Flixton

Moorhen, Dutton's Pond

It was a bright, sunny day and very mild for the time of year so I had a wander round Flixton in what is now branded "Wellacre Country Park." 

Wellacre Wood

I got the 256 into Flixton and got off at Wellacre School, the intention being to take the path that runs down past the school and on to Dutton's Pond for a change. A good idea, too, because what I thought would be another muddy path by the fields turned out to be a  short but very pleasant woodland walk. New noticeboards have been put up since my last visit, this is Wellacre Wood. Highlight of the visit was a mixed flock made up of long-tailed tits, blue tits and goldcrests. This gave me the opportunity to get some "That greenish blur in the corner was a goldcrest" photos.

Blackbird, Wellacre Wood

Map of Wellacre Country Park

The path I followed through the trees took me to the path that runs between Dutton's Pond and Jack Lane. I headed off towards Jack Lane to see if there was anything in the reedbed. The horses had been moved from their Summer quarters to their Winter field by the path, leaving their old field free to crowds of woodpigeons and pied wagtails. Over on the water treatment works by Irlam Locks a few dozen black-headed gulls were making a racket.

Jack Lane nature reserve

The path through Jack Lane nature reserve was relatively dry, which came as a surprise. A buzzard soared high overhead on the unseasonal thermals. As I watched it I noticed two smaller birds circling slightly higher and converging with the buzzard. I forget that jackdaws are perfectly capable of soaring flight even though they don't do it often. A few blue tits bounced through the drowned willows and a chiffchaff called from deep in the willow scrub beside the reedbed. Everything went quiet and a female sparrowhawk shot by and headed for the locks to put the wind up the pigeons.

Orange Ladybird (Halyzia sedecimguttata)
This ladybird feeds on mildew on sycamores, both of which are in abundance on the railway embankment

I walked down the path by the railway embankment. A mixed tit flock was working its way through the willows by the reedbed, mostly blue tits and great tits. They were very quiet and kept well under cover most of the time. I scanned through them to see if they had any company without success. A great spotted woodpecker in the trees on the embankment tried its best to distract me from my quarry but I was made of sterner stuff until a heron noisily crash-landed into the top of one of the willows.

Dutton's Pond

Moorhen, Dutton's Pond

Dutton's Pond was quiet save for three mallards and two very stroppy pairs of moorhens. But it was all very picturesque.

Fly Ash Hill

Fly Ash Hill has been rebranded, the noticeboards and signposts are now calling it "Green Hill." I can't imagine how many Zoom meetings were required to come up with that. 

Fly Ash Hill

I'd barely passed under the railway bridge onto Fly Ash Hill when I bumped into a mixed tit flock: blue, great and long-tailed tits and a couple of goldfinches. Walking up the hill I bumped into some more blue tits and great tits but it wasn't obvious whether or not they were part of the same flock. A whistling call made me look up and find a small flock of siskins in the alders. I thought I heard a treecreeper but gave up finding it after a few minutes' fruitless scanning. 

Rooks, Fly Ash Hill

Up top the light was astonishing. A few more goldfinches bounced round in the hawthorns and dunnocks and robins foraged in the scrub. The first rooks were drifting off towards their evening roost. They seem to have been coming from the school playing fields and eventually headed off towards Carrington Moss but not before reeling round in great circles in the sky, cawing and squeaking and shrieking at each other all the while. 

River Mersey at Flixton Bridge

For the first time in very many years I could see the river as I walked down Merseybank towards Flixton Bridge. The banks looked scoured by flooding and it looks like a couple of trees have gone (that might be by human agency rather than the river). A few mallards dabbled about and a couple of woodpigeons flopped about in the hawthorns on the bank.

I popped into the garden centre to get a new feeding station for the garden, to replace the one wrecked by overweight squirrels, and thence got the train home.