Mersey Valley

Gadwall, Broad Ees Dole

I didn't fancy spending any great time travelling today so I wandered over for a stroll through Stretford Meadows. It was a cloudy lunchtime and the wind had a bit of an edge to it but was fine for walking. Two things struck me immediately on entering the meadows: the muddy quagmire at the entrance was concrete hard dry with the stepping stones (half a dozen palettes) set solid, and the dismaying number of votive offerings to the Dog Shit Fairy littering the trees and brambles. I studiously ignored the latter and got on with the walk.

Stretford Meadows 

The trees were full of goldfinches and greenfinches and robins and blackbirds flitted about the undergrowth. Squadrons of woodpigeons, carrion crows and magpies flew about overhead. Most of the birds in the open area were keeping under cover, a few blackbirds rummaged around in the brambles and a couple of robins sang in hawthorn bushes. The male kestrel quartered the grassland over the mound while the usual buzzard floated over the motorway. By the time I'd walked down the mound to the Transpennine Trail the sun had come out and it became a nice Spring afternoon.

Blackthorn, Stretford Meadows

Walking along Kickety Brook to Stretford Ees the hedgerows were noisy with magpies and parakeets. Pairs of blue tits and great tits fidgeted about in the trees while family parties of long-tailed tits bounced across the path. A couple of dozen goldfinches seemed to be speed dating. The blackthorns were in full bloom and every so often I'd walked through a sheltered pocket filled with their light scent of almonds.

Treecreeper, Stretford Ees

There were more titmice, magpies and parakeets in the trees on Stretford Ees together with a small flock of redwings and a couple of treecreepers.

Stretford Ees

There were about a hundred black-headed gulls on the lake at Sale Water Park. There weren't many large gulls, a handful each of lesser black-backs and common gulls and a couple of first Winter herring gulls. There were plenty of coots about but only three great crested grebes, none of them paired but there was a bit of furtive activity in the reeds suggesting where at least one of the partners could be found.

Gadwall and Canada geese, Broad Ees Dole

I had a look round Broad Ees Dole. There wasn't a lot on the teal pool, just one pair each of teal and mallard and a heron dozing in the reeds. At first sight the pool by the hide wasn't much busier, just a couple of Canada geese and a gadwall. A few shovelers and a dabchick were dozing in one corner, a few coots emerged from the reeds and a heron flew in briefly. It took a while to find a pair of goosanders dozing by the bank. There were more pairs of teal dabbling about the willow roots in the drains.

Great crested grebe preening, Sale Water Park

Going back to the lake I had a look around the Eastern end. A few mallards joined the mute swans and Canada geese at the water sports club while small rafts of coots, tufted ducks and gadwalls quietly floated about. Walking down Cow Lane I could hear a goldcrest and spent a couple of minutes looking in vain for it in the trees by the path. Because it was in the waist-high holly sapling by my waist. I spent a few minutes watching it feeding less than an arm's length away, knowing it was far too close for my camera's lens to focus on even if the bird decided to stay still for more than a moment.

Long-tailed tit, Sale Water Park

I got myself a drink at the café and sat down a while to watch the feeders. There were plenty of great tits about but things weren't as frenetic at as my last visit and the long-tailed tits didn't have to be so assertive this time. A few blue tits and coal tits joined in on the fat balls while dunnocks and robins finished off the scraps on the bird table. A young parakeet flew in and spent ten minutes finding that a squirrel-proof feeder turns out to be parakeet-proof too. A pair of great spotted woodpeckers flew in, didn't like the look of the parakeet and settled in the ivy-covered trees nearby to chatter their displeasure.

Long-tailed tits, Sale Water Park

I walked through Sale Ees to Jackson's Boat where a couple of excavators were packing up for the day after doing some work reinforcing the river banks after the Winter rains. It was an education watching one do a three point turn using its shovel. I don't know if they were the reason there weren't any parakeets in their usual trees. Once they were on their way I crossed over and set off for Chorlton Water Park. I habitually check the larches along the perimeter of the golf course to look for finches, usually only finding a few goldfinches. Today I also found a pair of siskins quietly working their way through the larch cones.

Given how dry even the usually marshy bits of Stretford Meadows were I thought I'd take a chance and cut through into Barlow Tip. The paths on the Western side are usually dead rough this time of year but today were so dry there were only a few places where I was leaving boot prints. It was surprisingly quiet, mostly magpies, robins and woodpigeons and it was only on the approach to Chorlton Water Park I started seeing great tits and long-tailed tits. The sun moved down into low cloud as I walked through the wood and I was suddenly grateful I was wearing my body warmer.

Chorlton Water Park 

I only wanted to hit and run Chorlton Water Park on my way to Kenworthy Woods so I stuck to the path on the South side. The Canada geese and black-headed were noisy, the mallards and mute swans a bit less so and the tufted ducks and pochards were almost self-effacing. Half a dozen parakeets made enough noise to be a football crowd as they came in to roost.

Kenworthy Woods 

Kenworthy Woods was noisy with parakeets, song thrushes and great tits. Long-tailed tit families bounced through the hedgerows, woodpigeons clattered in the trees and blackbirds heaved leaf litter about. A male bullfinch in one of the hawthorns was surprisingly difficult to find, I wouldn't have spotted him at all if he'd kept quiet. Much the same could be said about the great spotted woodpecker in the trees by the gate on Willenhall Road.

I bobbed under the motorway and got the 103 bus to Hough End, arriving just in time to wave goodbye to the 25. I spent the half hour wait for the next bus transcribing my records from my notebook into BirdTrack. I'd recorded fifty species in a little over four hours' walk, which isn't bad going for this stretch at this time of year.

Kenworthy Woods