Mersey Valley

Mallards, Jackson's Boat

Yesterday at dawn there were 79 black-headed gulls on the school playing field, today there were just sixteen. If there's a pattern to their occurrence I'm not seeing it.

The early morning's errand done I got an hour's kip, filled myself up with an unseemly amount of tea and toast and took advantage of the bus strike being called off to get the 25 into Chorlton and walk home via a circuitous route.

Hawthorn Lane

I got off the bus at Ryebank Road, crossed over, nipped through Meadow Court and onto Hawthorn Lane into the woods by Turn Moss and thence into Ivy Green. It was a grey morning threatening to become a sunny lunchtime and there were plenty of people — and their dogs — about. As I walked along there was a clattering about by woodpigeons and magpies, squirrels and jays dropped acorns on my head and there was a screeching of parakeets. That last would a constant feature of the walk together with the songs of robins and wrens. There were blue tits and great tits about but they weren't organised into mixed flocks, they were still going around in pairs. Magpies and carrion crows rummaged around in the meadow on Ivy Green and a pair of mute swans flew overhead heading for Sale Water Park.

Chorlton Ees 

Chorlton Ees was similarly busy with people and shy of birds, though they were about if you looked hard enough for long enough. Again the titmice weren't flocking, unlike the goldfinches working their way through the alders and birch trees fringing the hay meadow. Woodpigeons pillaged oak trees, magpies and blackbirds gorged on haws, squirrels filled their cheek pouches with anything going. Chaffinches and nuthatches called in the trees and a great spotted woodpecker flew overhead into the thick woodland. I thought it was too cool for butterflies and a speckled wood proved me wrong as it foraged for honeydew on the leaves of a sycamore tree.

It was all go on the river at Jackson's Boat, there were almost as many mallards as people. Dunnocks joined the tutting chorus of robins, wrens and great tits as I walked past the car park to the path alongside Barrow Brook. A passing buzzard was barracked by a crowd of jackdaws feeding on the field on Sale Ees, they couldn't be bothered taking flight to badger it.

By Barrow Brook

There was plenty enough water on Barrow Brook for a crowd of mallards, the surrounding woodland would have been quiet but for the parakeets and a pair of nuthatches.

Sale Water Park 

The target birds for the walk had been long-tailed tits and moorhens and I'd somehow contrived to see neither until I got to Sale Water Park. The moorhens were puttering about by the islands on the lake. The long-tailed tits were in the only mixed tit flock of the day bouncing through the willows and dogwoods on the bank. Over on the slipway a large herd of mute swans were mugging for scraps, muscling out any Canada geese, mallards or coots similarly on the cadge. On the water every buoy had a black-headed gull on it and the pair that are joined together to form the starting point for canoe races also had a couple of common gulls on the crossbar. The pontoon was standing room only, there was barely enough room for the cormorants to flex their wings. A few black-headed gulls cruised about on the water with the great crested grebes which were staying over that side away from the Saturday anglers. I was surprised to see speckled woods flying across the lake to the islands, I don't often see them out in the open like that.

The willows have sprung up in front of the hide on Broad Ees Dole, scanning the pool with the binoculars was a lot like looking through a series of keyholes. Shovelers and teal loafed and preened on the islands, a few more shovelers and a lot of moorhens rummaged channels through the duckweed. It took me a while to find a dabchick, it was dozing by one of the islands in the middle of a group of teal. The only heron of the day was stalking the reedbeds on the far side. For once there was literally nothing on Teal Pool and my hopes that the Cetti's warbler might have returned came to naught.

Stretford Ees

Stretford Ees was remarkably quiet. Jackdaws and woodpigeons passed overhead and a couple of parakeets called from the trees by the river but even the great tits, wrens and robins I saw going about their business in the undergrowth were staying silent. Unlike the pigeons under the tram bridge by Hawthorn Road that were enthusiastically working at making baby pigeons.

I walked along Kickety Brook onto Stretford Meadows. There didn't seem a lot about in the hedgerows but what was about was making plenty of noise whether it was the woodpigeons and jays in the trees, the great tits and coal tits in the bushes or the jackdaws passing overhead. One feature of the walk was the number of cyclists who were considerate of pedestrian traffic on the paths and said thank you when I stood to one side. It really shouldn't be remarkable but it is and I'm grateful to them all for restoring my faith a little.

Hemp agrimony 

Stretford Meadows 

It had become a warm, sunny afternoon. I freely admit that I was flagging by the time I got to Stretford and heading straight for the steep slope of the mound didn't even seem a good idea at the time. Still, it gave the system a good workout and the knees took it remarkably well. On the plus side it meant that it was a long, gentle coast down to Newcroft Road. There were a remarkable lot of birds about and they were nearly all woodpigeons, upward of two hundred and fifty of them scattered through the hawthorns and young oak trees. Every so often a flock would clatter into flight as a walker or a dog got too close, or in one case when the usual buzzard passed low overhead calling all the way. Aside from the woodpigeons there were a handful of magpies and a couple of singing robins. In terms of diversity it was very below average but I've not seen as much tonnage of bird flesh on here for a very long time. While all this was going on a migrant hawker was zipping around hunting flies over the large stands of Michaelmas daisies.

Parakeets and spadgers called from the hedgerows as I popped into the garden centre for a nosy. I was planning on buying some pansies for the pots by the front door, was very tempted to buy a load of hellebores for non-existent gaps in a couple of borders and ended up buying lavender and catmint for an old strawberry planter I've got by the kitchen door. I probably will buy a load of hellebores anyway.

I had an errand to run at teatime (I got drenched last week and my 'phone's none the better for it). On the way back I stopped off at the station to look at a pretty sunset. Just as I was wrong to think it had been too cool for butterflies I was wrong to think it was too cool for bats. The usual soprano pipistrelle was dancing over the field by the station, and very nice too.

A Humphrey Park sunset