Mersey Valley

Canada geese and goslings. coot, mallards, goosanders and lapwing, Broad Ees Dole

The thing that's struck me this year is how drawn out the dawn chorus has become. It's almost as if after a cold night the singers are waiting to get warmed up before joining in. The blackbird and robin are always early doors, though they were later than usual this morning. There was more than an hour's gap between their finishing their overtures and the woodpigeons and collared doves starting their vocals and an age before the blackcap joined in. I fell asleep before the wren made an entrance, if it did.

It had been a busy night and I didn't have the energy for any of the day's plans, nor indeed anyone else's plans to waste my time. I watched the spadgers coming in to inspect the back garden before going back to feed the kids, the first spadglings must be due soon, the baby starlings are mostly out and pestering their parents in the treetops. It was good to see the male blackcap doing his bit against gooseberry sawfly, much appreciated mate. It was late afternoon before I could shake off the weltschmerz and later yet I finally got my boots on.

The path onto Stretford Meadows on the left, the Transpennine Trail around the meadows on the right

I wandered over to Stretford Meadows, just because. It was bright and sunny and yet still cool, especially when the sun passed behind a cloud. The house sparrows were very busy along Newcroft Road and blackbirds, blackcaps and robins sang in the trees around the garden centre and car park. Despite yesterday's rain there was only a small patch of mud at the entrance to the meadows and scarce any on my wander round the meadows, it really has been a dry Spring even if this month is a cold one.

Stretford Meadows 

There was enough warmth in the sun to coax the orange tip butterflies out into the open. Unlike the birds. There were plenty of those about but they were keeping a very low profile. Titmice, dunnocks, sparrows and greenfinches fidgeted about in the cover of bushes and brambles, the magpies and woodpigeons rummaged about in the long grass, robins, wrens and whitethroats sang from the depths of bramble patches and heaven alone knows where the pheasants were calling from. Even the goldfinches were twittering from well inside hawthorns and oak bushes.

Red campion 

Often I find that I'm walking these meadows and seeing and hearing very little on the ground while there's busy traffic overhead. Today the reverse was true: the sky was deserted save from a high-flying lesser black-back and half a dozen jackdaws commuting between the fields South of the Mersey and town.

Stretford Meadows 
Looking up the mound

I was keeping an ear out for any hints of lesser whitethroats, without any success, which wasn't surprising given the weather. They tend to be the last warblers arriving locally and I can't imagine they'd be in any hurry to arrive before the warm weather returned. I did pick up on a pair of reed buntings quietly fossicking about in a willow herb patch.

Joining the Transpennine Trail 

Chiffchaffs were a notable omission from the songscape on the meadows, there were a few of them singing along the Transpennine trail as I walked down beside Kickety Brook. They struggled to be heard, song thrushes sang along the motorway embankment and ring-necked parakeets screeched in the trees by the recycling point.  Blue tits and long-tailed tits bustled their way through the hedgerows with huge beakfuls full of insects. There were yet more of them in the willows along the brook on the other side of Chester Road. I was surprised that the greenfinches outnumbered the sparrows in the brambles along here.

Walking by Kickety Brook 

Willow warblers joined the chiffchaffs singing on Stretford Ees. Aside from the sparrows in the hedgerows by the cemetery it felt quiet despite the rich songscape, the birds were keeping well into cover. Except the inevitable carrion crows and jackdaws flying overhead and the raven cronking its way over the Mersey Valley. A grey wagtail rummaged about the riverbank and took great exception to a couple walking down to sit on the bank.

Grey wagtail

A Cetti's warbler sang at the lakeside by the entrance to Sale Water Park. I've not heard one here for a while, I think it's a newcomer as the previous territories were around the pylons and hide by Broad Ees Dole. For a couple of minutes I thought the great crested grebe preening on the lake had a couple of humbugs nestling in its back feathers but it was the bird with the injured wing jostling its injured wing about. It's a tough old bird, it must be flightless but it's survived for years nevertheless.

Great crested grebe

Mallards, lapwing, Canada geese and goslings, coot and goosanders

A reed warbler sang in a patch of reeds the size of a pillowcase by the entrance to Broad Ees Dole. The teal pool was quiet, just a pair of gadwalls cruising by the reeds. The pool in front of the hide was heaving. Three pairs of Canada geese had goslings and I'm not convinced the goslings knew who they belonged to, one pair seemed to have more tagging along behind them after they left the island than when they arrived. A pair of goosanders and some mallards dozed on the island and a couple of coots were asleep on their nests. A couple of magpies made a nuisance of themselves. After the geese had made it abundantly clear the goslings were off-limits they bounced over to pester a lapwing that had been minding its own business. When that paled they moved on to a pair of dozing gadwalls that foiled them by slipping off the island and sleeping just offshore. A moorhen shepherded its youngster well away, just to be careful. Any time it had to walk away from the chick it made sure it was near the goslings.

Closer by, a heron lurked by the near bank before deciding to try its luck over on the far side by the trees. I don't know what it was catching there, it didn't look like fish.

Heron
About a quarter of a second after the photo I was hoping to get!

Sale Water Park 

Moving on, a few lesser black-backs bathed in the lake and a herd of mute swans cruised about like they were on naval manoeuvres. The songscape had all the usual suspects with reed buntings joining in from the hawthorn bushes by the lake. The islands at the Eastern end of the lake seemed to have as many singing birds as all the rest of the lakeside margins combined.

The ring-necked parakeets out-shouted the magpies, woodpigeons and blackbirds as I headed off home for a chippie tea.