Local patch

Barton Clough, the old freight line

It was a sunny Sunday and it being Sunday we had no trains and our local geography being such that one hole in the road cuts us off from the world we had no buses. I didn't feel like being overly adventurous and wanted to avoid the crowds so I had a quiet wander round the park and into the old cornfields. 

There was a fair amount about, mostly singing undercover. One pair of chiffchaffs escorted me away from one corner of the park, another chiffchaff sang from another. There were two, perhaps three, singing blackcaps from the brambles on the strip of land owned by United Utilities, I wasn't sure if it was one or two whitethroats. It was good to hear so many singing greenfinches. 

Overhead there was a steady passage of lesser black-backs, I bobbed over towards the Trafford Centre and could see they were congregating over there, circling the car parks. From a gull's point of view I don't suppose there's a lot of difference between a car park and a school playground.

• Blackbird 7, 4 singing 
• Blackcap, 2 singing 
• Blue tit 1 juvenile
• Carrion crow 2
• Chaffinch 1 singing 
• Chiffchaff 3, 1 singing 
• Dunnock 1
• Goldcrest 1 singing 
• Goldfinch 6
• Great tit 1
• Greenfinch 3, 2 singing 
• Herring gull 1 overhead 
• Lesser black-back 8 overhead 
• Magpie 7, 2 juveniles
• Robin 2
• Song thrush 2 singing 
• Whitethroat 1 singing 
• Woodpigeon 5
• Wren 2 singing