Stretford and a bit

Kestrel, Stretford Meadows

I had planned to set out early to try and catch up with some birdwatching but the trains weren't running until half nine (timetable disruption caused by the strikes that didn't happen and this not being a scheduled strike day), so I had some breakfast and missed the bus for plans B and C, then when I opened the front door to set off for plan D it started pouring down and…

Eventually the creative energy required for further pathetic excuses not to go out for a walk proved too much so I put my boots on and headed for Stretford Meadows.

Stretford Meadows, the entrance from Newcroft Road 

The rain had made it slightly damp underfoot. I decided against walking over the top of the mound, reasoning that if the going was that treacherous on the flat it wouldn't be any too clever on the steep descent on the other side. So I skirted the margins on the Northern and Eastern sides before rejoining the velodrome. It had turned into a very nice, mild Autumn afternoon and good for walking.

Magpie, Stretford Meadows

The meadows would have seemed very quiet but for the raucous cries of a family of carrion crows flying to and fro with gay abandon. The carrion crows and rooks on the school playing field are courting and the rooks are making a start on building nests in one of the London plane trees down the road. The crows on Stretford Meadows seem to be just hanging around as a group at the moment. The magpies look to be sorting themselves out for courting, though, with odd pairs breaking off from the crowd bouncing round in the trees to rattle and squeak at each other for ten minutes before rejoining the gang. Magpie group dynamics are very much like human teen gangs except that a good number of the unpaired magpies will be adults that will never pair up and have young. So just like teen gangs then.

Buzzard, Stretford Meadows

Small birds were elusive, only the dunnocks showed out in the open. Robins and wrens muttered from the undergrowth and a great spotted woodpecker flew overhead. There was an unfamiliar noise from one of the new plantations but all I could see was billowing leaves. A steady stream of black-headed gulls and woodpigeons passed overhead in twos and threes. A pheasant ran across the path and flew into a bramble patch.

Stretford Meadows 

The female kestrel was hunting over the Eastern end of the meadows. It took her a few passes but after about ten minutes she grabbed herself a field vole and flew into the trees by the cricket pitch to eat it. I hadn't seen any sign of the usual buzzard, it turned out to be sitting low on one of the electricity pylons watching for roadkill on the motorway verge.

Fungi, Stretford Meadows

It had clouded over and there was rain in the air when I joined the velodrome and walked along Kickety Brook to Stretford Ees. The hedgerows were busy with small birds and magpies. One mixed tit flock looked to be composed of a couple of dozen blue tits and a family of bullfinches. I hung around as they bounced through the hawthorns and they were joined by great tits, goldfinches, chaffinches, a nuthatch and a treecreeper. Ring-necked parakeets, jays and a great spotted woodpecker called from the trees on the other side of the brook.

Bullfinch. a sadly typical view this time of year, Stretford Ees

I walked under the aquaduct onto Stretford Ees and immediately bumped into a family of over a dozen long-tailed tits. I walked down the path beside the tram lines, having to stop for a few minutes while a robin, a great tit and a blue tit finished bathing in a puddle. The mixed tit flock along this stretch was made up of equal numbers of blue tits and great tits with a robin and a song thrush tagging along for the ride. The weather had become gloomy and this persuaded the ring-necked parakeets to start flying into the tall trees to roost.

The black-headed gulls had started to come in to roost on the lake at Sale Water Park. About fifty of them loafed on the water with a few lesser black-backs and a couple of common gulls.

Broad Ees Dole 

Just before I got to the hide on Broad Ees Dole a first Winter Mediterranean gull passed low overhead barely making itself heard over the black-headed gulls. It flew over the lake and didn't settle, the last I saw of it it was heading Eastwards towards Chorlton and Didsbury.

Thirty three magpies settled to roost on the dead trees on the island in front of the hide. They changed their minds when it started pouring down and they headed for cover in the live willows by the waterside. There were about a dozen each of mallard, shovelers and gadwalls and a couple of dozen teal on the pond. Just the one dabchick, though, a first Winter bird, and only one heron flying in for a cameo appearance. I was just about to leave when a pair of goosanders drifted out from behind the island.

It was pouring down and I didn't want to have to traipse back into Stretford or over to Chorlton so I nipped under the motorway and cut through Priory Gardens to get a tram from Dane Road. Most of the small birds had gone for cover but there were still a few robins and wrens singing their claims while blackbirds and magpies clattered about in the trees.

I hadn't expected much but it turned out to be one of the most productive walks along this stretch since the end of Spring. Funny how things turn out.

Male fern, Stretford Meadows