Urmston

Cob Kiln Wood

It was back to business as usual in the back garden today with just the regulars. It was nice to see both coal tits in at the same time for a change. Over on the school playing field the first hints of Spring were showing with the gull flock being down to just a dozen black-headed gulls and the arrival of two dozen woodpigeons.

I walked past the allotments and down to Cob Kiln Wood. The allotments were full of singing robins, wrens and goldfinches. The wood was similar, with the addition of greenfinches, song thrushes and mistle thrushes to the songscape. The hedgerows were thick with blackbirds, titmice and chaffinches, family groups of long-tailed tits bounced around in the birch trees and a ring-necked parakeet flew through the trees. I was having a chat with another birdwatcher in the clearing by the pylons when a buzzard flew low overhead.

Cob Kiln Wood

The paths through Cob Kiln Wood were fairly grim. Walking over to Urmston Meadows the paths got considerably worse, reminding me why I don't do this walk very often and why this was my first visit of the year. To be honest, it's not as if the birdwatching's worth the effort though if I'm being fair most of the effort was being spent trying to negotiate the paths without getting more than ankle-deep in mud.

Urmston Meadows

Lots more titmice, robins and wrens in the bushes and undergrowth. Just as I got to a particularly tricky quagmire, navigable only by the reckless use of brambles, I bumped into a small flock of redwings. The pools by the beach were largely deserted: just a dabchick, a moorhen and a pair of mallards.

I walked past the cemetery and into Urmston Meadows nature reserve. The paths here were considerably better, just as well as I was feeling utterly demoralised by then. Luckily, the birdwatching picked up. More titmice, robins and blackbirds and the birch trees were full of siskins. A pair of courting buzzards noisily soared and chased each other at treetop height. A pair of parakeets competed with some magpies to see who could make the most racket. In the end I had to put my camera away, none of the birds were up for facing their photos taken.

Urmston Meadows

I'd had a couple of hours' mudlarking so I called it quits and went off to replenish my supplies of bird food for the feathered hooligans back home.