Dreich

The Autumnal weather of the past couple of weeks continued into this and I decided to stay home and listen to the cricket. A wise move: I popped out to renew my monthly travel card and by the time I got into Manchester it was raining biblically, I would have had a grim time of it had I gone along with either of today's plans.

As if to confirm the change of season the first common gull of Winter joined the black-headed gulls as they danced for worms on the school playing field.

Blackberries, Humphrey Park Station 

It was hard to tell how many sparrows there were in the back garden today, at times it was impossible to know whether the rose branches were shaken by birds or rain. I suspect there were more than a couple of dozen toing and fro-ing between the main feeding station and the railway embankment. The blue tits and great tits busied themselves on the sunflower seed feeder by the washhouse. Despite a rowan tree chock full of ripe berries it's desperately difficult to find any blackbirds at the moment, a testament to an excellent railway blackberry season.

• Blackbird 1
• Blue tit 3
• Collared dove 1
• Goldfinch 1
• Great tit 1
• House sparrow 15
• Jackdaw 1
• Magpie 2
• Woodpigeon 1

Woolston

Cormorant, Latchford Locks

I've not been enjoying the birdwatching this week, perhaps down to a combination of the weather and the usual midsummer doldrums. As usual my reaction to this is to put pressure on myself to do something about it and my reaction to that is that I'm trying to make sure I don't turn this pastime into a job and so on and so on… Which is how I spent a sunny morning prevaricating as to what/where/if I was doing with it. One problem with working to public transport timetables is that when the moment comes where you've keyed yourself to set off there's half an hour, or an hour, or two hours to wait and the moment passes. And so it was looking to be today. I dragged myself out of the house, got the next train out and only decided where I was going when I bought the ticket from the guard (one of the advantages of not having a ticket machine at our station).

Which is a long-winded way of saying: I decided to go over to Padgate, walk through Woolston Eyes and get the bus home from Grappenhall.

One of the kids, a young cock sparrow

I waved goodbye to the swarm of spadgers dividing their time between having a bath and devastating the bird feeders in the back garden (again: a pack of fat balls lasts a day and a half). The blue tits and great tits were lending a hand but the young sparrows didn't need much encouragement. We seem to have had an emergence of holly blues, too, they've been very thin on the ground the past few weeks.

I got off the train at Padgate, had a look at the buzzard circling low over the station and walked down Green Lane into Paddington. The walk along Birchwood Brook was fairly quiet of birds, aside from the woodpigeons there were only a few blackbirds feeding along the paths. There were plenty of squeaks, wheezes and ticking in the undergrowth but the robins, chiffchaffs, dunnocks and great tits involved weren't for being seen. There were a few holly blues skittering about the hedgerows here, too.

New Cut Canal

I walked down the path along the New Cut. Blackbirds, wrens and dunnocks rummaged around the path margins and the occasional robin darted between bushes. A couple of families of long-tailed tits bounced through the treetops as I passed the pool called Grey Mist. A couple of pairs of coots fussed about the water lilies and a mallard flew in, I spent a few minutes scanning round but dragonfly came there none.

Looking over to Grey Mist 

Carrying on down I bumped into the first mixed tit flock of the day: a family of long-tailed tits with a few blue tits and a couple of juvenile chiffchaffs. There were a lot of butterflies, besides the pretty well ubiquitous large whites they were mostly woodland edge specialists: speckled woods, gatekeepers, commas, and holly blues. Beyond bridge lane the trees thin out on one side as back gardens replace builders' yards and peacocks and red admirals joined the crowds. A couple of brown hawkers patrolled the stands of Himalayan balsam.

Himalayan balsam, New Cut Canal

Pochards, Woolston Locks

Gadwall, Woolston Locks

The river at Woolston Locks was busy with ducks. Upstream of the locks mute swans cruised about, mallards dozed in the reeds and family parties of pochards and tufted ducks drifted about. Downstream of the locks great crested grebes, tufted ducks and coots drifted in the waters by bend where the river branches out while gadwalls and mallards dozed and preened. A pair of shovelers lurking in the reeds on the far side of the river was a nice find. 

River Mersey, Woolston Eyes 

I followed the path as it traced the course of the river round Woolston Eyes nature reserve. At this time of year the height of the bank and the depth of the trees on it means you can't often actually see the river very often. The trees were noisy with the squeaks of chiffchaffs, reed buntings and chaffinches, the wheezes of bullfinches and the twittering of goldfinches. 

Gatekeeper, Woolston Eyes

A couple of sand martins hawked over the bushes on the rise next to No.3 Bed. Cormorants, woodpigeons and magpies flew to and fro and a flock of lesser black-backs was taking advantage of flying ant day. A dark, medium-sized dragonfly zipping round the oak trees was my first migrant hawker of the year. Here on the ground I added a pile of mosquito bites to hands that had already been peppered by midges and horseflies earlier in the week.

As the path turned to follow the bank of the Ship Canal I bumped into another mixed tit flock, this one including a family party of chiffchaffs and a couple of goldfinches. I added to my already extensive portfolio of "There was a warbler there a moment ago" photographs. Herons loafed on the far bank of the canal, mute swans and mallards drifted about and a flock of swallows swooped and hawked over the treetops. At Latchford Locks a cormorant was too intent on drying out it's feathers to bother about passersby.

I didn't have long to wait for the Cat5 bus to Sale and thence home. I missed the worst of the rain, we passed through it in Partington.

River Mersey, Woolston Locks 

Pottering about

Peregrine, Trafford Park

It was one of those unpleasant muggy July days that feel sweaty with a heavy sky providing both gloom and glare. I felt the effects of yesterday's drenching and was tempted to stay in and listen to the Test Match but decided that I needed to get a bit of exercise in, just to show willing.

Lostock Park 

I wandered over to Lostock Park to see what was about. The answer was: not a lot of birds. A couple of song thrushes were having a singing contest in the trees, wrens and dunnocks grumbled in the undergrowth and goldfinches twittered between treetops. I was watching a young robin in an elderberry bush by the path when a blue tit and a juvenile blackcap flew in, came over to see what I was and flew back out again. Which pretty much sums up suburban birdwatching this time of year.

I got the 250 to the Trafford Centre and had a walk up Trafford Way. (I could have walked it but it's a miserable walk even when the weather isn't grubby.) I had two goals in mind: a quick look at the "Beyond" building which is a favoured perch for peregrines after Trafford Centre pigeons and a nosy at the gulls loafing on the vacant lot where the private clinic used to be. I've seen a crowd of black-headed gulls there whenever I've been past and any crowd of gulls is worth checking out.

First sighting: Peregrine, Trafford Park 

A peregrine was perched on Beyond right enough today. It's not often I see one in passing but if I walk out to the building more often than not I'll see one. This was a dark, young-looking bird, not one of this year's but definitely not an adult. The pigeons and woodpigeons flew about with gay abandon, if they can see a peregrine sitting down they know they're reasonably safe.

Black-headed gulls, Trafford Park 

There were a hundred and forty-three black-headed gulls on the puddle-strewn tarmac. A few of the adults still had brown heads but most were well into their non-breeding plumage. There were a few lesser black-backs, mostly panda-eyed juveniles. Two adult herring gulls perched on lampposts and a huge brute of a juvenile herring gull lurked on the periphery of the black-headed gulls.

Black-headed gulls, Trafford Park 

On the way back home I had a look at the vacant lot that used to be Event City. Thirty-five lesser black-backs loafed on the wet concrete with three herring gulls. So that's two more sites for me to be baffled by gulls this Winter.

Mosses

Kestrel, Mosslands Farm

The rain was my fault: I'd slapped on the factor thingy before going out.

The past couple of days my knees had ached despite only having a couple of hours' short toddle round, which shows how having the best part of a week mooching round listening to the cricket or saying: "Ooh look, it's raining," to the cat can set you back. So I decided to have a tramp over the Salford mosses to get the joints working again. It had been a sunny morning and although the clouds had started rolling in there was no rain forecast before teatime.

Astley Road 

The bottom end of Astley Road was fairly quiet of birds, even the Zinnia Drive spadgers were keeping to the depths of the hedgerows. There was a steady stream of woodpigeons overhead, mostly in ones and twos though flocks of a couple of dozen or more flew about the distant fields. There also seemed to be a passage of lesser black-backs going overhead.

Passing the Jack Russell's gate families of greenfinches and goldfinches twittered and squeaked in the hedgerow and a few swallows hawked over the field by Prospect Grange.

Chat Moss from the motorway bridge, Winter Hill in the distance

There were a couple more swallows and a couple of sand martins over the freshly -mown turf field the other side of the motorway. A juvenile kestrel sat on the chimney of the farmhouse by the Trophy Lawn Turf yard and another sat on the telegraph wires over the field on the other side of the road. The turf fields on this side were busy with perhaps a hundred swallows hawking low over the grass or landing to hunt beetles. A couple of dozen house martins hawked high over the yard and higher yet were a dozen swifts. I had been worrying about low numbers of swallows this year. A couple of pairs of pied wagtails with pale young juvenile birds skittered around the edges of the field but I couldn't find any yellow wagtails.

Kestrel, Chat Moss

The rain started a couple of hours early as I approached Four Lanes End, light but steady. Yet another juvenile kestrel was perched on the telegraph wires by the farmhouse. By this point I am halfway to anywhere — give or take a hundred yards I am as close to the bus stops in Cadishead, Irlam or Higher Irlam as I am to the ones at Fowley Common by Glazebury — so I might as well finish the planned walk.

Mosslands Farm 

I yomped through Little Woolden Moss, not having much appetite for being caught out in the open if the rain got worse (guess who hadn't brought his raincoat), so I didn't see much that wasn't obvious. Willow warblers squeaked in the birch scrub, wrens scolded in the undergrowth and swifts and swallows passed low overhead. Lapwings mooched on the pools, a couple of redshanks flew in and the oystercatchers were heard but not seen. A few of the barley fields North of the reserve had been harvested and one had been ploughed and sown, giving me the chance to see the skylarks, meadow pipits and pied wagtails that were skittering about. I'd wondered why a swarm of swallows was hawking low over the fields then I walked through a cloud of biting midges.

Kestrel, Mosslands Farm

I'd hoped to bump into some yellow wagtails along the path to Mosslands Farm (let's be honest: I was hoping the Channel wagtail had come back this year) but I had to make do with another young kestrel. A buzzard was hunting worms in the company of some carrion crows and woodpigeons on the freshly-turned field by the farmhouse.

Pied wagtail, Mosslands Farm
One of those juveniles that make you look twice to make sure it isn't a white wagtail. It's a very young bird that will darken up over the next few weeks and lose its yellow face,

The hedgerows of Moss Lane were busy with mostly invisible birds. Spadgers, great tits, chiffchaffs and blackbirds bounced about the hedges while collared doves, magpies and jays rummaged about in the trees. The small brown birds occasionally making an appearance on the flowerheads of a field of sunflowers turned out to be a family of whitethroats.

Along Moss Road 

As the road turned and the rain got heavier fifty-odd swifts hawked over the fields of clover and barley. I wondered idly if the clover was being grown as a green manure or to be cut as silage (or "haylage," which seems to have become suddenly fashionable).

I don't recall seeing the Glaze this high before

The Glaze was running to the top of its banks as I passed over it and there were no birds about.

I struck lucky and only had to wait five minutes for the 19 to Leigh, which was fortunate as the bus shelter's been removed. I was less lucky with the 126 back to the Trafford Centre which was half an hour late due to roadworks peppered pretty much the length of Manchester Road. I eventually got back home to find the cat had had more sense than I had and had kept out of the rain.

Mersey Valley

Willow tit, Sale Water Park
Eyes bigger than its belly.

I thought I'd keep today's walk local so I wandered over to Stretford Meadows to see what was about. The short answer being: plenty but not very much breaking cover. Even the sparrows and long-tailed tits in the hedgerow on Newcroft Road were hiding deep in the bushes. Reed buntings sang in the hawthorns in the open areas, a chiffchaff somewhere in an oak tree took exception to me, as did a whitethroat from the depths of a stand of willowherb. Overhead there was a steady stream of pigeons and woodpigeons passing by in ones and twos. I almost missed a pair of stock doves flying over to the fields by the river and nearly made the mistake of assuming that two swifts were high-flying pigeons.

Stretford Meadows 

The walk along Kickety Brook to Stretford Ees was nearly as quiet. Even the young magpies were trying to keep a low profile. They didn't succeed but full marks for effort and they managed to be mostly very, very quiet. Luckily a great tit broke cover and a couple of blackbirds sang in the trees by the motorway so it wasn't all a game of guess the mystery contact call.

The walk down to the river *was* a game of guess the mystery contact call. The great tits, robins and blackbirds were straightforward enough. The wrens gave up in the end and sang from the undergrowth.

Eclipse drake mallard, Broad Ees Dole

A couple of dozen mallards, including some eclipse drakes that were at the virtually flightless stage, were dotted about the teal pool on Broad Ees Dole until they spotted me looking at them and they all steamed in expecting a free feed which, sadly, I couldn't provide.

Mallards homing in on the cadge, , Broad Ees Dole

There were a few more mallards on the hide pool together with a couple of pairs of gadwall. There were a few coots and moorhens and a couple of herons were dozing on the island but I couldn't see — or hear — any dabchicks. The great crested grebe with the injured wing was on its usual station by the reeds on the lake. A few blue-tailed damselflies zipped around the hide as I was looking round.

Herons, Broad Ees Dole

A mixed tit flock took pity on me. I heard the long-tailed tits first but struggled to find them in the treetops. I stationed myself next to a stand of thin birch trees and caught them passing by. The blue tits were trickier, the juvenile nuthatch a bonus and the coal tit was just a song in the trees.

Broad-leaved helleborine, Broad Ees Dole

I walked by Sale Water Park along Cow Lane. A herd of mute swans had half a dozen nearly full-grown cygnets in tow. A couple of dozen Canada geese crowded the slipway on the other side of the lake. I took the little lakeside path off the lane and found myself walking through a cloud of common blue damselflies. I was surprised and delighted to bump into a clump of broad-leaved helleborines, the first time I've ever seen any locally. A female brown hawker patrolled the thistles, the bright lime yellow spots on its body showing up unusually well in the light.

Even a bull-necked little bird like a willow tit will have a problem picking up and making off with half a walnut. Much to my surprise it managed to fly off with it in the end.

I had a sit down by the café (I was too late for a cup of tea) to check out the bird feeders. It was deserted at first, the birds had been scattered by noisy passersby. A willow tit landed on the bird table and remained a fixture for a while as it sorted through what appeared to be a full packet of trail mix. The usual hoard of great tits descended on the peanut feeders but were very skittish. It's a rum sort of afternoon's birdwatching that has a willow tit as the most conspicuous small bird.

Broad-leaved helleborine, Sale Water Park 

Southport

Little ringed plover, Marshside 

After the biblical rains of the weekend washed out the Test Match I thought I'd best get some exercise before I seized up completely. So I headed out for Southport for a wander round Marshside and Crossens Marsh.

Flooded field, Parbold

The effects of the weekend rain was evident as the train went by. The back gardens of Lostock were being lapped by Middle Brook, as was Deane Golf Course; some of the roads in Wigan were being pumped dry; the River Douglas had burst its banks in Parbold and the field drains on the West Lancashire mosses were full to overflowing.

I just missed the 44 bus from Southport Station so I walked down to Lord Street and got the number 2 to Hesketh Park and walked down Hesketh Road to have a look at the pool by the Hesketh platform. I needn't have bothered, aside from two farm ducks there were no birds whatsoever.

It was a nice sunny day with a welcome cooling breeze as I walked down Marine Drive. Small flocks of starlings flew between marshes, greenfinches rummaged about in the rose bushes on the embankment and a great black-back lumbered by and headed off to sea. I could hear a couple of meadow pipits in the long grass but they kept hidden. Mipits, linnets and skylarks kept a very low profile, in fact I didn't see or hear any skylarks all day.

At Nels Hide 

The pools at Nels Hide were littered with dozing mallards and paddling bullocks. Swallows hawked low over the marsh and family parties of Canada geese grazed the long grass and that was it. As I walked down to the Junction Pool I wondered why it was that the hawthorns and spindle trees were ruthlessly chopped back but the Japanese knotweed left unmolested. There were literally no birds at all on the Junction Pool.

As I crossed Marshside Road a cloud of starlings rose from the marsh then parted and scattered as a sparrowhawk shot by, unsuccessful this time.

Barnacle goose, Marshside 

Things were livelier at Sandgrounders. Flocks of Canada geese and greylags loafed and grazed in the long grass on the marsh, as did a couple of herds of cattle. I'd hoped that with all those cattle about there might be a cattle egret or two but not today. There were a few little egrets and herons, though. A barnacle goose dozed with some Canada geese on the bank of the pool next to Sandgrounders. A couple of tufted ducks slept nearby while little ringed plovers and a common sandpiper whizzed about the muddy islands. There were only a handful of avocets about, including a pair with two very young chicks.

Little ringed plovers, Marshside 
Juvenile (left) and adult (right)

Common sandpiper, Marshside 

The large white lump on a stick was almost certainly a sleeping spoonbill but I kept second-guessing myself about it until it woke up for a minute, had a quick preen and went straight back to sleep. God knows what it might have been if it wasn't a spoonbill.

Spoonbill waking up, Marshside 

Having a scratch…

Spoonbill showing us its spoon before going back to sleep

There were more common sandpipers skipping about the pools in front of the hide, together with a few lapwings and, hiding in the long grass, a few dozen black-tailed godwits. Nearly all the small wader-like birds that were moving between tussocks of grass and sedges were starlings though I did find one ringed plover at the far end of the pool. 

Tufted duckling, Marshside 

A family party of shovelers steamed by and a couple of pairs of gadwalls flew in and settled in the little creeks. The mallard ducklings all looked full grown, the tufted ducklings were still half-sized.

Marshside 

Walking down towards Crossens Marsh Marshside Inner was mostly populated by Canada geese and greylags, the outer marsh apparently empty except when the starlings flew in to feed. Every so often a pair of linnets would rise up, fly a little way and disappear, dropping a hint of what else might have been lurking in there.

Crossens Inner Marsh 

Aside from a couple of lapwings, a flock of black-headed gulls over by the water treatment works and a little egret fishing in the main drain all the birds on Crossens Inner Marsh were geese. There were more geese, and a few more lapwings on the outer marsh with a handful of mallards and teals asleep on the pools by the river.

I decided against walking back along the bund so got the bus back into Southport and made my way home. It had been one of the quieter days on the marshes but there had still been plenty to see.

Flixton

Song thrush, Jack Lane

Well now… that was a phenomenally quiet wander around Wellacre Country Park even for a July afternoon. It was bright, sunny and a bit breezy and nearly all the birds were absent without leave.

Wellacre Wood 

Had it not been for the woodpigeons, carrion crows and magpies (and a lot of horseflies) in the field by the houses the tally for Wellacre Wood would have been a chiffchaff, two spadgers, a passing greenfinch, two herring gulls high overhead and the flock of pigeons that flew in as I was approaching Jack Lane. Commas and speckled woods fluttered about the trees and red admirals, large whites and a brown hawker explored the rides.

Walking down Jack Lane to the nature reserve 

The expected swarm of hirundines over the water treatment works by Irlam Locks turned out to be a swallow and two swifts.

Song thrush, Jack Lane

There was little more happening in Jack Lane despite the evidence of another attack of the strimmers. A few blackbirds and a chaffinch rummaged around in the hawthorns by the reed beds. Two reed warblers sang, one either side of the path. I had to wait a while on the path to allow a song thrush to finish eating an unlucky smooth newt. Large whites and peacocks fluttered about the reed margins, dragonflies were notable by their absence. A sparrowhawk soared by high overhead moving over into Urmston and not bothering any of the woodpigeons in the trees by the reedbeds. 

Jack Lane

Walking down the path alongside the railway line a couple of great tits and a chiffchaff lurked in the hawthorns and we're very difficult to see. There were more large whites, speckled woods and red admirals and a very fresh and shiny common blue. The field was empty of horses, birds and butterflies. High overhead lesser black-backs floated past and swifts wheeled and soared.

Approaching Dutton's Pond there were a couple of wrens and chiffchaffs in the trees and gatekeepers and commas fluttered about the paths. I was surprised that I couldn't see any moorhens and only the one mallard on the pond.

Comma, Dutton's Pond

I was pressed for time so I didn't go for a wander round Green Lane, walking back to Flixton Station for the train home instead. I'd had just over an hour's stroll and not got much out of it besides a bit of exercise and a hand full of insect bites.

Pigeons, Wellacre Country Park