Wellacre Country Park and Irlam

Great crested grebes, Irlam Locks

Another, bright Spring day with an edge to the wind and the colour saturation dialled right up beyond eleven. It was rankling a bit that I still hadn't seen any sand martins so I thought I'd check out the water treatment works by Irlam Locks but I thought I'd be sneaky about it and have a wander round Wellacre Country Park first so it didn't look like I was looking for sand martins.

Wellacre Wood 

I got the 256 to Town Gate and walked into Wellacre Wood along the path by the school. Robins, great tits and chiffchaffs sang in the trees and for the first time in ages there wasn't a parakeet squawking in the treetops by the school yard. The cow parsley, ground elder, ramsons and brambles under the trees in the wood glowed vivid emerald greens in the sun. My first speckled wood of the year sunbathed on a nettle patch. Blackbirds and a blackcap sang, magpies and woodpigeons clattered about and invisible long-tailed tits could be heard in the depths of holly bushes.

Wellacre Wood 

Taking the path between the fields clockwise to Dutton's Pond for a change I had to tiptoe round peacock butterflies and commas. A bunch of magpies fossicked about the field with horses, a flock of woodpigeons grazed the field without.

Mallard
It this type of light the abstract patterns on water fascinate me.

All the mallards on Dutton's Pond were drakes, the ducks being otherwise engaged under cover. A few moorhens puttered about. As usual they took little notice of the passersby or the anglers.

Mallard

I had a quick nosy round Green Hill. Chiffchaffs, robins, wrens, great tits and a blackcap sang in the trees at the base of the hill as orange tips fluttered round the undergrowth and woodpigeons clattered about the treetops. Out in open country chiffchaffs and great tits sang from the depths of hawthorn bushes while greenfinches sang from the trees. 

Green Hill

I walked back under the railway and headed for Jack Lane, scolded on my way by a long-tailed tit that had decided I was walking too close to its bramble patch. I'd spoken too soon about parakeets: one squawked by Dutton's Pond and landed over in the trees in the school grounds.

Jack Lane 

Jack Lane seemed very quiet: a couple of robins, a wren, a chiffchaff… I'd settled into scanning round for frogspawn and butterflies when there was the blood-curdling squeal of a water rail in the reeds immediately behind me. Three drake mallards circled overhead before landing and disappearing into the reeds, upsetting a coot and a moorhen in the process.

Jack Lane 

Walking up Jack Lane to Irlam Road the fields were full of woodpigeons, magpies and starlings and the hedgerows busy with spadgers. A flock of black-headed gulls circling over the water treatment works were making a racket so I headed thataway. As I approached the stables on the corner I noticed a few small shapes circling round, my first sand martins of the year. There was about a dozen of them feeding high over the water treatment works, most drifted off leaving just a couple to hawk over the stables and paddocks.

Black-headed gull

A dozen black-headed gulls made a row as they loafed on the canalside furniture. I often wonder why they don't nest here, I think it's because there's not enough space for a critical mass of nests, I could be wrong. Pairs of mallards and gadwalls cruised on the canal, herring gulls and lesser black-backs dozed on the lock and the pair of oystercatchers were still on their territory.

Crossing the lock I looked downstream and could see the silhouettes of mallards, cormorants and coots. A pair of grey wagtails skittered about on the bank by the outfall. A pair of courting great crested grebes slowly drifted upstream as they waggled their heads in unison and shadowed each other, breaking off every so often to get something to eat.

Great crested grebe 

Great crested grebes 

Great crested grebe 

Great crested grebe

Great crested grebes 

Great crested grebes 

I'd looked downstream for the usual mute swan, I should have looked upstream, it drifted up the bend by Towngate Farm. A pied wagtail fossicked about the lock works on the Irlam side.

River Irwell Old Course 

I walked down, crossed the road and concluded I didn't have the energy for a nosy round Irlam Community Woodlands despite the enticements of singing chiffchaffs, dunnocks and robins. I decided to walk down along the Irwell Old Course to Princes Park and get the 100 to the Trafford Centre.

Blackbird 

Coots, moorhens and mallards cruised around on the water. Three red-eared terrapins basked on tree roots. The songscape was saturated by small birds despite all the people walking by: goldfinches, chiffchaffs and woodpigeons sang in the big trees, great tits, robins, wrens and blackbirds seemed to be everywhere, a nuthatch sang from a garden, a coal tit sang by the brook. House sparrows struck poses amongst the white blossoms of blackthorns and wild cherries, always careful to have a mesh of twigs between them and the camera. A blackcap bubbled its song from an elder bush, a dunnock jangled from a hawthorn. The open bankside was littered with pink and white spikes of butterbur, the shrubs underplanted with daffodils and lesser celandines. There was a hint of Spring in the air.

Butterbur

Davyhulme and Moss Side

Gadwalls, Barton Lock

Another fine day, I decided I didn't want to spend too much of it travelling about so ended up spending too much of it waiting for buses. I played bus stop bingo and eventually — very eventually — it was the 256 that turned up first and I decided I'd have a look round Davyhulme Millennium Nature Reserve. For some reason I can't get enthusiastic about this site despite its being a decent walk and always productive, somehow it just doesn't for me. Which is a good reason for a visit, it's a decent walk and always productive and there's no good reason not to.

Davyhulme Millennium Nature Reserve 

The sparrows and goldfinches were singing in the hedgerows as I walked in. As I walked along the path robins and chiffchaffs and a blackcap sang in the trees while titmice, wrens and blackbirds quietly went about their business. There were a lot of butterflies, small whites and brimstones fluttered about the undergrowth and the sunny stretches of path were littered with sunbathing commas and peacocks.

People think I'm joking about the "There was a warbler there a moment ago" portfolio.
Chiffchaff.

Willow warblers sang, appropriately enough, from the willows by the ponds. A couple of chaffinches limbered up for a song but never got going with it. The greenfinches and goldfinches in the trees in the bit of parkland called incessantly but didn't sing.

Canada geese 

I'd been seeing pairs of gadwalls and mallards on the canal as I walked down and cormorants had flown overhead. There were more of them at Barton Lock together with a noisy pair of Canada geese and a pair of teal lurking by the near bank. A drake goosander flew low overhead, I couldn't find any on the canal. There's nearly always a heron using the lock as a lookout point, it took me a while to find it today.

Barton Lock — spot the heron

Teal

The pond was quiet today 

I headed back and finished the circuit of the reserve, adding a singing coal tit and a few small tortoiseshells to the tally. It had been a pleasant walk and there was plenty about. I need to do it more often.

I walked back and got the 15, thinking I'd get off at The Urmston and walk home. On a whim I stayed on into Moss Side and walked down the road to Alexandra Park.

Alexandra Park 

It was approaching teatime and the park was very busy with people. The parakeets were much in evidence today, their calls drowning out the robins and great tits. Blackbirds, wrens and dunnocks rummaged about in the undergrowth, blue tits and goldfinches skittered about the treetops.

Tufted duck

As usual the tufted ducks preferred the North end of the pond and as usual I made sure there wasn't a ring-necked duck amongst them. The coots and Canada geese were noisy, the pairs of mallards and mute swans quietly cruised around, a heron lurked on the island.

Mallard

Heron

The crowd of pigeons over by the pavillion seemed even bigger than usual, no doubt drawn by people coming to feed the ducks. An absence of black-headed gulls was noticeable.

Red-eared terrapins

I know people like to see them but I was still a bit dismayed to see the terrapins sunning themselves on the island.

I walked down to Hough End for the bus home. I got there with five minutes to spare and spent the time listening to the chiffchaffs and robins singing in the trees by the field.

Mersey Valley

Kestrel, Stretford Meadows 

I wasn't feeling particularly energetic today so I opted for a short toddle over Stretford Meadows in the Spring sunshine. 

Dry

The hedgerows by the garden centre were stuffed full of spadgers, dunnocks and great tits and a pheasant called from somewhere in the trees. I was amazed by the baked, nearly hard, mud surface at the entrance to the meadows. Chiffchaffs and robins sang in the trees, a pied wagtail flew off from the mostly-hidden little brook and orange tip butterflies chased each other in the undergrowth.

Stretford Meadows 

Out in open country it was still a lot early for whitethroats and orchids, robins and goldfinches sang from hawthorn bushes and lesser celandines glistened in the sun. Magpies bounced about as usual but the carrion crows were preoccupied in the trees. Odd ones and twos of woodpigeons passed by, a couple of lesser black-backs flew past and pairs of collared doves and stock doves flew circuits of the meadows.

Kestrel, Stretford Meadows 

I found a muddy patch by the cricket pitch and walked it for reassurance's sake even though my boots scarce left an imprint. I meandered round the top of the mound and took the paths that are usually damply off-putting just because I could. The usual male kestrel flew in to see what I was doing, or more likely see if I was going to flush out any food items, and sat in the female's usual tree to watch me pass by.

Comma, showing the comma on its hindwing, Stretford Meadows

The same Comma, sunbathing

Walking by the bramble patches, sheltered from the wind by the trees at the Sandy Lane side of the meadows, there was a profusion of butterflies. Orange tips, small whites, small tortoiseshells, peacocks but mostly commas. I had to take evasive action as a pair of commas chased a peacock out of what was evidently their territory.

Small white, Stretford Meadows 

Walking to Stretford Ees 

I walked down by Kickety Brook into Stretford Ees. A blackcap added to the songscape by the motorway and a song thrush sang by the canal. Another song thrush quietly minded its own business as it rummaged about by the side of the brook. I was very struck that I hadn't seen or heard any parakeets yet.

Song thrush by Kickety Brook 

Chiffchaffs, robins and great tits sang in the trees by the tramlines, wrens and a nuthatch just sort of exploded in song. The river was lower and calmer than it was earlier in the year, babbling over the shoals at the curve near the bridge, a pair of mallards bobbing along with the current.

Sale Water Park 

Sale Water Park was busy with people, understandable on a sunny afternoon and many had evidently headed straight here from the school run. There was a handful of lesser black-backs out on the lake at this end and a few coots puttered about in the reeds. The black-headed gulls had evidently all departed for their breeding colonies.

A mallard drifted about the teal pool on Broad Ees Dole and a mute swan dozed in the trees. The pool by the hide looked deserted at first, the dabchicks seemed to have it all to themselves. A heron flew by but didn't land, a drake gadwall cruised the far bank and a pair of moorhens were making baby moorhens on the near bank. Three Canada geese cruised in, had a quarrel and cruised out again.

Dabchick, Broad Ees Dole 

Honestly, it is a dabchick

I walked by the Sale Water Park lake. A few swans cruised about, a herd of swans clustered in the far corner of the lake. The pair of great crested grebes kept to midwater away from people, dogs, swimmers and excitable mute swans. The usual crowd on the slipway was a couple of Canada geese and some coots, the ducks were otherwise engaged.

Mute swans, Sale Water Park 

A crowd of Canada geese dozed on the pontoon with a couple of lesser black-backs and a pair of cormorants which kept making a start at courtship rituals then kept thinking better of it.

Cormorants and Canada geese, Sale Water Park 

A few of the mute swans and Canada geese retreated to Barrow Brook for a doze. One of the mute swans was sitting on last year's nest half-hidden in the trees but I wasn't convinced it was nesting, it would have been a lot more grumpy about the other swans and geese being so close.

Mute swan and Canada goose, Barrow Brook

I sat by the café and watched the feeders for a short while. The squirrels were keeping the titmice at bay, scurrying off at the approach of dog walkers and leaving the field open for great tits and nuthatches to dive in. The only ring-necked parakeet of the day squawked loudly as it flew by at treetop height.

I sloped off under the motorway and caught the 248 into Davyhulme for the shopping I was going to do after walking round Stretford Meadows.

Cutacre

Carrion crows, herring gulls, lesser black-backs and Canada goose, Swan Lake 

There have been reports of that pair of garganeys at Cutacre every day so I thought I'd have another go at them. It was another bright, sunny day with a fresh breeze so I reckoned it ought to be a good walk.

I got the bus into Tyldesley and walked up Common Lane. The robins, wrens and chiffchaffs sang in the trees, great tits, blackbirds and spadgers rummaged about in the hedgerows. There was a profusion of peacock butterflies and orange tips and a few large whites and small tortoiseshells, the difference a bit of warm weather makes. A blackcap singing in the trees by the kennels added another Spring note.

Lesser black-backs 

As I was approaching Engine Road I bumped into a birdwatcher who was walking back. He'd just been unsuccessful on his third attempt to see the garganeys. We can get quite competitive about the birds we've missed seeing, he reckoned I'd probably see them. Spoiler: I didn't. 

I apologised to a chap with a telescope for putting the mockers on his luck. He was happy to blame me but was grateful for my confirming he was looking in the right place, he'd been all over the shop before arriving here. He had my sympathy, been there and done that.

Carrion crow and herring gulls 

There weren't quite as many gulls on Swan Lake as last time and considerably fewer black-headed gulls. Most of the large gulls were herring gulls of various ages, mostly subadults. There were nearly as many lesser black-backs but they were nearly all adults. The Canada geese, mallards, gadwalls, moorhens, coots, tufties and mute swan were all present and correct but I could only find the male teal this time. I had a walk around the lake walking anticlockwise along the bank and meeting a rough path on the other side. A cormorant and a pied wagtail made an appearance, a pair of oystercatchers flew in. No garganeys.

Oystercatchers 

I took a meandering route up to Logistics North, checking the pools and brooks to see if the garganeys had moved in there. There were plenty of pairs of gadwall lurking about with the moorhens and a dabchick. Linnets and reed buntings flitted about and skylarks sang above the open meadow. It was rather nice even if the birdwatching was frustrating.

Coltsfoot seedhead

Rather a lot more frustrating was the forty minute wait for the 20 bus back to the Trafford Centre that was due in fourteen minutes' time. I'm going to have to stop paying any attention to the Bee Network web site.