Mersey valley

Heron, Jackson's Boat

I wanted to get a bit of exercise on the sunny day the Met Office had promised but didn't have any clear destination in mind when I got up. I've been chasing round a bit lately worrying about catching some Autumn passage migrants to get the year list ticking over (with scant success, it has to be admitted, save for last Saturday's double feature). And it also has to be admitted I've been neglecting local sites in the process. I don't know why I'm worrying about the year list, the first quarter of the year was limited to places within walking distance so it would hardly have likely I'd be hitting the 200 target. It's just that having hit 188 I keep thinking I should do something about it. It's been one of those years when the East coast has been getting a bumper Autumn harvest while the Northwest has just had odds and ends (both of which I dipped on) and I keep checking up bus and train timetables and keep telling myself to be more sensible.

So I had a walk along the Mersey Valley.

I had brunch and got the 84A bus over to Chorlton Water Park and walked home via Sale Water Park and Stretford Meadows.

I'd got as far as the car park at Chorlton Water Park when there was an explosion of woodpigeons, starlings and goldfinches from the bushes and a sparrowhawk steamed through, escorted by a couple of very irate magpies. 

I must have had my affable face on today. As I was walking through the car park a lady stopped me to ask what I'd just seen. Having told her about the sparrowhawk she told me she'd seen a flock of pink-footed geese flying over this morning. I walked down to the lake and had a chat with the lady who was talking to the ducks about the pochard that stayed over Summer. I'd thought it had gone the way of all flesh but she's seen it a couple of times this week.

Mute swan cygnets, Chorlton Water Park

There was plenty of wildfowl on the lake today, mostly mallards and Canada geese with pairs of gadwall dotted about and a small raft of tufted ducks floating about. The herd of mute swans was scattered about though most of the cygnets were hanging round the picnic area. They're looking a bit moth-eaten at the moment, part way into their Winter whites. (I had no luck finding the pochard.) There were nearly a hundred black-headed gulls on the lake, mostly hanging round in noisy groups.

Tufted ducks, Chorlton Water Park

There were a couple of mixed tit flocks along the path, mostly long-tailed tits and blue tits. It was frustrating when one of the great tits came and started feeding on the beech nuts I'd trodden underfoot, it was far too close for my camera to focus on. A trio of ring-necked parakeets screeched overhead at treetop height and headed off towards the golf course.

Comma, Barlow Tip

I had a wander round Barlow Tip, which was damp underfoot but easy walking. A comma butterfly basked in the sunshine at the top of a bramble patch, I've not seen as many as usual this year. There were plenty of woodpigeons and blackbirds about and a couple of jays bounced about in the hawthorns, all the more noisy when a buzzard flew low in and drifted over towards the river. As I approached the river path I noticed a charm of goldfinches busily gleaning insects from the leaves of a goat willow.

River Mersey on the way to Jackson's Boat

The river was high after the past couple of days' rain. Pairs of mallards loafed and dabbled along the banks.  Another mixed tit flock worked its way through the hedgerow by the path and a family of long-tailed tits was busy in the depths of a blackthorn. The first dragonfly of the day was a migrant hawker patrolling the embankment by the high path.

A few woodpigeons and magpies flew over Jackson's Boat. I could hear a grey wagtail but couldn't see it, it must have been somewhere at the bottom of the bank on this side of the river. A couple of ring-necked parakeets screeched their way between the trees by Jackson's Boat and Hardy Farm. A heron lurking by the ditch was discretely quiet.

Not sure which fungus this is on one of the trees on the path through Sale Ees

I walked down to Sale Water Park through Sale Ees. There were more woodpigeons, jays and magpies along the way. Furtive movements in a hawthorn bush behind the trees on Barton Brook turned out to be a couple of redwings, my first of the Winter. As I was watching them another migrant hawker flew across my line of sight.

Great tit, Sale Water Park

I got myself a cup of tea at the café and had a sit down by the bird feeders. Most of the patrons were great tits with pairs of coal tits and nuthatches joining in. Oddly there were only a couple of blue tits. I hung on in the hopes of a willow tit turning up, one didn't but a buzzard did.

There were equal numbers of mallard and gadwall on Sale Water Park as well as a large herd of Canada geese and a few dozen black-headed gulls.

Herons, Broad Ees Dole

Broad Ees Dole was fairly quiet. Half a dozen herons loafed on the island. Half a dozen gadwalls were very busy: five drakes enthusiastically courting a duck. Half a dozen moorhens, a couple of coots and five dabchicks kept well away from the gadwalls. Oddly enough there weren't any mallards or teals around.

Black-headed gulls, Sale Water Park

There were more black-headed gulls at the Western end of Sale Water Park together with a few lesser black-backs. I was looking in vain for any great crested grebes (there weren't any on Chorlton Water Park either) when one of the large gulls caught my eye. It was a second- or third-year bird, possibly a lesser black-back but small-headed and long-billed. But it looked bulky and short-winged to be a Caspian gull. In the end I cheated and took a bunch of photos and asked the experts in a Facebook group. A second-year lesser black-back. I'm not good on second- and third-year large gulls so when I bump into one that's a bit different to the norm I'm easily puzzled.

2CY lesser black-back, Sale Water Park

2CY lesser black-back, Sale Water Park

Black-headed gull and 2CY lesser black-back, Sale Water Park

2CY lesser black-back, Sale Water Park

2CY lesser black-back, Sale Water Park

I crossed the river into Stretford Ees, musical accompaniment provided by a bunch of ring-necked parakeets coming in to roost. A buzzard tried to fly over into Turn Moss and was badgered away by a couple of carrion crows and a magpie.

Kickety Brook by the Bridgewater Canal

I passed under the canal and took the path that follows Kickety Brook to Stretford Meadows. The Himalayan balsam stems along the brook glowed red in the low sun. Woodpigeons and magpies flew overhead to their roosts. A mixed tit flock moving between the hedgerow and the willows by the brook included a single willow tit, the first one I've found here.

Stretford Meadows

The first bird I saw at Stretford Meadows was a buzzard which flew up and off over the motorway. There were dozens of woodpigeons, most of them roosting in the hawthorn bushes in the open (a combination of bed and breakfast?). A couple of jays shrieked from a couple of small oak trees. 

It had been a good walk, I got some exercise and a good selection of birds along the way and a mystery gull to puzzle over. Not a bad call in the end.

Sale Ees