Lazy day

There are days during the Summer when I'm so exhausted from fighting the hay fever that I feel like a puppet with the strings cut. Today was one of those days. Entirely my own fault: earlier in the week I noticed I hadn't stocked up on antihistamines and decided to do without for a bit as after all it's barely Spring, there's no grass pollen about and I can't be all that allergic to the cat can I? Day two of the experiment had me wiping my nose every two minutes so I gave in and nipped out to the chemist's. Today, after an atrocious night's sleep, I think they're starting to kick in. The plan for today was a visit to Marshside but I kicked that into touch. Instead I'd have a local walk after I'd run an errand. I got back from the shop and went back to bed.

Which was a waste of another bright, cool day. The spadgers, with a lot of help from a flock of goldfinches, emptied the seed feeders in the back garden. I only had enough sunflower seed in for one and a half feeders but had a bag of mealworms for the spadgers to have a go at before the starlings notice and scoff the lot.

The woodpigeons are canoodling in the sycamores, the jackdaws and collared doves are paired up and I noticed one of the magpies taking sticks into the failed nest in one of the roadside alders. The first hint of sunshine and the garden's full of birdsong. It won't be long before I'll be lying in bed confusing blackcaps and garden warblers in the dawn chorus.

I'm pretty sure the dunnock's escaped from the washhouse though I haven't done an exhaustive search.

The parakeet comes into the garden first thing and last thing on its way out to wherever from the roost on Stretford Meadows. It doesn't linger, just making a lot of noise from the top of the tree before moving on. I'm quite happy with that state of affairs.

Pennington Flash

Bullfinch 

One of the things that's been putting me off going to Pennington Flash lately is the amount of time involved hanging round bus stations getting there and back. I'm beginning to think it would be easier getting the train to Wigan and bussing it from there.

It was a bright, sunny if cool day so I didn't mind so much kicking my heels at the Trafford Centre for half an hour watching the local buzzard over the golf range. The combination of new schedule and roadworks means that the 132 to Wigan and the 126 to Leigh turn up at the same time and have a race to see who gets to park in the shared bay. So I got the 126 and didn't have long to wait for the 610, which is very regular, and was soon walking into Pennington Flash.

Pennington Flash, by the St Helens Road entrance 

Robins, woodpigeons, blue tits and a goldcrest sang in the hedgerows as I walked down to the car park. I looked in vain for any frogspawn in the little pool that overflows onto the path by the meadow. The brook still had that scoured look after the floods and a couple of drake mallards looked to be having a thin time of it.

Black-headed gulls 

It was a sunny day so the car park was busy with people and so it was busy with birds, mostly mallards, coots and black-headed gulls. The mute swans and most of the Canada geese were more concerned with striking poses as they cruised along the bankside. It was reassuring to see a car park oystercatcher after a long absence though I don't know if this was the original or a successor to the role.

Oystercatcher

Mute swans and oystercatcher

The tufted ducks were all over by the other shore with a raft of coots. A big raft of loafing herring gulls floated midwater with a few lesser black-backs and a couple of common gulls. Two great black-backs steamed around like dreadnoughts at the Henley Regatta. Walking down a bit I could see a dozen goldeneyes on the water, the males doing a lot of jerky head-bobbing to impress the ladies. Further out yet there were odd ones and twos of cormorants and great crested grebes. I haven't seen any pochards here so far this year which is unusual, most winters there'll be half a dozen or so rubbing shoulders with the tufties.

Black-headed gulls, goldeneyes and herring gull

Black-headed gulls 

The cold wind blew even colder in the F.W.Horrocks Hide which can contrive to feel chilly on a Summer's day. A crowd of black-headed gulls were bathing at the near end of the spit, herring gulls, cormorants, lapwings and oystercatchers crowded at the far end. A distant pair of great crested grebes were doing the preliminary head-shaking and shadowing moves of a courtship dance but kept getting interrupted by another individual wanting to get in on the act.

Herons and little egret

A couple of little egrets dozed with the herons on the bank opposite the Tom Edmondson Hide. Pairs of gadwalls puttered about on the pool and an invisible dabchick was very vocal. I expect it was around the corner over on the far side, they often drift out from that way.

At Ramsdales Hide 

Ramsdales was quiet, a dozen teal dozed and dabbled by one of the islands and a redhead goosander drifted along one of the channels. Over the far side a great white egret stalked the long grass on the bank. It's about ten years since I saw my first one and now they're almost a commonplace.

Coming out of Ramsdales I had a chat with another birder who reassured me that the usual Cetti's warbler is still around, I was just being unlucky in bumping into it.

Pengy's pool

Pengy's pool was very quiet indeed: a couple of pairs of gadwalls, a pair of mallards and a dabchick. The ducks were spending most of their time lurking in the reeds.

Reed bunting 

In contrast, the feeding station at the Bunting Hide was like Grand Central Station, the squirrels being crowded out on the ground by stock doves, moorhens and reed buntings, and on the feeders by titmice, nuthatches and bullfinches. A family of long-tailed tits bustled their way through the crowds on the seed feeder before being crowded out in turn by great tits. The willow tits tended to slip in to grab seed from the bird table whenever a nuthatch was in possession of it. The bullfinches leapt in willy-nilly in between striking poses on branches.

Nuthatch 

Nuthatch 

Bullfinch 

Moorhen 

Stock dove 

Reed bunting 

Reed bunting 

Long-tailed tit

Bullfinches 

I was ready to go home but was very conscious that I hadn't seen any shovelers today. I wandered round to the Charlie Owen Hide where, amongst the gadwalls and mallards, there was just the one pair of shovelers dozing by the far bank.

Walking to the Charlie Owen Hide 

The journey home was a nightmare. I'd walked through into Leigh Sports Village and was going to walk through to get a bus into Leigh from St Helens Road when I noticed I'd only five minutes to wait for the 597 bus which would get me to the bus station with loads of time to get the 126 back. Twenty-odd minutes later when it turned up I was starting to look at the other options for getting home. (At least part of the reason why the bus was late is that due to roadworks it has to double back almost to where it started to get out of the sports village complex). Unfortunately most of the other options weren't any better than waiting an hour for the next 126. So I got the 19 into Warrington because that would give me quarter of an hour to walk across the road, buy a ticket and get the train home. I've no idea how we lost twenty minutes on the journey time, the traffic was clear up to that last half mile in Warrington town centre. So I had a three-quarter hour wait for the train to Urmston and made my way home from there, arriving a good quarter of an hour later than if I'd just hung around Leigh bus station for the hour. There are times why I wonder why I do this to myself, one of the reasons for writing this blog is the reminder that there the considerable upsides more than outweigh the hassle.

Pennington Flash 

Mosses

Buzzard

It was one of those days which wasn't sure whether or not to be mild and sunny or cold and wet or some combination thereof. I wasn't sure that I wanted to be bothered with it but in the end I decided to have a wander round New Moss Wood and then depending on the weather or my mood I could walk up to Little Woolden Moss or beat a retreat back into Cadishead, or else I could take that footpath across from Moss Road to Astley Road I keep clocking as I walk past it.

New Moss Wood 

I got the train to Irlam and walked past the allotments to Moss Road and walked up to the wood. With my typical timing I chose a day when a team was thinning the trees. It sounded like they were working in the corner away from the road near the railway line so I took the paths away from there and whenever in doubt I followed the path that already had stacks of felled timber, which turned out to work just fine.

It was damp underfoot 

New Moss Wood 

The tree felling didn't stop the robins and goldfinches singing. Nor did it stop the great tits and wrens rummaging about amongst the felled logs. A great spotted woodpecker flew across one of the rides as I walked along and a flock of redwings flew in from across the road. I'm doing well for seeing redwings this Winter, in marked contrast to fieldfares which have been few and far between. The usual buzzard was patrolling the woodland fringe away from the road. I was idly speculating whether there'd be any frogspawn in a pool amongst the willows when I accidentally disturbed a pair of mallards. Their indignant quacking could probably be heard for miles.

Walking over to Astley Road 

It had been mostly sunny as I walked through the wood, so long as I didn't look West. I decided I'd do the walk over to Astley Road, I didn't want to push my luck any. My progress over a broken stile was ungainly but sufficient and I toddled along the path beside the field drain. Lapwings were doing their display flights in the sown field of grass on my side of the drain, rooks, stock doves and woodpigeons rummaged about the stubble field on the other side and skylarks skittered about in both when they weren't doing low-level flight songs. The stock doves got skittish when a buzzard flew by. It flew overhead and joined the bird in the wood and they circled each other at treetop height calling all the while before disappearing behind the trees.

Buzzard

The promise that is Springtime 

Looking back at the buzzards I noticed a band of filthy weather coming our way at a rate of knots. The edge of it hit just as I was approaching Astley Road, I reckon I would have been very wet had I headed for Little Woolden Moss. As it was it was damp enough for me to decide to head back home. The goldfinches and woodpigeons gathered in the trees along the roadside, the blackbirds retreated into the hawthorns and a chaffinch decided to break into song. As I passed Zinnia Close the privets were noisy with spadgers and a flock of black-headed gulls floated overhead into the wind. As I walked down to the station the sun came back out and it was quite pleasant when I got off the train and walked home.

Astley Road 

The first job when I got home was to check the washhouse. I'd been looking out of the living room window at lunchtime and got to wondering why a cock sparrow was making a fuss around the washhouse window. It took me a while to realise that it wasn't the sparrow's reflection in the window I was seeing. I went out and investigated. A dunnock had crept in under the gap in the door and was fluttering about the window trying to get out. No amount of trying to shepherd it out through the open door was any use, it went and hid amongst the old plant pots. The door's seen better days, to put it mildly, so I removed the bottom panel and pulled it shut, leaving a foot-high gap for the dunnock to find its way out again. There was no sign of it when I got home, hopefully the dunnock I saw bouncing round in the blackcurrant bushes was the same bird. I'll have to get some marine plywood to repair that door with. There are times I could do with being able to put the cat and the garden birds down as dependents for tax purposes.

Oxenhope

Greylag geese, Leeshaw Reservoir 

The day started with a big, burly first-Winter yellow-legged gull amongst the morning throng on the school playing field. The peculiar combination of brown upperparts and white head and breast jumped out amongst the other gulls, I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't a great black-back which would be only the second I've seen here. (It was big but not that big.) The buggers never turn up outside school hours so I can get a photo of them.

I'd decided to head over to Yorkshire to see the red-necked grebe at Leeshaw Reservoir just outside Oxenhope. I'd been spoiled rotten with last year's bird near Scarborough, I didn't imagine I'd get that close a view this time but it would be nice to see one again.

River Calder, Hebden Bridge 

It had been a cloudy but dry day at home, it was raining in Yorkshire, that thin stuff that kids you into thinking you can leave your raincoat behind when you look out of the window. I had forty minutes to wait at Hebden Bridge for the B3 Brontë Bus. I spent the time getting a cup of tea and watching the jackdaws chi-ack a pair of buzzards floating over the station then had a mooch around the river and canal, the mallards preferring the river and the Canada geese the canal.

We had to stop for roadworks at Bedlam Slack 

We passed the rain belt as we went over the tops out of Hebden Bridge and left the jackdaws behind. The scenery was splendid and worth the trip out on its own. The clouds gathered as the bus came down towards Oxenhope and raindrops started spattering the window.

The plan had been to take the bus to the stop on Marsh Lane and walk the mile or so to the reservoir. Unfortunately the bus was diverted due to roadworks and couldn't get any closer than the stop near the station. Which wasn't a great hardship, just adding half a mile to the walk though I could have done without the last uphill stretch to Marsh Lane with a strong breeze blowing rain in my ear.

Marsh Lane

Looking back towards Oxenhope 

That strong breeze was in my face all the way to the reservoir. Every so often the thick drizzle would become a heavy shower of horizontal rain. I wondered why I do this but was very much enjoying the scenery. Robins and great tits sang, goldfinches twittered and jackdaws noisily bounced about the fields.

The field beyond the trees on Oxenhope Common held a couple of hundred black-headed gulls together with a dozen or so herring gulls, a similar number of greylags and a few mallards. Further along a flock of curlews called loudly as the wind blew them over the slopes.

I'd seen the reservoir from the bus as we approached Oxenhope. I couldn't see it from the road and I couldn't find a way onto the maintenance road running by the reservoir that didn't have a locked gate in the way. There have been some good photos of the grebe posted on social media so there must be in a way in I couldn't find. 

Leeshaw Reservoir 

I retraced my steps and followed a footpath up the hill by the corner of the road that gave me an overview of the reservoir. The light was tricky: the wind was scudding the clouds past and at any moment the light could be bright or dark, flat or high contrast. The raft of herring gulls, lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls merged in and out with the greys of the very choppy water as the light changed.

I was having no luck finding a grebe of any sort. Then I saw a greylag sitting on its own on the water. If I could have missed a greylag that long I could have missed a grebe so I set about scanning the reservoir again. All the time I was searching there was a background cacophony from a mixed flock of Canada geese and greylags on the field on the far side of the reservoir and a dozen oystercatchers getting giddy in the wind on the waterside.

Ironically, it was when I lowered my binoculars to give my arms a rest I spotted the grebe. The light caught it as it rode the crest of a wave. I lost it as I put the bins to my eyes but I knew roughly where to look and picked it up a minute or two later. It wasn't the best of views, distant and backlit, but the solid-looking grey neck ruled out great crested grebe and confirmed I had the red-necked grebe in my sights. I lingered a bit in the rain in the hopes of getting a better view but it wasn't happening.

As I started back down the path a flock of greylags rose from the field by the reservoir and headed over to the common.

Walking back to Marsh Lane

I checked the times, I was okay for the bus back to Hebden Bridge. As I walked back the rain stopped and the sun threatened to come out a few times. Noisy gangs of rooks joined the jackdaws and greenfinches joined the goldfinches. The walking was considerably easier with a strong, warm breeze on my back.

Sparrowhawk, Oxenhope Millennial Green

I got into Oxenhope with quarter of an hour to spare for the bus so I had a quick look at the Millennial Green by the road that had been closed. There had been plenty of robins, blue tits, great tits and sparrows in the gardens I'd walked past so I was surprised there weren't any birds in the trees by the stream. Then I saw the sparrowhawk having a bath. It spotted me and flew up onto a branch so it could give me a hard glare.

The scenery on the bus ride back was just as splendid and crowds of rooks joined the jackdaws in the fields as we came back down towards Hebden Bridge.

I'd had pretty much my worst view of a red-necked grebe but I'd seen it, I'd had an inexpensive day out in Pennine scenery and had had a bit of exercise so I wasn't complaining.

A bit of a wander

Old Eeas Brook,
Cob Kiln Brook

It was a bright, sunny day right up to the point when I put my boots on. Then there was a crack of thunder and a hailstorm. I shrugged my shoulders and put my raincoat on, I needed a walk. By which time it was a bright, sunny day.

I wandered down to Cob Kiln Wood, birds singing all the way. Most were robins but the spadgers, starlings and woodpigeons weren't being shy. 

At the entrance of the wood on Torbay Road the first of the many song thrushes I'd be hearing this afternoon were belting out their songs. Great tits and long-tailed tits bounced about in the undergrowth and a small flock of redwings tutted in the treetops. The going was very muddy so I didn't cross the electricity pylon clearing, getting in's okay but the exit can be a quagmire at the best of times. I passed lots of singing robins and woodpigeons plundering the last of the ivy berries. Blackbirds rummaged in the undergrowth, chaffinches and bullfinches in the treetops and blue tits bounced their way through hawthorn bushes. The robins and song thrushes were punctuated every so often by singing coal tits and goldcrests. It's the last meteorological day of Winter and they were ready for Spring. As I joined Cob Kiln Lane and walked down towards the river the almost-inevitable pair of parakeets screeched through the trees.

Cob Kiln Wood 

The little shape by the mallards upstream on the river was a dabchick. I very rarely see them on the river, it's always a suprise when I do. Unlike the cormorant fishing downstream.

Banky Lane was more than a little damp so I stuck to the National Cycle Route rather than exploring the side lanes down to the river on Banky Meadow. It was fairly quiet save robins and wrens, the woodpigeons, magpies and carrion crows quietly went about their business and a pair of mallards flying by were uncharacteristically silent.

Banky Lane 

I crossed the road into Ashton-on-Mersey and found myself heading for Carrington Moss. I wondered if I'd have the legs for the walk over to Broadheath or if I'd walk up Isherwood Road into Carrington for the bus home. The wooded pathway was noisy with robins, magpies and song thrushes but I could hear skylarks out in the fields.

Heading across the fields to the rugby training ground the fields were busy. A flock of skylarks bounced about in the stubble, every so often one would rise and sing. Carrion crows, pigeons and magpies rummaged about in the grass, the woodpigeons and stock doves kept to themselves over in another field.

Carrington Moss 

Walking past the rugby pitches the path became horrendously muddy. A chap with a quad bike had made sure of this. After a hundred yards I gave up in disgust and turned back. I'd noticed a path heading towards the riding centre so I joined that and wandered down it, passing more skylarks and long-tailed tits along the way. I then joined a rough path following the electricity pylons to Ashton Road. The clearing was busy with robins and dunnocks, the trees either side with titmice and redwings. A passing flock of black-headed gulls skimmed the treetops before heading on to Sale.

Ashton Road 

I joined Ashton Road and headed into Sale, got the 249 into Altrincham and got the 247 home. I hadn't explored much of this side of Carrington Moss before, it made a nice change and it's made me wonder about doing an East-West walk across to the industrial estate next time.

Lancashire bumper bundle

Wigeon, Banks Marsh

It was the calm day between wet'n'windy and the Sunday weather warning of gales so I thought I'd head over to Banks Marsh, stopping off along the way for a nosy at Longton Brickcroft. And it turned out to be a very nice Spring day.

Magpies, Humphrey Park 

The kids were playing football on the school field so the teenage gangs of magpies gathered in the trees at Humphrey Park Station to flirt, strut, chatter and make a nuisance of themselves to the resident carrion crows.

I got the train to Preston (my monthly travel card takes me as far as Blackrod, I got a return from Blackrod to Preston just in case I was coming back this way as it was only 70p more than the single fare) and caught the number 2 bus to Southport outside the station. It's a quarter-hour ride to the stop at Longton Brickcroft, the hard part is remembering there's a stop a hundred yards before it after the bus turns the bend.

Robin, Longton Brickcroft 

It was a busy Saturday morning at Longton Brickcroft with lots of people and their dogs taking the air. The birds weren't much fussed except for the possibility that there might be a feed in prospect. Which there often was. Even the bars on the fences have feeding trays attached to them.

Coal tits, robins and a song thrush sang in the trees by the car park at the entrance. Blue tits and great tits were investigating nest boxes, dunnocks jumped out of bushes to belt out a song before disappearing back into them, chaffinches stopped feeding on the ground to fly up to branches and sing, Spring was in the air.

Longton Brickcroft 

Mallards dozed and drifted on the lower pool with coots, a couple of mute swans, a few tufted ducks and a pair of Canada geese. Experience suggested there should be gadwall out there too. I eventually found a pair lurking in the reeds over on the other side well away from the paths.

I walked up to the top pool, passing more blue tits, great tits, robins and chaffinches and more blackbirds than you could throw a stick at. Every ten yards there would be a blackbird or robin on the path and frequently both. They'd step aside for passersby but they didn't go far and were soon back where they started.

Shovelers and scaup, Longton Brickcroft 

A female scaup's been reported on the top pool most days this week so I kept an eye open as I passed the mute swans and mallards waiting for the next passing feed. The first birds I saw on the open water were shovelers and goldeneyes, a raft of tufted ducks came into view as I turned the bend and could see the whole pond. The scaup was out there, sometimes diving with the tufties, sometimes working alone. Scaup are bigger, broader ducks than tufties but this isn't always obvious at a distance, particularly as they tend to sit very low in the water compared to the typically rectangular shape of a tufted duck. Even so, this bird seemed quite small and it was the shape of the head and bill and overall colouring that made her stand out. She also spent a lot more time underwater than the tufted ducks.

Tufted ducks, Longton Brickcroft 

Tufted ducks and scaup (right), Longton Brickcroft 

Walking back I spent a couple of minutes watching and listening to a nuthatch doing a very effective impersonation of a woodpecker.

Nuthatch, Longton Brickcroft 

Marsh Road 

I got the next Southport bus, which passed by a couple of small groups of whooper swans on the fields near Hundred End. I got off at Far Banks and walked up Marine Road to Banks Marsh. Most of the fields had been recently ploughed, a few still had the last of the cabbages beyond harvestable state. There were birds about but nearly all of them flying by. A couple of carrions crows rummaged about in one corner. Linnets, goldfinches and plenty of woodpigeons flew by. I was struck by how few gulls flew over, just handfuls of herring gulls and black-headed gulls. A flock of goldfinches bounced about the alders by the farm buildings at the end of the road and a couple of tree sparrows played hide and seek in the hedgerow by the office building.

Banks Marsh
A band of distant golden plovers. Yonder is Lytham.

It had been a breezy walk to the marsh, I felt the full force of it in my face when I climbed up onto the bund. It wasn't too fierce, though, and pleasantly mild. A few redshanks, teal and wigeons rummaged about in the pools by the bund while pied wagtails bounced about in the grass. Out in the distance the sun caught a flock of a few hundred golden plovers. Beyond them scores of shelducks, lapwings, dunlins and grey plovers fed on the marsh and further yet a few hundred starlings rose and fell on the marsh like a cloud.

Wigeon, Banks Marsh 

I turned and headed towards Banks. The skylarks were singing their hearts out and meadow pipits skittered along the base of the bund. Flocks of wigeons grazed by the drain at the foot of the bund or bathed in little pools at this edge of the marsh. Something brought all the ducks and waders up from the distant marsh and this spooked the nearby wigeons which all flew into the drain. I knew it wasn't my walking along the skyline that had spooked them because some of the wigeon that had been out on the marsh flew in to join them. The pattern of eruptions of starlings and waders from the marsh suggested there was a merlin out there but I couldn't pick one up. A bit later a flock of wigeons took flight and wheeled around, this in response to a great black-back flying in and settling to loaf on the marsh. A wigeon is a welcome meal for a great black-back but there was no drama this time.

Pink-footed geese, Banks Marsh 

All of the geese along this stretch were very distant figures on the marsh and all looked to be pink-feet. A white shape amongst them got my hopes up until a snakey neck rose up and the great white egret had a look round before disappearing into a hollow. A few skeins of pink-footed geese flew overhead from the farmland and joined the distant crowds.

Wigeons, Banks Marsh 

Wigeons, Banks Marsh
This time it was my sky-lining that spooked them off the grass and into the drain.

About half a mile along the geese got closer to the bund. A couple of dozen of them grazed on the marsh by the bund, not minding me while I kept walking but being very fidgety if I stopped to look at them. Rather than disturbing them further I moved on rather than trying to get any photos and they settled back to grazing.

A mixed flock of small birds feeding in the wet grass a bit further along caught my eye. They were flitting in and out of the tussocks and it was only when I got abreast of the flock I could properly make sense of them. Half a dozen goldfinches kept to one side while linnets and meadow pipits bustled about together. There was a lot of variation in the pipits, some cold brown and very stripey above with ice white underparts, some warm brown with warm buff underparts. One bird kept catching my eye and kept disappearing into the grass. At last it came out and got busy tussling with something amongst the roots and I got a good view of the plain brown back and thick white eyebrows of a water pipit, my first of the year.

Looking over to Crossens Marsh, with a distant Canada goose

Approaching the curve where the bund meets the Crossens I noticed a Canada goose sitting on its own out on Crossens Marsh. I've not seen many reports of the usual Todd's Canada goose this Winter, I wondered if this might be it. In the end I decided that I'd done well identifying it as a Canada goose and while it seemed to have a skinny neck I wasn't able to see anything that could ID it as a Todd's. But it was worth a look.

As I got nearer the river I could see more groups of Canada geese between the family parties of pink-feet on Crossens Marsh. There were much more geese far out on the marsh but they were unidentifiable at that distance. The only little egret of the day made a vile noise as it lurched out of a ditch and onto the marsh as I passed by.

Approaching the river Crossens 

I walked into Banks and concluded that I didn't have the legs in me to walk down the other side of the river to Crossens Marsh and thence onto Marshside so I got the bus into Southport and got the train home. It had been a very splendid day with lovely weather and I'd seen sixty-odd species of birds so I had nothing to complain about except that I hadn't had a cup of tea.

Banks Marsh