Wellacre Country Park

Coal tit, Stretford

It was a real November day, damp and cold to the bone whatever the thermometer was saying. The spadgers and titmice set up camp in the back garden and weren't having any nonsense from magpies, squirrels or passing cats (the cat I live with showed uncharacteristic common sense and stayed inside all day). 

I'm beginning to wonder about the coal tit that seems to have become a fixture, it looks a lot greyer than either of the pair that nested by the railway station. It could just be a trick of the gloomy light on pristine Autumn plumage or it could be one of the influx of the Continental subspecies that have come over in record numbers this year. I probably won't know until I see another coal tit with it and can compare and contrast.

It wasn't a day for being in any wide open spaces and I wanted to avoid the Saturday crowds on public transport so I got the 256 into Flixton for a squelchy walk around Wellacre Country Park.

Wellacre Wood 

The paths were mostly boggy and I was glad to get into Wellacre Wood where there was still enough leaf cover to keep the rough paths manageable. I was even more glad to be in there while a sudden downpour passed by. There wasn't a right lot about within the wood and it was hard work finding those birds that were around, the sound of rain hitting leaves masking even the scolds of wrens and bouncing leaves and branches masking any movements in the undergrowth.

The worst had passed by as I emerged onto the path by the fields. Dozens of redwings and blackbirds foraged in the hawthorns with a small flock of goldfinches and a couple of blue tits. Carrion crows and pied wagtails fed on the fields and a dozen or so woodpigeons flew about, mostly scared up by fireworks. Over three hundred starlings perched on the power lines and pylons over by the water treatment works.

Jack Lane 

Being an idiot I seriously contemplated taking the path through the reedbeds at Jack Lane. Dear reader, I stuck to the lane, which for all its puddles wasn't muddy. My reward was a mixed tit flock at the end of the lane that included pairs of willow tit, goldcrest and treecreeper. They bounced through the wet willows alongside the railway embankment giving excellent views so long as a camera wasn't focused on them, in which case they'd make sure there was a lot of twiggy vegetation in the way or else only a silhouette against a blank sky. The couple of water rails noisily sparring in the reeds by the lane were but fleeting shadows and the Cetti's warbler just a couple of bursts of song.

Jack Lane
The path not trod today.

Jays were on acorn duty and the coal tits I hadn't been seeing in the mixed tit flocks elsewhere were the noisiest component of the flock by Dutton's Pond. It seemed odd not to see any ducks on the pond in the rain.

Dutton's Pond 

I kept to the metalled path along the edge of Fly Ash Hill. There were no titmice on this side of the wood though there were plenty of blackbirds and a ring-necked parakeet screeched from the treetops.

The Mersey, unsurprisingly, was in full spate. I couldn't see any birds on the river, the banks were getting a good scouring and weren't providing much cover. More surprising was a single fieldfare perched on a rooftop by the river. They were notable absentees in my wander round Wellacre Country Park and a single fieldfare is always unusual.

As I waited for the bus home eleven parakeets screeched and squawked as they did a circuit over Flixton Garden Centre before settling into the trees by the river.