A game of two halves

Sand martins, Irlam Locks

It was a day for having curry for breakfast. The forecast unpleasant weather duly arrived, the spadgers sulked in the trackside brambles and the robin and the blackcap sang from deep in the ivy on the embankment. I'd made plans for this eventuality and these were inevitably shot to pieces by the train services in and out of Manchester being even more of a bin fire than they are normally. I felt it all the more because twice a year all public transport services are suspended in our town so long distance running events can go ahead and this coming Sunday is one of those days. Our public transport infrastructure is so fragile it is an act of Quixotic folly to choose to rely on it.

The rain it rained and I had itchy feet. The forecast said that the weather should settle down late afternoon and even perhaps become sunny. It wouldn't be cold and rainy anyway. I decided I'd get the 256 into Flixton. I didn't fancy larking about in mud at all so I'd stick to terra firma and see if the sand martins are back at Irlam Locks.

I put my big coat on and braved the elements. A couple of dozen woodpigeons grazed on the school playing field in the rain, the young magpie had learned that begging wasn't going to get it fed anymore, and half a dozen lesser black-backs and an adult herring gull danced for worms. Nearly all the herring gulls doing the rounds locally are non-breeding youngsters, there are perhaps a handful of pairs, I don't know if this was one of them. All of a sudden they were all up. The low-flying buzzard that caused the commotion was escorted on its way by jackdaws.

Waiting for the bus I was glad of the big coat. A woodpigeon huddled in the tree next to the bus stop went through the motions of singing and another hunched over a chimney across the street answered out of the side of its beak.

The rain stopped as the bus passed the Nag's Head and when I got off at the Town Gate terminus the sun was poking through the clouds. Blackbirds, robins, woodpigeons and blackcaps sang from the gardens of Irlam Road and the hedges seethed with house sparrows. Four drake mallards skimmed the chimney pots before veering off and heading for the Ship Canal.

Hedge garlic

A pair of gadwalls and two pairs of great crested grebes drifted on the canal upstream of the locks. A few mallards dozed by the sides, a cormorant fished and some black-headed gulls loafed on the lockside. A coot pottered about furtively near the lock. Four very noisy common terns flew in and wheeled about the locks for ten minutes before drifting upstream.

Sand martin

Dozens of sand martins zipped about. Most were hawking high overhead, judging by the clouds of flies about the hawthorn bushes there was plenty to eat. A few martins darted down to twitter and fuss with each other on telegraph wires before dashing off again. I rather wished the sun was behind me as I took their photos. All the while blackcaps, robins, wrens, great tits and blue tits sang and called in the bushes, dunnocks struck poses and blackbirds chased each other off territorial margins.

Just a few flies

Sand martins

There were equal numbers of black-headed gulls and magpies on the water treatment works. I think the oystercatchers have given up on this area.

Irlam Locks 

It had become bright and sunny and I was beginning to feel overdressed. Half a dozen cormorants loafed on the locks with two pigeons. I don't know where the rest of the usual crowd of pigeons are, they don't seem to be on the railway bridge either. Downstream a pair of mallards shepherded ducklings along the bankside and two more pairs of grebes drifted about downstream. Eight great crested grebes seemed a lot to have in one area, I'm wondering if some of these are young birds that have paired up but not established a territory.

A chap on a motorbike stopped and asked if I was Steven Heywood. I admitted as such and he turned out to be an old school friend I hadn't seen in decades. He recognised me because I was still wearing the same shorts and Captain Scarlet t-shirt.

Sand martins

I've often wondered about the crowds of sand martins milling about the lock chambers. It's always seemed too many birds just to be taking advantage of midges emerging into a confined space. Today I caught a couple digging out nests in the lockside where the mortar between blocks had long since crumbled. Once I got my eye in I found more nest holes and the martins visiting them. There aren't enough locks for all the crowd wheeling about overhead to find nest sites but there's enough crumbling canalside architecture downstream to accommodate a lot of them.

Sand martin

Sand martin

Irlam Community Woodland 

On the Irlam side, I walked down Cadishead Way, crossed over and had a quick nosy at Irlam Community Woodland where chiffchaffs, robins, great tits and dunnocks vied to dominate the songscape.

Irwell Old Course 

The songbirds were more in evidence than the waterbirds on the Irwell Old Course. A couple of pairs of mallards lurked and I nearly missed the moorhen rummaging about in the grass on the opposite bank. A chaffinch and a blue tit joined the songscape. House sparrows and goldfinches fussed about, long-tailed tits bounced through willows and magpies rattled about like teenage hoodlums.

I walked on into Princes Park, where a mistle thrush sang by the café, and got the bus to the Trafford Centre and thence home. I wouldn't have given you odds on this afternoon's walk this morning.