Wellacre Country Park

Comma, Wellacre Wood 

I wasn't for wasting what might be the last mild, sunny day before what the newspapers are promising might be fifteen feet of snow but will really be a week of grey and damp in the mid-fifties so I got the 256 into Flixton for a walk round Wellacre Country Park.

Wellacre Wood 

As I walked in from the bus stop by Delamere School the rooks, jackdaws and ring-necked parakeets in the trees were making a racket and blackbirds rummaged about in the undergrowth. The moment I stepped into Wellacre Wood it went dead quiet. It was fairly windy so the creaks and groans of the trees echoed those of my knees and further emphasised the quiet of the birds. I didn't see a one and it was only as I got to the edge of the wood I started to hear the carrion crows and magpies in the fields beyond. A comma butterfly sunning itself in the sunshine at the edge of the wood was a welcome bit of non-leaf movement.

It wasn't terribly busy out in the fields either. A handful of magpies bounced about, a couple of carrion crows fed in a field of cattle and a few woodpigeons flew overhead. It came as a relief to hear a robin singing in the hedgerow.

The long-tailed tits at Jack Lane weren't for having their photos taken.

At first it felt like it was going to be the same in Jack Lane. A couple of magpies cackled in the trees and a moorhen muttered in the reeds as I passed. I was most the way through the path through the reeds when the appearance of a dozen long-tailed tits heralded a mixed tit flock. The long-tailed tits were noisy and conspicuous as they barrelled along through the willows like monkeys. The great tits, blue tits and chiffchaffs were very hard work indeed. They were a lot easier (but not actually easy) to pick up when I bumped into the same flock by the railway embankment a little later, despite the distraction of the blood-curdling cries of a water rail in the reeds on the other side of the path.

By Jack Lane 

There was a smaller mixed tit flock at Dutton's Pond where the mallards were keeping well away from the squabblings of the moorhens. 

Green Hill 

I walked down past Green Hill to Flixton Road, the blue tits and great tits in the hedgerow not really making up any sort of flock. The only birds on the river were three woodpigeons getting a drink.

October's a funny month, very famine-or-feast. Still, if it were predictable it would be boring.

Local patch

Little egret, Lostock Park

If I had my time again I'd be driving all over the shop and let the planet burn. I'd overslept and it was going to be an impossible push to get out for the Liverpool train before ten so I didn't even try. In theory it was perfectly possible to get any number of later trains to go out on the planned excursion, in practice this was Saturday and the service was going to be flaky. In the event the service was non existent after ten o'clock, there just weren't any Northern rail services running the rest of the day. Any suspicion I had of engineering works or some type of unfortunate incident on the line were confounded by all the express trains running by almost punctually, it was just Northern being crap, as per.

I had a plan B which involved waiting for that bus that's always due in nine minutes' time until it disappears and you're waiting for the bus after it. I got fed up of it and went for a walk round my local patch.

Wild cherry, Barton Clough 

The park was, unsurprisingly, busy with people and quiet of birds on a relatively warm, sunny Saturday. Thus it was that I was astonished to see a little egret flying low over the trees over the other side and continue on into Urmston. Not a patch tick I'd anticipated.

Lostock Park 

Other than that it was another very quiet hour's wander about though the blackbird numbers are starting to pick up again. It's been a particularly quiet year for small birds: the chiffchaffs stuck around but the other warblers gave it up as a bad job mid-August and the flocks of goldfinches have been uniformly small family parties. Robin numbers have been down this year and I saw or heard none today which is a worry. I think an overzealous bout of tidying up at the beginning of the year can't have helped.

• Black-headed gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 6
• Carrion crow 1
• Chiffchaff 1
• Feral pigeon 1 overhead 
• Goldfinch 2
• Great tit 1
• Jackdaw 1
• Little egret 1 overhead 
• Long-tailed tit 4
• Magpie 6
• Woodpigeon 11
• Wren 2

Barton Clough, the old freight rail line

A tale of two cities

Goosander, Peel Park

It was one of those days where the sun poked through the clouds every so often for five minutes just to tease then go away again. I was feeling dead lazy but thought I should get a bit of a walk in so I got the bus to Deansgate and had a walk through Castlefield into Salford and along the Irwell from Salford Crescent into Broughton.

Castlefield 

I was just expecting the usual assortment of pigeons, mallards and Canada geese on Castlefield Basin and so there were. A couple of grey wagtails flew about Castlefield Bowl, which was good to see. They used to be regulars around Deansgate Station and Oxford Road and even nested on Deansgate one year but it's been a couple of years since I've seen a pair round there, evidently they've just moved down the road.

Heron, Salford Crescent 

It was an uneventful walk down to Salford Crescent. I had a look at the Irwell as it bends close to the road. A heron sat on a dead branch lodged on the far river bank and almost merged with the detritus of the recent spate. A pair of mallards drifted by and a couple of dabchicks were very busy diving for food.

Dabchick, Salford Crescent 

Goosander, Peel Park 

Drifting down into Peel Park I walked down the river to the bridge. Canada geese and mallards loafed about with some black-headed gulls on the bank and a redhead goosander bobbed about on the water. A subadult lesser black-back which I assumed was loafing on the water was making a terrible racket. Then it picked something out of the water and flew with it onto the bank to feed. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what it was but curiosity got the better of me. It was one of the biggest crayfish I've seen. The gull could be forgiven the noise, those claws meant business and were quickly bitten off.

Lesser black-back

Lesser black-back 

Starling, Salford

I didn't have much hopes of seeing much on The Meadows and I was dead wrong. A mixed tit flock bounced about in the bushes by the bridge and the freshly cut meadow was busy with magpies and carrion crows. Blackbirds and starlings fussed about in the trees, chiffchaffs squeaked and a couple of robins sang. I thought there was just a few blackbirds in one of the rowan trees which was particularly full of berries but I took a second look just in case. It was as well I did: as well as a male blackcap and a song thrush there were five redwings in there.

Mute swan, Salford

A stroll down the river into Broughton was productive. A pair of mute swans drifted upstream while a bunch of mallards drifted downstream and a pair of grey wagtails skittered about the banks. A couple of dozen Canada geese loafed by the bridge with a dozen more mallards. I had one last check round to make sure I hadn't missed anything on the river then got the number 10 bus into Eccles and thence home.

River Irwell, Lower Broughton 

Martin Mere

Lapwings

I thought I'd best get that visit to Martin Mere done while the weather's fine so I got the train to Burscough Bridge and after a bit of a delay arrived in brilliant sunshine. As I walked down Red Cat Lane I said good morning to a chap mowing his lawn and he said: "There's a snow goose at Martin Mere on the plover field behind the mere." I thanked him for the tip and carried on.

Rooks, Burscough 

The rooks were busy and very noisy on the edge of town, congregating in the trees and on the telephone wires. There were a lot more on the fields now the spuds have been dug up and ground ploughed, in the company of dozens of woodpigeons, a small flock of stock doves and a covey of eight red-legged partridges. Over the road in the barley stubble a few more woodpigeons and rooks were outnumbered by jackdaws. A couple of pied wagtails flew overhead and a grey wagtail called from a rooftop.

Red-legged partridges, Red Cat Lane 

Starlings, Red Cat Lane 

I was almost at Curlew Lane when the first waves of pink-footed geese flew overhead, a couple of hundred of them and their evocative calls. Skylarks frolicked in the barley stubble across the road and more called from the corn on the corner of the road which actually was as high as an elephant's eye. A crowd of starlings seemed to be having a competition to see who could sit closest to the telegraph pole on the corner. At the corner of Marsh Moss Road a couple of buzzards quietly caught the thermals and floated over to Martin Mere.

Black-headed gulls and coots

Mallards

Arriving at Martin Mere I went straight to the Discovery Hide for a look at the mere. The water was unsurprisingly high and mostly covered in mallards and coots. A scan round found me handfuls of pintails, teals and shovelers. The bits of the islands still showing above water were densely covered in dozing mallards, lapwings and black-headed gulls, starlings skittering about amongst them. Most of the shelducks are still away in moult, there was just one asleep on one of the rafts. Over on the far bank greylags, Canada geese and cormorants loafed and more starlings skittered around. Further beyond I could see a few cattle egrets bouncing up and down on the grazing cattle. It's odd how blasé I'm getting about cattle egrets in Lancashire.

Marsh harrier

A marsh harrier flew in and put up the lapwings and starlings. As they wheeled about I spotted a couple of snipe in the crowd. The tables were turned on the harrier as it was chased off by angry lapwings.

Lapwing and marsh harrier 

Lapwings and marsh harrier

Lapwing and marsh harrier 

Pink-footed geese 

I could see a lot of pink-footed geese densely packed on the plover field but no sign of a snow goose. A couple of little egrets flew about just to confuse things a bit. I decided I needed a change of angle so bobbed round to the Raines Observatory where I could see a white blob in the crowd. From the Hale Hide I could see enough to be sure it wasn't a carrier bag and a couple of times the snow goose woke up and lifted its head before going straight back to sleep.

Pink-footed geese
Spot the snow goose!

Marsh harrier 

The Ron Barker Hide was packed so I didn't stay long. There was a slightly better view of the snow goose. There weren't any ducks or waders on the pools and only a handful of coots in the drain. The marsh harrier drifting about low over the reeds on the far side of the pool may have been a factor in the drought. A male kingfisher made a cameo appearance, striking poses on a dead branch in front of the hiding before flying off down the drain.

Kingfisher 

I wandered back and drifted over to the reedbed walk. Along the way I passed a small mixed tit flock, so dispersed through the trees as to hardly count as a flock, and a noisy flock of goldfinches on the feeders by the Raines Observatory. A look at the mere from the screens found me a couple of gadwall and a pair of wigeon, the male still in bright ginger eclipse plumage. A Cetti's warbler sang on the approach to the Janet Kear Hide.

Pink-footed geese 

I decided I'd see if there was a better view of the geese to be had by the Rees Hide by the reedbed walk. There was, but the snow goose wasn't among them. Being greedy I looked round for any bean geese or white-fronts and found a couple of Canada geese. All the while I was looking there were migrant hawkers zipping round the vegetation by the path and Southern hawkers patrolling the willow trees and coming over to give me the eyeball which was a bit distracting.

There were more pink-feet swimming and bathing on the pool at the Rees Hide. A few lapwings flew in, tried to find something to land on and gave up and flew away. A couple of ladies asked if I'd seen the snow goose, I said I had but couldn't see it from this side of the reserve. They told me it was at the Harrier Hide.

Snow goose and Canada geese 

On the face of it the Harrier Hide would be an odd place to find a snow goose, it's the haunt of greylags and Canada geese rather than pink-feet. Birds don't pay any attention to where we think they should be so there was the snow goose, showing well and busily preening in a corner of the pool.

Winter Hill from Red Cat Lane 

The walk back to Burscough Bridge as the clouds rolled in would have been quieter than the walk out but for the waves of hundreds of pink-feet flying out to the fields for their late afternoon feed. The rooks were busy in the fields as I passed but they started to fly in to roost with the jackdaws as I waited for the train from the station.

Rooks, Red Cat Lane 

Alkrington Woods

Goldcrest

Being of a naturally awkward disposition my reaction on being offered a very pleasant sunny Autumn day was that I should stay at home reading Chips Own Paper and drinking too much tea. After some internal disputation I decided to have one of those filling in the gaps visits I'd planned for a rainy day. I went into town and got the 59 bus to Middleton, getting off in Rhodes for a visit to Alkrington Woods.

I got off at Croft Gates Road so I could start my walk at the lodges. Crossing Manchester Old Road was the hardest part of the whole adventure. Walking a little down Silburn Way I went through the gates and followed the path running between the lodges and the river, a couple of house martins flying overhead being a reminder of Summer.

Mallards and mute swan, Rhodes Lodges

The pool nearest the entrance, which you can see easily from the bus, was busy with mallards, a few Canada geese and a pair of mute swans. A couple of coots and a moorhen pottered about, a heron stood sentinel on a drowned branch and tufted ducks lurked under waterside willows. A small child arrived and rustled a paper bag and as if by magic a couple of dozen black-headed gulls appeared.

Coot

I was here for the woodland birds and so far was only finding singing robins. It made a nice change having the target species being the bread and butter birds it's too easy to take for granted. 

River Irk

The path drifted over to the trees by the riverbank and I bumped into a couple of magpies. The paths were fine and there were only occasional patches of mud; I had wondered about the wisdom of this visit as the Irk floods at the drop of a hat. As it was, the river flowed loud and fast but within its bounds though you could see plenty of evidence of its having been a bit boisterous lately.

Alkrington Woods 

I was hearing but not seeing long-tailed tits in the trees. Looking round for them I found a couple of goldcrests having a scrap. 

Goldcrests

Goldcrests 

Goldcrest
The goldcrest equivalent of the Tarzan cry after he's beaten a gorilla. It sounds like a faint buzzing.

While I was trying to get pictures of them the mixed tit flock arrived. The blue tits and great tits were conspicuous enough, especially when they came over to churr at me, the chiffchaffs quietly flitted through the tree canopy and the long-tailed tits sidled through the undergrowth like thieves in the night. I came to the conclusion that the goldcrest tagging along with the blue tits was the one that had been chased off in the fight. Don't think for one moment I wasn't looking for yellow-browed warblers, not that I found any.

Alkrington Woods 

I dawdled along the river, bumping into another, smaller, tit flock along the way together with a jay, some chaffinches and a few woodpigeons then eventually drifted into Middleton town centre. There's another, longer, walk to be had South of the river and now I've got a taste for it I'll do that next time.

Sycamore 

Mosses

Pink-footed geese, Little Woolden Moss 

'Twas the first dry day after the downpours, though it was still very grey, very wet and very windy. I decided against pushing my luck with much travelling and pottered over to Irlam for a walk over the mosses.

By Astley Road 

Walking up Astley Road the small birds were undercover, even the Zinnia Close house sparrows were nowhere to be seen or heard. The field of turf closest to the houses had been turned into a small pond. Further out a covey of a dozen grey partridges foraged in the field by Roscoe Road. Ironically, had I been on Roscoe Road I wouldn't have been able to see them.

Grey partridges, Irlam Moss

Up to the Jack Russell's gate I'd seen a dozen more partridges than small birds. That changed as I stood by the wayside to let a heavily laden tractor trundle by. It went slowly so I had plenty of time to pick out what was what in the mixed tit flock in the trees. The dozen long-tailed tits made it easy by coming down to within arm's reach to tell me off, the blue tits, great tits and coal tit were a bit more circumspect. A red admiral butterfly was a surprise.

At Prospect Grange a trio of mistle thrushes, two of them juveniles still with that hint of mildew in the plumage, sat on the telegraph wires with a couple of dozen starlings.

Astley Road 

The turf field immediately to the South of the motorway was littered with three dozen pied wagtails and a buzzard, the one immediately to the North had fifty-odd pied wagtails, about a hundred black-headed gulls and a handful each of herring gulls and lesser black-backs. Further down a black line on the turf in the distance was a flock of a couple of dozen lapwings and a similar number of starlings. A male kestrel was hovering over the rough beyond the stables.

Walking past the stables I was shocked when a sheep jumped up at a stall and bleated loudly at me. I wasn't sure if it was on the naughty step or had got in somehow and couldn't work out how to get back out, either way it was in no distress and I wasn't going to interfere any.

I got to Four Lanes End where a pair of kestrels seemed to be hunting in concert. Further out, to the North of Lavender Lane, a cloud of woodpigeons and jackdaws had been put up by a buzzard and the female marsh harrier.

By Lavender Lane 

The walk had been dry for the most part so far. Here I had to negotiate a couple of big puddles where the land drains had overflowed. The water level in these is usually a couple of feet below the field margins.

Pink-footed geese, Little Woolden Moss 

Little Woolden Moss was in a giving mood. Robins and wrens called in the trees, goldfinches, linnets and reed buntings flitted about and the usual gang of carrion crows broke off from whatever it was they were up to to give the marsh harrier a hard time. Mallards went to and fro between the pools and the fields beyond and a pair of Canada geese loafed on a bund. A lot of noise heralded the arrival of a flock of pink-footed geese that settled on the barley stubble in the field to the North of the reserve.

Pink-footed geese, Little Woolden Moss

Pink-footed geese, Little Woolden Moss

Pink-footed geese, Little Woolden Moss

Pink-footed geese, Little Woolden Moss

Walking back I was stopped by a couple in a car who were visiting for the first time. I told them where the car park is and that the paths were good to walk on despite the rain. They asked about short-eared owls, I reckoned it was a bit early for them but you never know your luck. I have to admit I'd been keeping half an eye out for them myself on account of the grim weather. Another couple were parked up by Four Lanes End, they were also hoping for shorties. We had a chat and compared dodgy knees (I've nothing to complain about in comparison) and I wished them luck.

Grey wagtail, Chat Moss 

Walking down Twelve Yards Road I was surprised to find five swallows hawking low over the rough pasture. And even more surprised to find a juvenile grey wagtail fossicking about one of the potholes on the road.

Pink-footed geese, Chat Moss 

Fifty-odd pink-footed geese fed on the barley stubble by the road, keeping to the far side of the field. A murder of a couple of dozen carrion crows lurked in a corner with a dozen jackdaws, I couldn't work out why they'd congregated in that particular spot. A couple of young, beardless ravens cronked overhead, chiffchaffs called in the young willows and there were woodpigeons all over the shop.

Barn owl, Chat Moss 

It was delightful to see a barn owl hunting over one of the fields with the osier plantations. It showed well, if distant, then flew over the road and disappeared in some rough pasture.

Twelve Yards Road 

It was a very quiet walk down Cutnook Lane. I bumped into another chiffchaff as I crossed over the motorway then I walked down to the bus stop for the 100 back to the Trafford Centre. It had been an odd afternoon's birdwatching, I'd seen a hell of a lot but it hadn't felt remotely busy. Some days creep up on you like that.