Worsley Woods

Heron, Old Warke Dam 

It seemed a shame to waste what would have been a glorious Spring afternoon had it not been for the wind so I headed over to the Trafford Centre to play bus schedule roulette and hope I didn't end up walking through any wide open spaces. I was in luck: the next bus out was the 20 so I caught that and got off at Worsley Delph for a walk through the woods.

Worsley Delph 

Three mallards dozed on the Delph. Blue tits and great tits called from the trees beside it and a nuthatch sang from a tree behind the pub. I took the path into the wood by the car park and then took the fork on the left, hoping I'd remembered it right and this one went by the pool at Old Warke Dam. I always walk into Worsley from Roe Green or Monton, it was the first time I've done the return journey.

Worsley Woods 

The path skirted some houses on the boundary then went deep into the woods. Here and there I'd be given a choice and each time I took the path less trod and each time they demonstrated why they weren't trod much. Nowhere was the mud impassible. 

The howling of the wind in the trees was a constant, but somehow distant, background noise which didn't distract from the birdsong. Blackbirds, great tits, robins and wrens sang from the trees. A song thrush sang from the trees near the houses, a nuthatch sang from a big oak by Worsley Brook. There were plenty of blue tits and woodpigeons in the trees, it was only later I realised there were no magpies about. That warm Spring day feeling was confirmed by the orange tips and large white fluttering through the clearing by the brook.

Tufted ducks having a wash and brush-up, Old Warke Dam 

I walked up the steps by the brook and joined the path leading to Old Warke Dam. The mill pond was busy with ducks: a dozen mallards, a couple of pairs of gadwall and a couple of dozen tufted ducks idled in the willow roots by the near bank and a heron stalked one of the inlets coming close to the path. I coot hear a coot but I was damned if I could see it.

Old Warke Dam 

I walked round, great tits and chiffchaffs fidgeting in the trees by the path. A blackcap sang in the trees by the house at the junction with the path to Roe Green and pairs of blue tits and goldfinches fussed about in the shrubs by the wall. 

Roe Green Loop 

I walked down to the Roe Green Loop, one of those nice walks provided by Doctor Beeching. I looked at the time and the buses, if I walked down to Roe Green or the top of Duke's Drive I'd miss a bus and have an hour to wait for the next one. So I toddled around this stretch for ten minutes listening to the birdsong before climbing the steps up to Greenleach Lane and getting the 20 back to the Trafford Centre. It had been a nice, gentle Saturday afternoon toddle and no bad thing at that.