Chorlton

Kestrel, Ivy Green

It was a fitfully sunny day, I had no excuse for not going out for a walk and giving the knees some much-needed exercise so I escaped from the clutches of the cat and went out for the afternoon walk I didn't do yesterday.

The clutches of the cat

The walk from Ivy Green through to Chorlton Water Park isn't my favourite weekend walk, it gets very busy and on a sunny Sunday afternoon it's heaving but the walk needed doing.

Ivy Green 

Anything I could say about muddy paths would be redundant, it's enough to say that they were. Walking through Turn Moss to Ivy Green the football pitches were all damp and the ones nearest the road were half covered in water. For all that there wasn't a single gull on any of them. It's starting to feel like they're already moving on from Winter billets. There were more promises of Springtime with the songs of robins, song thrushes, great tits and wrens, magpies flying about with twigs in their beaks and parakeets squawking at each other as they flew in tandem round the treetops.

Carrion crow, Ivy Green

The singing continued in Ivy Green, accompanied by carrion crows, dunnocks and blue tits. A family party of long-tailed tits bounced through the undergrowth and the blue tits that were working their way more sedately through a tangle of hawthorn bushes took alarm when a kestrel flew into a nearby tree then went back to their business once they had established it wasn't a sparrowhawk and it was settled for a preen.

I got stopped by some people canvassing for a cycle route through the area, like the crowds this is an inevitability walking round here on a Sunday afternoon. I apologised and told them I was fed up of cyclists taking over footpaths and pavements and that if someone set up a pressure group calling itself Footpaths Are For Feet I'd probably subscribe. There are very many places where, if asked, I'd take a very benign, or even actively supportive, view of cycling and cyclists, the Mersey Valley on a weekend is not one of those places.

Chorlton Ees

Chorlton Ees was quieter of birds, largely because it was busier of people.

River Mersey by Jackson's Boat 

The river, unsurprisingly, was very high but still about three feet below flood level. A few mallards dabbled in the shelter of drowned willows and a pair of grey wagtails flew from the near bank and over onto the golf course. Finches had been notably absent in the walk through the woods so it was nice to see a greenfinch singing near the bridge at Jackson's Boat.

Greenfinch, Jackson's Boat

I walked down the river towards Chorlton Water Park. It was very busy and for some reason most of the traffic was going the other way. Robins, blackbirds and long-tailed tits worked their way through the hedgerows while woodpigeons and magpies clattered about in the trees. Lesser black-backs drifted high overhead and small groups of black-headed gulls fussed about over the river. The river was running too high and fast for the Canada geese, they stayed on the bank and hissed at passersby.

Black-headed gulls

Barlow Tip 

I had a quick wander in Barlow Tip and had it to myself, which came as a relief. I stuck to the metalled track, which was quite wet enough thank you. Song thrushes and greenfinches sang; great tits, robins and wrens rummaged in the undergrowth. A noisy pair of buzzards passed low overhead and flew over the river, it was hard to tell if they were sparring or courting and they'd passed out of sight behind the trees before I could be decided.

Chorlton Water Park 

The lake on Chorlton Water Park was busy with Canada geese, coots, mallards and black-headed gulls. The tufted ducks were in pairs of small groups of less than half a dozen, the gadwalls were a group of six birds dozing by the far island. I could only see the one great crested grebe which is a bit worrying, I hope at least another is about. The only mute swans I could see were last year's cygnets.

I decided I didn't have time for a foray into Kenworthy Woods so I walked up Maitland Avenue to get the bus home from Southern Cemetery. I think these knees need a bit of hillwalking to get back into working order.

Walking home from the bus stop I noticed that a lot of tree-planting holes have been dug on Humphrey Park, the little bit of grass by the station. Serried ranks of holes less than six feet apart, the sort of tree-planting that's about filling a quota rather than trying to recreate any sort of natural environment.

Humphrey Park