Mersey Valley

Cob Kiln Wood 

As promised the weather was marginally warmer and considerably wetter. I was still inclined to stay at home drinking tea but I really need the exercise so having made sure me, the cat and the spadgers had had their lunchtime rations I pottered over to Cob Kiln Wood.

The school playing field had a dozen black-headed gulls with a couple of herring gulls and four common gulls amongst the jackdaws, rooks and magpies. A lesser black-back made a passing visit but didn't stop, which is par for the course lately. A seasonal touch was a magpie setting about rebuilding the rather dilapidated nest in one of the trees by the station.

Ousel Brook, Cob Kiln Wood 

A flock of starlings and a few great tits and woodpigeons on Torbay Road bode well for Cob Kiln Wood. The promise wasn't realised, aside from a few robins, wrens and blackbirds the highlight was a pair of dunnocks chasing each other on the path. For all that the roads and pavements have been clear for a week the paths were icy and treacherous. Here and there there'd be a sheet of ice for no apparent reason, the reason for which would be immediately obvious had it been a sunny day. As it was, it was one of those days of perpetual twilight and the rain had left a wet film over the patches of ice. Halfway across the clearing the rain started properly, which wasn't as much fun as it sounds. I was rather hoping that my fortitude and pluck might be rewarded with a firecrest or a yellow-browed warbler but even the carrion crows and magpies weren't wanting any of it.

Cob Kiln Wood 

I hadn't noticed this salmon ladder by the weir by the Carrington By-Pass bridge. I'm not aware there are salmon on this stretch of the river on any regular basis.

I crossed the river onto Banky Lane. At first I thought Banky Meadow was going to be as barren as Cob Kiln Wood with just a couple of blackbirds and song thrushes. Woodpigeons and parakeets started to come in to roost while magpies and jays had a shouting match by the rugby pitch. There were bullfinches, goldfinches and chaffinches very quietly settling down in the hedgerows by the car park. The buzzard I spotted by the rugby clubhouse spotted me first and flew over the field amidst a lot of outraged noises. I spotted the second buzzard in the trees a bit further on before it saw me and it decided I wasn't worth the effort of flying off.

Banky Meadow 

I got to Carrington Road and noticed that I had two minutes to do the ten minute walk for the only bus for the next two hours so I decided to complete the circuit of Banky Lane and head back home. The water treatment works here are usually disappointingly bird-free, today it was agreeably populated by black-headed gulls. I checked them over for anything exotic because, well you have to, but had no further luck. Just as I was approaching the river, and negotiating a tricky bit of ice I skidded on on the way in, I disturbed a heron which was perched on the fence by the field. It flew off over the golf course out of sight.

River Mersey
Ashton-on-Mersey on the left bank, Urmston on the right

I crossed the river and walked upstream. The rooks and jackdaws were coming in to roost as the sun started to set and half a dozen mallards flew up river, possibly to roost on Sale Water Park. I cut through Kickety Brook Nature Reserve, enjoying the ice-free paths a bit too much and almost came a cropper on the hairpin bend by the motorway. Blackbirds, robins and wrens were settling down in the undergrowth while an unidentifiable large brown bird flew through the woods deep into the gloom.

Over the motorway and onto Stretford Meadows and onto my arse. I'd taken the precaution of sticking to the Transpennine Trail but hit a big patch of black ice. Luckily there were no witnesses to my trying to get up (if you've ever seen Donald O'Connor dancing circles on the floor while performing "Make 'em laugh" in "Singing In The Rain" you'll have some idea). Ironically the only damage was my putting a bit too much weight on one wrist while clambering to the side. Sitting on the grass verge I shone my torch low over the path in the direction of Newcroft Road and decided to head into Stretford town centre instead. It was twice as long a walk but I'd have more chance of keeping my feet. Which was true, apart from a short stretch of polished concrete by the path to the school. Luckily I kept my feet and didn't alarm the robin singing on the fencepost.

What had been planned as a gentle dawdle turned out to be a bit trickier than I'd hoped and not especially productive. December walks tend to be famine or feast but I've promised myself I'm going to try to avoid a repeat of the walking conditions this year.