Rochdale

Peregrine, Rochdale

It's been bugging me that it's nearly May and I haven't had peregrine falcon on the year list so I headed over to Rochdale to see if the peregrines have come back to the town hall tower after all the building repair works. The good news is that yes, they're back, if a bit windswept.

Peregrine, Rochdale

With the falcons grounded in the wind the town centre pigeons were flying about conspicuously and even perching on the town hall roof. I checked the river, the only birdlife were the white farm geese lurking by one of the bridges.

Domestic geese, Rochdale 

I played bus station bingo to decide where to move on to next. The 450 was the next bus out so I caught that, got off at Peppermint Bridge and walked up Huddersfield Road to Piethorne Valley.

Piethorne Valley

I took the little cobbled lane that runs along Piethorne Brook. Blackbirds, chaffinches and willow warblers sang in the trees, a whitethroat sang over by the bus terminus, robins and wrens sang from the undergrowth by the brook. 

Grey wagtail, Piethorne Valley

A rabbit scampered across the path. I was watching where it went when I heard a grey wagtail calling. I walked a way down, scanning the brook to find the wagtail when it started singing somewhere above me. I looked up and there it was sitting on a telephone wire.

Ogden Reservoir

I walked up to Ogden Reservoir. Blackbirds and chaffinches sang in the background and a pair of oystercatchers called from the hill above the reservoir. Jackdaws and woodpigeons flew about between fields and trees. I climbed up to the path by the reservoir, accidentally disturbing a flock of linnets and a couple of magpies. The magpies soon settled, the linnets moved on. I spent a while scanning the reservoir but could only find a lone Canada goose over on the far bank.

Ogden Reservoir

Looking at the maps at home I've sometimes entertained the though of a walk along the Piethorne Valley then going down Huddersfield Road to Denshaw for the bus to Greenfield and the train back to Manchester, or getting the bus to Denshaw and walking over. Looking at the gradient in this stretch of Huddersfield Road I've decided not to be so bloody silly. It might be feasible to walk up the valley and make my way to Ripponden Road and thence to Denshaw. Perhaps.

The cars at the bottom of the tree line are on Huddersfield Road 

It started spotting with rain. I decided not to push my luck, we were offered heavy showers today and the buses run hourly. I could have a leisurely wander back and catch the bus back to Rochdale (the 450 goes anticlockwise back to Rochdale via Milnrow, the 451 goes clockwise back via Kingsway Business Park, they leave Peppermint Bridge within five minutes of each other).

Walking down to Bethany Lane 

I took the rough path down to Bethany Lane, greenfinches and goldfinches calling from the trees on the field margins and a pied wagtail fussing about in a field of horses. More blackbirds and chaffinches sang and jackdaws and house sparrows lurked about the houses.

I had a couple of minutes to wait for the 450, the rain petered out but I didn't mind, I'd had a bit of gentle exercise and there were some nice birds about.

Piethorne Brook