edge Lane and into Stretford town centre, meeting the only pied wagtail of the day along the way. It was relatively late in the afternoon — it's still February after all — and most of the pigeons had settled down to roost. The idea of a pot of tea called me home.

Home

A cold start and a bright day and business as usual quietly chugging along in the garden. The female coal tit dropped in for a while over lunchtime, the male was calling from the trees further up the road but didn't visit today (I'm still quite pleased with myself that I can tell them apart).

• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Coal Tit 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 3 overhead
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 2
• Herring Gull 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 13
• Jackdaw 2
• Long-tailed Tit 1
• Magpie 1
• Robin 2
• Rook 1
• Woodpigeon 2

Another sign of Spring to go with the crocuses in the garden: after the crowd scenes earlier this week the gulls are suddenly thin on the ground. All the black-headed gulls will soon be off to their breeding grounds.

• Black-headed Gull 8
• Common Gull 1
• Herring Gull 1 1st-winter
• Jackdaw 16
• Rook 3
• Starling 14

Carrington

Buzzard, Ashton on Mersey

It was a nice sunny day so I thought I'd have a long walk and give the whole system a workout. I decided I'd have a wander through Urmston and along the river, going over to the Cheshire side for a change, the aim being to get as far as Carrington then come back.

It was quiet in the garden, a warm Spring-like morning probably had the birds having other priorities. The spadgers were only doing hit and run raids on the feeders, spending most of their time being noisy in the bramble bushes on the railway embankment. The singing robin and blackcap were joined by the song thrush and the welcome return of the wren that's been missing awhile. Nice to see the pair of goldfinches and the coal tit still amongst the regulars.

I walked down into Urmston, crossing Stretford Road and going down the end of Torbay Road and onto the path that goes through Cob Kiln Wood and down to the river. 

Cob Kiln Wood

It didn't take long for the path to become extremely muddy, planks and logs had been placed over the worst spots and had become submerged in the mire. Still, it wouldn't be birdwatching in February without mud. You couldn't go far without bumping into robins, great tits and blue tits and a family group of long-tailed tits travelling towards the river met another travelling away from it and filled a hawthorn bush with stripy confusion. A couple of pairs of bullfinches fed on hawthorn and blackthorn buds close to the path, wheezing to each other when they thought I was getting too close as I passed by. It was only today I realised how rarely I see a pair of song thrushes actually together (a pair were sitting side by side in a birch tree), usually there's a couple of bushes' distance between them as they go about their business. 

Cob Kiln Wood

A fine male sparrowhawk flew in and landed low in a tree a few yards ahead of me. I decided to stay still and leave the camera in the bag so as not to frighten it. Truth be known I was torn between not wanting to scare any of the small birds out of hiding and not wanting to rob the hawk of a meal. As it was, we looked at each other for half a minute then it silently slipped off into the woods.

As I approached the farm road I disturbed a flock of a dozen redwings that were chattering in the ash trees by the field. They in turn disturbed another pair of bullfinches and a few chaffinches. I walked down to the river and crossed over the bridge by the Carrington Spur Road. Downriver an almost fully white-headed sinensis type cormorant sat on an old willow stump drying its wings in the sun.

Buzzard

I took the path that leads away from the river towards Banky Lane and followed it round to Banky Meadow. I've not explored this bit before. A buzzard flew low over the field by the river, circled in the thermals over the road and moved on over towards the motorway. The lane runs parallel to the road here, separated by a tree-lined embankment. The other side of the lane is young woodland, mainly birches and alders. A small flock of siskins were busy foraging amongst the alder cones.

Siskin

I followed the path round away from the road towards Banky Meadow. I could hear dabchicks calling from the pool by the old sewage works but there were too many trees in the way to see them. I kept an eye and ear out for water rails or willow tits amongst the drowned willows by the side of the path but had no luck with either, though plenty of robins and blue tits. A little further on there were a lot of small birds flitting about the bushes dotted about a horse paddock. Mostly robins and great tits but also a family of long-tailed tits accompanied by my first chiffchaff of the year. I followed the path round back onto Banky Lane and down to Carrington Lane.

Banky Meadow

Crossing the road I took the footpath down through the trees, which were fairly quiet. I joined the path that heads towards Carrington running roughly parallel to the road across open fields. It was lovely hearing skylarks singing in the sunshine and a reed bunting sang from the scrub in the ditch by the path. Good to get both onto the year list as well as nice to hear. A flock of a couple of dozen stock doves was a bonus. As I walked along I scanned the wet patches of the fields to see if any waders about. There were lots of carrion crows and magpies and I was so intent on my search I almost missed the pair of oystercatchers that flew overhead.

Carrington Moss

A buzzard flew from the trees by the Isherwood Road electricity substation and flew off over Carrington Moss. I was tempted to take a detour and have a wander over the moss while I was near but decided that might be stretching the walk a bit too far. When things get back closer to normal it would be a good add-on and I could get the bus back into Urmston from Broadheath and walk home from there.

Sparrowhawk, Carrington

As I was walking past the electricity substation I spotted a male sparrowhawk having a bath in a puddle in the field behind the office. No idea if it was the same bird I met in Cob Kiln Wood. Thence up Isherwood Road, adding a jay to the day's tally and back home through Flixton and Urmston with a bit of shopping for a couple of bags of sunflower seeds and some more fat balls for the garden feeders.

Local patch

Barton Clough

It was another batten down the hatches morning in the garden though it started to calm down by dinnertime. Pairs of blue tits and great tits fed on the sunflowers and the male coal tit made a noisy comeback. The goldcrest was a lot quieter: I might have missed it had I not been out refilling the fat feeders. The blackcap gave a mid-morning blast of song and went to play with the spadgers in the brambles.

• Black-headed Gull 3 overhead
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 2
• Coal Tit 1
• Common Gull 1 overhead
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 12
• Jackdaw 1
• Magpie 1
• Robin 2
• Rook 1
• Starling 10
• Woodpigeon 1

Plenty of black-headed gulls on the school playing field today.

• Black-headed Gull 68
• Collared Dove 1
• Common Gull 1
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Herring Gull 4:  1 2nd-winter, 3 1st-winters 
• House Sparrow 1
• Jackdaw 8
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
• Magpie 4
• Rook 6
• Starling 3
• Woodpigeon 8

I went for a stroll around the local patch. The most notable thing was sixty-one starlings splitting their time between the avenue of poplars along the footpath and the left wing of one of the football pitches. Another, smaller flock was on the park with a flock of a dozen redwings and a couple of mistle thrushes. The great tits and blue tits are pairing up and calling from the shrubberies.

A flock of a couple of dozen goldfinches flitted about the old cornfield. A few more fed in the treetops by the school, accompanied by redwings and a couple of greenfinches.

• Black-headed Gull 4
• Blackbird 7
• Blue Tit 8
• Carrion Crow 4
• Chaffinch 2
• Dunnock 2
• Feral Pigeon 30
• Goldfinch 30
• Great Tit 8
• Greenfinch 2
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
• Long-tailed Tit 1
• Magpie 16
• Mistle Thrush 3
• Redwing 24
• Robin 6
• Song Thrush 2
• Starling 84
• Woodpigeon 19
• Wren 2

Thence over to the Trafford Centre, with a loop around Beyond and iFly in the hopes of catching up with the usual peregrine falcons. Plenty of carrion crows and magpies but no falcons today.

I had no joy finding the usual peregrine falcons on Beyond this afternoon.
They must have been terrorising the pigeons elsewhere in Trafford Park

Chorlton

Coot in aggressive posture, Chorlton Water Park

It had been a damp morning so I decided I'd take advantage of the weather and go and have a walk over to Chorlton Water Park.

The garden had been full of birdsong all morning. I've come to the conclusion the blackcap's planning on stopping, he's certainly putting a lot of energy into setting his stall out.

• Blackbird 2
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Goldfinch 1
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 10
• Robin 2
• Starling 5
• Woodpigeon 3

It was back to business as usual on the school playing field, though oddly rookless again. Not for the first time it struck me that I don't know where the nearest rookery is. There are odd single nests here and there, including one about a hundred yards down the railway line, but I don't know where the main action is.

I'd walked past the station when I bumped into a goldcrest singing in one of the trees by the road. Magpies were flying round with sticks and woodpigeons were swooping round in display flights. Definitely a touch of Spring in the air. The pigeons in Stretford town centre were back up to numbers, though not on their favourite roof. The pigeons in Chorlton town centre, on the other hand, sat on their favoured rooftop in a long, regularly spaced line along the skyline.

Chorlton Water Park

It had become a sunny afternoon by the time I got to Chorlton Water Park and I was beginning to think I'd made a dreadful mistake and would hit the crowds again. I needn't have worried, it wasn't busy at all, just like any pre-lockdown weekday in fact.

Pochard, Chorlton Water Park

A pair of nuthatches were feeding on the bird table in the car park, a couple of dozen house sparrows bounced around in the hedges and a song thrush sang from one of the trees by the houses. Walking down to the lake two or three pairs of blue tits were busy feeding in the birch trees. Most of the usual suspects were out on the lake but there were fewer mallards and tufties than usual, no gadwalls at all, and the only gulls were black-headed. I managed to add pochard to the year list, a drake preening by the island at the Eastern end of the lake with a pair of goldeneye. The Canada geese were gathering on the island at the Barlow Tip end of the lake but I don't think they were settling down for nesting yet. 

Mute swan, Chorlton Water Park

Ring-necked parakeet, Chorlton Water Park

There were a lot of blue tits in the alders and birch trees along the path, mostly paired up with occasional singletons calling loudly to attract attention, but not as loudly as the coal tit on the golf course boundary. Loudest of the lot was a ring-necked parakeet feeding on hawthorn buds at head height at the corner of the lake.

Barlow Tip

More Spring action on Barlow Tip, with blackcap, song thrush, goldcrest and chaffinch all in song. It all went quiet as a kestrel flew overhead and over the river to Sale Golf Course. Almost the moment it had gone three dunnocks started singing from the tops of gorse bushes on either side of the path.

I walked along the river towards Jackson's Boat. It had become a lovely Spring afternoon and the paths were getting busier. The hedgerows were full of birds, including two family parties of long-tailed tits, but the only birds on the river were grey wagtails: a pair at the usual place near the little sluice and a first-Winter, probably female, near the tram bridge. Frustratingly, I thought I caught a snatch of reed bunting song from the golf course but I couldn't see where the bird was and it didn't resume singing. A buzzard lazily floated by on the thermals and eventually disappeared over the golf course. It was only when I was nearing the tram bridge that a pair of mallards came in to land on the water.

I toyed with the idea of nipping over and having a traipse round Sale Water Park but looking at the throngs going over the bridge at Jackson's Boat I thought better of it, calling it quits and walking through Hardy Farm into Chorlton and thence home. It was good to see a few singing greenfinches in the scrub on Hardy Farm.

Home again

Hellebores

A much quieter day today and a leisurely morning in the garden for the birds. Plenty of signs of Spring with blackcap, collared dove, robin, goldfinch and woodpigeon singing in the trees. It was a relief to see the goldcrest back in the garden, fussing about in the Mahonia bush.

I spent a while cutting back some of the rose bushes, much to the disgust of the long-tailed tits that were trying to get to the feeder I was working round. While I was at it I resurrected an old bird table and set it up at the base of the Mahonia, I'm hoping it might get used by the collared doves and thrushes.

• Black-headed Gull 3 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 1
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 1
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 3
• House Sparrow 10
• Jackdaw 3
• Long-tailed Tit 4
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 13
• Woodpigeon 1

It was a very quiet day on the school playing field. An astonishingly quiet day after yesterday's crowd scene.

• Black-headed Gull 6
• Great Tit 1
• Jackdaw 4
• Rook 3

Home

Black-headed gulls

The weather had everything battening down the hatches. The song thrush skulked in the blackcurrant bush with a pair of dunnocks and one of the robins all morning and the blackcap only moved from the fat feeder when the starling budged it out of the way.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 1
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Goldfinch 1
• House Sparrow 11
• Jackdaw 1
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 5
• Woodpigeon 1

The wind brought in a pile of black-headed gulls and a big group of first-Winter herring gulls.

• Black-headed Gull 97
• Common Gull 5
• Herring Gull 16 including: 2 adults, 1 4th-winter, 1 3rd-winter, 2 2nd-winters, 9 1st-winter
• Jackdaw 9
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 2: 1 Adult, 1 1st-winter
• Magpie 3
• Rook 2
• Woodpigeon 6

Ring-necked duck

Female ring-necked duck, Alexandra Park

A very windy night and was followed by a breezy morning so the birds in the garden were hugging the cover, except the blackcap which seems to be permanently glued to the fat feeder today.

The winds had brought a pile of gulls into the school playing field though no lesser black-backs and just the one common gull.

• Black-headed Gull 68
• Common Gull 1
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Herring Gull 18,  including 3 adults, 3 4th-winters, 1 3rd-winter, 2 2nd-winters, 7 1st-winters
• Jackdaw 15
• Magpie 2
• Rook 5
• Starling 2
• Woodpigeon 15

There had been reports of a ring-necked duck at Alexandra Park yesterday and as it's within lockdown exercise distance (but only just!) I decided I'd go over and see if it stayed the night. It took a while to get to Alexandra Park. Along the way I noticed that there were a lot fewer pigeons in Stretford town centre than usual: there's generally more than fifty kicking about and this morning there was only twenty-nine (slightly better on the way back: forty-seven). 

Ring-necked duck and tufted ducks, Alexandra Park

There were plenty of tufted ducks on the lake at Alexandra Park so I got my eye in on those before trying to find the ring-necked duck. I've never seen a female before so I wanted to fix the tufties in my mind before trying to pick it out. As it happened I needn't have worried, the bird was most unlike any plumage of tufted duck and had a rather pochard-like look about it. The conspicuous pale spectacles formed by the eye ring and eye stripe suggest that it's a first-Winter bird (I'm not being clever, I looked it up).

Female ring-necked duck, Alexandra Park

Female ring-necked duck, Alexandra Park

The thing that made both this bird and the drake that spends its Winters on Pine Lake stand out amongst the crowd for me was the size of the bill, It might be an optical illusion caused by the pale subterminal band and the huge black nail at the end, it might be because it looks like a continuation of the slope of the forehead. It certainly looks longer and more spade-shaped than the tufties' bills do.

Female tufted duck, Alexandra Park

A pair of herons were making a racket on the nest on the island in the middle of the lake while a third loafed down on the ground looking a bit sorry for itself and a pair of ring-necked parakeets wheeled around in a typically demented fashion. Walking up towards the Claremont Road end of the park I noticed there were a lot of goldfinches still managing to find pickings from the birches and alders along the path.

A long wheel back through Whalley Range and Old Trafford took me to White City where I did a week's shopping and got a lazy bus home. Along the way it struck me that I was seeing far more goldfinches than house sparrows.

Spending time in nature consultation

I spent a bit of time filling in Greater Manchester Combined Authority's survey on "Spending time in nature" consultation form. I flagged up my concerns about the inadequacy of the green space in the urban environment, particularly when that space has to try to fulfil the needs of both the communities around them and the wildlife that live in them; the need for some areas of unmanaged natural space ("waste land"); and the danger of creating isolated pockets of "natural space." In particular:

• Tackling climate change and preserving biodiversity depend on a multiple strategy approach: having isolated islands of "nature areas" isn't going to work. I'm concerned that so many mosaic environments on brownfield sites are considered fair game for development. I'm equally concerned that so much development doesn't provide a mosaic of the built and unbuilt environment so that communities have some green space (some managed, some left to nature — "waste" land is important for warblers and willow tits just as much butterflies and beetles) to allow for the mental well-being of the community as much as to act as "island hopping" links between "nature areas.

The consultation is here if you want to have your two penn'orth: https://www.gmconsult.org/environment-team-policy-and-strategy/help-nature-recover-in-greater-manchester/consultation/

Flixton

Gorse, Flixton

Another mild and mostly dry day today and a rather leisurely pattern of business in the garden. The spadgers were in and out all morning, never much more than a dozen at a time, and accompanied by the blackcap more often that not. I haven't seen the goldcrests or coal tits for a while, I hope they haven't succumbed to the weather or the local cats. As the cat I live with seems to have decided she's a house cat the local youngsters have started taking liberties so I think I'll buy some lion dung pellets to put them off a bit.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 2
• House Sparrow 13
• Jackdaw 1
• Robin 1
• Starling 4
• Woodpigeon 1

There was a Spring vibe on the school playing field with a dozen woodpigeons, a couple of dozen jackdaws and thirty-odd black-headed gulls. Oddly, though, no rooks (in fact, I had a completely rookless day all told). The large gulls were a couple of lesser black-backs (an adult and. first-Winter) and four first-Winter herring gulls.

I decided to head off to Flixton for a walk, it's nearly always a lot less busy than the Stretford and Chorlton lengths of the Mersey Valley. I'd been talking to my sister on the 'phone and I said we seemed to be missing the cold wind they were getting over their way. I should have kept my mouth shout: as I passed Flixton Station and turned the bend on Carrington Road the wind picked up and for the next hour had a definite edge to it.

I had a short wander down Flixton Road to check out the fields on the other side of the river. They were still wet, with big pools of shallow water dotted about. I was hoping for waders but was rewarded by carrion crows, woodpigeons and magpies.

Flixton

Crossing back over I walked down to the end of Carrington Road and onto the open ground south of the railway line (I think this is the area called "Fly Ash Hill" by local birders). A loose mixed tit flock — a pair of great tits and a couple of pairs each of blue and long-tailed tits — bounced round the trees by Carrington Road and a few robins sang from the undergrowth. Out in the open ground there was just a few magpies and half a dozen mallard flew over. Looking over the lagoons the floods had flattened the reeds enough to open up the view and I could actually see the open water. A moorhen disappeared into the reeds, a few black-headed gulls flew overhead towards the water treatment works and a willow tree had a dozen magpies chattering about in it. I walked down the hill and joined the muddy track by the railway. Blue tits, great tits and goldfinches flitted round the drowned willows and a willow tit scolded from the top of a bramble patch.

Dutton's Pond was entirely clear of ice. A couple of Canada geese and a coot loafed in the middle of the pond and half a dozen moorhens were getting frisky in the mild weather. Eight mallards made up the total of waterbirds.

The path between Dutton's Pond and Jack Lane

As I left Dutton's Pond a drake goosander flew overhead towards the river. There were just a couple of magpies and carrion crows in the fields by the railway line. I was secretly amused to watch the antics of a couple of walkers in full gear as they negotiated a huge puddle halfway down the path. I was shown up a chump myself when it was my turn: the floods had washed the path away completely and in parts I was shin-deep in water. Still, it got the mud off my boots. As I was sloshing my way along a terrier trotted past somehow barely getting its feet wet. I will never know how it did that.

I walked around Jack Lane nature reserve. If the good paths were that bad I wasn't taking the path through the reedbeds. A jay upset the blue tits in the willows and a couple of dozen redwings flew out of the trees and straight back in again, churring all the way. No joy finding any reed buntings, they've become this year's bogey bird for some reason.

Down Jack Lane to Town's Gate then down the road to Irlam Locks. Fifty or sixty starlings joined a couple of dozen each of black-headed gulls and magpies on the water treatment works. Three young mute swans, nearly completely moulted into their whites, fed on the Ship Canal. Approaching the locks there was a group of half a dozen tufties — five drakes and a duck — and a lone great crested grebe. A couple of dozen mallard, a few pigeons and forty or so black-headed gulls loafed on the locks themselves.

I struck lucky on the way back, I was nearly home when it started raining.

Mersey Valley (may contain rant)

Teal, Broad Ees Dole

A milder, quieter sort of day coincided with one of the quietest days in the garden for a while. The blackcap has adopted the role of satellite to the "silver" family of house sparrows pretty much the same way as one of the blue tits did up to the middle of last month. Protection in numbers, I guess, and it gets to feed on the fat balls while the spadgers are busy demolishing sunflower seeds and suet pellets. I got a surprise when the blackcap started singing this morning, the earliest I've heard one sing. I'm assuming this bird's a Winter visitor from the continent but I won't be upset to be proven wrong.

• Black-headed Gull 3 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 11
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Robin 1
• Starling 5
• Woodpigeon 1

Plenty of black-headed gulls on the school playing field. A couple of second-Winter common gulls joined the more usual adults. Today's large gulls were four adult lesser black-backs and six herring gulls — two second-Winter and four first-Winter birds.

I decided to have a wander through Stretford Ees to Sale Water Park and thence into Chorlton, possibly on to the water park if the mood took. 

I walked through Stretford and got onto Stretford Ees from Hawthorn Road. A very loosely organised tit flock — blue, great and long-tailed tits — busied about in the hedgerow by the aquaduct and magpies rattled about the treetops, either paired up and marking territories or else in loose bunches of adolescent hoolies.

Male stonechat, Stretford Ees

Out on the open field the flood waters were definitely receding and a small flock of black-headed gulls were feeding on the damp mud. The paths were a lot drier than on my last visit, solid enough to walk on but muddy enough to give your boots platform heels, especially now the mizzle had turned into real rain. A handful of ring-necked parakeets made Space Invader noises in the tall trees and a young raven (all beak and no beard) flew low over towards Chorlton, flying ESE instead of the usual southbound birds. I thought I'd struck unlucky with the stonechats again but the male bobbed up out of the long grass near the electricity pylon. I hope the female's still around, just staying undercover.

A great spotted woodpecker called from the trees on the other side of the tram lines. There wasn't anything on the river but a grey wagtail flew over as I crossed the bridge.

Sale Water Park was busy with both people and birds. There were still patches of ice on the lake, all covered in loafing black-headed gulls. Nearly all the usual suspects were out on the lake but I couldn't see any dabchicks (there was a lot of free water in the ditches on Broad Ees Dole, I shouldn't be surprised if they were all deep in there). The rain had passed over and it was becoming a nice sunny afternoon.

Teal, Broad Ees Dole

On Broad Ees Dole, Teal Pool was largely frozen over, the only bird being a single snipe sitting on the edge of the reeds on the far bank. The pool by the hide had some open water, all of it filled by teal. Although the floodwaters have receded a fair bit the islands on this pool are still underwater.

Gadwall and black-headed gull

As I walked through Sale Water Park towards Cow Lane it got considerably busier and extremely more stressful. It's easy — and hypocritical — to get snobby about places you're visiting being too busy with visitors. That wasn't really the problem today, the problem was some of the people. I routinely step aside off the path where possible to let people safely pass and have as much social distancing space as possible. I really don't mind doing that, it's a basic courtesy. I do get pissed off when I do it and the group I'm letting pass still insist on walking four abreast and the one nearest to me looks daggers because I've not left them much room. Happening once is bitterly funny, it soon gets beyond a joke. And you can forget about social distancing here: one bloke who insisted on talking to me couldn't have gotten any closer if we were wearing the same trousers. 

The feeders by the café had been freshly filled and a few blue tits, great tits and nuthatches braved the crowds passing by. I'd just arrived and was standing up on the bank by the café when a bloke with binoculars literally standing right next to the feeding station shouted up to me: "Are there no willow tits about?" "Have you had no luck?" I answered innocently.

Sale Ees

I'd had enough by now and sloped off down through Sale Ees towards the river. There were still pools of water about but the paths were largely dryish. Over the bridge and through Hardy Farm and off home. I'd got as far as Chorlton Park when an empty bus that stops at Humphrey Park Station arrived so I got on and got home rather than walking through Chorlton. Twenty minutes on an empty bus is less risky than the best part of an hour walking through a crowd scene.

It's frustrating that staying within lockdown rules means that if I want any serious walking exercise I have to thread my way through a crowd and not break the rules by spending ten minutes on an empty train to Irlam then go for a walk through Irlam and Cadishead mosses and not get within hailing distance of two dozen people over three hours. There are worse things, much, much worse things, I know, but it does get frustrating and stressful.

Dreich

Cool, wet, very windy and very grey weather made for another quiet day's garden birdwatching (and another day's really can't be bothered going for a walk). The birds were out there — I could see the food going down in the feeders — but they were keeping well under cover except for sorties to the feeders lasting barely a minute a go. I nipped out to refill the sunflower seed feeders and had cause to ask the long-tailed tits to stop picking on the blue tits.

• Black-headed Gull 3 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 2
• Collared Dove 1
• House Sparrow 17
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Robin 2
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 4
• Woodpigeon 1

The black-headed gulls were back on the school playing field, together with a heap of jackdaws. The woodpigeon numbers are picking back up again, which I'm taking to be a sign of Spring.

• Black-headed Gull 30
• Common Gull 7
• Feral Pigeon 2
• Herring Gull 1 adult
• Jackdaw 33
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 3: 2 adult, 1 1st-Winter
• Rook 11
• Woodpigeon 15

Home thoughts

A cool, blowy day with bits of sunshine and lots of cloud had most of the garden birds keeping under cover most of the day. Under ordinary circumstances I'd have travelled out for a bit of birdwatching to recharge the batteries, it was the sort of day for wild goose chases in Southport or seeing what was about on the Wirral coast. As it was, I wasn't much inclined to drag myself round any of the local sites today and stayed home.

• Black-headed Gull 2 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 1
• Carrion Crow 2
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 2
• Feral Pigeon 2
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 10
• Magpie 2
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 9
• Woodpigeon 2

I've no idea where the black-headed gulls were today, they certainly weren't on the school playing field.

• Black-headed Gull 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Common Gull 4
• Herring Gull 3: 2 Adult, 2 2nd-winter
• Jackdaw 12
• Rook 7
• Woodpigeon 10

Trafford Park

Great crested grebes, Manchester Ship Canal, Barton

A cold night followed by a bright sunny day which would have been lovely if the wind didn't have that edge to it so the garden was fairly busy. The blue tits stayed all day while the spadgers did the rounds, to-ing and fro-ing in small groups and turning up mob-handed late in the morning as usual. The blackcap was back having a couple of visits to the fat feeders again. Three goldfinches were a nice change, they don't come in often enough these days.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 3
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Dunnock 2
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 21
• Magpie 1
• Rook 3
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Robin 1
• Starling 11
• Woodpigeon 1

Had a lunchtime stroll round the local patch which was fairly quiet except for the magpies which are congregating in their pre-breeding groups like so many boisterous teenyboppers. I was dropping down the steps to St. Modwens Road when the buzzard turned up, flying in from the Trafford Centre and being swiftly mobbed back again by a pair of carrion crows.

Bridgewater Canal approaching Barton Aquaduct

I decided to have a wander along the canal through Trafford Park to Barton. The canal was frozen over so there wasn't much in the way of waterbirds — three Canada geese on the towpath and a moorhen that had found a tea tray sized patch of open water amidst the roots of a canalside willow.

Small numbers of gulls — lesser black-backs, black-headed gulls and herring gulls — loafed on factory roofs or drifted overhead in one's or twos. Pairs of crows and magpies made a racket in the trees by the towpath but none seemed to be working on nests yet. As I approached the bridge for Parkway another pair of carrion crows harassed another buzzard (this was the one that's often perched in the trees by the tram lines) and a jay sat at head height ten feet from me and watched me walk by (I had to look three times: a jay sitting still that close to me and doing it quietly is a bit unusual).

I got to Barton Aquaduct and climbed up onto the platform over the canal. The Bridgewater Canal was frozen but the Ship Canal was clear of ice. A pair of great crested grebes cosied up to each other, a cormorant fished in mid-water and a couple of dozen mallard loafed and quacked by the far bank. A very striking sinsensis cormorant flew overhead — its huge white thigh patch caught my eye first, its nearly entirely white head almost disappeared into the clouds in the sky. A lot of angry croaking heralded a carrion crow come in to harass a sparrowhawk soaring over from Trafford Park, another crow flew in from Barton and the trio circled on and off into the distance.

Mallards, Manchester Ship Canal, Barton

I walked past the church and down Old Barton Road along the Ship Canal. A flock of fifty or so black-headed gulls congregated with a few dozen Canada geese on the banks of Langland Waterside on the opposite bank. Scanning through the crowds I found a couple each of common gull and herring gull and half a dozen lesser black-backs flew over. A couple turned up with a dog and some bird seed, which brought a dozen mallard and a mute swan to the party. I'd hoped to bump into a reed bunting or two in the scrub (I've had no luck with reed buntings this year). There were plenty of goldfinches and spadgers but no buntings.

Bullfinch. Barton Embankment

I walked down Barton Embankment and onto Trafford Way. A male bullfinch fed on hawthorn buds and a family of long-tailed tits bounced through the trees by the big development plot on the corner. I looked to see if either of the peregrines was on the roof of Beyond or on any of the telegraph pylons but the only birds about there were pigeons and jackdaws.

I walked down to the Trafford Centre and thence home. Pigeons, woodpigeons and black-headed gulls all the way. Back home to find the long-tailed tits and great tits on the feeders and the blackcap in for a late afternoon top-up.

Mersey Valley

Blackcap

Another overnight smattering of snow barely survived lunchtime save for odd shady corners. The spadgers came in mob-handed quite late in the morning, which gave the blackcap and the great tits an opportunity for their turns on the fat feeders. A handful of dried mealworms thrown over the top of a couple of planters kept the song thrush and the pair of blackbirds happy for a while.

Song thrush

Blackcap

House sparrows

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Common Gull 1
• Dunnock 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 23
• Jackdaw 2
• Magpie 2
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 9
• Woodpigeon 2

Over on the school playing field there was a big white island of thirty-odd black-headed gulls with a handful each of herring gulls and common gulls.

Chorlton Water Park

I decided on a long walk today so I went down through Chorlton to Chorlton Water Park and walked back along the river then through Chorlton Ees and Stretford Ees then home. It was mostly a bright sunny day with a cold wind that brought in short-lived snow flurries and chilly cloud cover. The paths were fairly busy but not uncomfortably so and everyone seemed to be trying to respect other people's space, which was good because that hasn't always been the case here.

Black-headed gull, Chorlton Water Park

There was plenty of open water on Chorlton Water Park. A couple of pairs of goosander and a great crested grebe accompanied the coots and Canada geese by the landing ramp. I looked in vain for pochard over by the island, there were just more Canada geese and a cormorant today. Out on the water there were plenty of coots and tufted ducks and half a dozen mute swans. I was struck by how few mallard there were (it turns out they were all loafing on the big island over at the Barlow Tip end of the lake). There were fifty or more black-headed gulls on the water but only a handful of common gulls and just the two herring gulls. I'd almost finished walking round the lake when I found the one and only gadwall of the day.

Tufted duck and great crested grebe, Chorlton Water Park

Drake goodander, Chorlton Water Park

Drake tufted duck, Chorlton Water Park

The paths through Barlow Tip didn't look any too promising so I just spent five minutes scanning round the margins. A few woodpigeons and carrion crows were obvious enough, it took a couple of strokes of luck to find the small flock of redwings in the birch trees.

River Mersey, Chorlton

The river was running fast and high but considerably lower than during the flooding: in places the banks had been scoured three or four feet above the water line. No sign of grey wagtails — their usual hunting grounds were under a foot of water — but there were plenty of mallard hugging the riverbanks. A male bullfinch fed on hawthorn buds in the hedgerow by the path and robins sang at regular intervals. Carrion crows, magpies and jackdaws noisily to-ed and fro-ed overhead and a couple of cormorants flew purposely towards  Chorlton Water Park.

Unusually Jackson's Boat was the only place I didn't hear or see ring-necked parakeets on this afternoon's walk from the water park. 

Parts of Chorlton Ees were still underwater

I decided not to walk down the river towards the main paths into Chorlton Ees, preferring instead to take one of the middling rough paths straight into the trees to see what small birds were about. There weren't many that weren't robins, there were odd ones and twos of great tit, blue tit or long-tailed tit but nothing remotely like a family group or mixed tit flock. I was watching a pair of long-tailed tits and wondering where the rest were when I was joined by a goldcrest which checked to make sure I wasn't a problem then quietly went about its business.

Ring-necked parakeet, Ivy Green

I crossed over Chorlton Brook into Ivy Green and walked along the brook towards the river. Halfway down a pair of blue tits started chirring at me from a willow tree and as I was looking at them I noticed a few more flitting about high up in the trees. A pair of great tits skittered through and a handful of redwings quietly moved through the trees in the background. A couple of blackbirds flew in and fed on the ground ahead and a pair of robins kept popping up in the corner of my eye. I was watching one of them bobbing up and down along a tree root when a movement just above it led to my adding treecreeper to the year list. As I approached the bridge over the bottom of the brook a couple of herons made a noisy palaver of flying into the heronry over on Chorlton Ees.

Stretford Ees

The sun was low when I got to Stretford Ees. I had no luck finding the pair of stonechats that were there last week though a female kestrel scared up a trio of meadow pipits. 

Female kestrel, Stretford Ees

And then back home, adding a pied wagtail to the day's tally as I walked through the car park at Stretford Mall.