Woolston Eyes

Sparrowhawks, Woolston Weir

I decided it was time for a visit to Pennington Flash so I headed for the Trafford Centre to get the buses to Leigh. Except that with roadworks and whatnot the 25 was very late to turn up and even later to get there and I just missed both the 126 and 132 which are scheduled to leave the Trafford Centre half an hour apart. I had forty-nine minutes to wait for the next 126 so I played bus station bingo, the only proviso being that I wasn't getting the 100 for a walk on the mosses. The 100 was the only bus to turn up so I bought a £2 single ticket and had a think as to whereabouts in Warrington I'd be going. I thought it might be an opportunity to have a wander round Rixton Claypits but according to Google Maps this closes at 2:30pm (I've since then had a look on Warrington Council's web site and this is nonsense). So I got off at Weir Lane and followed the footpath down to the river, onto the Mersey Way and headed for Woolston Weir.

Speckled wood, Woolston 

It was nice walking weather, the path was good and walking along Battery Road a pair of ravens filled the air with croaks as they soared high over the rooftops. Lesser black-backs sat on chimneys, magpies and woodpigeons rummaged in gardens, goldfinches twittered, chiffchaffs squeaked and great tits quietly disappeared into brambles. 

River Mersey 

I joined the path by the river where the blackberries were good and the elderberries delicious, a word I've never associated with elderberries before. I only bother with them because they're reputed to include a compound that helps relieve arthritis. Mallards dabbled and quacked by the sides of the river, a few coots and moorhens hugged the banks. As I approached the old Woolston Wharf a pair of sparrowhawks rose from the trees opposite and danced about each other in the sky.

Sparrowhawks, Woolston Weir 

Sparrowhawk, Woolston Weir 

As I got to the weir the mallards were joined by parties of gadwalls. Like as not these were locals, nearby Woolston Eyes hosts hundreds of them from all over the Northwest in midsummer moulting flocks.

Gadwalls, Woolston Weir 

River Mersey at Woolston Weir
Part of the river flows left, most goes dead ahead. Woolston Eyes nature reserve on the far bank, the path I walked on the near bank.

I wandered over to the weir gates to cross the river. The Mersey splits here, most of it going straight over the weir and a side branch taking a detour round Woolston Eyes before rejoining the main flow slightly downstream. A pair of mute swans cruised the bankside, a great crested grebe swam in close before ducking under the gates and swimming upstream. Over on the Cheshire side Canada geese and coots dozed, gadwalls dabbled, a heron lurked on the bank and another great crested grebe was sitting on a nest.

Great crested grebe, Woolston Weir 

Mute swan, Woolston Weir 

Canada geese and coots, Woolston Weir 

I followed the zigzag path up to the top of the bank and followed it along. I've not got a permit for crossing over onto the nature reserve so I stuck to this path. Chiffchaffs and wrens marked my passing, goldfinches twittered and brown hawkers patrolled the tops of the bracken beside the path. I spent a few minutes trying and failing to get photos of the brown hawkers as they zipped about. Unlike birds, which tend to have a predictable trajectory in flight, dragonflies can turn on a sixpence and can fly backwards so I'm not too surprised when I don't get the photo.

Woolston Eyes 

A juvenile sparrowhawk called from the trees behind the bank on my left but didn't get any answering calls from the adults. Over above the Eyes a buzzard called as it soared over the treetops. A bright white object in the trees by the river caught my eye. It turned out to be the belly of a young juvenile cormorant. I'd been hearing but not seeing the lapwings over on the reserve a flock of a dozen of them flew overhead to join them. The greylags I kept hearing remained invisible.

Juvenile cormorant, Woolston Eyes 

Woolston Eyes 

The path descended down to the Ship Canal, the brown hawkers of the open bracken being replaced by the Southern hawkers of the light woodland. Great tits, blue tits, wrens and goldfinches flitted about, chiffchaffs squeaked in willow trees, a couple of robins ran through vocal exercises that were almost but not quite song. As I approached the ferry, which is apparently still a thing though there's no indication as to how to call it or how much it may cost, a bullfinch wheezed in the trees by the canal before flying off into the reserve.

Thelwall Lane 

Wild carrot

It always feels a bit deflating to leave the tree-lined path and negotiate the potholes of Thelwall Lane by the builders' yard. It's only a short walk, though, before you can cut off it and onto Latchford Locks to walk over into Thelwall. A few dozen black-headed gulls loafed on the locks, mallards and lesser black-backs drifted on the canal and pigeons dozed on the lock gates. 

Latchford Locks 

I had ten minutes to wait for the Cat5 bus to Altrincham. Along the way I made up for the complete lack of hirundines along my walk with half a dozen swallows hawking low over the fields on Lymm Road and a house martin over the houses in Rushgreen.

River Mersey at Crossford Bridge, Sale and Cheshire on the left, Stretford and Lancashire on the right

I got off the bus at the top of Washway Road in Sale and watched the 263 bus into Stretford go by as I was waiting to cross the road. It was half an hour for the next bus, by which time I could walk into Stretford town centre and be halfway home. It's a miserable walk, though, as a large part of it involves negotiating the motorway slip roads before then having to work around the roadworks which are causing as much hassle to pedestrians as motorists. The next bus was a 245 which gets me ten minutes' walk from home, I reckoned I could walk up to Bradley Road, have quarter of an hour nosying around to see what was on the fields then walk back over the river for the bus. So I did. There were chiffchaffs, greenfinches and robins in the hedgerows, dozens of woodpigeons and jackdaws in the fields and a buzzard in the trees by the motorway.

Sweetcorn, Stretford

I walked back to the bus stop with a couple of minutes to spare before the bus came. I'd almost forgotten the plan was to go to Pennington Flash.