Local patch

Blue tit

It was one of those nights. The blackbird kicked off the dawn chorus at half four, a carrion crow joined in at five, the robin at half-past, a woodpigeon ten minutes later and after a passage of lesser black-backs overhead the collared dove and a starling joined the chorus. I must have finally dozed off before the Count Basie Orchestra were counted in.

I woke up more tired than I was when I went to sleep and shelved the plans for the day. I replenished the feeders and got a lot of impatient feedback from the robin and one of the dunnocks because I insisted on grubbing up some brambles and sycamore seedlings. 

It was a cooler and cloudier day that still had a touch of late April to it and I felt I should make use of it. I decided I'd have a circuit of Davyhulme Millennial Nature Reserve. As I saw the bus pass by a minute early I decided that rather than wait twenty minutes at the bus stop I'd walk to the park and give my local patch a proper going over rather than the passing glances it's had the past couple of weeks.

Lostock Park 

There were plenty of birds about though I was disappointed no chiffchaffs had arrived yet. Then I reminded myself it's still mid-March. A pair of siskins bouncing through the trees at the back of the park served as a reminder.

• Blackbird 11, 3 singing
• Blue tit 5
• Carrion crow 3
• Dunnock 1 singing
• Feral pigeons 4
• Goldfinch 6, 3 singing
• Greenfinch 3, 1 singing
• Herring gull 1
• Jackdaw 1
• Lesser black-back 1
• Long-tailed tit 1
• Magpie 14
• Robin 10, 9 singing
• Siskin 2
• Song thrush 1 singing
• Woodpigeon 15, 2 singing
• Wren 5 singing

The 250 was due soon so I decided to get that to the Trafford Centre and get the 245 which goes by Davyhulme Millennial Nature Reserve. The 250 was running a couple of minutes early so I'd not have long to wait for it. Four minutes later it was running fourteen minutes late. That turned out to be an optimistic estimate. As we got into the Trafford Centre bus station the 245 pulled out. Three hours' sleep told me to jack it in and go home. Which I did.

Barton Clough