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.