Along the mighty Irwell

Goldeneyes, Clifton

I thought I'd ease myself gently into the week, I've been sleeping badly lately so I wasn't feeling up to doing anything clever like remembering to get the right train. Thus it was late morning before I set off for a walk, leaving a school playing field with its thirty-odd black-headed gulls and handfuls each of common gulls, herring gulls and lesser black-backs behind me. I got the 25 to the Trafford Centre and the 22 bus to Bolton, getting off in Clifton and walking down to Clifton Country Park.

Grey squirrel, Clifton Water Park

There were fifty-odd black-headed gulls on the lake at Clifton Country Park together with dozens of coots, tufted ducks, gadwall and mallards. There were fewer Canada geese than I was expecting, perhaps a dozen, and half a dozen mute swans most of which were last year's cygnets. I could hear teal the moment I arrived, it took me ages to find the two drakes calling at the Western end of the lake. It was while I was scanning round looking for them that I found a female goldeneye in a raft of tufties. A calling great spotted woodpecker was easy to find in its tree, the noisy crowd of goldfinches in the young alders near it were surprisingly difficult.

Clifton Country Park 

I had a look at the Irwell by Bolton Water Treatment Works. A couple of dozen mallards loafed on the big shingle bar at the bend of the river while a couple of goosanders swam upstream.

Clifton Country Park 

I came back into Clifton Country Park and walked along the path on the high river bank. Blackbirds, robins and wrens were busy in the undergrowth while mixed tit flocks bounced around in the trees by the path. The first I encountered was a mixture of long-tailed tits, coal tits and goldcrests, the rest were loose assemblies of long-tailed, blue and great tits. 

Goosander, Clifton

Down on the river grey wagtails fossicked about in the detritus of human litter on the banks while mallards and teal dozed and dabbled and goosanders drifted downstream and flew back upstream to start the journey afresh. A way downstream half a dozen goldeneyes looked to have paired up. I scanned the shoals and rapids in a fruitless search for any dippers. Dozens of lesser black-backs and herring gulls soared overhead, I've no idea where they were going or had come from.

Goldeneye, Clifton

I joined the old Fletcher's Canal towpath and headed East. Whenever I've visited Clifton Country Park I've crossed the river and either walked upstream to Ringley or gone up the hill to Radcliffe. I thought it about time I should explore the walk down to Waterdale Meadows and through to Philips Park. There was a marked change once I got to the point where the motorway, railway and river come together: upstream there was an abundance of ducks, downstream there were two mallards.

Clifton Viaduct 

I crossed Clifton Aquaduct into Waterdale Meadows where I spent an inordinate amount of time admiring the views of the Clifton Viaduct, a 13-arch Grade II listed beauty that used to carry trains between Pendleton and Radcliffe. The meadows themselves were fairly quiet save for wrens and the occasional great tit but passing into the woodlands I started to find pairs of bullfinches and jays lurking quietly in the trees. As I reached one of the cycleways what I assumed was a rather leggy dog lurching my way turned out to be a roe buck. For a moment it was difficult to know which of us was the more surprised but as I stood there gobsmacked he turned on his heels and pelted into the trees beyond.

Philips Park 

I was tempted to follow the path leading into the Outwood Trail and thence into Radcliffe but I wasn't convinced I had enough left in me for a comfortable walk. Instead I followed the path into Philips Park and took the path skirting the formal gardens. A large mixed tit flock by the gardens was almost entirely long-tailed tits with a handful of goldcrests. There were a couple of coots and a heron on Drinkwater Pond as I walked by. 

Prestwich Clough 

I skirted Drinkwater Park and walked through Prestwich Clough into Prestwich. It was getting on and most of the birdlife was intent on quietly feeding up before retiring for the night and avoiding dogs having a giddy time of their walks. Great tits and coal tits rummaged in the bushes with robins and blackbirds and another pair of bullfinches were feeding in a stand of alders. I cut through and walked down St Ann's Road to get the bus. Halfway down a rather handsome sparrowhawk put the fear of God into a flock of woodpigeons.

Sparrowhawk, Prestwich

What had set out to be a quiet potter around for an hour or two had become a four-hour exploration of an unfamiliar stretch of the Irwell. My knees were relieved when I got to the bus stop on Bury New Road and didn't have to wait long for the 97 into Manchester.

Lazy Sunday

Fieldfares, Wellacre Country Park

Each year's Big Garden Birdwatch is generally the one hour when next to nothing appears in the garden. This year I decided to start the clock when the first dozen spadgers descended on the feeders and the strategy worked much better than I'd hoped, coal tits were the only regulars which didn't turn up.

• Blackbird 2
• Blue tit 2
• Collared dove 1
• Dunnock 2
• Feral pigeon 3
• Goldfinch 1
• Great tit 1
• House sparrow 22
• Jackdaw 1
• Long-tailed tit 3
• Magpie 1
• Robin 2
• Starling 2
• Woodpigeon 2

Over on the school playing field thirty-odd black-headed gulls loafed around with a couple of common gulls and a lesser black-back, by lunchtime a couple of dozen more had turned up with a couple of herring gulls.

I'd had a busy morning thinking about doing some housework and dancing around the cat so I decided to have a walk to lose the smell of floral disinfectant. I got the 255 into Flixton and walked down to Wellacre Country Park, stopping along the way to have a look at the river at Flixton Bridge. At first I thought I'd have to make do with a couple of woodpigeons and a magpie then a drake goosander floated round the bend of the river under a fallen willow. The water's back to normal levels now so I'm hoping the grey wagtails will be coming back soon.

Fly Ash Hill 

Fly Ash Hill was busy with robins and great tits, blackbirds and magpies gorged on ivy berries and woodpigeons and jays clattered about the treetops with a lone ring-necked parakeet. 

Fly Ash Hill 

Dutton's Pond was busy with anglers, which is fair enough, it's their pond. The usual moorhens and mallards loitered. As did a couple of magpies which I suspect have cottoned on to the contents of the bait tins.

I walked down to Jack Lane. There were plenty of blue tits and great tits in the trees and bushes along the railway embankment but I had no luck with willow tits today. It was the same story in the nature reserve. I caught a glimpse of the moorhen in the reedbeds but I was damned if I could find where the water rail was calling from.

Jack Lane 

The horses had been moved between fields along the lane. A small flock of fieldfares were busy on the far side of the now-empty field by the nature reserve with a few blackbirds, song thrushes and redwings. There were a hundred and twenty-something pied wagtails in the field by the Irlam Locks water treatment works along with a couple of pairs of mistle thrushes and about a hundred starlings. There were roughly a hundred black-headed gulls on the water treatment works itself.

Bluebells, Wellacre Wood 

It was a busy afternoon for dog walkers in Wellacre Wood so there wasn't much about and I didn't linger. I got the 15 bus back into Stretford and walked home past the allotments where the first of the starlings were arriving to roost and practice singing at each other.

Leighton Moss

Bearded tits

Despite its being a Saturday I decided to get my first Old Man's Explorer ticket of the year and head up for a wander round Leighton Moss. The weather was grey and mizzly, not the sort of weather for any long-distance birdwatching but quite good enough for seeing what's about in the reedbeds.

The Barrow train was packed between Oxford Road and Preston, which is par for the course every day of the week these days. Things calmed down after that and it was a pleasant journey to Silverdale. As we approached the station the coastal pools were busy with wigeons and shelducks, there were also a few waders about but they were distant and we'd gone past before I could assay an identification.

I walked round into Leighton Moss, which was predictably busy. Luckily there weren't many about in the "Hideout" so I got my eye in on the visitors to the feeders, mostly spadgers, chaffinches and blue tits with a couple of robins and a marsh tit and some hen pheasants lurking round waiting for any seed spilled from the feeders.

Teal

Pintail

I wandered round to Lilian's Hide and found a quiet spot in a corner. It was a bit different to my last visit: the pool was unfrozen and littered with ducks. Mallards, teal and a pintail hung around the margins of the pool while gadwalls and tufted ducks joined the coots and a goldeneye at the deep end. A few shovelers dozed by the hide with some teal and snipe.

Leighton Moss 

Despite all the recent rain the path through the reedbeds was good going. Mixed tit flocks — long-tailed tits, great tits, blue tits and chaffinches — bounced around in the willows. One flock included pairs of marsh tit and nuthatch all of which struck photogenic poses when the mood took them, which tended to be fleeting. The marsh tits in particular tended to be too close and too fidgety for anything other than a wide angle lens. The moorhens feeding on the ground in the reedbeds were easy to spot, the water rail was hard work. There's been some work done to widen the main drain on the reserve, a couple of dozen teal were taking advantage of the reed seeds that had been disturbed onto the open water.

Marsh tit

Nuthatch

There were more mallards and teal on the Tim Jackson pool together with a dozen pintails and a few more snipe. I kept hearing greylags but it was ten minutes before I saw any, a dozen birds flying over from the salt marsh.

I wish I was any good at identifying fungi

Teal and snipe

There was more of the same at the Griesdale Hide. The drake cinnamon teal x shoveler was fast asleep just in front of the hide. A few cormorants loafed in the trees in which one usually hopes to find a marsh harrier, a white shape halfway up a distant tree turned out to be a little egret. I was just about to leave when a great white egret flew up from the reeds, flew a few yards and immediately dived back under cover.

Drake cinnamon teal x shoveler hybrid

Bearded tits

Walking back I had a monstrous stroke of luck. Despite its being the end of January and late lunchtime and a busy Saturday a pair of bearded tits were topping up at the grit trays in a clearing of the reeds. I tried to attract the attention of a couple who'd stopped a few yards short the other side but they were busy watching a female bearded tit at the edge of some drowned willows.

I took advantage of the explorer ticket to explore a little further, the trains let me get as to Ulverston, hang around for quarter of an hour and get the train back to Manchester (I would have gone on to Barrow and caught the next train back but that one was cancelled). The tide was lowish and the birds were diffusely scattered on the estuaries. A few redshanks and curlews foraged on the Kent at Arnside. There were a few more with the shelducks and little egrets on the salt marsh before Grange-over-Sands where a few bar-headed geese were grazing on the edge of the marsh. As we left Kents Bank a great white egret popped its head up from a creek on the marsh. There were a few wigeon on the Leven with a pair of eiders.

I rode back on the landward side. A flock of redwings scattered from the trees near Ulverston Back Drain as the train sped by. There were a few more wigeon on the Leven but no more eiders. There was a flock of greylags with the mallards and mute swans further along. There were teals and little egrets in the drains along Meathop Road after Grange and half a dozen mallards amongst the curlews and redshanks on the Kent. I saw the only marsh harrier of the day as the train passed the coastal hides at Leighton Moss. Just beyond that a flock of more than a hundred pink-footed geese were grazing on Carnforth Marsh.

Lichens on willow twigs: Ramalina (the bits looking like mistletoe) and Parmelia (the scaly lichen

Beyond that it was all pigeons and corvids in the gathering gloom. It had been a surprisingly good day.

Wirral

Redshanks, Meols

It was set to be a fair day so I decided on a bit more wader watching on the North Wirral coast (with the hopes of a bit more waders this time). I got the Liverpool train from Humphrey Park, a pleasantly uneventful journey save for the skein of pink-footed geese flying low over West Allerton Station. Looking at the number of woodpigeons in trackside trees you'd never think they'd gone AWOL last November.

I got a Saveaway and got the West Kirby train at Lime Street, getting off at Moreton. The robin singing by the platform was joined by a mistle thrush singing in the tree just across the road. There weren't so many gulls around as usual but the usual kestrel was perched in a tree by the entrance to the industrial estate.

Leasowe Lighthouse 

Another mistle thrush was singing by the path into Kerr's Field. The paddocks were full of woodpigeons and carrion crows with a few black-headed gulls and a couple of herring gulls with a curlew in the end field.

Joining the revetment at Leasowe Lighthouse 

It was nearing high tide so I headed straight for the revetment to see what might be coming in to roost. The water was still low enough for extensive sand bars to be littered with gulls, curlews and oystercatchers. The gulls were mostly black-headed and herring gulls, there were a handful of lesser black-backs and a few small groups of common gulls. Further out a few great black-backs loafed at the water's edge with cormorants. Walking towards the groyne I could see that there were a lot of waders on a sand bank at the edge of the tide. There were plenty of redshanks about near to the revetment but these birds were smaller, probably knots and dunlins. I struck lucky as I scanned the groups of loafing herring gulls: a large adult gull with much darker grey back and wings than the others was lounging in a pool by a sand bar. Just at the point where I was deciding that the shade was a trick of the light or wishful thinking it decided to stretch its wings, displaying the inky black tips to the primaries and single big white mirror on the terminal primary of a yellow-legged gull. I'm doing peculiarly well for them this Winter.

Pale-bellied brent geese, Meols groyne

As I came up to the groyne there were plenty of pied wagtails and turnstones feeding on the weed at the base of the sea wall. And also a pair of pale-bellied brent geese. The only bird on the groyne itself was a little egret.

Redshanks, Meols groyne

Passing the groyne the tide started racing in and redshanks started flying in to roost. The hundreds of small waders on the sand bank rose up in clouds and revealed themselves to be mostly, possibly all, knots and dunlins. The clouds wheeled and merged and parted then headed quickly for the shore at Hoylake, none of the birds coming to roost on the groyne. I was a bit puzzled at the timing: it would be a good quarter hour before that bank would be inundated and waders tend only to move on when the water gets past their knees. Then I noticed the peregrine barrelling through the swarm. In the end the confusion of waders defeated the falcon and it moved on to try its luck on more unwary targets over in Wallasey.

Meols, looking over to the wind farm at Burbo Bank

Once the sea gets past the first of the sand banks the almost complete inundation of the basin of mud at Meols takes about two minutes. Dotted about out on the water there was a bewildering array of herring gull plumages while black-headed gulls squabbled and loafed closer to shore.

Redshanks and black-headed gull, Meols

The shore rises by the lifeboat station and provided refuge for thousands of waders. The oystercatchers and curlews took the opportunity to get some sleep but the smaller waders were very active. Dunlins moved around in groups of a few dozen feeding on the exposed mud, occasionally joined by ringed plovers. The knots near to the sea wall seemed more intent on marching around in lines of a dozen or so birds, perhaps not finding the mud to their liking, unlike the hundreds of knots further out near the tide. Some redshanks busily fed in the shallows, some dozed in the shelter of tussocks of grass and some flew around badgering other redshanks which had been minding their own business. 

Curlews, Meols

Dunlins, Meols

Redshanks, Meols

Dunlins and knots, Meols

Oystercatchers and shelducks, Meols

I found one of the few benches overlooking the area that didn't have screening across the railings and spent a while scanning round trying to enjoy the spectacle. To be honest, I find this many birds concentrated in one place a bit overwhelming and after a bit I stop seeing the birds and just see the shapes of the crowds as they move around. Which isn't altogether a bad thing.

These pictures are saved in a larger format than usual so that you can see more detail when you click on them.

Dunlins, black-headed gulls and common gulls, Meols

Oystercatchers, dunlins and redshanks, Meols

Oystercatchers, redshanks and dunlins, Meols

Dunlins mostly, with a few knots and black-headed gulls, Meols

Eventually I took the hint as the cold wind got to my joints and I got up and wandered off, reminding myself it wasn't so long ago I was here watching a pallid swift tooling round the rooftops. I walked up to Manor Road for the train back to Liverpool. As I waited for the train a roe deer barked at me from the opposite platform.

Oystercatchers, redshanks and dunlins, Meols

Martin Mere

Siberian chiffchaff, Martin Mere

It was a grey Winter's day with a hint of mist in the air, the sort of day for a visit to Martin Mere. The aim was to get the train to New Lane and walk to Martin Mere via the reedbed walk in the hopes of connecting with either the yellow-browed warbler or the Siberian chiffchaff lurking in the trees by the water treatment works. The plans went awry: the way the timetable works now I had a three-quarters of an hour wait somewhere along the way for the stopping train so when I got off at Burscough Bridge I decided to tramp it.

Red Cat Lane 

At first glance the fields along Red Cat Lane were a bit quiet. The woodpigeons, dozens of them, were mostly perching in the trees by the houses, a big flock of rooks and jackdaws was on a ploughed field a couple of fields behind the stables. Half a dozen stock doves flitted between the barns by Crabtree Lane with a few jackdaws. Family groups of pink-footed geese flew overhead towards fields somewhere towards Rufford. There was a lot of distant honking which got louder as a flock of hundreds of geese rose up and flew over towards fields over by New Lane. As I approached Brandeth Barn half a dozen whoopers flew by and off up Curlew Lane.

I got to Martin Mere but instead of heading to the entrance at the visitor centre I followed the public footpath that runs along the margins of the reedbed walk and the water treatment works. The field by Marsh Moss Road was busy with jackdaws, fieldfares and linnets and the trees by the reserve busy with chaffinches, great tits and mistle thrushes. I got a bit of hedgerow practice in with a mixed flock of greenfinches, goldfinches and reed buntings in the alders by the gate.

Martin Mere 

There was nobody around as I walked down the path, which was great because it meant I could relax and let myself hear any bird calls. There were more reed buntings and a few wrens and dunnocks, a Cetti's warbler took exception at my passing by and a mixed tit flock passed through the willows by one of the screens by the reedbeds.

I got to the hedgerow by the water treatment works just as a couple was trying to work out how to get out of the reserve into the outside world. Much to my surprise the gate was unlocked, I showed them the path and the hedge where I've seen Siberian chiffchaffs in the past. They walked down while I checked out the hedgerow by the path, just in case. I found a Siberian chiffchaff in a mixed tit flock moving deep in the trees. It took me a few looks to be sure of what I was seeing and kept getting distracted by long-tailed tits. The clincher came when it popped out into the open: brown above, beige and white below, a strong, pale eyebrow and no green tones in the plumage. I walked further down the path and found the couple in a group by the treatment works fence. They were getting a much better view of the Siberian chiffchaff, it was showing well at the edge of the trees with a crowd of long-tailed tits and goldcrests. And the yellow-browed warbler. 

Siberian chiffchaff, Martin Mere

The  fence seemed to be a magnet for insects and small birds alike and the warbler kept flying over to glean from the wire links. It was great to get prolonged good views and not need to spend any time trying to construct an identikit picture from fleeting glances and eliminating suspects. A really lovely little bird but such a fidget! I quickly gave up any hopes of getting a photo, it was worse than the goldcrests. Half a dozen wrens turned up in the bush behind me with a common chiffchaff in tow and this gave me the chance to compare and contrast with the Siberian chiffchaff in the bushes in front of me. The common chiffchaff's tones were olive browns and buffs rather than milky coffee browns and white and there was a lemon yellow tinge to its relatively short eyebrow. Oddly enough, for all the time we were watching all these birds not one of them called.

Mallards, Martin Mere

I wandered back to the reserve. I knew I didn't have enough gas left in me to comfortably walk back to Burscough Bridge so I checked the trains from New Lane. I only had enough time and energy to spend half an hour checking out the mere from the Discovery Hide. The mallards were out in force, quacking and squeaking amorously at each other. Pairs of pintails and shelduck floated about, half a dozen pochards dozed on one of the islands and a crowd of wigeons grazed on the far bank. There weren't many whooper swans, barely a dozen, and not many more greylags and it took a while to find the pink-feet on the far bank. The mere was littered with black-headed gulls but unusually there wasn't a single large gull about. As usual half a dozen black-tailed godwits twittered about on the bank in front of the hide.

Black-tailed godwir, Martin Mere

Whooper swan, mallards and shelducks, Martin Mere

Pochards, black-headed gulls, mallards and shelduck, Martin Mere

Pintails, Martin Mere

Marsh Moss Road 

I walked to New Lane by Marsh Moss Road accompanied by the chatterings of fieldfares and goldfinches in the roadside trees. The field across the road was empty save for a single buzzard digging for worms by the side of a drain. The field behind the houses at the corner before the station was full of pink-feet, at least five hundred of them. I got a good view of them between the trees and scanned round to see if there was anything else in there. I found a tundra bean goose. Pure dumb luck: it happened to look up when I got to that group of geese and the shape of the bill stood out a mile. A nice end to a very good day's birding.

Tundra bean goose (centre) with pink-footed geese, New Lane