Stretford

I was feeling very complacent about the after- effects of yesterday's walk right up to the point when I decided to trot upstairs for something and my knees said: "Told you so!" Which turned out to be nothing a bit of a walk couldn't sort out. I was in a mood for a bit of a potter about so I decided to give a couple of local parks a good going over rather than the glances in passing I've been doing since lockdown. Neither have the bit of wild scrub joining onto them like Lostock Park and it shows in the general lack of warblers to be found in them.

Victoria Park 

Victoria Park

Victoria Park's about the same size as Lostock Park but has a lot more trees in it and more of a mixture including mature conifers, mostly larches. Any other time of year this is a good place for titmice and nuthatches, this time of year they're busy and mostly staying undercover. And so it was today. Unusually it was a coal tit that came closest to being conspicuous as it sang in the canopy of a larch tree.

• Blackbird 8
• Carrion crow 1
• Coal tit 1
• Dunnock 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great tit 1
• House sparrow 7
• Jackdaw 1
• Lesser black-back 1
• Magpie 3
• Robin 6 
• Woodpigeon 3
• Wren 1

Moss Park

Moss Park

Moss Park is a smaller bit of grass and play area next to Moss Park School, perhaps two-thirds the size of Victoria Park. In Winter this is the likeliest place for me to find chaffinches locally and a couple of pairs breed in nearby gardens. Just this once a didn't find a one of them, it doesn't do to take anything for granted.

• Blackbird 6
• Blue tit 1
• Carrion crow 2
• Goldfinch 3
• House sparrow 6
• Jackdaw 2
• Lesser black-back 1
• Magpie 5
• Robin 1 
• Starling 1
• Swift 5
• Woodpigeon 15