Salford Quays

Great crested grebe, Salford Quays

Any day that starts with a pink-footed goose flying overhead — just the one, mark you — can't be all bad. It's a bit unnerving to have the first wild grey goose of the year this late in March but we live in unusual times. A singing mistle thrush was a reminder that they are about round here; for such relatively large, noisy birds they keep a very low profile away from playing fields and parks. Other than that it was a typical grey, gloomy sort of day in the garden.

• Black-headed Gull 1
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 1
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 4
• Dunnock 1
• House Sparrow 9
• Jackdaw 2
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
• Long-tailed Tit 1
• Magpie 2
• Mistle Thrush 1
• Pink-footed Goose 1 overhead
• Robin 2
• Rook 1
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 3
• Wren 1

Over on the school playing field a handful of lesser black-backs briefly joined the jackdaws and woodpigeons before wheeling off towards Trafford Park.

Mute swans, Salford Quays

It turns out I'm one of the people whose systems respond a bit over enthusiastically to the vaccine so I thought I'd have an hour or so's walk round Wharfside and Salford Quays this lunchtime to try and walk some of the aches out. It was a bit quiet, unsurprisingly as it was too early for the gull roosts. The usual herd of mute swans was loafing about. A couple of the adult males have started making extended aggression displays at the youngsters, they'll soon be given their marching orders. A single great crested grebe was asleep by the Wharfside embankment.

Lesser black-back drying itself after a bath, Salford Quays

A dozen black-headed gulls loafed and squabbled on the Salford side of the water. There was a couple of small rafts of large gulls, nearly all adult lesser black-backs, none of the herring gulls were adults.

The walk and the cold wind weren't making any appreciable difference to the aches and pains so I knocked on the head any ideas of walking over to the Ecology Park and went home for a kip, which turned out did do the trick.