Mersey Valley

Sparrowhawk, Barton Clough

I had a lunchtime wander round the local patch while the weather was okay. There was still a fair wind keeping the clouds moving such that one minute it would be bright sunshine the next utterly overcast but it was fine for walking in.

The park was remarkably quiet: a couple of woodpigeons and a couple of magpies on the grass and a robin in the trees. I had hoped the usual mistle thrushes might be about, I've not seen them for a couple of months, alas it was not to be.

Sparrowhawk, Barton Clough

The old cornfields were a bit quiet at first. The reason was obvious: a young male sparrowhawk was sitting in plain sight on the fence. He set a flock of goldfinches into a panic when he took off and flew over towards the trees behind the school. A couple of dozen woodpigeons had taken cover in the bushes by the old freight line, as much for the greedy consumption of berries as refuge from the sparrowhawk. A jay flew overhead and the usual magpies flitted between the trees, a lot quieter than usual perhaps keeping the sparrowhawk in mind.

Juvenile woodpigeons, Barton Clough
All the adults were under cover.

I got the 23 bus over to Southern Cemetery and walked down to Chorlton Water Park. A flock of sparrows were busy on the feeders in the car park with a couple of collared doves picking up scraps. A few great tits and dunnocks flitted about in the hedgerows and a ring-necked parakeet screeched about the treetops.

Chorlton Water Park 

The lake was reassuringly busy with birds. Sixty-odd pigeons picked at the grass with a dozen Canada geese. There were more Canada geese on the lake with rather a lot of mallards and coots and a couple of dozen black-headed gulls. I spotted half a dozen gadwalls in the crowd which prompted me to hunt out any tufted ducks (there being coots and gadwalls about) and eventually found a couple of pairs over near the far bank. Over at the other end of the lake by Barlow Tip a great crested grebe was feeding a noisy and well-nigh full grown youngster.

Tufted ducks, Chorlton Water Park

Barlow Tip didn't have a great variety of birds about — woodpigeons, robins, wrens and great tits — but there were plenty of them.

There was only a juvenile cormorant on the river as I walked down to Jackson's Boat but there was plenty flying about, most of it woodpigeons and magpies. A flock of Canada geese flew low over the river then over to Sale Water Park. A jay headed in the same direction but was probably after the acorns along the path to Sale Ees. A buzzard soaring overhead was buzzed half-heartedly by a carrion crow and they quickly went their separate ways.

Ring-necked parakeets, Jackson's Boat

At Jackson's Boat eighteen ring-necked parakeets screeched around the treetops either side of the river before disappearing noisily into the sycamores by the children's play area.

It was raining lightly so I decided to head for cover in the woods on Chorlton Ees. It was picturesque but hard work: there was more than enough cover to hide the robins, woodpigeons and titmice I kept hearing along the paths.

Chorlton Ees 

The rain became steady so I decided against walking across the fields on Turn Moss then on home and instead opted for the cover of the trees on Ivy Green, walking on into Chorlton for the bus home. The mixed tit flocks were very busy on the stretch along Chorlton Brook, the great tits tending to favour working their way through the now rather tatty stretches of Himalayan balsam while the blue tits, long-tailed tits and the couple of goldcrests accompanying them kept to the willows by the path. A coal tit was repeatedly heard but not seen from the depths of the sycamores on the other side of the brook. 

The prize of the day, oddly enough, was a song thrush feeding by Chorlton Brook, the first for the month. It's been a dry September for thrushes and I can't see any particular reason for it. Still, it would be boring if it was predictable.