Home thoughts and a bit

Blackbird

To look at the garden the only hint of Autumn would be a few leaves gone yellow and a lack of much in the way of flowers (though to be fair, that's been true since the end of August; what the heat wave didn't frazzle it encouraged an early burn-out). There are just enough leaves off the rambling rose to show that what I had been taking to be half a dozen spadgers coming to the feeders have been a dozen or more and I have every expectation I'll discover it's been a lot more before the season's out. It would explain what's been going through fat balls like a donkey through strawberries. They've been aided and abetted by pairs of great tits and coal tits and at least three blue tits. Every so often two or three long-tailed tits will make a hit-and-run visit. Goldfinches are passing fancies these days, back when there was less tree cover I'd be routinely getting a couple of dozen in the garden throughout Summer and into Autumn.

The rowan tree is slowly being stripped by blackbirds. I'm not seeing the same combination of birds more than two days running, it must be a combination of resident birds and passers-by. I've been seeing similar over in the park. The collared doves join them for breakfast then move on for the rest of the day, woodpigeons aren't joining in very often, there seems to be bumper pickings on the school field.

It was one of those days where bright sunshine mixed with showers so I thought I'd just drift somewhere and see what was about. The X22 express bus to Bolton was sitting at the Trafford Centre so I caught it on a whim and on a similar whim got the 533 bus to Egerton, reasoning that I get buses in every direction except North from Bolton so it would be a change. It's a short walk from the bus stop on Blackburn Road to Delph Reservoir, which is on my long list of Reservoirs Not Yet Visited so off I set.

It had been showering on and off throughout my journey. I'd barely got to the Lancashire border when the heavens opened. It'll pass over, I told myself. It didn't, and it was obvious from the look of the sky it wasn't going to. The jackdaws and mistle thrushes in the fields headed for cover and the starlings nestled together on the cables next to the electricity pylons. I got as far as the entrance to the sailing club and bowed to the inevitable.

Winter Hill

I just missed the bus back to Bolton and had twenty minutes to wait for the next so I walked down to the next stop and had a wander round Egerton Park, which is only little and can be walked round in ten minutes. A pair of bullfinches were feeding in the rowan trees by the play area with half a dozen blackbirds and a couple of woodpigeons.

I got the number 1 bus back to Bolton then got the 480 for a meandering ride to Bury where I got the bus back into Manchester. I hadn't had much of a walk but I'd established that Delph Reservoir was easily accessible by bus and that the 480 stops right by Waives Reservoir. I don't know when — or if — I'll make a visit to either or both but they're on the radar now.