Salford

Goldeneye drakes

Another very cold morning with a garden full of spadgers and titmice. They were all too intent on feeding to bother either when the cat went out for a pee or when I went out to scrape the dregs out of the cat's bowl onto the bird tray for the magpies. The magpies didn't wait for me to be much more than an arm's length away before tucking in. And it turns out that collared doves aren't above having a nibble of a bit of dried "ocean fish," either.

• Blackbird 3
• Blue Tit 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Dunnock 2
• Goldcrest 1
• Great Tit 3
• House Sparrow 23
• Magpie 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 7

Strangely there wasn't much on the school playing field, the ground must be too hard for the gulls. There were seven black-headed gulls perched on one of the roofs and that was the lot.

With plenty of snow on the ground and dark skies I was tempted to go out on a wild goose chase, a white backdrop and flat light making it easier to see what's around. Then I looked at the weather forecast, looked at the trains and remembered it was Monday so I decided to do a bit of urban birdwatching.  (The sort of urban birdwatching that isn't "The nature reserve was only a short forty mile drive from my hotel.") Which today meant having a short walk along the River Irwell between Broughton Bridge and Peel Park.

River Irwell, Salford

I got the 93 bus out of Manchester and got off at Broughton Bridge, opposite the scant remains of what was the Mocha Shopping Parade. Arguably I should have walked it but the bus was there and I couldn't be bothered.

Cormorant

There wasn't the usual crowd of Canada geese by the bus stop, a few were on the river, a couple of dozen were feeding on the bank over by the Adelphi Bridge, no idea where any of the rest were. A few mallards dabbled by the bank near to a loafing heron and a cormorant sat drying its wings on a rock in the stream. A pied wagtail flew over and I could hear but not see a grey wagtail. The main action near the ex-shopping centre was in the hedges with a mixed tit flock — a dozen each of blue tits and long-tailed tits plus a few great tits and dunnocks. Robins, blackbirds and wrens fossicked in the undergrowth and a flock of six mistle thrushes joined a flock of starlings in one of the big trees.

Heron

A friend said last week that the goldeneyes were back on the river. I hadn't gone far before I spotted the first of them, a small raft of half a dozen females. A few yards ahead of them five males were keeping to themselves and another five females were a bit further ahead. They were very busy feeding, spending more time underwater than above.

Female goldeneyes

Female goldeneyes

Female goldeneyes

Goldeneye drakes

Goldeneyes
They were moving a few yards upstream to what looked like a more promising shoal near the Adelphi Bridge

I spent half an hour having a nosy round The Meadow. At first it looked like there was nothing but a couple of magpies and a carrion crow but a bit of patient listening paid dividends and I found a few blackbirds and robins in the trees at the bottom and a mixed flock of long-tailed tits, blue tits and goldcrests flitted about in the birches by the path.

The Meadow

There wasn't a lot on Peel Park. A small flock of black-headed gulls and a single tufted duck joined the mallards on the river and a few woodpigeons flew about. It started drizzling and I was starting to find every piece of ice underfoot on the path here so I decided to call it quits while I was still on two feet. Not a bad stroll on an unpromising sort of day.

Giant hogweed, River Irwell