Stretford

Stretford Meadows looking decidedly autumnal

I had all sorts of plans for the day so I went for a wander on Stretford Meadows. It had been a fine, bright morning but was starting to cloud over when I set out and it became increasingly heavy and humid.

There were lots of reassuring small bird noises in the trees at the Newcroft Road end, mostly blue tits, robins and goldfinches with a couple of wrens and a chiffchaff in support. Most of the time they were drowned out by the singing of a guinea fowl in the horse paddock next to the car park. (The song of the helmeted guinea fowl is not dissimilar to that of someone trying to sort out the plumbing of a particularly squeaky bicycle.)

Stretford Meadows

Out on the open tops it was dead quiet, even the magpies didn't make an appearance. A reed bunting feeding on thistles saved it being a complete blank. Squadrons of woodpigeons flew overhead towards the fields and farms beyond the river. A few meadow browns and large whites fluttered about the thistles while a migrant hawker patrolled a clump of goldenrod.

There were lots of robin noises in the hawthorns as I walked along Kickety Brook towards the canal. Here and there there'd be a mixed flock of blue and great tits and a ring-necked parakeet made a commotion in the tall trees by the recycling depot. 

A female migrant hawker flew by then returned to have a second look at me, giving me time to baffle myself trying to identify it. I'm fairly OK identifying the different male hawkers but still find the females very challenging. A reassuringly brown brown hawker buzzed by me as I approached the canal and a few more patrolled the Himalayan balsam near the aquaduct.

Kickety Brook approaching Bridgewater Canal

I decided to call it a day and bobbed off to the shops to get some more for the hungry mouths in the back garden.