Radcliffe

Little ringed plover, Elton Reservoir

It had been a cold night and what I thought was a hard frost was actually a thin dusting of snow. But it turned out to be a bright, if cold, sort of a day so I decided to catch up with things round Elton Reservoir.

The foliage on the roses in the back garden is providing cover for the birds now but I know they're still out there by the speed the feeders are getting emptied. Most mornings start with a bunch of magpies chasing each other round the trees on the railway embankment, I assume these are non-breeding birds establishing their ranks in the gang. There's a pair on the nest in one of the alders across the road and the usual flurry of activity in the old crow's nest at the corner, this year mostly involving a pair of jackdaws and a rook. I don't think this nest is ever productive, perhaps it's used as a decoy to divert attention from active nests. The two pairs of magpies at Trafford Park Station have made a start on five nests so far though most of the activity is centring round the one that was used last year.

Snow on them thar hills, the view from Humphrey Park Station

I got the train into Manchester and the tram into Bury then got the 471 to Elton Reservoir. Walking down from Buller Street to the sailing club the trees were full of singing robins, wrens and chaffinches yet a coal tit managed to sing over the lot of them. A chiffchaff chipped in every so often from somewhere on the green lane down the bank. Most of the feeders had been taken down at the car park but the ones that were left were keeping a lot of blue tits and great tits busy.

Herring gulls, lesser black-backs and carrion crow, Elton Reservoir

The mud bank by the sailing club was almost covered with loafing gulls, mostly herring gulls with a few lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls. Pairs of mallards dozed and a pair of teal fed on the nearest bank. Out on the water there were a couple of dozen coot and nearly a hundred very noisy black-headed gulls. For some reason the great crested grebes had taken against the raft of tufted ducks by the creek and every so often one would launch itself in their direction with a great flurry of splashing about and calling. The tufted ducks took not a blind bit of notice.

Elton Reservoir, by the sailing club

I took advantage of the recent dry weather to walk around the northern edge of the reservoir. Remarkably there were just the two small patches of muddy puddles, I'm not sure if it was the more remarkable there were any at all or that there was only two. The weather kept fine and mostly sunny though it felt cold whenever the sun went in and the wind picked up every so often and felt decidedly icy. I was surprised by how few people were about.

Elton Reservoir

There had been reports of a swallow and some goldeneyes and little ringed plovers first thing. I kept an eye out but this time of year birds are on the move and what you see at a site first thing will likely be different to what you'll see at lunchtime or teatime.

Teal, little ringed plover and pied wagtail, Elton Reservoir

A few pied wagtails, mostly males, fed at the water's edge, usually by themselves, occasionally accompanied by pairs of teal. I was standing at the "wader point" at the far side of the creek looking back at the sailing club when I noticed something flying low over the water. A swallow feeding with eight sand martins. A little further along a few pied wagtails were feeding around a dozen dabbling teal. A couple of small objects skittering around on the pebbles were a pair of little ringed plovers.

Little ringed plover, Elton Reservoir

There were no goldeneyes but two out of three wasn't bad going.

Somebody was getting snowed on

I walked down to Withins. I checked out the fields for wheatears; no joy today, just lapwings and carrion crows. A few more clouds rolled in and someone North of Bury was copping for a snowstorm but it stayed sunny enough for the remainder of the walk.

Goldeneye, Withins Reservoir

Withins Reservoir was busy with birds. A pair of mute swans grazed the bank while pairs of,  Canada geese patrolled the water. A cormorant and a great crested grebe were busy fishing. The goldeneyes that weren't on Elton Reservoir were on here, a dozen birds busy whistling and head-bobbing at each other over in the far corner.

I walked down the path into Radcliffe. As I was passing the farmhouses across the lawn what I took at first to be yet more creaking of hawthorn branches in the wind turned out to be a pair of Mediterranean gulls feeding with the black-headed gulls and jackdaws on the field of sheep. I wonder if this is the same pair that bred last year on Lowercroft Reservoir.

Bolton and Bury Canal

It was only when I was looking down at the mallards on the canal that I realised I hadn't seen a moorhen anywhere on this walk, which is very unusual. Still, I'd seen plenty else and the swallow and martins had kept the year list ticking over.

Elton Reservoir