High Rid

Black-headed gull

Another wet Autumnal morning promised to settle down a bit so it looked like an opportunity for a late afternoon walk. It was a toss-up between Hollingworth Lake, Watergrove or High Rid Reservoir. Then I saw a report of a female grey-headed wagtail at High Rid so I chose that. Of the yellow wagtail group I've only knowingly seen female yellow wagtails (flavissima) and I've never seen a grey-headed wagtail of any type so this would be a new one for me and something to learn from. And if I didn't get to see it High Rid's a nice hour's stroll.

Walking up Fall Birch Road to High Rid Reservoir

I decided to try and avoid Bolton so I got the train to Lostock Station and walked up to Chorley New Road and thence up to High Rid Reservoir. The weather was dry but cloudy, every so often the sun would come out and it would get quite warm. Walking up Rumworth Road I questioned the wisdom of wearing a body warmer, walking round the reservoir I was glad of it.

High Rid Reservoir

There was no sign of a twitch going on, just one runner and a chap with a telescope who seemed to be concentrating on the gulls and terms on the water. He told me the wagtail had skittered off an hour earlier so I concentrated on having a walk and a scout round.

A few mallards loafed on the banksides and a dozen tufties snoozed on the water. Fifty-odd black-headed gulls bobbed around on the waves, every so often rising up to join the handful of common terns picking insects off the water. Try as I may I couldn't turn the black-headed gulls into anything other than black-headed gulls or the terns into anything but common terns. There were also half a dozen lesser black-backs and a herring gull loafing on the water. There was a large flock — a hundred or more — black-headed gulls wheeling about over the moors and a few shuttled in between flocks, presumably carrying food for youngsters.

By High Rid Reservoir

All the while a few dozen sand martins hawked low over the water, joined by a few house martins and a dozen swallows which spent as much time over the mown grass as the water. The arrival of half a dozen swifts coincided with the arrival of some black rain clouds. By then I'd finished the circuit so I had one last scan of the field by the reservoir then called it quits and headed off for the bus to Wigan and thence home.

By High Rid Reservoir

I did manage to see some wagtails: there was a male grey wagtail on the roof of Deansgate Station on the way out, there was a couple of pairs of pied wagtails on the reservoir and there was a juvenile grey wagtail perched on a garage roof as my bus passed through Boothstown.