Salford bumper bundle

Mute swan cygnet and coots, Blackleach Country Park 

It was raining more heavily than the forecast had promised and I made the mistake of thinking I'd wait for it to ease up before going for a walk, giving the cat an opportunity to go to sleep on my knee. I escaped and sloped off, hoping to make it to Pennington Flash some time before the sun went supernova but not having much faith in the local bus services' facilitating this. Given the impacts of the roadworks in Stretford and Davyhulme I'd like as not end up playing bus station bingo again. The dozen black-headed gulls loafing on the school playing field and the swift passing low over Humphrey Park Station cheered me up a little about the afternoon's prospects.

Bus station bingo had me getting the 22. I didn't fancy having a walk round Clifton Country Park so I havered between getting off in Kearsley and bobbing over the motorway into Blackleach Country Park or getting off in Moses Gate and walking through to Moses Gate Country Park. Then I noticed the bus passes reasonably near to the entrance of some parkland by Folly Brook I've not visited and seeing as this month seems to be one for filling in gaps I got off at Leigh Avenue, walked through to South Avenue and onto the parkland.

Folly Brook's in there somewhere 

It was dismal weather, a reminder that the Test Match starts at Old Trafford on Wednesday. There's not a lot of Folly Brook and what there was was choked in Himalayan Balsam and assorted whatnot. A couple of magpies rattled in the trees and a chiffchaff squeaked in the undergrowth. I seem to be writing "a chiffchaff squeaked…" a lot lately, an indication of how quiet it's been. 

Campbell Road Wood 

I walked over the paths to Campbell Road Wood, yet another tiny bit of pocket woodland that's part of the Red Rose Forest, providing stepping stones between more extensive bits of woodland in the area, in this case the next stone is the Swinton Greenway which runs NNE from Monton Road to Victoria Park in Swinton and passes by about a hundred yards from Campbell Road Wood. It's the wrong time of year to be exploring new bits of woodland: a couple of chiffchaffs squeaked; a couple of goldfinches twittered about in the treetops; woodpigeons, magpies and carrion crows rummaged about. It's a nice little wood, though, and I liked that there was a lot of variation in the spacing of the trees and it looked like some coppicing had been done twenty-odd years ago giving a lot of structural variety in such a small space.

Swinton Greenway 

I climbed up a steep path and found myself on the Swinton Greenway. This is yet another old railway walk, closed by disaster rather than Doctor Beeching this time — the Clifton Hall Tunnel collapsed in 1951 and blocked the line forever. More chiffchaffs and goldfinches were joined by wrens and great tits and a couple of robins were tuning up for song. A ring-necked parakeet and a couple of blackbirds called from the private parkland (I think it's attached to the golf course) to the East of the Greenway and house martins twitted low overhead as I passed under the East Lancs Road and into Swinton. A swift passed by as I walked past the football pitch. They seem to be lingering this year.

I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to repeat the walk but it might be a useful add-on to another.

I got to Manchester Road just as the 37 to Bolton was coming along so I got that thinking I could get off somewhere along the way for the bus back to the Trafford Centre. Then I remembered this is the bus that goes past Blackleach Country Park, it would be daft not to have a quick look round.

Black-headed gulls, mallards and coots, Blackleach Country Park 

Mute swan cygnets and coots, Blackleach Country Park 

It was pouring down as I got off the bus and walked over to the country park. Goldfinches twittered in the trees and chiffchaffs squeaked, but you knew that. Out on the lake dozens of coots, mallards and black-headed gulls loafed and drifted in the rain. There were a few young coots and black-headed gulls in the crowds. The raft of half a dozen tufted ducks near the South bank were mostly females, there were a few males peppered about amongst the mallards. For some reason three large mute swan cygnets kept in with the coots well away from the herd of adults to the North. It took me a long time to find the great crested grebe sitting on an island. 

Blackleach Country Park 

I walked round to Hill Top, got the 37 back into Swinton and the 22 to the Trafford Centre. I just missed the 25 so got the 250 and walked through Lostock Park where the woodpigeons were debating whether to carry on browsing on the field or get into the trees out of the rain. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing going on. 

Over on the school playing field when I got home 104 black-headed gulls shared the field with 39 lesser black-backs. It feels like Autumn's come early.