Local patch

Buzzard, Barton Clough

Today's cloudy skies took the icy edge off the weather. The coal tits were busy a-courting in the rowan tree, the great tits have been paired up a while and the blue tits include a male that's been making great play of displaying his crown feathers the past couple of days. The magpies are making a racket as pairs begin to flake off from the crowd. There were four in the sycamores this morning, eighteen on the school playing field.

Barton Clough 

It was a similar story as I had a gentle wander round the local patch, nineteen magpies chasing each other round the treetops by the footpath. Other than that the park was very quiet. The old cornfield seemed very quiet at first until I spotted the flock of thirty-odd goldfinches picking at the buds in the apple tree. The buzzard made an appearance, too, settling down in the trees behind the school.

Goldfinch, Barton Clough

• Black-headed gull 4 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue tit 2
• Buzzard 1
• Common gull 1 overhead
• Dunnock 1
• Feral pigeon 2 overhead
• Goldfinch 32
• Great tit 3
• Herring gull 2 overhead
• Lesser black-backed gull 2 overhead
• Magpie 19
• Robin 2
• Starling 3
• Woodpigeon 2

Seeing as it's the lunar new year it was nice to see a couple of rabbits, too.

I passed by the Trafford Centre on my way to get some shopping done. The pied wagtails are as fearless as ever though it looks like Hoppy has met his maker, I've not seen him for months.

Pied wagtail, Trafford Centre