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.