Wiganish

Moorhen, Amberswood

It was another of those days when the weather runs through all four seasons in an hour, sometimes twice. The worst of the rain coincided with the brightest sunshine. I had three options planned and I binned each as they'd involve me walking about in the open with no cover for miles. 

I had a think about where I'd not been yet this year that I could get to easily and had plenty of tree cover and decided on a wander around some of the Wigan flashes, I could get the 132 to Wigan from the Trafford Centre and the number one bus to Whitecroft Road and just have a five minute walk into Scotsman's Flash and take it from there. As I waited for the bus to the Trafford Centre the sky went black and it heaved down. If the bus hadn't arrived before the shower finishes I'd have gone home, as it was I kept dry in the bus shelter. 

The bus ride to Wigan is a long one and the bus was old and rattly and overwarm and I stuck it as far as Amberswood and I bailed out. So a walk round Amberswood it was, then.

Amberswood, coming in from Wigan Road 

Unsurprisingly there weren't many people about as I walked in from Wigan Road. There were plenty of singing wrens, robins and chiffchaffs and pairs of long-tailed tits and great tits bounced about the hedgerows. The sky was ominous but the sun shone brightly through the clouds and it was warm enough for me to decide to take my raincoat off. As I wandered through the woods towards the lake goldfinches and a coal tit sang from the tree tops and woodpigeons clattered about.

Amberswood 

There were two pairs and a spare of great crested grebes on the lake. It was difficult to know which bird was in each pair, a pair would do a bit of head waggling and copycat preening and in the process would drift into the other pair which were doing similar and then they'd seem to switch partners. The spare bird, I think a male, was excluded from this and would be the subject of aggressive displays if he got too close.

Amberswood Lake 

Otherwise it was fairly quiet. A couple of black-headed gulls loafed on the water while a few more flew overhead together with lesser black-backs and a couple of herring gulls. A mute swan cruised about while his mate sat on her nest. Pairs of mallards, coots and moorhens patrolled the lake margins while teal and a Cetti's warbler called from the reeds.

Great crested grebes, Amberswood

Every so often there'd be a quick shower. I didn't fancy walking down through the muddy paths of Low Hall and fancied even less the walk into Platt Bridge for the bus so I decided on having an explore through Amberswood and getting the bus either from Spring View or Ince. There's a network of paths through the woods heading in that direction and I meandered through them a while before settling on the metalled path to Ince after seeing how muddy some of the others were.

Amberswood 

The conifer stands were pretty barren but elsewhere there seemed to be a pair of great tits every ten yards. Robins and wrens were more spaced out but were still plentiful. A couple of pairs of treecreepers were busy and one pair looked to be settling on a nest site. Chiffchaffs, chaffinches and goldfinches sang in the trees. There were a few more people about and every so often I'd be asked if anything was about and I'd answer that it was a bit quiet but it was nice to hear the chiffchaffs back and singing. One chap engaged me in lengthy conversation in one of the clearings as mallards flew into the pool behind us and a heron and a sparrowhawk flew low overhead while we had a couple of showers of rain.

Amberswood, by the path to Ince

A hail shower was the cue to say cheerio and I resumed my walk into the woods. Crossing Ince Brook I noticed a lot of birds in the alders by the pools. A goldcrest was the first I could identify as I approached. Once I got into the trees I saw there was a mixed flock of siskins and redpolls working their way through the alder cones.

Amberswood 

It was getting on and the rain was now steady so I cut the walk short and took the path leading to the bus stop by the cemetery. I was accompanied by an evening chorus of blackbirds, song thrushes, chiffchaffs and robins. I didn't have long to wait for the number nine bus to Leigh and from there I could get the 126 home.

The weather settled down and started to behave itself and I'd have half an hour to wait for the 126 at the bus station so I stayed on the bus on to Higher Folds and had a walk through Colliers Wood and down the path onto Manchester Road and caught the bus there. Robins, great tits and a reed bunting sang along the path while a lot of blackbirds rummaged in the undergrowth. Jackdaws and woodpigeons were making a performance of coming into the trees to roost. As I headed down to Manchester Road a small flock of pied wagtails divided its time between a horse paddock and the rugby pitch, uncertain which of the beasts cut up the ground best for hunting purposes.

Colliers Wood 

Rather despite myself I'd had a very good afternoon's birdwatching walk with a haul of forty-five species.