Elton Reservoir

Alpine swift

I noticed the news that an Alpine swift had been seen at Elton Reservoir yesterday and wondered if it would be around today. Then wondered whether I'd want to go on a Saturday twitch requiring travelling through the city centre. Sure enough the swift was reported as still being around this morning so I hummed and hawed and havered and had another cup of tea and eventually bit the bullet and got the train into town and a tram up to Bury, consoling myself with the thought that Elton Reservoir twitches tend to be friendly. Besides, it's been nearly half a century since I saw my last one and it would be nice to add it to my British list. As it was I was just being a fussbudget, the journey was perfectly tidy.

I got the 471 and wandered down to the reservoir, passing a few birdwatchers along the way who said it had been showing well but had gone missing from over the sailing club for half an hour and that it had probably gone back over Withins Reservoir for a bit. I decided to have a stroll round the reservoir and if I saw the swift that would be a bonus.

The feeders at the car park were busy with greenfinches and goldfinches, a few blue tits, great tits and bullfinches making up the numbers. The chaffinches, dunnocks and house sparrows kept to the hedgerows.

Herring gull

I walked up as far as the creek along an increasingly horrible path and heard my first willow warbler of the year. I didn't venture further, if the path was that bad at this stage I'd be up to my shoulders in mud further on. I retraced my steps and walked along the Southern shore of the reservoir instead. The puddles were many but shallow and fairly clean.

There was a couple of hundred black-headed gulls on the reservoir together with dozens of herring gulls and lesser black-backs of varying ages and a single battleship sized great black-back. The only ducks at the sailing club end were mallards, nearly all of them paired up. There were a few tufted ducks and a raft of goldeneyes over on the other end. I could only find a couple of great crested grebes and they were a hundred yards apart. A couple of sand martins flew across my line of view and made my heart skip a moment's beat.

Elton Reservoir 

A crowd of a dozen people stood at the end of the path gazing over the field between Elton and Withins reservoirs. I wandered down and noticed what they were looking after. A swift flew over the crowd at about a hundred feet then climbed and flew over the field. It gave cracking views, a big swift with a pale grey throat and pale abdomen, a big swift in sand martin's colours.

Alpine swift

I watched it a while as it soared and circled and swooped down low over the reservoir giving splendid views all the while.

I was feeling greedy so I had a look for wheatears or chats on the fields by Withins and quite deservedly had no luck. I had a nosy over the reservoir, mallards, Canada geese and a few black-headed gulls. A small black shape that launched itself off the pumping station and across the reservoir caught the light and flashed kingfisher blue. 

I walked into Radcliffe along the path that leads to St. Andrews Road. A couple of nesting lapwings took exception to my passing and flew low over my head to escort me on my way.

Once into Radcliffe I got the bus back into Manchester and thence home after a good afternoon's wander.