Rain (and train) stopped play

The weather forecast looked decidedly iffy, to put it mildly. Not a day for walking abroad half an hour or more from public transport. I decided I'd get an old man's explorer ticket [1] and ride round to a few places close to railway stations so I could beat a hasty retreat when the rain hit but still try and fill in a few gaps. 

Normally when I'm planning on hit-and-run birdwatching like this I aim for Leighton Moss and the Furness Line but I did that last Thursday. I decided to head South instead, the plan being to go down to Stoke for half an hour's wander round the nature reserve at Staffordshire University ten minutes' walk from the station then get the train across to Crewe (a journey not covered by the explorer ticket but not expensive) and either visit Sandbach Flashes or, more probably, Mere Farm Quarry at Chelford. The flashes would be pushing my luck with the predicted weather but you never know for sure with fast-moving broken shower patterns so I had them pencilled in as a possible. Then I'd go as the spirit bade me.

I set off on a sunny but cloudy morning got to Stoke and wasted ten minutes by leaving from the wrong exit and having to walk round. It made no odds in the end but it's a daft mistake. I walked down to the bridge where, a couple of years ago, I was five minutes too late to see or hear a marsh warbler. It's late in the year for hearing most warblers but there was the reassuring squeak of chiffchaffs in the willows. There was also an incessant clatter and rattle of woodpigeons and magpies in the trees about.

The River Trent by the bridge

And downstream

I followed the path beside the River Trent. At the bridge it was a sluggish, turgid stream, twenty yards downstream it abruptly became a bubbling brook. I couldn't see the reason for such a sudden transition. A few dunnocks and great tits rummaged in the undergrowth, a party of long-tailed tits bounced through the hedgerows and family groups of goldfinches twittered through the treetops. The only swallow of the day twittered as the breeze carried it quickly overhead.

I was thwarted in my attempt to visit Manorfield Pools, the path was blocked by construction work on a new bridge. I turned back and took a looped walk along the fields and back down to the bridge, passing robins, squirrels and blackbirds along the way and disturbing a lot of speckled wood butterflies.

Canada geese at Hanley Park 

I had time before my train was due so I walked over the rugby pitches to the main road, crossed over and had a look round Hanley Park. I'm a great believer in urban parks as wildlife oases though they tend to be most productive in late Winter and Spring. Still, this time of year anything can be anywhere, especially young birds on their first migrations, and don't look don't see. In the event the small birds were very thin on the ground, or in the bushes. A gaggle of Canada geese knew which were the best benches for the best views of the lake and stationed themselves accordingly. A crowd of mallards loafed under trees, mute swans and coots cruised the lake, moorhens rummaged on the banks and magpies rummaged on the lawns. An unspectacular visit perhaps but reassuring in its way.

It had clouded over so it wasn't surprising that it started raining soon after the train passed through Etruria (the station trains never stopped at now being a figment of history). The rain got heavier at Alsager and the sky was black at Crewe. Sandbach Flashes were off the agenda. I checked the trains and the weather. Chelford was off the agenda, too. I'd be best sitting on the train counting the woodpigeons in the fields on the train back to Manchester then go on from there. Despite the weather there were plenty of woodpigeons, crows and rooks along the way. The surprise of the day was a red kite floating its way overhead just before Wilmslow.

The train had a long stopover out of the pouring rain at Manchester Airport (if you ever wonder why the journey between Styal and Heald Green, two miles away, takes twenty minutes). I looked at the options and concluded it wouldn't be a bad idea to get the train home from Manchester, get a pot of tea and something to eat and then head out for a second outing. And it wouldn't have been a bad idea had the train home from Oxford Road been cancelled with the next one due an hour and a half later. I looked at the options and byconceded defeat. I made my way home as best could and arrived about a quarter of an hour earlier than if I'd sat at Oxford Road for an hour and a half.

[1] A Northern Explorer 55 West. I think the code is N5W.