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