Gorton Reservoirs

Great crested grebe

A cool grey morning was forecast to get wet 'n' windy so I thought I'd best not walk abroad in exposed plains. I decided to stay within the confines of my monthly travel card and headed to Manchester Piccadilly to play train service bingo. The train to Rose Hill Marple was first out so I caught that and got off at Fairfield for a walk around the Gorton Reservoirs.

The start of the Fallowfield Loop 

The start of the Fallowfield Loop walk is just round the corner from Fairfield Station. This is part of the disused railway line that went from Manchester Central (now the conference centre some us still find ourselves calling G-Mex) to Fairfield via Trafford Bar and Chorlton. The eight miles that are left run from Fairfield to Chorlton. I was only going the few hundred yards to the Gorton Reservoirs.

The local ring-necked parakeets made a racket but I didn't often see them. Wrens, starlings, chiffchaffs and goldfinches sang, the dunnocks, robins and greenfinches were busy foraging and the woodpigeons canoodled quietly. Carrion crows and magpies clattered about, especially near the school, and lesser black-backs seemed to be commuting between the school and the reservoirs.

The Fallowfield Loop 

I turned off the loop and followed the path over the causeway between upper and lower reservoirs. Up to now I'd been pretty much sheltered from the wind, it bit now. Oddly, though, it still felt mild.

The upper reservoir was quiet: a pair of mute swans fed in the near corner and six coots spread themselves about a bit.

Lower Gorton Reservoir

The lower reservoir was busier. Mallards, moorhens and coots bustled about by the near bank. More coots drifted about on the open water with rafts of tufted ducks. Small groups of lesser black-backs and herring gulls bathed and loafed and black-headed gulls flew around all over the shop. I could see one great crested grebe but I couldn't find a partner for it. Over on the far side pairs of Canada geese shouted the odds and mugged for scraps from passersby.

Lesser black-backs and herring gulls

Turkey tail fungus 

Whenever a path goes under an outrageously leaning tree like this I always take a photo before going ahead. That way, should anything happen my family have a photo they can share saying: "That's the one that got him."

I decided I'd walk round the Northern edge of the reservoir rather than walking through Debdale Park. A couple of jays stole through the trees like ghosts. A chiffchaff squeaked annoyance at me as it bounced through the trees by the path. An invisible blackcap sang from the depths of a holly bush. Magpies, blackbirds, great tits and wrens fidgeted about and a small flock of goldfinches twittered past overhead. 

Lower Gorton Reservoir 

There were hints of rain as I crossed over Gore Brook and walked past the Canada geese and pigeons on my way to Hyde Road for the bus. I took a circuitous route home, any ideas I had of adding a few municipal parks to the afternoon's itinerary were knocked on the head as the heavens opened as the bus chugged through Denton. I took the opportunity to do a reconnaissance of Werneth Low by bus before knocking it on the head and going home. The forecast says tomorrow's going to be brighter, I might be able to catch up with myself then.