Stretford

Dunnock, Stretford Ees

I had a bout of male pattern hypochondria today, probably a combination of old age, irregular sleep patterns, the pollen count and a build-up of histamine levels after what's turned out to be an excellent year for mosquitoes. The inclination was to follow the cat's example and curl up and sleep on top of a wheelie bin but I didn't want to waste a day's nice weather so I headed off for a stroll over Stretford Meadows. I'd barely gone a hundred yards when the clouds rolled in, the breeze fell away and it became an unpleasantly muggy afternoon.

The entrance to the meadows by the garden centre was muddy but passable thanks to a wooden pallet strategically placed as a stepping stone and the rest of the paths were okay with just a few muddy bits over the clay caps. A great spotted woodpecker in the willows objected to my passing by but I couldn't find where it was objecting from.

Stretford Meadows 

About a dozen magpies and a family of carrion crows bounced around while there was a steady traffic of woodpigeons, pigeons, collared doves and jackdaws overhead. Also passing overhead, just visible to the naked eye but very noisy, were a couple of dozen swallows. More noise was provided by three ring-necked parakeets that were flying round the cricket pitch and young robins practising their songs in hawthorn bushes.

Fungi, Stretford Meadows

I dropped down the rise and joined the Transpennine Route. A mixed tit flock fidgeted in the hedgerow, heard more than seen at first. A shape moving round the base of a willow bush didn't turn out to be the expected blackbird or squirrel but a useful reminder that you sometimes have to look down to find a great spotted woodpecker. The tit flock eventually emerged and bounced about the elderberries and hawthorns. Great tits, blue tits and chiffchaffs accompanied a large troupe of long-tailed tits. They were all showing well but my attempts at photography were foiled because they were too close and too active so I gave up and just enjoyed watching them.

Walking along Kickety Brook 

After that excitement the walk along Kickety Brook to Stretford Ees was a lot quieter. Magpies, woodpigeons and a couple of parakeets rummaged about in the trees, robins practised singing, and great tits and chiffchaffs called from the hawthorn bushes. Yet another great spotted woodpecker flew overhead as I reached the junction with Hawthorn Lane.

The pigeons nesting under the Bridgewater Canal aquaduct look to have had a productive year. It's not over yet: a couple were nest-building, or at least shoring up old nests with bits of twigs.

Long-tailed tit, Stretford Ees

The clouds broke up as the breeze returned and made the walking more pleasant but I was feeling decidedly seedy so I confined myself to a wander round Stretford Ees. Which turned out to be a stroke of luck: another mixed tit flock was bouncing round in the hawthorns by Kickety Brook and the birds were far enough away to be able to get them into focus a few times before they moved out of shot. The long-tailed tits and dunnocks were quite obliging, the blue tits less so, the great tits didn't want to know and the chiffchaffs contributed to my portfolio of "There was a warbler there a moment ago" photos.

I walked through the cemetery with its pigeons, collared doves, carrion crows and robins and I got the bus home. The walk had done me a bit of good but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to acknowledge it.