Stretford

Juvenile long-tailed tit

It was a nice day so after running a few errands I went for an afternoon stroll around Stretford Meadows.

Blackcaps, chiffchaffs and wrens sang in the trees at the Newcroft Road end of the meadows but we're fiendishly difficult to spot. We seem to be early into the season where the foliage completely obscures the bird life. Even the woodpigeons played vanishing tricks.

Out in the open meadow half a dozen each of magpies and jackdaws weren't sure if they were feeding cooperatively or having a gang fight, ofttimes both simultaneously. Ignoring them completely were five singing whitethroats.

Stretford Meadows

There's been a lot of tree-planting in the areas that have been cleared of brambles. Looks like a mixture of maple and beech, all in unnaturally serried ranks. I'd intended skirting the lower slopes of the main mound in the hopes of hearing a lesser whitethroat in one of the remaining bramble patches but a combination of new tree plantations and extremely muddy paths along this stretch meant I ended up walking around the periphery of the meadows and down through the woods to where Kickety Brook runs past the recycling centre. Which is no bad thing but hard work when all the small birds are seen but fleetingly as they skitter about in the dense foliage.

Some birds are better at dissolving into the background than others

Bullfinch

Walking down to Stretford Ees I found two long-tailed tit families foraging in the willows along Kickety Brook. I could also hear young great spotted woodpeckers calling but only managed a brief sighting of one of the adults.

Juvenile long-tailed tit

Stretford Ees was quiet, save a couple of goldfinches and a singing reed bunting that took exception to a passing Jack Russell terrier. I wandered on through Turn Moss and got the bus home for the next errand on today's list.