Hindley

Amberswood

I had a lazy day off yesterday, more than a hundred black-headed gulls on the school playing field first thing in the morning suggested that the blue skies were misleading and transient and so it came to pass. So I had a lazy day. Today's weather wasn't scheduled to be any better but I'd recharged my batteries enough for a toddle about. Today we were down to seventy-odd black-headed gulls though there were a lot of large gulls: a dozen herring gulls and half a dozen each of lesser black-backs and common gulls. I took this as notice that the sullen grey skies were going to be a feature of the day. This didn't dampen the ardour of the two dozen magpies courting in the back garden much to the disgust of the cat.

At lunchtime I set off for Pennington Flash, getting the 132 from the Trafford Centre. At least that was the original plan; battling the wind on my way from home to the bus stop and then hanging round the bus station for the 132 it occurred to me that I didn't fancy having that coming at my bladder from across the flash. I had a think about where would be sheltered and not too muddy and elected to stay on the 132 and have a wander round Amberswood. It's a nice walk and I'm still taken with the novelty of it.

Amberswood

I started down the path into Amberswood, watched the wind whipping round the treetops from the shelter of the avenue of brambles and gorse bushes and concluded that it had been a good decision. There were a lot of robins, dunnocks and blackbirds feeding along the path and mixed tit flocks and finch flocks met, merged and moved on. The long-tailed tits and goldcrests were the most conspicuous components of the tit flocks, the blue tits and great tits were unusually self-effacing. I looked in vain for any willow tits. The finch flocks were predominantly goldfinches with a few greenfinches and chaffinches tagging along. I found a pair of willow tits further along in the clearing where the path splits in two to go through the wood and round the lake.

Amberswood

Captive breeding release project at Amberswood

Leaving the shelter of the woods into the clearing around the lake came as a shock. The wind was blowing a hooley and had a nasty cold edge to it. Forty-something black-headed gulls loafed on the water with a herring gull and half a dozen common gulls. There were small groups of coots and pairs of tufted ducks and a pair of gadwall and a couple of dozen mallards lurked in the shelter of the reeds. 

Amberswood Lake

I carried on down the path to Liverpool Road and had a quick nosy at the pond on Low Hall (I'd noticed the 559 was due in quarter of an hour and that would save me walking down into Platt Bridge for the bus to Leigh). There were more blackbirds and robins feeding on the paths and great tits and coal tits in the trees. The pair of mute swans were obvious enough but I couldn't see any ducks at first. In fact, I saw a little egret on the far bank before I saw the pairs of gadwalls and teal swimming beneath it. Oddly enough there weren't any mallards about.

Low Hall 

I got the 559 into Ashton-in-Makerfield and made the connection for the 10 to Leigh, where I'd have ten minutes' wait for the 126 back to the Trafford Centre. As we were going through Lowton it occurred to me that there was still an hour or so of useful light that could be employed by a quick skip round Pennington Flash. We stopped at a traffic light and I watched two hornbeams dance the Watusi in the rain. For once I had the sense to stay on the bus as we passed by the flash.