Mersey Valley

Orange tip, Banky Meadow

My get up and go had got up and gone but it was a not unpleasant morning with the real prospect of becoming a nice afternoon so I didn't want to waste it by spending all day thinking I should go out for a walk. I decided that Cob Kiln Wood and Banky Meadow would be the least busy local places on a sunny Easter school holiday afternoon so I toddled off in that direction.

The robins, blackbirds and goldfinches were in full song on the allotments as I walked by. Woodpigeons, jackdaws and magpies bounced about on the rooftops of Urmston.

Cob Kiln Wood 

Cob Kiln Wood was in full song. Blackbirds, robins, a blackcap, a chiffchaff and a great tit had been accounted for by the time I'd walked the twenty yards to Old Eeas Brook. Blue tits, great tits and a dunnock scuttled around in the bushes while magpies, woodpigeons and parakeets bounced about in the trees. Dunnocks, wrens and a song thrush joined the soundscape once I crossed the bridge. Goldfinches twittered about but didn't lapse into song and long-tailed tits quietly went about their business in the willow trees.

The plan was to walk along the path past the dragonfly pond. I got as far as the pond but no further, the willow tree that usually leans picturesquely over the path was hovering two feet above it. Even if I could have limboed under it it might have been unwise. I retraced my steps and went the long way round by the side of the brook.

Cuckoo pint 

I'd hoped the cuckoo pints would have been in flower by now but I only found the one, unopened, spathe above ground. I hope I don't miss them when they do flower.

Things went quiet for a moment as a male sparrowhawk zipped past then the songscape resumed as if it has never been interrupted. The woodpigeons joined in, as did two willow warblers, one either side of the path.

I walked through to the river and had a nosy to see if anything was about. A couple of drake mallards drifted about and the regular pair of goosanders were cruising just above the shoals. A dipper had been reported a few times earlier in the week but I wasn't finding it today. I did find a pair of mandarin ducks pottering about in the roots of one of the trees hanging off the Cheshire bank. And a buzzard made a cameo appearance before heading into Urmston.

Speckled wood

I walked down into Banky Meadow. It was a lot quieter this side of the river, I was quite a way down Banky Lane before the first chiffchaff started up, they were joined by robins, great tits and blackbirds, then wrens, blue tits and blackcaps. I suspect they don't like competing with the traffic noise on the Carrington Spur Road. The butterflies weren't bothered, speckled woods sunning themselves on brambles and orange tips skittering about the verges taking advantage of the ankle-high drifts of dandelions. It occurred to me that the season for getting lots of photos of butterflies because the birds don't want to play has arrived early this year.

Orange tip

Bluebells 

When I reached Carrington Road I seriously considered crossing over Carrington Moss into Altrincham and getting the bus home from there. The knees suggested otherwise, they're still recovering from my doing a lot of road walking with cushioned insoles in my boots that could have passed for cigarette papers. It had been a good afternoon's walk, there was no point in being silly about it. I got the 5a bus into Partington and got the bus home.