Rivington

Meadow pipit, Rivington Pike

Another nice Spring day so I thought it would be a good day for my first walk of the year up the Horwich moors.

I had a good omen when I got to Humphrey Park Station: three buzzards noisily wheeling overhead. It was the Stretford Meadows pair letting the Barton Clough bird know where the territorial boundaries lie.

I got the train to Bolton and the 125 bus to Bottom o'th'Moor. As I started walking up Georges Lane I bumped into my first red admiral butterfly of the year. Chaffinches, wrens and robins sang in the trees, a pair of mistle thrushes clattered in the treetops and a pair of oystercatchers fed with the carrion crows and woodpigeons in the field by the lay-by. It was a warm day for March but a steady light breeze kept me honest and made for very agreeable walking weather.

Along Georges Lane

As I got to Wilderswood a buzzard slowly flew by. A few house sparrows, goldfinches and coal tits flitted about by the roadside while robins, wrens and blackbirds sang from the depths.

Along Georges Lane

Uphill from Wilderswood there were a few skylarks feeding in the tussocks and a male stonechat used a wire above the remains of a stone wall as a hunting post. Slightly further out a kestrel hovered over a patch of rough grazing. 

Pied wagtail, Rivington Pike

As I approached Rivington Pike Cottage and the prospect of a cup of tea the first meadow pipits of the day began popping up out of the heather. A pied wagtail joined diners on the road by the cottage. High overhead flocks of black-headed gulls coming over from the reservoir hawked for insects, calling all the while.

The view to the Pike from Rivington Pike Cottage

Having had my cup of tea I wandered up the road to see if anything was about in the small pine groves. There were a couple of singing wrens and a few coal tits in the trees. When I got to the bend where Georges Lane becomes Belmont Road and we are into Lancashire unheralded I was puzzled by some unfamiliar alarm calls in the treetops (at this point the treetops are about head height). A flock of redpolls had taken exception to me.

Nearly into Lancashire at the end of Georges Lane

The plan was to go back down and either take the path up to Winter Hill or take a meandering walk through Wilderswood and down into Horwich. So I carried on walking up Belmont Road towards Rivington. It's perhaps worth noting here that despite how it looks on Google Maps once the road passes Rivington Pike Cottage it's not much more than a cobbled pack horse trail and quite rough walking let alone driving a Lamborghini along. There were more mipits flitting about the heathers and bilberry bushes. There were still berries on what I think were Pernettya (South American prickly heath) mixed in with the heathers by the road.

Pernettya

Belmont Road

It being a nice day there was a procession of walkers up to the Pike so I kept to the road, which I had almost to myself. When I got to the junction I dropped down onto Roynton Road and into the wooded areas approaching Rivington Gardens. I heard more than I could see, despite the lack of leaf cover. Wrens, blackbirds and robins dominated the soundscape while woodpigeons and magpies bounced around the treetops and coal tits foraged at ground level.

Roynton Road

It's forty years since I last visited Rivington Gardens and I was tempted to have a good wander round but it was mid-afternoon and I still had to get back down to Horwich so I decided to take the paths skirting the terraces then over the meadow and on towards Rivington Hall Barn for the road back through Lever Park. I'll come back another day taking the easy route via Lever Park rather than over the tops.

Rivington Gardens

Rivington Gardens

Dropping down towards the meadow there was a change in the birdlife of the woods with the appearance of great tits, blue tits and nuthatches. As I crossed the meadow a green woodpecker yaffled from somewhere deep in the trees of Lever Park and a Mediterranean gull flew over with a noisy bunch of black-headed gulls.

Dropping down into the meadow

Jackdaws, magpies, woodpigeons and carrion crows were the most visible birdlife in the park as I walked down to Rivington Lane. Robins, dunnocks and wrens sang, nuthatches and titmice called and there were a couple of great spotted woodpeckers at the corner of the lane.

I walked down into Horwich. I just missed the 575 at the bottom of Lever Park Avenue but it's only a couple of minutes'walk down to the Crown and I only had five minutes to wait for the next 125 into Bolton.

A bit of a longer walk than originally planned but very agreeable all the same. And the green woodpecker keeps the year list ticking over.