All of a sudden the trees are full of chiffchaffs

Coal tit, Sale Water Park 

It was a mild, sunny day and it wouldn't have taken much to persuade me to loll about drinking far too much tea and catching up with the further adventures of Tiger Tim and the Bruin Boys so I took myself off for a walk.

No.

I drifted over to Stretford Meadows where the hedgerows were busy with wrens and spadgers, the trees full of the song of song thrushes, robins and chiffchaffs and the entrance to the meadows so waterlogged I decided to stick to the metalled path round the perimeter. 

Oh, go on then…
Stretford Meadows 

Stretford Meadows 

Buzzard, Stretford Meadows 

Stretford Meadows 

The male kestrel was back on his usual perch, I didn't see his mate today. I could hear buzzards calling, eventually I saw two fly across and over the motorway, I'm not sure whether or not they were a pair. Out on the open jays flew between hawthorns, magpies bounced about in the scrub and meadow pipits flitted by.

Blackthorn, Stretford Ees

I walked along Kickety Brook towards Stretford Ees. Wrens, blackbirds and great tits sang, the first parakeets of the day screeched through the treetops and goldfinches twittered in the hedgerows. It was much the same as I walked through Stretford Ees to the river and every patch of blackthorn had a chiffchaff singing in it.

The Western end of the lake at Sale Water Park was very quiet: a coot, a black-headed gull and three lesser black-backs. Over in the distance I could see the herd of mute swans mugging for scraps by the car park. There was another mute swan sharing the teal pool with a coot. Just then a couple of buzzards flew in and disappeared into the trees beyond the pools. I'm starting to worry about not seeing great crested grebes in their usual haunts lately so I was relieved when a pair cruised by the reeds on the lake as I turned to walk on. 

Teal pool, Broad Ees Dole 

Immature heron, Broad Ees Dole 

The water on the hide pool on Broad Ees Dole was very high with both islands underwater. A couple of herons loafed by the pool with a couple of pairs of Canada geese, more herons lurked amongst the willows on the banks. One of the buzzards lurked in one of the willows a few yards behind one of the herons. Out on the water a few mallards dozed, a dozen gadwalls cruised about each other and a few moorhens and coots bobbed and squabbled.

Mute swans, Sale Water Park 

Walking down Cow Lane beside the main lake I noticed that the mute swans outnumbered the Canada geese two to one. A couple of last year's cygnets were busy courting, a slower and more stately business than the frantic head-bobbing and forced attentions of ducks and the you're-my-wife-now of the Canada geese. The only herring gull of the day joined the cormorants on the pontoon, a second-Winter or third calendar year (it's that time of year when choosing the right label is as tricky as choosing what to wear for a day's walking). A lone goosander, a drake with a rich salmon pink flush to his flanks, cruised the Eastern end of the lake before disappearing behind the islands.

Coal tit, Sale Water Park 

Heron, Sale Water Park 

Blackbird, Sale Water Park 

Titmice, robins and chiffchaffs sang in the hedgerows, song thrushes from the treetops. Walking down the lane to the café greenfinches, goldfinches and blackbirds called from the trees; blackbirds, dunnocks and wrens fossicked about in the verges and goldcrests danced about the tips of branches. There was a conspicuous absence of chaffinches.

Great tit and willow tit, Sale Water Park 

Great spotted woodpecker, Sale Water Park 

I got myself a cup of tea and sat down near the feeders and settled myself to trying to get a photo of the willow tit that kept visiting. Much easier said than done, it didn't linger once it was off the feeder, disappearing straight into cover a few trees away. It was the last bird to fly off the feeders when people walked by, taking advantage of not being bullied off by coal tits. In the end I had to make do with what I could get, a shame as it was in full breeding plumage with rich fawn flanks and belly, quite unlike any marsh tit. A female great spotted woodpecker flew in and spent a few minutes spilling more seed than it was eating, which suited the reeds buntings and dunnocks feeding on the ground.

I walked down to Jackson's Boat, the trees noisy with yet more chiffchaffs, robins, wrens and song thrushes and still more in the trees and hedgerows as I walked up the river. Small groups of mallards and Canada geese floated down the river, some of them flying back upstream to float back down again. A pair of grey wagtails were flycatching from the water's edge in the usual place now the water was back down to normal levels.

Grey wagtail, Chorlton

The riverbanks were studded with butterburs

Kenworthy Woods 

It had taken a long time to walk the stiffness out of my knee so I thought I'd make the most of it by finishing the walk with a wander round Kenworthy Wood. A chaffinch added to what had become the standard songscape of the day, nuthatches and treecreepers went about their business in silence. Just to emphasise that early Spring's a time of transition a small flock of redwings worked its way through the hawthorn scrub in one of the clearings.