Wellacre Country Park

Juvenile long-tailed tit

It was a grey, cloudy day and distinctly cool for June. The weather forecast didn't push a pollen count alert at me so I decided to go for a toddle round Wellacre Country Park. I got the 256 down to Town's Gate and the path past Wellacre School into Wellacre Wood. The extremely muddy way was testament to the weekend's heavy rain.

Wellacre Wood 

Blackbirds, robins, chiffchaffs and a blackcap sang in the bushes by the path and house sparrows rummaged about in the brambles. The wood was noisy with song, the blackbirds competing with the song thrushes and the wrens, for once, barely got a look in. There was a lot of furtive movement in the undergrowth, some of it great tits and robins, some of it jays. A family of long-tailed tits passed close overhead before realising I wasn't part of the furniture and filling the soundscape with disgusted tuts as they skipped off all of one tree ahead of me.

Creeping ivy being creepy

The horses were in the fields and were accompanied by magpies and woodpigeons. Hirundines and wagtails were unusually absent though there were swallows hawking over the stables and a few sand martins over the water treatment works over by Irlam Locks.

Walking to Jack Lane, looking back at Wellacre Wood 

The path to Jack Lane was extremely muddy, the first time I've had the tops of my boots wet for over a month. I strolled down to the nature reserve to see what was about, I could already hear there were blackbirds, chiffchaffs, robins and wrens.

I was fated not to get a proper photo of this reed warbler

The reedbeds were relatively quiet though the usual two reed warblers sang at each other across the causeway. Both pairs were extremely active though not so busy they couldn't come over and tell me to go away as I walked by. I accidentally found one of the nests when I was looking to see where a young moorhen was calling from. I actively don't look for nests, that way I'm not tempted to cause any disturbance, so I moved on quickly. (The same applies to all the corvids' nests I see early in the year: once they're covered by leaves I don't go looking for them and wait to see what comes out. It's bad field biology but I'm just an old bloke going for a walk, not a field biologist so I've no excuse for making a nuisance of myself.) Even though I was well away from the nest (or possibly because I was near one I wasn't aware of) one of the reed warblers escorted me out of the reedbed.

Sixth time unlucky

It was far too cold for any butterflies or dragonflies, which is a bit worrying the second week of June. Aside from a few whirligig beetles there wasn't a lot of conspicuous insect life about, not even a cloud of midges. (I can live without midges but a lot of wildlife would struggle.)

Jack Lane Local Nature Reserve 

Walking down the path by the railway embankment there was a lot of activity in the bushes as blue tits and chiffchaffs flitted about in the hawthorns and a large family of great tits bounced about in the willow trees with some blackbirds and a pair of robins.

Wellacre Country Park 

The only swifts of the day passed by but didn't stop as I approached Dutton's Pond. There were a few anglers on the pond but that didn't put off the moorhens and their chicks and they paddled around the open water and padded about on the water lilies.

Green Hill

The hayfever had kicked in, though not yet badly. I decided not to walk up Green Hill for a stroll across the meadow. Instead I took the straight route over to Carrington Road, passing a lot of woodpigeons, some great tits and a coal tit and listening to blackbirds, chiffchaffs, wrens and a song thrush.

There were no birds on the river as I walked by it though there was no shortage of singing blackbirds, chiffchaffs, wrens and goldfinches. I looked at the colour of the clouds and decided I'd had a decent stroll and it would be as well not to push my luck any.