Lazy day

Buxton Pavilion Gardens 

After a fairly ropey night's sleep I didn't have the energy for the planned excursion and spent the morning dozing and drinking tea, not necessarily in that order. Out in the garden the spadgers demolished the last of the suet blocks while the great tits and coal tits made inroads on the peanut kibbles. 

The change in the weather brought more large gulls to the school playing field. Six herring gulls of various ages and four adult lesser black-backs loafed with the black-headed gulls as they waited for the gift that is school lunchtime.

I decided that I should have an afternoon out even if it wasn't a walk, so I got the train into Manchester and, on a series of whims, found myself on the train to Buxton where I had a wander round the Pavilion Gardens.

Buxton Pavilion Gardens, with carrion crow

There weren't many small birds about — a robin and a blackbird muttering in bushes either end of the park and three goldfinches overhead. There was a considerable number of jackdaws outcompeting the mallards, pigeons and Canada geese for the scraps thrown by the pond by children and pensioners. Most of the Canada geese were more content to graze on the lawns. I could see just the one Muscovy duck today, I'm sure there were more last time. A couple of pairs of mandarin ducks dozed in the deep shade under a yew tree. Over on the boating pond a handful of tufted ducks bobbed about in the company a couple of dozen mallards.

Boating pond, Buxton Pavilion Gardens 

As I was leaving the gardens I noticed that the 58 bus to Macclesfield was due in five minutes. I've not done this trip for a while and it's worth the fare for the views over the hills so I decided to go for it. The only problem with this bus is deciding which side to sit on: between Ladmanlow and the Cat and Fiddle the left hand side gives you wonderful views of the hills and beyond, between the Cat and Fiddle and the Stanley Arms the brooding hills and peaks on the right-hand side are fantastically picturesque. The birdwatching's a bit thin, mostly lone carrion crows at mile intervals with the occasional jackdaw by homesteads and a raven up tops. Which didn't stop me keeping an eye out for owls and harriers, just in case.

From the bus, just after the Cat and Fiddle 

From the bus, just after Peak View 

At Macclesfield I got the train back into Manchester and a rude reminder why I dislike the trains on the Avanti west coast routes. (Besides being overcrowded, late and smelly the tubular design of the train means that anyone standing higher than five foot ten is rubbing shoulders with the ceiling.)

If I ever get old enough to get myself a free bus pass I'm going to give the Peak District routes a hell of a hammer.