Woolston Eyes

Domestic (greylag) goose, shelducks, black-headed gulls and gadwall

The weather was set fair, the pollen count wasn't ridiculous, so I thought I'd walk down from Padgate and have a wander about Woolston Eyes.

For once I wasn't upset about a late-running train, three minutes after it was due I saw my first swift of the year flying high over Humphrey Park Station. The train arrived less than a minute later. I took both as good omens.

Woolston Brook 

Daisies

I walked down from Padgate Station to Woolston Brook and followed it down to Manchester Road. The birds were in full song. Blue tits, blackcaps and robins were joined by blackbirds, wrens, woodpigeons, great tits, greenfinches, dunnocks and goldfinches. Chaffinches pinked from trees, house sparrows chirped from hedgerows and magpies barged about. There had been an emergence of holly blue butterflies, they were flittering about all over the shop. Orange tips and peacocks littered the verges, speckled woods bustled about hedgerows, a few small whites almost passed unnoticed amongst the orange tips on the drifts of hedge garlic and my first of what almost certainly be many hundreds of large whites this year skittered over the brook. A pair of mallards dozed on the brook, at least one pair of moorhens fidgeted about in the depths of reeds and flag iris.

Paddington Meadows 

Crossing the road I thought I'd have a bit of a diversion and spent quarter of an hour nosying around the top end of Paddington Meadows, adding a reed warbler and a couple of whitethroats to the songscape.

Brimstone 

It was nice to get out of the wind in the walk down the New Cut to Woolston Weir. Chiffchaffs joined the songscape from the willows, Cetti's warblers from wet bramble patches and depths of reeds. It seems to be a bumper Spring for Cetti's warblers, they're numerous and vocal. Moorhens and mallards drifted in and out of drowned willows. Titmice, wrens and robins bounced about in the trees, blackbirds chased across the path, magpies and woodpigeons clattered about. Brimstones and green-veined whites joined the cavalcade of butterflies fluttering about the path.

Grey Mist 

The New Cut 

Over on Grey Mist I could see a few tufted ducks and mute swans. The usual coots were notably absent, which this time of year is a good sign.

Grey wagtail

At Woolston Weir a line of a dozen tufted ducks drifted upstream like a search party combing the water. Pairs of mallards and great crested grebes drifted about and a male marsh harrier floated by before heading for No.2 Bed on Woolston Eyes. Mallards dozed and a grey wagtail rummaged about on the detritus caught by the weir gate. 

River Mersey, Woolston Weir 

Downstream a few black-headed gulls fussed about, there were more mallards and tufties, a pair of shelducks and a mute swan. At the corner where the river splits in two a great crested grebe sat on its nest.

Great crested grebe 

I climbed up and followed the path above the river. Warblers were in full song, Cetti's from the depths of the bank, whitethroats and blackcaps in the hawthorns and willows along the tops and chiffchaffs all over the place. As I turned and started the descent a garden warbler started singing. It took me a while to be sure I wasn't misidentifying a blackcap — they'd been providing a surprising number of variations on the theme — but having a couple of very different blackcaps within earshot, one with a rolling, bubbly song and one shot with shrill notes, helped the process along.

Looking down on the Mersey from the path

The orange tip butterflies were getting frisky in the sun. Younger readers may wish to avert their gaze.

Orange tip butterfly naughtiness.
Here the lady orange tip butterfly is saying: "Hello sailor, fancy a nice time ducky?"

The male orange tip indicates a modicum of interest

Then rather a lot more interest

Having bid farewell to her suitor the lady closes her wings to become less conspicuous and ponders the wonders of motherhood

Crossing over to No.3 Bed 

While I was negotiating the padlock on the gate to the bridge over to No.3 Bed I noticed a red-eared terrapin sunning itself on the roots of one of the riverside willows. The pet trade's response to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze has some to answer for. Two shapes zipped past over the treetops, I couldn't tell if the kestrel was chasing the sparrowhawk or the sparrowhawk chasing the kestrel. Given kestrels' habit of stealing from other birds of prey, and sparrowhawks' impatience with being stolen from, it could be either way.

Willow warblers joined the songscape but it was the noise of black-headed gulls that dominated the landscape. A quick Dekko from the Sybil Hogg Hide confirmed that there were a lot on the bed and that there was a lot of activity on the breeding rafts. I wondered if I might strike lucky with black-necked grebes and found lots of gadwalls and pochards, which is no bad thing. My first sedge warbler of the year sang from the reed margins in front of the hide, its free-form riffs distinguishing it from the more integrated improvisations of a reed warbler over to the right.

Walking to the Morgan Hide 

Solomon's seal 

I walked round to the Morgan Hide. I looked at the big shipping container hide and decided against. I didn't fancy being up there in this wind and the knees didn't fancy the climb up the scaffolding. I'm getting delicate in my old age. I tiptoed past butterflies, bumblebees and stands of Solomon's seal and cuckoo pint as great tits and whitethroats churred their displeasure and long-tailed tits tutted and faded into cover. 

Shelducks

I climbed up to the Morgan Hide and looked out over the rafts. Shelducks and gadwalls dominated the rafts immediately in front of the hide though they were loafing about rather than nesting. A lone lapwing flew about in a very agitated manner, chasing passing ducks as furiously as it did jackdaws or magpies. Pochards, coots, tufted ducks and great crested grebes drifted about, greylags cruised like noisy dreadnoughts, and mallards and gadwalls dabbled about the margins. 

Gadwalls

The rafts further out were seething with black-headed gulls, most of them on nests. I wasn't sure if the pair of lesser black-backs in the background were nesting or just keeping watching on the pantry. A pair of Mediterranean gulls in the middle of one of the rafts spent a lot of their time stealing nesting materials from the black-headed gulls. They're not yet on the breeding list for Woolston Eyes, fingers crossed for this year.

Gull breeding rafts on No.3 Bed
Mostly black-headed gulls, a pair of lesser black-backs at the back, a Mediterranean gull in the middle

I wasn't finding any black-necked grebes. I was about to give up and move on when I noticed a mute swan I hadn't seen. If I could be overlooking a mute swan… I found a pair of shovelers and some teal. All the small dark shapes in the reeds were female pochards.

Gadwall
I forget they have yellow feet, I so seldom see them properly out of water.

Moving on, I was reminded that the big shipping container wasn't the scariest hide on the reserve. Or the second scariest. You need a head for heights on this bed. I climbed up into the Warrington Rotary Hide for a look over the corner I've found best for seeing the black-necked grebes. There were half a dozen out on the water showing well, all of them distant and all very actively feeding.

The black-necked grebes were showing well but distant

Black-headed gulls 

Black-headed gulls and pochards 

Cowslips 

Back down on terra firma I wandered back via the meadows which were awash with cowslips and bees. I noticed a few oxlips in there, natural hybrids between cowslips and primroses. Dandelions, lady's smocks and daisies were dotted about and a damp patch had a drift of snakeshead fritillaries, which are always nice to see in the wild.

Cowslip

I rarely see a pure white snakeshead fritillary, white ones usually have a pale green checkerboard pattern to them.

Back to the bridge

The whitethroats, greenfinches and goldfinches of the meadows gave way to the chiffchaffs, robins, blackcaps and great tits of the woody scrub. I made my way back to the bridge and took three goes at getting the padlock open, there's a definite knack to it and it's not one I instinctively incline towards, then wandered round onto Thelwall Lane. 

Walking by the canal to Thelwall Lane 

The willow warblers singing from No.4 Bed almost beguiled me into having a wander round but I knew I didn't have the legs to add that to the walk, it's a long drag down the lane to the bus stop. I'll need to come in this way next time and just confine the walk to the two beds. I walked into Latchford and got the bus into Warrington and thence home.

Looking at my records, and looking at the birds being reported by other people, this year's Spring passage feels more intense than usual. It's hit like a ton of bricks. This isn't a complaint, mind. Whether it's a lot more birds, a lot more birdwatchers, or both,  it can't be a bad thing.