Mersey Valley

Ivy Green 

It was a heavy, dreary sort of day and my default setting was to sit at home drinking too much tea. I decided instead to have a late afternoon wander round the Mersey Valley to see what would be about on the twilight watch.

I walked through the mizzle for the 25 in to Chorlton and watched it start to rain. I really wondered if I wanted to do this. 

Hawthorn Lane 

The rain abated as I got off at Turn Moss and walked down Hawthorn Lane. Robins and titmice bounced about in the trees, blackbirds rummaged in the leaf litter, and jackdaws and ring-necked parakeets made a racket as they flew in to early roost. Over on the playing fields there was a flock of fifty-odd gulls, roughly equal numbers common gulls and black-headed gulls (this is one of the few places locally where there'll be sizeable numbers of common gulls in Winter).

Passing through into Ivy Green in the drizzle the woodpigeons were busy in the ivies. A song thrush sang deep in the trees while wrens sang in the brambles. Nearly everything was drowned out by the racket of parakeets coming in to roost. Nineteen of them fussed about in one of the oak trees, more shrieked in as I walked on.

Chorlton Brook showing the tideline of last week's floods 

There were plenty more parakeets with the magpies, crows and jackdaws in the trees on Chorlton Ees. Blackbirds, robins and wrens rummaged in the undergrowth and great tits called from deep in bramble bushes. It took an age to find the great spotted woodpecker calling in the treetops shadows.

Chorlton Ees 

My target bird was woodcock, which is often seen this time of year in Chorlton Ees. (Spoiler: no, I didn't see one today. I've only once in my life gone looking for woodcock and found one, every other time has been an accident, usually nearly treading on one.) I drifted over to the Cow Field, the water meadow on the Eastern side of the Ees to try my luck in the gloaming. 

Chorlton Ees 

Heron, Chorlton Ees

A couple of herons loafed in the corner by the river, another hunted in the reeds nearby and a fourth flew in and settled down for a doze. Carrion crows, jackdaws and parakeets flew overhead to roost. I scanned round but couldn't see any birds on the ground. I walked up to the car park, checking out the leaf litter under the trees along the way but no luck. Walking down from the car park a cock pheasant called from the corner of the field as a couple of hens settled in the trees. Mallards flew in and settled into the flooded section by the path and I called it quits and walked into Chorlton for the bus home.

Chorlton Ees