Elton Reservoir

Drake goldeneye and juvenile long-tailed duck

I had an early morning appointment and once that was done and dusted I decided to get out for a walk before the threatened break in the weather broke. There were no trains today and engineering works on the city centre tramlines so I got a bus into town and a bus into Bury and went for a wander around Elton Reservoir.

The feeders in the car park were very busy with fifty-odd goldfinches and a couple of dozen greenfinches. A couple of great tits snuck in as best could but the blue tits, house sparrows and chaffinches couldn't get a look in.

Elton Reservoir and the sailing club 

The reservoir was more than filled, a great contrast to my last visit. Dozens of mallards, coots and black-headed gulls loafed on the water by the sailing club. There were a lot more great crested grebes out on the water than last time but only a couple of cormorants.

Great black-back and herring gull
I often forget that great black-backs are huge, even compared to herring gulls.

Herring gulls and great black-backs

Further out there were rafts of herring gulls and more black-headed gulls with a few lesser black-backs and common gulls. I scanned the bewildering array of herring gulls to see if anything else was about, with no success. There were a couple of big, dark males that might have been argentatus birds from Scandinavia but the light was so miserable it wasn't possible to be sure. A few great black-backs sat like battleships amongst the herring gulls and provided an easily identifiable change from the masses.

A small mixed tit flock flitted through the bushes at the top of the creek near the bridge. A few goldfinches and chaffinches twittered about in the treetops. The path got increasingly treacherous and I found myself concentrating more on my footholds than the flittings about in the undergrowth.

Walking along the creek

There were rafts of tufted ducks beyond the creek and a small flock of goldeneyes, mostly drakes. There was a lot of head bobbing going on amongst the tufties. A juvenile long-tailed duck bobbed up amongst the goldeneyes. It doesn't matter how often I see them, I'm always surprised by how small long-tailed ducks are. It was dwarfed by the goldeneyes and even the tufties, despite the textbooks' saying they're the same length.

Drake goldeneye and juvenile long-tailed duck

Black-headed gulls, tufted ducks and juvenile long-tailed duck

Tufted ducks

Drake goldeneyes and juvenile long-tailed duck

Drake goldeneyes and juvenile long-tailed duck

Tufted ducks

Nearly a hundred Canada geese crowded at the far end of the reservoir with a few mallards and teal.

Canada geese 

I wandered over to Withins Reservoir which was just as full but only boasted three tufted ducks and a cormorant.

I didn't like the look of either the path or the weather so I didn't carry on to the canal, taking the path to St. Andrew's Road instead, which gave me the opportunity to wash the mud off my boots in the deep puddles. I got the bus back to Bury and didn't get rained on until I was waiting for my bus home at Piccadilly Gardens.

Elton Reservoir