Flixton

Collared dove
He had a full tail yesterday

Another, slightly cooler, day today and the wind had an edge to it and the spadgers and goldfinches only left the garden to go and hide in the brambles whenever the magpies got a bit boisterous about arguing with the squirrel about access to the fat feeders. The unpaired male collared dove looks like he's had a narrow escape recently: he had a full tail yesterday, today he's got half a dozen ragged feathers a quarter of their usual length. The number of times he had to spread his wings to keep his balance in the trees shows the purpose of the tail.

Over on the school playing field we were down to just four black-headed gulls, plus six herring gulls (two adults, two first-Winters, a fourth-Winter and one I concluded in the end was a third-Winter).

I desperately wanted a lazy day lolling round the house drinking too much tea so I dragged myself out for a walk round Flixton. Every so often the sun would come out and I'd wonder if I hadn't dressed too warmly for the walk then it would cloud over and I'd wonder if I shouldn't have put on a topcoat.

I had a quick dekko along the mile road while I was passing. There were three male mallards on the river and flocks of rooks and magpies on the fields. The only buzzard of the day sat on a distant electricity pylon.

Fly Ash Hill

I had a wander round what I've got to get into the habit of calling Fly Ash Hill. The paths were considerably drier than last time I came so I took the lower path round the edge of the hill. The trees and bushes were busy with small birds, all the usuals but no joy with willow tit today. One of the trees on the far side of the lagoons, next to the railway line, was thick with redwings.

Dutton's Pond

Dutton'sPond was mostly quiet: a couple of pairs each of mallard and Canada geese lolled about and half a dozen moorhens tried to work up the energy to squabble and never quite made it. 

Not as bad as last time

The walk down to Jack Lane was considerably easier than last time: I could see the bottoms of the puddles and didn't get my trouser bottoms wet, so I decided to chance it and take the path through the reedbeds on the nature reserve. A couple of reed buntings sang in the reeds and there was another couple of moorhens deep in there. I could hear short snatches of what could have been a water rail but couldn't be sure and the bird, whatever it was, went quiet so I'll have to wait to add one to the year list.

Jack Lane

I walked over to Irlam Locks in the rain. There wasn't much on the water upstream of the locks, just three mallards, a moorhen and a drake gadwall. Most of the action was going on on the water treatment works: fifty or more starlings, thirty or more magpies and thirty-odd wagtails. At first I thought they were all pied wagtails, there were a few that were distinctly paler but all had the smudgy grey flanks that confirmed that they were pied. Once I got my eye in I found a grey wagtail feeding on the concrete margin of one of the filter beds. My eye was caught by one of the wagtails flitting round the moving parts of one of the pans. It was another pale bird, a male, with clear white underparts. A male white wagtail. The grotty light meant that perhaps it wasn't as silvery-grey above as I'm used to but it was a white wagtail all the same, and very welcome too. Downstream of the locks there were only a mute swan and a cormorant.

I decided to call it a day. I'd had my exercise, had a bit of luck with the wagtail and the weather wasn't looking to be getting any better.