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.