Southport

Juvenile swallow, Crossens Inner Marsh

The weather looked okay so the last trip out of the month was to Southport to see what was about on Marshside and Crossens.

There were signs of Autumn abroad on a pleasant train journey out. Apples were on trackside trees, the beginning of leaf fall started to make woodpigeons and blue tits visible at railway stations and crowds of black-headed gulls danced for worms in fields as we passed.

Curlew, Marshside

There were still a few house martins hawking over Marshside Road though the starlings were flocking together for Winter. A couple of dozen curlews fed on the field with the woodpigeons and starlings.

Curlews, Marshside

Curlew, Marshside

Moorhens and a little egret rested on the bank of the drain and more little egrets were dotted about on the marsh. Aside from the starlings and a few house sparrows there weren't any small birds about and the only movement in the hedgerows were large whites, red admirals and a migrant hawker.

Little egret, Marshside

The Junction Pool was quiet, a dozen teal dozed while a few mallards had a bath.

Nels Hide is still not open so I didn't bother walking down.

Spoonbills, Marshside

I'd been wondering what the large white shapes over by Sandgrounders were. Despite my scepticism they turned out to be seven sleepy spoonbills. Every so often one or other would have a fidget, at least two were juveniles still with relatively small, grey spoons at the end of their bills.

Greylags, Canada geese and great black-back, Marshside

The pools by Sandgrounders were overwhelmed by a mixed flock of greylags and Canada geese. A few herring gulls, black-headed gulls, little egrets and a great black-back loafed on the banks.

Canada geese, starlings, herring gulls, little egrets, spoonbills and greylags, Marshside

At Sandgrounders there were a few teal and a common sandpiper on the main island. The only other waders in front of the hide were a few lapwings dotted about the banks in twos and threes. Out over on Polly's Pool a grey line looked to be black-tailed godwits. I'm glad I first saw the spoonbills from Marshside Road, looking at them end-on from the hide the size difference between them and the little egrets behind them wasn't anywhere near as obvious.

Marshside 

I walked on along the path by the Marine Drive as the clouds rolled in and it started to rain. There weren't many ducks about in the drains and creeks, just handfuls of mallards, shovelers and teals, the drakes emerging from their eclipse plumages. The teal were being very wary of a couple of juvenile herons and I couldn't say I blamed them. I could get better views of the waders on Polly's Pool, a dozen lapwings at one end and a line of about a hundred black-tailed godwits mostly in their Winter greys. It was high tide on the estuary but I couldn't find any other waders about. The only small birds were a few greenfinches and wrens

Marsh harrier, Marshside Outer Marsh

.Looking out over the outer marsh I could see a dark line of unidentifiable waders by the waterline and distant shelducks flying by in twos and threes. I'd eventually come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be seeing anything else when a marsh harrier rose from the long grass, flew in a bit closer then veered off for Crossens Outer Marsh.

A kestrel perched on a fencepost on the border between Marshside and Crossens Inner Marsh so of course a heron had to land on that post.

This side of Crossens Inner Marsh was quiet with just a few tufted ducks, mallards and little egrets in the drains and creeks and a handful of lapwings dotted about in the grass.

It was even quieter on the Outer Marsh, just a few hawking swallows and a couple of young kestrels windhovering. There were a couple of dozen teal on the pools by the river, a taste of things to come. Another marsh harrier floated in from Banks and was greeted by carrion crows.

Ruffs, golden plover and lapwings, Crossens Inner Marsh

The rain was threatening to ease off so I decided to walk down the bund back to Marshside. The black-headed gulls and lapwings loading on the pools were accompanied by a golden plover and half a dozen busily-feeding ruffs. It was a pleasant change to see a golden plover close to in its breeding plumage.

Golden plover and lapwings, Crossens Inner Marsh

Swallows and martins, both house and sand, hawked low over the pools and the water treatment works. The numerous lumps on my head and hands confirm there was an abundance for them to be having a go at. Oddly, there weren't any wagtails about (the only wagtail of the day was a grey wagtail at Oxford Road Station).

Sand martin and swallows, Crossens Inner Marsh

Goldfinches twittered in the bushes and thistles either side of the drain by the bund. A good-sized mixed tit flock bouncing through the trees seemed to be as many blue tits as long-tailed tits and there were a few chiffchaffs along for the ride. Southern hawkers patrolled the bushes and occasionally chased after the common darters around the drain.

Juvenile swallow, Crossens Inner Marsh

I got the 44 from Marshside back into Southport and got the train home. The trackside buddleias at Wigan Wallgate were awash with red admirals.

A Yorkshire wander

From Greenfield Station 

It was a damp morning so I decided to go and have an explore. There's a bus that goes from Greenfield Station over the tops to Holmfirth every Tuesday and I thought I'd give it a go. 

Huddersfield Canal, Greenfield 

I had nearly an hour to kill at Greenfield (the bus leaves three minutes before the next train arrives) so I had a bit of a wander down the Huddersfield Canal. Robins sang in the trees, great spotted woodpeckers and wrens scolded as I went by, and long-tailed tits and a coal tit bounced through the canopy. A few house martins circled high above the trees. A few mallards, Canada geese and a mute swan mooched by the marina.

I walked back in the pouring rain and got the 357 bus, a friendly little North Country bus the sort of which Jake Thackeray used to sing. As we went up Holmfirth Road past the reservoirs the jackdaws and woodpigeons gave way to nothing very much at all.

I used to have the fond idea that you could travel across the hillsides and catch sight of numerous upland species. It doesn't work that way in real life. The bird life is dispersed and there's plenty of empty well away from the roads for them to hide in. Having said that, I've found twilight's usually the best time to get lucky.

Anyway, it was lunchtime and we were climbing into the clouds on a rainy day and I was there just to enjoy the ride and perhaps hope that a raptor may be sitting out the weather on a nearby fencepost. What happened was a carrion crow every couple of miles and a glorious vista of Upperthong and Holmfirth nestling in the hills as the clouds parted and we rolled down from the tops. We had a two minute stop halfway down where the driver handed round a bag of sweets and apologised for the ragged suspension on the bus.

River Holme, Holmfirth 

Arrival at Holmfirth and my onward journey to Huddersfield confirmed my prejudice that Yorkshire's a tad thin on common birds. A woodpigeon or jackdaw once every so often. Thongsbridge was the pick of the crop with woodpigeons and jackdaws and also collared doves, pigeons and a great tit. There wasn't a lot more variety on the journey from Huddersfield to Halifax but at least the birds were in twos and threes.

Rochdale Canal, Littleborough 

Going over the tops between Ripponden and Littleborough the sun came out and the scenery was magnificent. I got off at Littleborough for the train home. While I was waiting I said hello to the Canada geese, jackdaws, magpies, woodpigeons and goldfinches on the field by the canal.

I wanted to avoid the city centre so I stayed on the train to Swinton and got the 21 to the Trafford Centre. Just as the bus was pulling up twenty long-tailed tits bounced across the road and it was a miracle none of them collided with it.

Byrom Hall Wood

Byrom Hall Wood 

As I contemplated the pouring rain on a bank holiday Monday morning I could at least be reassured that some eternal verities still prevail. I'd decided against going to the seaside and wasn't much in favour of anywhere that might be crowded. I noticed that there was a report of a juvenile black-necked grebe on a pool on Lightshaw Hall Flashes near Golborne, somewhere that's on my to-visit list so I headed thataway.

As I waited for the 126 at the Trafford Centre I watched a buzzard scare the pigeons on the Peel Building. I've not seen one here for a few months, I was starting to worry.

At Leigh I got the 588 to Lowton and walked down to Lowton Road rather than wait another twenty minutes for the number 10 which runs down there. I walked past Golborne School and into the new housing estate. I headed for what looked like a road into the Lightshaw Hall estate and was confronted by a big pair of double gates. I noticed the local dog walkers weren't paying any attention to them so I followed suit.

Google Maps' directions to the pool with the grebe on it were nonsense so I dismissed the idea and had an explore. I passed through a scrap of woodland which had a charm of fifty or more goldfinches twittering in the treetops. Every so often they'd take flight, settle in a rough field of thistles and almost immediately fly back to the trees for no apparent reason. A common hawker patrolled the lower reaches of the trees and made identification a challenge as it zipped into leaf cover every time I got the bins onto it. Further along robins, great tits, wrens and chiffchaffs made themselves known from deep cover.

Lightshaw Meadows 

The path opened out into a freshly-cut hay meadow. I followed the noise of mallards to a flooded corner where a dozen of them loafed among drowned trees with a couple of moorhens.

There wasn't a path leading out into the further meadows so I retraced my steps and followed the path along the edge of the meadow and crossed a fast-flowing brook into Byrom Hall Wood.

More chiffchaffs, great tits and wrens called from the trees. I traversed an incredibly muddy path and found a metalled path that I decided to stick on. I have a habit of finding incredibly muddy paths when I'm wearing clean trousers. A family of long-tailed tits were virtually impossible to find, I could hear them calling but could only find the blue tits travelling with them.

I noticed one of those paths known only to cats and kids and, on a whim, decided to follow it. I'd only gone fifty yards when the path ended at what looked like a water treatment works on the other side of the brook. I could see a pool so had a scan round and was astonished to find that the first bird I could see through the wire fence was a juvenile black-necked grebe asleep in midwater. Mallards, a couple of gadwalls, coots and dabchicks loafed and dozed on the water and brown hawkers patrolled the reeds at the sides. A willow warbler and a chiffchaff gave me the opportunity to try and compare and contrast their calls with the willow warbler being the slightly more upbeat.

Byrom Hall Wood 

I found a way onto another path which became well-nigh invisible and I startled a spaniel as I emerged from a thicket of brambles. I had better luck with another family of long-tailed tits and the blue tits, great tits and chiffchaffs tagging along for the ride. 

A Southern hawker patrolled the trees along the metalled path and goldfinches and greenfinches twittered about the treetops as I walked by. I walked through and emerged on Slag Lane. I had twenty minutes to wait for the 588 back to Leigh so I wandered into Plank Lane for a bit of exercise and caught it there.

That was a nice little walk I didn't know about in yet another of the coalfield woodlands.

Mosses

Female black darter, Chat Moss

It was one of those days which look lovely but feel like a damp armpit. I thought I'd push my luck with a walk across Chat Moss into Little Woolden Moss.

I got the 100 from the Trafford Centre into Irlam. As we passed the old "Fives" site before crossing the ship canal eighty-odd black-headed gulls loafed in the puddles with a few lesser black-backs and herring gulls.

Cutnook Lane 

I got off at Merlin Road and walked up Cutnook Lane into Chat Moss. Robins were practising their singing voices and a mixed tit flock bouncing about the hedgerow by Raspberry Lane included a citrus-bright juvenile willow warbler. I looked in vain for the chiffchaff I could hear squeaking then discovered it was a great tit mimicking the call. A small flock of lapwings flying overhead towards Barton Moss were the only waders of the day. A coal tit made squeaky dog toy noises at me as I passed the fishery.

Male black darter, Chat Moss

I joined Twelve Yards Road which was fizzing with common darters and black darters. Woodpigeons flew hither and thither, with large flocks in the stubble fields. A heron and a cormorant flew out of the fishery and went their separate ways, the cormorant into Irlam and the heron settling on the pools to the North. I decided not to head that way, the target was Little Woolden Moss and I didn't want to be bitten to pieces by mosquitos twice in one afternoon.

Buzzards, Chat Moss

A female kestrel flew by but didn't stop. I could hear a young buzzard begging for food but couldn't see where it was until two buzzards rose from the trees by the farmhouse. The adult studiously ignored the begging and after a few minutes the juvenile drifted off on its own, scattering a flock of woodpigeons in the process. It was back within two minutes.

Twelve Yards Road 

The hedgerows were busy with the quiet mutterings of greenfinches, goldfinches and tree sparrows. I looked back whence I came and noticed that Salford was copping for a thunderstorm. I was twice grateful a stiff breeze was blowing in my face as I carried on to Four Lanes End. 

Twelve Yards Road 

Small flocks of swallows hawked low over the fields, drifting up to treetop height at the margins then swooping back down again.

Woodpigeon and kestrel, Chat Moss

A couple of juvenile kestrels were hunting in the field by Four Lanes End, supervised at a distance by the adult male. The youngsters were evidently still lacking in confidence in their hovering so they spent most of their time sitting at the top of telegraph poles and pounce-hunting. Having seen their hovering I can see their point but they're going to have to get the practice in.

Common darter, Little Woolden Moss

The brambles at the entrance to Little Woolden Moss were busy with red admirals, commas and speckled woods. A couple of speckled woods mobbed a migrant hawker,which struck me as a tad foolhardy. Then they mobbed me, which was downright foolish. There were yet more common darters and black darters but just the one ruddy darter, a male though not a very colourful one. The literature says to look out for a clubbed tail to identify a ruddy darter and you may be mislead by the swollen end to a male common darter, ruddy darters remind me of Airfix models of Albatros biplanes. Besides which, ruddy darters have black legs and common darters don't.

Common darter, Little Woolden Moss

A few wrens and willow warblers objected to my passing by. It's famine or feast on the pools at Little Woolden Moss and today was one of the famine days. There was literally nothing on the pools on the Eastern side. Woodpigeons and swallows passed overhead and carrion crows called on the fields beyond. Black darters and common darters zipped about, it continued to be a thin year for ruddy darters. A few large whites joined the other butterflies along the path margins. A few more wrens and willow warblers called from the trees.

Little Woolden Moss 

The pools on the Western side are entirely hidden from the path by a dense double-planting of trees, which was frustrating because I could hear a bird bathing at the margins. I can never understand the point of going to the expense and effort of setting a bench by the path then obscuring the view by planting two rows of trees two feet apart less than a yard in front of it.

Walking towards Little Woolden Hall 

Things picked up as I walked towards Little Woolden Hall with a few goldfinches, linnets and meadow pipits in the fields. More swallows swooped by and yet more woodpigeons passed overhead. 

Little Woolden Moss 

I checked out the field by the river. Just as I'd concluded that I wasn't seeing any wagtails today a couple of pied wagtails emerged from behind some dock leaves. I'd almost reached the river when a chat bounced up from the grass and perched on a thistle before fidgeting over to the fence at the top of the riverbank. A whinchat? No, it'll be a stonechat, you've not seen the usual family today. Stonechats don't have thick white eyebrows. It'll be a wheatear then, except wheatears don't have dark brown rumps so I had to concede that I was right first time. The whinchat disappeared into the vegetation by the river. A couple of wheatears flew in, perched on the bridge to demonstrate that they had white arses and flew downriver. The only bird on the river was a moorhen deep in the shadows of the bank. A few dozen swallows hawked and reeled high overhead.

I walked down into Glazebrook, a female sparrowhawk flashing across the road and crashing through the hedgerows at waist height just after I'd crossed the motorway. Glazebrook, as ever, had more than its fair share of collared doves.

I crossed the river into the Cadishead and got the 67 to Eccles just as it started raining. The next bus heading my way from the Trafford Centre was the 250. As we passed the old Event City site more than a hundred black-headed gulls were loafing with some lesser black-backs and herring gulls.

I walked through Lostock Park on the way home. Over on the playing fields by Barton Clough School nearly a hundred black-headed gulls were dancing for worms with a supporting cast including common gulls, lesser black-backs and herring gulls.

I managed to keep missing the rain right up to four doors down from home.

Another of them days

The robin and the wren are back singing in the garden, the collared doves and woodpigeons never stopped, and the coal tits flit in and out when they think I'm not looking. Autumn would be in the air even if the weather didn't have a whiff of October about it.

I had another day where I didn't want to go along with the plans I had made so I decided to go over to Etherow Country Park to see how the mandarin ducks are getting along and try and catch sight of dippers on the river. The knees are giving me gip this week, a bit of a work out in Keg Wood might get them moving again. It was a cloudy and fitfully sunny lunchtime that felt like good walking weather so I got the train to Romiley, it would just be five minutes on the 384 from there to Etherow Country Park.

It started spitting rain when we left Bredbury. Ah well, not the first time I'd be taking photos of mandarins in the rain. It had become light but steady rain as I got off at Romiley. I stepped out of the station and it became biblical. I sheltered under an awning as I waited for the bus, stupid bloody-mindedness battling with grim practicality. I watched three 383 buses go anticlockwise back to Stockport with not one whiff of a 384 going my way clockwise. After twenty minutes I took the hint, sloped off back to the station and headed home.

August on Compstall Road

It was bright and sunny in Manchester city centre. I was cold and wet and defeated and got the bus home.

Bickershaw Country Park

Common darter

I had numerous plans for today and couldn't be bothered with any of them so I ended up dragging myself out for an afternoon walk. I drifted over to Leigh after conceding that a low energy day isn't the one for that walk down through Astley Moss to Chat Moss and found myself walking down to Bickershaw Country Park for a long wander round the lake.

Heron

The Canada geese and mallards were loafing at the car park end of the lake, as usual, with a few coots. A couple of chiffchaffs squeaked in the trees with a few twittering goldfinches, pretty much all there was in the way of small birds by the lake this afternoon except for some reed buntings on the other side where the lake meets the meadows. A heron lurked in the depths of the bank and a family of great crested grebes with a surprisingly young (and very noisy) chick cruised in and out of the reed margins.

By the lake

Brown hawkers patrolled the lake margins while common darters littered the pathways. The speckled woods in the bushes were in a feisty mood and a couple of them tried their best to see me on my way, one of them getting too excited and hitting me in the face.

Mostly ragworts with a lot of eyebright, sneezewort and knapweeds in the mix.

Out on the meadows woodpigeons and lesser black-backs flew overhead and a willow warbler called from a stand of birches. A family of great tits worked the trees by the path and a wren scolded as I passed by.

A Southern hawker circled one of the small pools by the path and yet more common darters zipped around.

The heather was buzzing with bees and hoverflies.

I took the path that rejoins the path around the lake and finished the circuit. A quiet hour-and-a-bit's walk on a sunny, if cool, Summer's day.

Wirral

Dunlin, Meols beach

The weather was set fair so I headed over the Wirral to see how the Autumn passage was going. I did wonder if this was such a good idea when it started pouring down at Liverpool South Parkway but a cloudy lunchtime passed into a bright sunny afternoon.

Kerr's Field 

I got the train to Meols and walked up to Kerr's Field. Goldfinches lurked in the hedgerows and swallows hawked and twittered about the treetops. A migrant hawker zipped by as it patrolled the hawthorn hedges. I scanned the paddocks for passage migrants but only found woodpigeons. I checked out the land behind the lighthouse for migrants and found only goldfinches, collared doves and spadgers. Looking up, the swallows were joined by a couple of house martins.

Whitebeam 

I decided to walk through the trees at the back of Leasowe Common to see what was about. The stiff breeze was welcome in what would otherwise have been a muggy lunchtime. What you win on the swings you lose on the roundabouts; trying to see small birds moving silently through waving willow leaves is well nigh impossible. A few robins and wrens were about and a mixed tit flock included chiffchaffs among the long-tailed tits and blue tits. Dozens of speckled woods chased each other about the undergrowth and fought for the best sunbathing spots.

Little egret, Leasowe Lighthouse

I crossed and climbed the grassy bank and set down on the revetment. The tide was lowish but on the turn and already a hundred or so oystercatchers were bagging the high ground on a distant mudflat. Large gulls — mostly herring gulls and lesser black-backs with a few common gulls round the edges — loafed on the banks halfway out while black-headed gulls foraged about the pools with the redshanks and little egrets. Curlews were dotted about the distant mud and a couple of turnstones rummaged about the seaweed at the base of the revetment.

Redshanks and dunlin, Meols beach

Beyond the groyne small parties of dunlins started joining the redshanks and more of both started flying in with the advancing tide as I reached Meols Promenade. On the ground the redshanks provided a motley array of plumages with tiger striped juveniles and adults in various stages of moult mottled brown and grey.

Cormorant, Meols beach

Redshanks, Meols beach

Pied wagtail, Meols beach

Pied wagtails, most of them juveniles, skittered across the mud and performed aerial balletics as they caught sandflies in the air. It seemed a bit early in the season for rock pipits but there one was at the base of the sea wall.

Rock pipit, Meols beach

By this time the tide was rushing in along the flat mud. The redshanks started moving up towards Meols Promenade, many of them only moving a mudbank at a time. Others flew straight over to the higher mud of Hoylake with dunlins and ringed plovers in tow.

The tide coming in onto Meols beach.

Redshanks, Meols beach

Knot, Meols beach

As the tide rolled in the waders got closer and some of the "I wonder what that is?" birds became identifiable. Most turned out to be dunlins, it becomes difficult to keep a sense of scale without being able to refer back to a redshank. There were half a dozen knots dotted about and all showing flashes of rust red and peach tones as they were moulting out of breeding kit.

Ringed plover, Meols beach

Dunlin and knots, Meols beach

Curlew sandpiper, Meols beach

I knew there were a couple of curlew sandpipers about, confirmed by a chap I passed along the way and the line of retired gentlemen with telescopes along the railing by the tennis court. Knowing something is there and seeing it are three different things even when the available cover is the occasional tussock of grass and a patch of samphire. In the end I did see them. One was asleep under a tussock and was hard work. The other was wandering about in plain sight and it took me God's own age to realise I wasn't looking at one of the knots. The long black bill and long black legs were very obvious and I just wasn't seeing them. 

Most of the time that something different in a crowd scene is blindingly obvious but once every so often, like today, I make hard work of it.

Dunlin, Meols beach