Marshside and Crossens

Common scoter, Marshside

I was havering between going out for a walk round Marshside or going to Martin Mere. So I decided I'd go over to Southport and drop off at New Lane on the way home for a quick dekko round Martin Mere. The weather looked dodgy but manageable.

Marshside in the rain

I got off the 44 bus on Marshside Road and walked down just as the heavens opened and it kept on pouring down for the next couple of hours.

There were hundreds of wigeon and black-tailed godwits on the marsh. There were rather a lot fewer teal and lapwings, and still quite a few pintails on Junction Pool. A red-legged partridge ran along the drain by the road and scuttled for the cover in a bramble patch.

Common scoter, Marshside
First sighting, fast asleep and not looking promising

Common scoter bathtime,  Marshside
Showing off the long, pointed tail that's usually held flat on the water

Common scoter bathtime, Marshside

Common scoter bathtime, Marshside

The pool by Sandgrounders had a few dozen tufted ducks and Canada geese loafing on the wader. A large, black lump on its own on the island turned out to be a male common scoter. I cursed a bit, it was easily the closest view I've had of a drake but it was fast asleep with its head tucked in its back feathers.

I took shelter in the hide, which I had to myself for quarter of an hour. I found a few gadwall and shovelers amongst the teal and wigeon around the pool and my first couple of avocets of the year.

The scoter slipped off the island and spent a few minutes bathing in the rain.

Avocets, Marshside

Common scoter and Canada geese, Marshside

The weather was set foul and there was no prospect of it's getting any better so I decided to call it a day. As I left the hide it occurred to me that I couldn't get any wetter so I set off down the Marine Drive to Crossens.

Pink-footed geese were notable by their absence. In fact, the only geese at all on Marshside were Canada geese. On Crossens Outer Marsh there were just a few small family groups of pink-feet with hundreds of wigeon and black-tailed godwits. 

Crossens Outer Marsh in the rain

There were hundreds of wigeons and godwits on Crossens Inner Marsh, lapwings were thin on the ground and golden plovers even thinner. A few redshanks skittered around and I found a few ruff and snipe.

Approaching the wildfowlers' pull-in there were a lot more wigeon, teal and godwits on the outer marsh by the road. Shelducks, mostly in pairs, were dotted about further out on the marsh with a few little egrets. A few hundred pink-footed geese flew in from the estuary, whirled around and disappeared immediately into the murk and long grass in the distance. No sign of the snow goose that's been floating round here recently, sadly. But there were consolations. 

A few snipe had flown over the road so when another flew by I didn't take a lot of notice until I realised it was smaller, flew straighter and had a relatively short bill. I only ever see jack snipe once every other year so it takes a while for the penny to drop.

A few meadow pipits, starlings and pied wagtails were feeding amongst the wigeons by the pull-in. It looked like there was more about so I spent a while closely scanning the grass, finding some linnets and reed buntings, half a dozen twites and a rather nice water pipit. It's the first time I've been able to get any decent photos of a water pipit and even the poor light and pouring rain didn't spoil them much.

Water pipit, Crossens Outer Marsh

Water pipit, Crossens Outer Marsh

I walked round to the bus stops at Crossens and got the 44 back into Southport. I was sodden wet and even I had enough sense to get the train straight back home. It was worth it, though, adding five species to the year list and some nice photos in the bargain.

February's been a funny month, albeit very productive despite having the best part of a week knocked out by storms. After a spurt at the beginning of the month the year list was static for the best part of three weeks before picking back up again at the end with a total of 133, which is very good going by my lights.

Elton and Moses

Black-headed gulls and common gull, Elton Reservoir

I don't know why I've left it so long for my first visit to Elton Reservoir this year. Mind you, last week's storms derailed a lot of plans and I feel like there's a huge backlog of things that won't get done before the end of the month. I took a couple of goldcrests feeding in the back garden as a sign to stop worrying and just get on with it.

Rather than get the tram into Bury or Radcliffe I got the train to Rochdale and the 471 bus over past Bury. This gave me the chance to check out the pool just after Mills Hill Station, today it was littered with black-headed gulls and lesser black-backs.

I got off the bus and walked down to the reservoir. The woods by the path seemed more open, though that could have been an illusion caused by the extra sunlight where part of the wall to the hospital grounds was down. Robins and wrens were busy singing and there was a lot of twittering from goldfinches in the treetops.

Lesser redpoll, Elton Reservoir

The feeders at the car park were very busy, mostly with greenfinches and goldfinches. The supporting cast includes blue tits and great tits, chaffinches, house sparrows and a pair of bullfinches. A couple of pairs of redpolls flew in to feed on the nyger seeds, giving the year list the nudge it hasn't had since my visit to Barrow and bringing the total to 128. The males were in full cherry red rig-out, which somehow made them look a lot bigger than the females (when they perched side by side they were demonstrably the same size).

For all the recent rain the estuary wasn't at full capacity, with quite a lot of "beach" by the sailing club. It turned out that a lot of the water was on the path so I only walked as far as the inlet on the North shore. 

Lesser black-back, Elton Reservoir

A few hundred black-headed gulls ranging from white-headed to fully brown-hooded loafed on the shoreline or noisily chased each other around the reservoir. It was nearly midday so there was only a dozen or so lesser black-backs about and even fewer herring and common gulls. A brute of a great black-back flew in but didn't settle.

There were plenty of mallards and tufted ducks about but just a couple each of mute swans and Canada geese and a dozen teal. A grey wagtail kept calling but I couldn't see it until it obligingly flew across my field of view while I was checking that all the drake teals by the inlet had horizontal white stripes.

Elton Reservoir

I walked back and took the path along the South shore which was wet but only half a boot deep in water. Far out on the open water there was just the one great crested grebe, which is unusual, and a dozen goldeneyes with a group of tufties.

Elton Reservoir

I took the little path down to Withins Reservoir, which was quiet, and retreated back. If that stretch was that bad it would be hard work following the path down to the canal. Instead I kept to the path into Radcliffe which was mostly OK though the final hundred yards was one big puddle. All the Canada geese that weren't on the reservoirs were feeding on the field behind the stables in the company of a few dozen lapwings and half a dozen pied wagtails.

It was still only lunchtime so I went into Radcliffe and got the bus to Bolton, thinking I might have a look round one of the reservoirs round there seeing as the weather was behaving itself. The bus was quite busy and it was early kicking-out time at Little Lever School so I jumped ship and had a look round Moses Gate Country Park, something I've been meaning to do for a while.

Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal

I took the first available path, which took me down a gentle, muddy slope to the Bolton end of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal where half a dozen tufted ducks and a pair of mute swans were quietly feeding. The bushes were full of singing robins, dunnocks and wrens while great tits and blue tits bounced around in the trees.

Buzzard, Moses Gate Country Park

The path down to the river was steeper and would be treacherous in wet weather. The woods opened out into a clearing where carrion crows shouted defiance from the treetops at a passing buzzard. I followed the path over the bridge and walked along the river, a male goosander flying close downstream as I walked up.

River Croal, Moses Gate Country Park

The pool by the car park was heaving with black-headed gulls, mallards and Canada geese. Mixed in with the crowds of gulls were a few dozen herring gulls and lesser black-backs. It was easy to miss the goosanders, tufties, gadwall and shovelers in the milling throng. It was less easy to miss the dozen mute swans mugging little children for bread.

I called it quits after an hour's pottering about. I'd only had a quick look over about a third of the place but I needed to be home before five so I walked up to the stop for the bus into Bolton. Which is where it all went pear-shaped: the buses run every quarter of an hour, half an hour later I decided to walk down to Moses Gate Station and managed to just catch the Bolton train, which let me just catch the first Manchester train after the one I'd originally been aiming for, which got stuck at signals outside Salford Crescent… Ah well. Small beer in the scheme of things and I'd managed a couple of walks and some decent birdwatching.

Leighton Moss

Teal and snipe

I thought a proper day out was in order so I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and set off for Leighton Moss. The weather was grey and windy and the sun kept threatening to show its face for a minute or two before ducking back behind the clouds.

It was a nice journey. Woodpigeons littered the treetops along Chat Moss and the stretch of line past the golf course at Twiss Green. As we slowed to the usual halt at the signals at Golborne Dale a yellowhammer flew up onto the fence and the train flushed a large flock of redwings and fieldfares from the trees at the turn into Golborne. As we waited for the OK into Preston at the signal by Lostock Hall I watched a wren fossicking about in the brambles by the line. When you're birdwatching from the train small brown jobs tend to stay unidentified so it's a treat to occasionally get to see them properly.

There wasn't a lot on the coastal pools as the train approached Silverdale, just a few shelducks, mallards and black-headed gulls. Half a dozen  greylags lurked in the field by New Lane as we went over the level crossing.

Chaffinch

The sound of the wind in the trees and ivy muted most of the bird calls at the station. This set the scene for the day: away from the feeding stations by The Hideout most of the small birds kept a low profile under cover. The feeders were busy, mostly with spadgers, long-tailed tits and chaffinches, though things went quiet for a minute or two as a sparrowhawk passed by at treetop height.

Shoveler and teal

Snipe and teal

The water was high on the pools. At Lilian's Hide the only loafing spots for the teal and shovelers and the handful of snipe were two tiny remnant islands by the hide and the raft the black-headed gulls have already started scoping out as a possible best site. There were plenty of mallards, coots and teal on the water with a few gadwall and tufted ducks. There were just singles of goldeneye, Canada goose and mute swan and no wigeon or pintails, which is unusual this time of year.

The path to the Tim Jackson and Griesdale hides

The reedbeds have had a bit of a belting by the storms, the reeds bent low and a few limbs off trees. Most of the small bird sounds were the creaks, groans and squeaks of branches bending in the wind, reminding me why they're called crack willows. A few blue tits, great tits and robins showed themselves by the path. A particularly ominous series of cracks and squeaks in the willows by the Tim Jackson Hide turned out to be a Cetti's warbler gearing itself up for a brief snatch of song.

The water seemed to be too high for the ducks' taste at Tim Jackson's. Twenty-odd teal lined up along the little bund with a few mallards and the only pair of wigeon of the day. A flock of greylags flew up from the marsh and wheeled about before landing somewhere in the reeds by New Lane.

By the Griesdale Hide

Apparently I'd just missed a great white egret at the Griesdale Hide. A marsh harrier was a bit of consolation, as was the water rail I bumped into on the path on my way out.

I took the path round to the causeway. A pair of courting coal tits made a lot of noise by the Sky Tower. The stretch by The Hideout was extremely busy with blue tits, six of them barrelling through the hawthorn bushes doing a very good impersonation of the randy mallards at Lilian's Hide. The boardwalk was very quiet, a few robins and wrens skulking low in the bushes.

Cormorants and great black-backs

The causeway pool was very high, barely enough room on the island for half a dozen cormorants and a pair of great black-backs, and all of them with their feet wet. There were a few gadwall and tufties amongst the rafts of coots in the bays by the reeds.

I thought this was going to be one of those visits where I don't get to see a marsh tit but one made a point of noisily seeing me on my way as I walked past the stream and on to the visitor centre. It's done it a few times now, I don't know how I've offended it.

Chaffinch

Collared dove

I'd come in early to leave early so's to avoid the late afternoon gap in Southbound trains. Which was OK as far as it went but for some reason Northern has scheduled its trains so that it's impossible to connect between its services at Lancaster, whether you're going North or South the train you want has just left as you pull into the station. I couldn't make a side trip to Morecambe work, I'd end up waiting fifty-five minutes for the Preston-bound train instead of fifty minutes if I didn't bother, so I didn't bother. The wind had too cold an edge for waiting that long at that time this time of year. I think I'll have to map out a day on the buses round Lancaster to take in Morecambe and Heysham then get the bus down to Preston rather than mess about.

I took a circuitous route home from Preston, maxing out my explorer ticket, which added the three goosanders I saw on Wayoh Reservoir to the tally and reminded me I need to have a nosy round Jumbles Country Park.

A windswept and interesting, and blissfully rain-free, day's birdwatching. There are worse things in this life.

Chelford

Smew (left) and goosanders, Lapwing Hall Pool

Having reviewed the range of possible public transport snags and complications arising from the post-storm cleaning up operation I decided to nip over to Chelford to see if I could get a better view of the smew that's still on Lapwing Hall Pool. I also wanted a photo if possible as I haven't any pictures of smew, not so much as a grotty record shot.

I got a train over to Stockport and caught the Crewe train there, sparing myself any crowd scenes at Piccadilly. The weather had calmed down to merely very windy and was threatening to let a bit of sun poke through later. I'd left the cat sleeping on the bedroom floor, the garden full of spadgers and the sparrowhawk putting the wind up the pigeons at Humphrey Park Station.

I got off the train at Chelford and bumped into the first of many mixed tits flocks of the day — great, blue and long-tailed. A song thrush sang from deep inside a dogwood bush and I had to duck sharply to avoid a pair of courting dunnocks that weren't watching where they were going.

Opposite St. John's Church

I walked down Holmes Chapel Road with coal tits joining the tit flock by the church. Flocks of jackdaws bounced round the treetops and around the sheep on the parkland over the road and a pair of courting buzzards were escorted out of harm's way by a couple of carrion crows. A few lapwings in the field on my side were spooked by a passing sparrowhawk and headed over towards the quarry.

Holmes Chapel Road

Walking down Lapwing Lane the hedgerows were heaving with blue tits. I couldn't tell if it was three dozen of them or just the same half dozen birds doubling round behind my back to try and bamboozle me. There was a big supporting cast of great tits, robins, wrens and tree sparrows. A couple of flocks of wigeons flew overhead to Lark Hall Pool, whistling all the way.

I walked down to the end for a look over the pool at Acre Nook Quarry. The sun chose to come out. Unfortunately the only viewpoint over the pool has you staring directly at the sun at mid-day this time of year. The black-necked grebe is still around but the only possible contender was a distant silhouette with a glare fringe round it. A few dabchicks and great crested grebes were a bit more accommodating. A few Canada geese were feeding over on the far bank and a couple of dozen greylags were bobbing about on the pool. A couple of slightly smaller geese flew in. It took a few minutes to identify them as white-fronted geese and then only when they flew across the far bank far enough to be able to see them out of silhouette. They settled on the water and as they swam about the light eventually caught the white on their faces, it took a bit longer to catch the pink of their beaks to confirm them as Russian white-fronts. A large flock of lapwings rose from the fields across the pool, wheeled round and settled back down again.

The bridleway through The Mosses

I walked up the bridleway through The Mosses, accompanied by yet more titmice and robins and a couple of treecreepers, then joined the path that leads round Lapwing Hall Pool. It was very muddy underfoot so I spent as much time watching where I was going as checking the undergrowth for birds. That's how I spotted the dog paw prints the size of my hand and just as I was wondering what sort of dog it might be it came trotting along with its owner. I don't know why he wasn't riding it.

As I approached the Eastern end of the pool I spotted a group of half a dozen goosanders bobbing along in the waves. There were two smaller shapes with them, my first thought was that they'd had a very early breeding season. One of the small birds rode high up a wave and I realised it wasn't a duckling at all. I'd been hoping to see the smew, could this be it? I took another long look. No, it wasn't it. It was they. Two redhead smew showing very well and providing a nice compare and contrast with the much larger goosanders. I battled the wind to get a few fairly ropy record shots in.

Goosander and smew, Lapwing Hall Pool

Goosander and smew, Lapwing Hall Pool

Goosander and smew, Lapwing Hall Pool

Goosander and smew, Lapwing Hall Pool

Goosanders, Lapwing Hall Pool

Smew, Lapwing Hall Pool
(heavily-cropped detail)

The wind got stronger and the sunshine almost became a fixture as I walked round the pool and back onto Lapwing Lane. A few tufted ducks and coots fed in the Northern corner of the pool couple of hundred wigeon loafed on the South side. The hedgerow by the farm was full of blue tits and tree sparrows.

Lapwing Hall Pool

Walking down the lane I noticed a lone redwing feeding with a mistle thrush in one of the fields, a far cry from the large flock here in December.

I got back to the station with quarter of an hour to spare for the next train, which I spent watching the tit flock working its way through the bushes on the platform opposite.

Local patch

Blackbird, Lostock Park

I haven't seen the male sparrowhawk for a while so it came as a surprise to see him barrelling through a blown fence panel and into the garden. Not as much as the surprise the sparrow he nearly caught had.

• Black-headed gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blue tit 1
• Carrion crow 1
• Collared dove 2
• Dunnock 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great tit 2
• House sparrow19
• Jackdaw 1
• Long-tailed tit 1
• Magpie 1
• Rook 1
• Sparrowhawk 1
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 4

The collared doves in my back garden are as fed up of the weather as I am

It was surprisingly quiet on the school playing field, with fewer black-headed gulls than usual. After last night I was rather hoping for a South polar skua or an albatross or two.

• Black-headed gull 12
• Carrion crow 2
• Common gull 1
• Feral pigeon 1
• Herring gull 4
• Jackdaw 6
• Lesser black-backed gull 1
• Rook 2
• Woodpigeon 9

By half three in the afternoon the wind had calmed down to merely windy and the sun made an appearance. I decided to have a go at walking off some of the cabin fever. There was no point in going far: there's too much disruption on the roads and rail at the moment, hopefully most of the cleaning up will be finished tomorrow.

Lombardy poplars, Lostock Park

One of the Lombardy poplars in the park eas a casualty of the storm. There are still plenty to go along, planted the length of the footpath from Old Hall Road. A few blue tits and redwings bounced around in the treetops and a few robins sang from what little undergrowth there is left after someone had a giddy turn with a strimmer. A pair of mistle thrushes flew in without so much as a rattle and a song thrush was very inconspicuously feeding in an elder bush. Lots of magpies as per usual, most of them in a loose-knit gang getting up to mischief by the bowling green.

Barton Clough

At first glance there didn't seem to be much about on the old cornfield. Then I noticed how many greenfinches were coming in to roost in the bramble patches. It's a long time since I last saw them in double figures round here and it demonstrates, yet again, the value of "waste ground" and "scrub." They wouldn't be coming in to roost in an area strummed to the ground or cleared and planted with serried whips at two metre intervals. There were more redwings in the trees and a few blackbirds foraging in the undergrowth. A charm of goldfinches twittered away from the birches and alders by the industrial unit and headed off for somewhere by the canal.

• Black-headed gull 9 overhead
• Blackbird 4
• Blue tit 4
• Carrion crow 3
• Dunnock 1
• Feral pigeon 1
• Goldfinch 19
• Greenfinch 13
• Herring gull 1 overhead
• House sparrow 2
• Lesser black-backed gull 3 overhead
• Magpie 19
• Mistle thrush 3
• Redwing 20
• Robin 6
• Song thrush 1
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 8
• Wren 2

It was nice to get an hour's walk under my boots at last. And it was good to see so much still about this late in the afternoon.

Barton Clough

Just as I got home forty-two black-headed gulls rose up from the school field where they'd been having a pre-roost get together.

Home thoughts

Siskin

After yesterday's Sturm und Drang it came as a relief to settle down to ordinary cold, heavy rain and hailstones. Even after going out to fill up all the feeders again I was half determined to go out for a walk though common sense prevailed in the end.

Despite my hopes, nothing unusual turned up on the school field gull flock save a first-Winter common gull.

• Black-headed gull 26
• Blackbird 1
• Carrion crow 1
• Common gull 1
• Herring gull 2
• House sparrow 1
• Jackdaw 7
• Lesser black-backed gull 1
• Magpie 2
• Woodpigeon 4

Great tit

Siskin

Goldfinch

Siskin

A male siskin barging through the spadgers to get to the sunflower seeds was a nice surprise, only the second I've seen in the garden. He was obliging enough to pose for photographs, unlike the spadgers. They're being particularly frustrating because three of the males — the old white-cheeked patriach, the ginger-faced newcomer and one of the very dark slate-grey individuals — keep sitting in a line on the top of the feeder under the rowan tree.

• Black-headed gull 1
• Blackbird 3
• Blue tit 2
• Carrion crow 1
• Collared dove 1
• Dunnock 2
• Goldfinch 5
• Great tit 2
• House sparrow 23
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Siskin 1
• Starling 13
• Woodpigeon 4

Manchester city centre

Sketch map: Manchester City Centre

Like all big cities there doesn't seem to be a lot of birdlife beyond pigeons in the city centre but you can be pleasantly surprised if you keep your eyes and ears open.

For the purposes of this guide the city centre is taken to be the area bound by the River Irwell, Great Ancoats Street and the Mancunian Way.

The first two things that strike you when you arrive in the city centre are the buildings and the building developments. There has been a constant churn of refurbishment, demolition and building anew over the past twenty five years and there's nothing to suggest anything will change anytime soon. This dynamic creates new, temporary, opportunities for birds and other wildlife, and takes others away just as quickly. There are a few small parks dotted about, the odd bit of wasteland, and two rivers and a canal complex that have mostly recovered from the industrial pollution of the past but are still in a vulnerable state. Pigeons, carrion crows and lesser black-backs are conspicuous features of the cityscape.

The Irwell, having taken a particularly sinuous route through Salford, suddenly takes a sharp turn by Manchester Cathedral then runs as close to a straight line as it manages for the whole of its course before flowing into the Manchester Ship Canal at Cornbrook, just south of Deansgate. In my lifetime the river has been officially dead, these days it's a lot healthier. This stretch of the river is a bit quiet of birdlife because the banks have been built on and the surroundings get busy with people. There's nearly always black-headed gulls and a few mallards about. Goosanders are common in Winter (they breed upstream in Salford), goldeneye occasionally drift downstream. And there's generally a cormorant or two hanging round the Water Street area. Any wagtails you see are as likely to be grey as pied, there's at least one breeding pair of grey wagtails in the Castlefield area. I've seen just the one kingfisher along here. 

Goosander

You can't see much of the river Medlock in the city centre, most of it has been built over or round, but it's home to grey wagtails. Just to the West of Piccadilly Station, around Helmet Street and in Pill Mill Brow on the other side of Great Ancoats Street you may sometimes see dippers, a surprise in such an unpromising area.

The canal basin at Castlefield is where you'll find most of the city's Canada geese, as well as a few mute swans. It's as well not to walk along the Rochdale Canal aporting a pair of binoculars and a camera. The walk out of the city centre down the Bridgewater Canal past Cornbrook to Salford Quays can be very rewarding, there's a large Winter gull roost on the quays which often attracts yellow-legged gulls and in Summer the remaining waste ground by the Ship Canal at Cornbrook is home to warblers, including lesser whitethroats.

Peregrines nest in the city centre though they've had to move around a bit due to redevelopment. The area around Victoria Station and Exchange Square is your best bet for a sighting. Other birds of prey are usually just passing through, more often than not at great height. A tawny owl used to hunt around the Chepstow Street area of Oxford Road, feeding on the rats and mice attracted by people being messy with their takeaways, but it's been a while since anyone's reported seeing or hearing it. I only saw it the once, while I was waiting for the last bus home.

The green spaces are all quite small and mostly just mown grass (Piccadilly Gardens hardly being that these days). Parsonage Gardens and St. John's Gardens, both between Deansgate and the river, are very small parks which act as oases for garden birds round here. Vimto Park, over by the university, looks unpromising, especially with the new building works at the North side, but has its moments. It's worth keeping an eye and ear out for Autumn migrants passing through. Most will be chiffchaffs and willow warblers, every so often a spotted flycatcher will make an appearance.

Although Piccadilly Gardens has lost its garden element there are still enough small trees to attract roosting goldfinches, possibly the same birds that bounce around the trees in St. Peter's Square. Back in the early nineties it was still possible to watch a murmuration of starlings wheeling around the bus station but they and the bus station are now but memories. The best pied wagtail roost is probably the one on St. Anne's Square though it's usually only double figures.

Black redstarts used to nest around the old warehouses and factories in what is now the Northern Quarter, the pair holding a territory at the top of Newton Street being very obliging to the birdwatcher. Redevelopment and gentrification have moved the redstarts on. These days there's at least one pair on the rooftops around the Town Hall. Actually seeing one is almost impossible unless you live or work in one of the buildings overlooking the area. Before the building work on the Town Hall you might have been lucky to see one perched on the roof. You've more chance of hearing a call or a brief snatch of song, though that depends on your being in the right place at the right time without a lot of background noise drowning it out. Utterly tantalising and frustrating, the best advice is to not go looking for them and just be surprised and delighted if you bump into one.

Beyond the city centre the birdwatching gets more rewarding. Walking upstream along the Irwell into Salford you'll find more waterbirds. There are small bits of rough woodland along the Medlock Valley. And the parks get a bit bigger and more fruitful.

You're not going to get a big tally of birds on a visit to Manchester city centre but it's worth keeping your eyes and ears open when you're there because you never know when you'll be lucky.