Alkrington Woods

Alkrington Woods 

I seem to be in a filling in the gaps mood this week. In part it's a reaction to Monday's long trip out but it's mostly because I'm sleeping oddly and getting that sleep when I can, which means I'd be cutting it very fine for the trains out. Today I headed out for a walk through Alkrington Woods, just because. 

It was a cloudier, cooler sort of day, good for walking. I got the train into town and the 18 bus from Oxford Road. This goes through Alkrington to Langley, I'd be getting off just after the M60 for the entrance to the woods on Manchester Road. I'd forgotten how long it takes the bus to get up Rochdale Road, which isn't a function of distance or traffic conditions, it just does. A quarter of a century's experience never worked out just why. It was a relief when we got to Blackley and time started running normally.

I got off the bus a bit puzzled as I'd seen a sign for a public footpath I hadn't noticed before. It was pointing in the right direction and a quick check of the map suggested it should lead into the woods so I gave it a go and walked down the road as indicated. Fifty yards down there was a big metal gate, a lot of "Private property. Keep out" signs and a gated community behind it. There was even a "Do not trespass on this bridge" sign on the bridge over Boardman Brook. 

A dead end

There were gaps in the fence either side of the road with rough paths leading into the woodland by the brook. The most likely one headed North so I tried that first and came to a dead end twenty yards in. The one heading South dropped down ended at the brook. I'd upset some blackbirds, robins, blackcaps and wrens for no good reason. I retraced my steps and walked up Manchester Road to the proper entrance to the woods and it's tree-covered sign.

Crossing the little bridge over the brook to join the path down through the woods it became apparent the path did used to run down to that gap in the fence. It looked like some land had slipped and taken the footpath with it.

I walked along the path by the brook. Most of the songscape was blackbirds and robins, chiffchaffs and blackcaps were thin on the ground. Wrens sang when I passed by. Great tits and blue tits were only seen when they broke cover to barrack magpies.

Boardman Brook 

It was more of the same the length of the brook to where it met the River Irk. I knew the confluence was coming because the brook caught up speed and ring-necked parakeets screeched in the treetops.

The first of the lodges

Coots were nesting on the first of the lodges I came to, otherwise there were just a handful of mallards and a black-headed gull. The pond by the road was busy with Canada geese, mallards and pigeons and a mute swan dozed in one corner.

I still had some legs on me so rather than waiting for the next bus to Manchester (three had sailed by nose to tail as I got to the pond) I decided to walk up to Langley via Bowlee. Again, just because.

By Boardman Lane 

I cut a corner by walking up Boardman Lane to Heywood Old Road and I was glad that I did, despite the traffic doing the same thing. I was soon walking past buttercup-littered meadows busy with woodpigeons, greenfinches and starlings and with hedgerows bustling with spadgers. Somewhere in one of the hawthorn bushes way out in the fields a yellowhammer was singing, which was a nice surprise.

Windermere Walking Path 

On Heywood Old Road there's a shortcut into Langley along the Windermere Walking Path. So I took it. It was an unexpectedly pleasant walk, a grazed hilly pasture on my right and hedgerows rich in hawthorns and dog roses. The hedgerows were heaving with greenfinches, house sparrows, wrens and robins and whitethroats sang from the fields. 

A bald robin

A strange bird bustling about in a tree caught my eye. To my surprise it turned out to be a bald robin, a few orange feathers left on its chest to show it was an adult. It was in two minds whether or not to be shy of me and in the end it decided I wasn't anything so I got a good look at it. A bald bird would usually suggest a mite infestation but although it also didn't have much of a tail the wing feathers looked in good condition. I wondered if it might be an early starter in the post-breeding moult.

Robin

Not all the long-tailed tits were hiding in deep cover. A willow warbler singing in a shallow by the pathside was added to the day's tally.

I walked through the gate at the end and onto Windermere Road with a short walk for the bus stop for the 18 back to Manchester. I've done a lot of work in Langley over the years and often wondered where these paths went.