Chelford

Wigeon and coot, Lapwing Hall Pool

It's evidently not my month for getting easy ticks on small open bodies of water. I thought I'd go down to see if the smew that's been on Lapwing Hall Pool this past week was still there. It's an easy enough trip: train into Oxford Road then either Piccadilly or Stockport for the stopping train to Crewe, get off at Chelford then a mile and a half walk down Knutsford Road then a walk down a country lane.

It being a Monday morning you can take it as read that it wasn't an easy enough trip today. So it was lunchtime before I arrived at Chelford.

By Chelford Station

It had been bright and sunny when I left home, it was cold, damp and overcast when I got to Chelford. I've not been doing nearly enough walking this past few days so my knee complained bitterly at having to have a bit of exercise. I'll have to do some long walks on the flat this week to get it back into gear.

There had been a family of long-tailed tits and a couple of dozen goldfinches in the trees by the platform when I was waiting for the train at Alderley Edge. A mixed tit flock greeted me at Chelford Station and a large flock of redwings was feeding on the fields opposite the garage on the roundabout further down the road. Walking out of Chelford there was another big flock of redwings in the chestnut trees lining the road and a few dozen jackdaws were making football crowd noises in the field of sheep on the other side.

Redwings, probable Icelandic bird on right, Lapwing Lane

I turned down Lapwing Lane and bumped into another mixed tit flock and yet more redwings. A couple of them were big and dark with heavy dark spotting underneath, probably Icelandic birds. 

A flock of siskins descended onto the tops of the silver birches by the entrance to the Lapwing Hall Pool local nature reserve as I walked in. 

Lapwing Hall Pool

I walked around the pool looking for the smew, reported to be a redhead (female or first-Winter male). It's been three years since I last saw one (I've only seen one male in "white nun" plumage this century.) There were a few mallards and tufties in the corner nearest the road and a couple of teal hiding under the willows by the bank. The only grey ducks with red heads were male wigeons, and there were a hundred or so of them, virtually every one of them one of a pair. There were half a dozen mute swans by the far banks and just a single Canada goose.

Great crested grebe, Lapwing Hall Pool

Every so often a promising looking splash would catch my eye but they all turned out to be coots or great crested grebes, except for the one that was a wigeon having a bath. There were a couple of young-looking first-Winter great crested grebes still with stripes on their necks. And there was one individual that had strikingly clear white cheeks like a black-necked grebe but from the neck down it was a textbook great crested grebe, ditto the dagger of a beak. It made me look twice, mind, as there'd been a black-necked grebe reported nearby before Christmas.

I'd gotten to the end of the stretch of path that skirted the pool with no luck. I had a look to see if anyone had reported it today, it had been seen mid-morning. So I decided to retrace my steps and have another go. Still no luck but I found a couple of pairs of gadwall with a group of wigeons and a heron on the far bank.

Along the bridleway to Congleton Lane

I'd no chance of catching the next train to Manchester so decided spend a while walking up Lapwing Lane then taking the bridleway up to Congleton Lane, thence back into Chelford. I hadn't gone far down Lapwing Lane when I bumped into a hedgerow full of tree sparrows and just before the bridleway a flock of redpolls was bouncing round in the treetops. A couple of jays clattered about by the bridleway and a great spotted woodpecker made it known it wasn't happy at my being around.

About halfway down Congleton Lane my knee suddenly declared that it had had enough exercise to get it moving properly and it was happy to carry on walking all afternoon. As it had spent the previous three hours complaining like the whiny kid that keeps asking: "Are we there yet?" the rest of me wasn't best impressed.

A flock of pink-footed geese called from behind the woods behind me. A couple of them could just be seen flying at roughly treetop height but that's as much as I could see.

Along Chelford Road

The sun had gone down by the time I got to Chelford Station. A pair of greylags flew by, heading towards the pools to the east of the village.

The return home was mercifully uneventful. It had been a frustrating day for the year list but some very productive birdwatching.