Blackleach Country Park

Canada geese, mute swans, mallards and coots

The choice was between heading for the Wigan Flashes for to look for a great northern diver or Pennington Flash for to look for a scaup but after oversleeping after a bad night's sleep and a busy morning I hadn't the energy for either. I refilled the sunflower seeds feeders and was rewarded by the first chaffinch in the garden this year, a male. I don't know why we don't tend to see chaffinches in this area. The goldfinches have been singing since Christmas but it was still a surprise to see a pair courting in the rowan tree, the male sashaying up and down the branch his tail flung from side to side like a flamenco dancer.

I got the fidgets and decided to go for a walk to try and get my head straight a bit. Bus stop bingo got me the 25 to the Trafford Centre where I just missed the 126 to Leigh so I got the next outgoings bus, the 22 to Bolton, and after a bit of dithering about I decided I was going to Blackleach Country Park.

I got off the bus in Kearsley and walked down to the motorway bridge, the woody bit of scrub by the path busy with blue tits and blackbirds. It feels like a bumper Winter for blackbirds, the hedgerows and waste grounds are full of them.

At first I thought this was a stack of oyster mushrooms, it's actually the ripped fibres of the  splitting trunk.

Crossing the motorway the woods in Blackleach Country Park were December quiet, as if they'd been worked out by Bonfire Night, which they might well have been given how early Autumn started last year. It was a relief to bump into a blackbird.

Blackleach Country Park 

Black-headed gulls, lesser black-back and coot

The lake was mostly frozen over and populated by loafing gulls, mostly black-headed gulls. A few first-Winter herring gulls and adult lesser black-backs accompanied them and there was just the one common gull. Coots and moorhens skittered about past them.

Common gull

Mute swans and mallards 

There was a tiny patch of free water by the little pier and it was packed solidly with coots, mallards, Canada geese and mute swans. Those that couldn't fit on the water loafed about on the path with some robins and blackbirds and it was a bit of a feat negotiating my way past both them and a sheet of wet ice.

Coot

I looked at the time and decided I'd done enough getting cold while pretending to take some exercise for one day. I walked over to Bolton Road and got the 37 to Salford Crescent for the trains home. I didn't have long to wait there and was serenaded by a song thrush while the train arrived.

Greater Manchester bumper bundle

Black-necked grebe, Moses Gate Country Park 

It was one of those windy days where you know it's pouring down because the sun's shining. The business of the day was concluded by lunchtime so I caught the 20 from Salford Royal Hospital and debated whether to get off at Logistics North and risk a walk over Cutgate or stay on to Bolton and go on to Moses Gate Country Park where an adult black-necked grebe was gracing the big lake. In the event, I got off at Walkden and walked up to Blackleach Country Park.

As I walked across the green on Hilltop Road to the entrance to the country park a swarm of swallows flew in and started hawking round the trees, equal numbers of adults and juveniles. I had a bad stab at trying to get photos of them and didn't fare any better with the house martins that flew in and joined them.

Blackleach Country Park 

A chiffchaff squeaked from the trees as I approached the lake. A small charm of goldfinches twittered in the tree tops and a pair of bullfinches wheezed sadly as they flew over the path.

Coots and great crested grebes 

Rafts of coots and mallards drifted over the lake. Most of the mute swans lurked by the pier confident that someone would be along with some scoff. One pair dozed with a couple of large cygnets on the opposite bank. The cob steamed across the lake with all colours flying at the first rustle of a bag of bread. A pair of great crested grebes cruising about amongst the coots had a couple of young humbugs on their backs. Most of the black-headed gulls crowded onto one of the islands, until that bag of bread got rustled.

Black-headed gulls 

Mute swan

Blackleach Country Park 

I walked through to Bolton Road and got the 37 into Farnworth and walked down Lower Rawson Street into Moses Gate Country Park.

Moses Gate Country Park 

Of course, I forgot that this way in involves a steep but very picturesque path down to the lakes.

Moses Gate Country Park 

The first of the two smaller lakes was busy with coots and mallards. That is, until the rusty brown face of a mink broke water near the far bank and started making a beeline for the nearest raft of coots. They had it spotted fifty yards away and all the waterfowl save a couple of mute swans swiftly shifted over to the other side of the lake.

There were no such dramas on the water lily lake with its mallards and tufties.

Canada geese, mute swans, mallards, herring gulls, lesser black-backs, coots and moorhens
I've no idea why they like scrunching up together like this in this corral but every time I've been here they've done it. Correlation does not always equal causation.

Moses Gate Country Park 

I walked down to the big lake. "Are you looking for the black-necked grebe?" asked a gent with a big lens on his camera. "It's just next to that willow there."

And so it was.

Black-necked grebe, first sighting

A nice adult black-necked grebe still in breeding colours and entirely unperturbed by people standing on the path twenty yards away watching it fishing.

Mute swan 

Mute swan

It occurred to me that I was fighting the light — despite its being an overcast day — and I'd be better walking down a little beyond the willow and have the sun coming from behind me. Backlighting suits mute swans but not nearly entirely dark-coloured grebes.

Black-necked grebe 

Black-necked grebe 

Black-necked grebe 

Any chance you get to see any species of grebe up close, do so. They're bonny birds.

Coots and great crested grebes, juvenile grebe in the centre

A way further out a great crested grebe was taking its two near-full-grown humbugs for a cruise past the rafts of coots.

Great crested grebes, adult far right

Juvenile great crested grebes and coots

Herring gulls, lesser black-backs, coots and tufted duck

A lack of exercise was telling on that Achilles tendon so I quit while I was ahead and got the 524 into Radcliffe and got a bus home. One of those dull days that aren't dull.

Blackleach Country Park

Blackcap

It was another warm, sunny day. The blackbird had been up long before the lark and the woodpigeons not much later. Even the spadgers were splashing about in the bath before half-six.

The first hayfever attack of the year always comes as a surprise. After spending an evening and a large part of the night wiping my nose I didn't have the energy for either of the two options I'd settled on for today, much to the dismay of that part of me that obsesses about numbers. The rest of me looks at the numbers and wonders what the fuss is about, the year list is a hundred and seventy something strong, I've seen more than a hundred species of birds every month so far, I'm seeing and hearing plenty on a lot of very pleasant walks. And chill…

I went over to the Trafford Centre to play bus station bingo. The 22 came first so the choice of walk was Clifton, Blackleach or Moses Gate and I plumped for Blackleach Country Park. I got off the bus in Kearsley and took the rough path leading straight to the motorway bridge, something I'd feel a bit iffy about had we not had weeks of dry weather. There were plenty of speckled woods skittering about by the path and a whitethroat singing from the field by the motorway.

Walking through the woodland

The birdsong in Blackleach Country Park was incessant, starting from the chiffchaffs in the trees as I walked over the bridge to the song thrush and goldfinches singing in the trees on my way out to get the bus on Bolton Road. There were plenty of chiffchaffs, robins, blackcaps and blackbirds, a few wrens and great tits, a garden warbler sang in the woodland and a blue tit sang by the lake. And there were plenty of magpies, woodpigeons and jackdaws. Most of the butterflies were large whites, a few speckled woods fluttered about the hedgerows, orange tips and brimstones on the grassy banks.

The lake

Tufted ducks

The mallard ducklings on the lake were already well grown, the mild late Winter must have kindled the fires in the blood. The tufted ducks had that raffish boys on the town look about them, the raft that was cruising about was a dozen drakes with a couple of ducks. The rest of the ducks will be being domestically busy. Coots, mute swans, Canada geese and a pair of great crested grebes drifted about apparently aimlessly, except when food was in the offing at the waterside in which case the grebes were left on their own midwater.

Mallard ducklings 

A few black-headed gulls loafed and flew about but didn't look settled. A couple of lesser black-backs flew through without stopping. 

Common terns

Four common terms looked to have staked a claim on one of the rafts. Three were content to loaf on the raft, one was very active and noisy and a couple of times flew in with a fish which it offered to its prospective partner.

The common terns bring the year list to 174.

Greater Manchester bumper bundle

Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

For a change it was a grey start to the day. I struggled to get started or even decide what I was doing with the day so I had breakfast and a pot of tea and walked round to get the 25 to the Trafford Centre to play bus station bingo. And missed it.

Sparrowhawk,, Lostock Park 

I walked through the park to get the 250 to the Trafford Centre. The difference a day makes! There was a bit of drama as a blackbird wriggled out of the clutches of a female sparrowhawk and darted into the depths of a holly bush.

• Black-headed gull 3
• Blackbird 6
• Blue tit 2
• Carrion crow 1
• Goldcrest 2
• Goldfinch 6
• Great tit 1
• Herring gull 3
• House sparrow 2
• Lesser black-back 1
• Long-tailed tit 9
• Magpie 7
• Redwing 1
• Robin 1
• Sparrowhawk 1
• Woodpigeon 5

The next bus out was the 20 to Bolton. I was spoilt for choice. I could get off at Worsley and do that walk by Boothstown to Astley that I've not got round to this year. Or have a wander through Worsley Woods… or Blackleach… or Cutacre… I decided to get off at Walkden, walk up to Blackleach Country Park, over through to Kearsley, get the bus to Farnworth and go and have a nosy round Moses Gate Country Park. A couple of medium-sized walks would get the knees mobile again after a lazy few days. I'd got so that I was walking like Long John Silver.

Great crested grebe, Blackleach Country Park 

It's a short walk up the road to Blackleach Country Park from Walkden town centre. It was a cool and breezy day and every so often the sun threatened to emerge from behind the clouds. A small flock of goldfinches and a few blue tits were fussing around in the hedgerow by the car park. I stepped aside to allow a working party of volunteers through a gate. One stopped. "Don't I know you?" he asked. His face looked familiar but I might as easily as seen him in a bus as anywhere else (I have the same problem with relatives at Christmas). I gave him name, rank and number and we bade each other good day.

Mute cygnet, Blackleach Country Park 

The lake was busy with birds, like tending to linger with like. A couple of herds of mute swans cruised about. Likewise handfuls of shovelers, tufted ducks and gadwalls and a raft of Canada geese. Mallards hugged the sides of the lake, coots were everywhere, and there was just the one great crested grebe that I could see. Black-headed gulls flew about or called noisily from the nesting rafts and a couple of lesser black-backs loafed midwater.

Mallard, Blackleach Country Park 

Mallards, Blackleach Country Park 

Coot, Blackleach Country Park 

Black-headed gulls, Blackleach Country Park 

The woods were fairly quiet, most of the small bird noises being provided by the twigs rattling against each other in the breeze. Blackbirds and robins rummaged about by the paths and wrens sang from the undergrowth. A mixed tit flock seemed to consist entirely of blue tits, coal tits and nuthatches. 

Blackleach Country Park 

Whenever I've walked up through the woods along Moss Road towards the motorway it's been to the backdrop of the noise of heavy plant machinery. It seems there's been some thinning out of the trees and scrub on the edge of the country park for today I could see the waste management works that makes the noise. A little further along a kestrel hovered over the field by the motorway.

Blackleach Country Park 

I bobbed over the motorway into Kearsley and walked round to the Melville Street bus stop for the 22 to Farnworth Library. It's only a mile and I could have walked it but it's a dreary main road trudge and I only had five minutes to wait for the bus.

I crossed the road to the library then walked down Rawson Road, under the expressway and into Moses Gate Country Park. I turned onto the path that sweeps down the steep hill down to the main lake. As I was coming over I'd seen that a first-Winter Caspian gull had been seen here earlier in the day. Redwings and blackbirds skittered about the trees and a great spotted woodpecker took exception to me as I passed.

Moses Gate Country Park 

Moses Gate Country Park 

I groaned as I approached the lake: a flock of large gulls rose and circled over the lake before drifting over towards Bolton town centre. It was a mixture of herring gulls and lesser black-backs but one bird stood out amongst the wheeling mass. It was mostly in silhouette against a bright sky but the long wings, heavy shoulders, round head and big blob of an end to its beak shouted yellow-legged gull so even if I'd missed the Caspian gull I had me a consolation prize.

Herring gulls and common gulls, Moses Gate Country Park 

Herring gulls, Moses Gate Country Park 

There were a lot of black-headed gulls about at this end of the lake with a few herring gulls, all of them subadults, and a few common gulls. Nearly all the large gulls were over by the car park, a mixture of lesser black-backs and herring gulls in a bewildering range of plumages.

Moses Gate Country Park 

The mute swans and Canada geese all headed that way, somebody must have brought in some food. The mallards were busy making baby mallards, shovelers cruised about in groups of three or four and coots squabbled with each other at every opportunity.

As I approached the car park I bumped into another birdwatcher who immediately put me onto the Caspian gull (thanks Dennis). Once spotted it stuck out a mile, a long-necked, long-winged, long-billed and small-headed gull. And ghostly pale. The head looked white from a distance, close to it was very pale beige-grey, nearly white on the face, with dark brown streaks on its neck. The upperparts were mottled brown but more blurred and softer than the herring gulls and lesser black-backs, and significantly paler. Compared to it the herring gulls and even the lesser black-backs were more rectangular birds. I've only seen a handful of Caspian gulls before and they've all looked bigger than the herring gulls they were with. This bird was quite small, about the same size as a herring gull but slimmer. I'll have to remember to forget the size and concentrate on the structure next time I'm searching for a possible Caspian gull.

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

It wasn't shy in coming closer and just as interested in any free food going as the other gulls so I got the chance to look at it in detail and in different angles of light. Even with the light behind it it was a pale-looking gull.

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

Mute swans and First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

Mute swans and First-Winter Caspian gull (left), Moses Gate Country Park 

Mute swans and First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter herring gull and first-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull and first-Winter lesser black-back, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter Caspian gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

I thanked Dennis again and made my way through the car park to the river Croall. It was probably getting on a bit in the day to hope for wagtails but I might find goosanders on the river. But not today.

River Croall 

Along the Kingfisher Trail

I followed the path up to the Kingfisher Trail which follows the Croall down to where it joins the Irwell at Nob End. The small birds and woodpigeons were settling down to roost and it was only the magpies and carrion crows still noisy and active in the trees. 

Nob End 

It's a nice walk through a post-industrial landscape (as are Blackleach and Moses Gate country parks). Nob End is a Site of Special Scientific Interest as the plant life includes many only found on calcareous soil, a legacy of the alkaline residue of the 18th and 19th century chemical works producing sulphuric acid and washing soda. Not that they're much in evidence in the half-light of a late afternoon in December.

Prestolee Road and Nob End

I joined Prestolee Road and crossed the Irwell by the aqueduct carrying the relict Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal into Prestolee where I expected to find the bus stop for the 512 into Bury. I couldn't even find the poles any bus stop might have been if somebody had pinched the signs. So I walked into Kearsley and got the bus there. I didn't have the legs to walk down for the 22 back to the Trafford Centre, which would have got me home a lot quicker. The bus crossed back over the Irwell and did its circuit round Prestolee before crossing back over the bridge and on its way. As we meandered round the bus announcements reeled off a series or bus stops and not a one could I see from the window. Island life is always different.