Amberswood

Heron

I decided to rein in the plans for today after feeling exhausted just doing a simple errand. A pottering about sort of a day would probably be a sensible idea. I got the 132 from the Trafford Centre to Amberswood and ambled the mile and a half over to Spring View for the 609 to Leigh and thence back home. The target bird for the day was song thrush, of all things. I've had an odd couple of months where I've seen more pallid harriers than song thrushes.

Walking in from Wigan Road 

The walk in from Wigan Road was quietly busy. Robins sang and titmice fidgeted in the depths of the hedgerows. Unlike them, a goldcrest made a bit of an exhibition of itself and I got some more photos of where a warbler was a moment ago.

Amberswood 

The titmice were a lot more conspicuous at the corner of the lake. Coincidentally, somebody had filled the feeders. Great tits monopolised the feeders, blue tits and blackbirds picked up the litter underneath. Long-tailed tits, meanwhile, bounced through the reeds and willows with gay abandon, quite often coming over to give me a hard stare before flitting off on their way. I noticed that one of the goldcrests following the gang had a silver ring on its leg, trying to read the number on it turned out to be a mug's game. A treecreeper showed well, until I got my camera out of my bag. A Cetti's warbler didn't show at all but had a lot to say for itself. A water rail contented itself with a single blood-curdling squeal.

Amberswood Lake 

Goldfinches and a couple of siskins hung upside down in the tops of the alder trees as they tugged seeds out of the cones. There were lots of woodpigeons and magpies about and a steady traffic of carrion crows and jackdaws overhead.

Out on the lake the mallards and coots were very anti the little radio-controlled boat one of the carp anglers was using to drop bait. They kept well away, huddled in one corner with the mute swans and coots. The great crested grebes didn't seem to be much bothered, the two full-grown humbugs were too busy begging their parents for food and the parents were too busy studiously ignoring their begging. The dozen black-headed gulls having a wash and brush-up were similarly unmoved except when the boat came into the raft and was received with a lot of bad language until it moved on.

By Amberswood Lake 

A heron flew in and perched on a small tree next to the lake. It hadn't noticed me standing nearby until it was too late and it was committed to the landing. We spent the next couple of minutes pretending not to have seen each other. A sudden chorus of squeaks and ticks from great tits and robins heralded the arrival of a male kestrel which skimmed the treetops then flew up one of the rides towards Ince.

Amberswood 

I walked through the wood to Spring View and got the 609 in to Leigh for the buses home. There were more mixed tit flocks bouncing through the trees, robins sang and/or struck poses on twigs as I walked past and every fifty yards a wren gave me a good scolding. It had been a very pleasant and productive short walk and the weather was impeccable. Which was nice, but I didn't find me any song thrushes.