Mersey Valley

Heron and mallards, River Mersey, Chorlton 

It was another cold and frosty day and I was tempted to spend another day indoors drinking too much tea but I needed the fresh air and exercise so I got the 25 into Chorlton and went for a walk. I got off at Barlow Moor Road and headed down Hardy Lane and onto Hardy Farm.

Hardy Farm 

I'd been hearing parakeets all the way down the road and a couple of them were flying round the trees behind the back gardens by the fields. The magpies were also making a racket and a few of them looked to be pairing up already. The carrion crows and rooks started a couple of weeks ago. Goldfinches were twittering about the treetops in the company of great tits, nuthatches and a couple of treecreepers. For once the treecreepers were striking poses so I tried to get some photos, only to find the camera was telling me I'd forgotten to put the photo card back in the other day. I found out later that I had done, it was just that the camera battery had gotten cold. I'd forgotten it plays that trick sometimes. Ah well…

Jackson's Boat 

Oddly enough there were no parakeets to be seen at Jackson's Boat, generally the most reliable place I know for them. The river was running freely and fast with the meltwater of previous days. I'd expect goosanders in these circumstances but had no joy today though there were plenty of mallards and Canada geese.

River Mersey, Chorlton

I walked down the river towards Chorlton Water Park. There was ice on a few patches of the path but by and large it was clear walking, for which I was very grateful. There was a too-ing and fro-ing of carrion crows, magpies, jays and blackbirds, black-headed gulls and lesser black-backs flew high overhead and a sparrowhawk flew low towards Jackson's Boat escorted by a couple of crows. There were more blackbirds in the hedgerow with robins, song thrushes and a singing stock dove in one of the larch trees by the golf course. Over the other side of the river a jay was singing (or what passes for a jay's singing) in a treetop on Sale Golf Course. A heron flew in and settled in the shade of the far bank with a handful of mallards. I stopped to get a photo with my 'phone and had the first attempt photobombed by a song thrush.

Heron, mallards and song thrush

Barlow Tip 

The snow lingered on Barlow Tip and made reassuring crunching noises on the paths. More blackbirds, robins and some blue tits worked their way through the hedgerows while jays and magpies frolicked in the big trees. Overhead a couple of common gulls squabbled with a black-headed gull over some scrap or other.

Chorlton Water Park 

Chorlton Water Park was frozen over save one small patch jam-packed with waterfowl. A couple of dozen each of coots and mallards jostled with a dozen tufted ducks, a mute swan and a few shovelers. A few Canada geese, black-headed gulls and a couple of common gulls loafed on the ice, moorhens skittered around the edges and a heron lurked in the trees on the bank. The trees by the path were busy with blackbirds and robins getting the last forage in before sunset while the trees over by the houses were noisy with roosting parakeets and jackdaws.

Coots, mallards, tufties, mute swan and heron, Chorlton Water Park 

I wondered what was tapping at my bootlaces. Luckily, I found a bit of oatmeal biscuit in my jacket pocket. Nothing mugs passersby like a hungry robin.

I contemplated a dusk walk through Kenworthy Wood then decided I didn't want to be hanging round at the side of Princess Parkway waiting for the bus back in this weather. Having thus bottled it I scuttled up to Southern Cemetery for the 23 back to Stretford.

Chorlton Water Park