Northwich

Heron, Budworth Mere

It had been one of those nights where I got to sleep some time after the robin started singing at ten to seven so I didn't feel much like setting out early for a day's birdwatching. An afternoon wander somewhere in Cheshire was tempting. Chelford offered the possibility of a grey phalarope on Lapwing Hall Pool and a cattle egrets on Acre Nook Quarry. For some reason I've not been over to the Northwich flashes this year so I decided to have a stroll over that way. Which turned out to be a good call as the Crewe train was cancelled.

Northwich Station's being rebuilt after the roof fell in. They're making a nice job of it but it means that getting in and out of the station is a bit of a palaver. Other than that it was straight sledding all afternoon.

I walked down Warrington Old Road into Northwich Woods and thence to Ashton's Flash. A tree pipit flying overhead was a nice surprise, I'd written off any hopes of adding them to the year list. There was just the one teal with the mallards and black-headed gulls on Witton Brook as I walked over the bridge.

Ashton's Flash was fairly quiet, a few mallards dozing on the pools and goldfinches flitting about in twos and threes. I bumped into the first of what would be many jays screeching their ways through acorn collecting.

Black-headed gulls, lesser black-backs and herring gull, Neumann's Flash

Neumann's Flash was busy mostly with shovelers and coots. A small group of mallards dabbled with the family of mute swans by the isthmus leading to one of the hides off the bund. A mixed flock of gulls, mostly black-headed gulls with a dozen lesser black-backs and a few herring gulls and common gulls, was loafing on the bank by the side.

Herring gulls, black-headed gulls and common gulls, Neumann's Flash

Moorhens rummaged around in the reed margins while a Cetti's warbler sang from the depths and migrant hawkers patrolled the tops. Further out on the open water there were small rafts of tufted ducks, a couple of cormorants and half a dozen wigeon which were easier to see from the higher ground of the bund. A couple of dabchicks made a point of diving every time the camera shutter went.

Juvenile moorhen, Neumann's Flash

I bumped into the first of the very many mixed tit flocks of the afternoon at the end of the bund, a large family group of long-tailed tits with a dozen or more great tits and blue tits.

Field maple

It was a mild, cloudy day with just enough breeze to shiver the leaves on the trees. I spent a lot of the walk round to Daisy House Meadow checking to see if the movements in the trees ahead were woodpigeons, squirrels or titmice. Every so often they'd be goldfinches or chaffinches and very often they'd be the wind or falling leaves. A couple of times they were common darters zipping round the hawthorns. Tree sparrows fussed about the hedgerows by Warrington New Road, nuthatches called from the trees and a water rail called from the corner of the flash.

Walking round into Daisy House Meadows 

Daisy House Meadows 

I walked round onto Daisy House Meadows. The trees were busy with woodpigeons, magpies and jays, the hedgerows busy with titmice, robins and wrens. One of the tit flocks had a pair of bullfinches tagging along.

Heron, Daisy House Meadows

A mute swan and a heron were on the big pond by the path, the mallards preferred the pools largely hidden by trees further along. A very insistent juvenile buzzard called from the trees this side of the Trent and Mersey Canal but got no obvious response.

Big Wood

I crossed the canal into Marbury Country Park. Big Wood was noisy with robins and wrens, the occasional nuthatch and the calls of passing rooks and jackdaws. A stock dove sang as I approached Budworth Mere. I had a quick look in at the hide, a few blue tits and great tits bounced about in the bushes while more great tits and a couple of blackbirds fossicked about in the leaf litter.

First-Winter great crested grebe, Budworth Mere
It was only when I glanced at this photo that I realised how similar they are to a red-necked grebe they are at this stage. The shape of the bird and its bill are quite different but I can see how people new to the game and relying on a handbook might get confused.

It had evidently been a productive year for great crested grebes, a couple of dozen of them were on Budworth Mere, including a raft of a dozen first-Winter birds. A herd of coot was feeding on the far bank and more were on the water with a few groups of tufted ducks. Mallards lurked in the willows on the near bank while greylags and Canada geese made a lot of noise from somewhere near the sailing club.

Willows, Budworth Mere 

I walked along the path towards the little jetty. The blue-green algae bloom which was a distant change of shade at the wide point of the mere became a green mat coating the surface and the water bed beneath it. A heron loafed on the jetty with a couple of black-headed gulls. Just beyond a Cetti's warbler and a water rail could be heard in the reeds. It was late in the afternoon and curlews started calling from the fields across the mere.

Budworth Mere 

I had a sit down at the hide to check bus and train times and was entertained by another mixed tit flock, this one including a coal tit.

I had a five minute walk to the bus stop at Comberbach and the next bus was in half an hour. Kennel Wood"s a couple of minutes' walk from the bus stop so I had a quick nosy, passing a flock of pied wagtails in the cow field next to the path.

Kennel Wood 

Robins, wrens, a nuthatch and a couple of pheasants were the easiest finds in the wood, a great spotted woodpecker was hard work. I heard a willow tit-like churring in the undergrowth which was immediately drowned out by two duelling wrens. I didn't hear enough to be sure of the identification and there were enough great tits about to add to my doubts, they have a very similar scold call in their repertoire.

Kennel Wood 

I got back to the bus stop with six minutes to spare for catching the 9A to Warrington, which a couple of minutes later turned into seventeen. The nagging worry that it would count down to six then jump back to seventeen proved unfounded. We were treated to one of those sunsets where you want to stop the driver every three minutes to take a photo.

Sunset, Antrobus