Well, that was a year that was…

Female ring-necked duck, Alexandra Park, Manchester

It's a rum sort of year where by Easter I've seen more ring-necked ducks than wigeon. Having the first quarter of the year under lockdown frustrated the usual Winter birdwatching but made sure the sites within walking distance got a hammering. 

Maps: sites recorded in Greater Manchester in 2021

Greater Manchester's been given a good going over, too: there aren't many kilometre squares I didn't visit this year. I found a lot of new birdwatching walks, revisited a few I've neglected for years, and I've been getting out of the house for a walk at least four times a week. There are places I regret not being able to visit in the circumstances (after watching the mass irresponsibility immediately after "freedom day" I was wary of making any plans) but I still managed to get a few longer distance days out.

Can you spot when Lockdown ended?

The year list ends on 198, a figure I would have laughed at in April. There are notable gaps in the list: no skuas or phalaropes (just the one owl!), no fulmar, bittern, long-tailed duck, bean goose, Caspian gull, cuckoo, pied flycatcher or water pipit. I dipped on wryneck, smew and green-winged teal, and all in all the number of records of seabirds and waders is thinner than I'd like. On the other hand, I've been falling over spoonbills, stonechats and ravens and this is the year I didn't just see an osprey from a train but a few weeks later I found where it was nesting, also from the train. So all in all it's been a very peculiar year.

I could have had one mad dash out today but why stress myself out so? It was a nice day for chilling out, refilling the feeders in the back garden and listening to the coal tit in the blackcurrant bush next to me as it waited for me to finish. So I end the year with my life list at 364, the year list at 198, my British list at 281 and my Greater Manchester list at 168. 

Lifers

I bumped into six new species this year, pretty good going given the circumstances.

• The lesser white-front at Marshside was a fluke and I'm still kicking myself for not spotting it out in the field.
   

  

  Barnacle goose, lesser white-fronted goose and pink-footed geese

  
  
• The Richardson's cackling goose at Lowercroft Reservoir was good to see, especially as it was very obliging about posing next to Canada geese so I could compare and contrast.
   

  

  Cackling goose (left) and Canada goose

  
  
• The elegant tern at Hightown was bloody hard work, worth it for a bird I would never have predicted at the start of the year.
   

  

  Sandwich terns and elegant tern

  
  
• The Savi's warbler at Heslington was a bugger to see but very obliging in song.
   
• The dusky warbler at Ainsdale was, frankly, a punt. I was in the area so decided to have a speculative nosy round and against all my expectations I actually found it.
   
• The red-backed shrike at Meols was a twitch, and turned out to be a distant lovely.
   

  

  Red-backed shrike

Actually, I wouldn't have predicted adding any of these to my life list. Finally seeing some male ring ouzels was a Spring highlight.

For a bit of fun I'll have a go at predicting next year's lifers (secure in the knowledge I'll be dead wrong):

• Lapland bunting
• Wryneck
• Little auk
• Nightjar
• Great reed warbler

Whatever 2021's been like one way or another, I hope we all have a better 2022.

Home thoughts

Collared dove

I'm getting bored with wet, windy days in lockdown. I've worn the glamour out of going anywhere within walking distance in the pouring rain with the wind whistling up my trousers. It's a bad attitude: there's plenty about out there if you bother to look and quite a bit happening in its quiet, understated way, I'm just very bad at working to any sort of routine and the additional discomfort isn't helping.

Goldfinch

The spadgers are by far the dominant element in the garden at the moment, bursting out of the railway embankment to descend on the feeders mob-handed then going back in out of the rain for ten minutes to have a breather. The goldfinches are having to resort to slipping in to grab a beakful of sunflower seeds to eat in the tree away from the feeders. Even the starlings have barely got a look-in. The blue tits have been too busy chasing each other to get involved.

Collared doves

There are four collared doves in today: the usual pair, one of whom has pale tail feathers which for some reason have become startlingly white; the currently-tailless bird; and another bird which I think is the unpaired one I keep bumping into when I'm walking down towards the allotments.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 4
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 1
• House Sparrow 16
• Jackdaw 2
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Starling 5
• Woodpigeon 2

Over on the school playing field there's just a couple of dozen gulls, mostly black-headed gulls with three first-Winter herring gulls and an adult lesser black-back. The four common gulls included one very striking second common gull with wholly black primaries and a dark wing band. I don't know what was up with the lesser black-back, it was very flighty and kept chasing other birds, including the young common gull, up into flight.

Mersey Valley (may contain rant)

Teal, Broad Ees Dole

A milder, quieter sort of day coincided with one of the quietest days in the garden for a while. The blackcap has adopted the role of satellite to the "silver" family of house sparrows pretty much the same way as one of the blue tits did up to the middle of last month. Protection in numbers, I guess, and it gets to feed on the fat balls while the spadgers are busy demolishing sunflower seeds and suet pellets. I got a surprise when the blackcap started singing this morning, the earliest I've heard one sing. I'm assuming this bird's a Winter visitor from the continent but I won't be upset to be proven wrong.

• Black-headed Gull 3 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 11
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Robin 1
• Starling 5
• Woodpigeon 1

Plenty of black-headed gulls on the school playing field. A couple of second-Winter common gulls joined the more usual adults. Today's large gulls were four adult lesser black-backs and six herring gulls — two second-Winter and four first-Winter birds.

I decided to have a wander through Stretford Ees to Sale Water Park and thence into Chorlton, possibly on to the water park if the mood took. 

I walked through Stretford and got onto Stretford Ees from Hawthorn Road. A very loosely organised tit flock — blue, great and long-tailed tits — busied about in the hedgerow by the aquaduct and magpies rattled about the treetops, either paired up and marking territories or else in loose bunches of adolescent hoolies.

Male stonechat, Stretford Ees

Out on the open field the flood waters were definitely receding and a small flock of black-headed gulls were feeding on the damp mud. The paths were a lot drier than on my last visit, solid enough to walk on but muddy enough to give your boots platform heels, especially now the mizzle had turned into real rain. A handful of ring-necked parakeets made Space Invader noises in the tall trees and a young raven (all beak and no beard) flew low over towards Chorlton, flying ESE instead of the usual southbound birds. I thought I'd struck unlucky with the stonechats again but the male bobbed up out of the long grass near the electricity pylon. I hope the female's still around, just staying undercover.

A great spotted woodpecker called from the trees on the other side of the tram lines. There wasn't anything on the river but a grey wagtail flew over as I crossed the bridge.

Sale Water Park was busy with both people and birds. There were still patches of ice on the lake, all covered in loafing black-headed gulls. Nearly all the usual suspects were out on the lake but I couldn't see any dabchicks (there was a lot of free water in the ditches on Broad Ees Dole, I shouldn't be surprised if they were all deep in there). The rain had passed over and it was becoming a nice sunny afternoon.

Teal, Broad Ees Dole

On Broad Ees Dole, Teal Pool was largely frozen over, the only bird being a single snipe sitting on the edge of the reeds on the far bank. The pool by the hide had some open water, all of it filled by teal. Although the floodwaters have receded a fair bit the islands on this pool are still underwater.

Gadwall and black-headed gull

As I walked through Sale Water Park towards Cow Lane it got considerably busier and extremely more stressful. It's easy — and hypocritical — to get snobby about places you're visiting being too busy with visitors. That wasn't really the problem today, the problem was some of the people. I routinely step aside off the path where possible to let people safely pass and have as much social distancing space as possible. I really don't mind doing that, it's a basic courtesy. I do get pissed off when I do it and the group I'm letting pass still insist on walking four abreast and the one nearest to me looks daggers because I've not left them much room. Happening once is bitterly funny, it soon gets beyond a joke. And you can forget about social distancing here: one bloke who insisted on talking to me couldn't have gotten any closer if we were wearing the same trousers. 

The feeders by the café had been freshly filled and a few blue tits, great tits and nuthatches braved the crowds passing by. I'd just arrived and was standing up on the bank by the café when a bloke with binoculars literally standing right next to the feeding station shouted up to me: "Are there no willow tits about?" "Have you had no luck?" I answered innocently.

Sale Ees

I'd had enough by now and sloped off down through Sale Ees towards the river. There were still pools of water about but the paths were largely dryish. Over the bridge and through Hardy Farm and off home. I'd got as far as Chorlton Park when an empty bus that stops at Humphrey Park Station arrived so I got on and got home rather than walking through Chorlton. Twenty minutes on an empty bus is less risky than the best part of an hour walking through a crowd scene.

It's frustrating that staying within lockdown rules means that if I want any serious walking exercise I have to thread my way through a crowd and not break the rules by spending ten minutes on an empty train to Irlam then go for a walk through Irlam and Cadishead mosses and not get within hailing distance of two dozen people over three hours. There are worse things, much, much worse things, I know, but it does get frustrating and stressful.

Home thoughts

A cool, blowy day with bits of sunshine and lots of cloud had most of the garden birds keeping under cover most of the day. Under ordinary circumstances I'd have travelled out for a bit of birdwatching to recharge the batteries, it was the sort of day for wild goose chases in Southport or seeing what was about on the Wirral coast. As it was, I wasn't much inclined to drag myself round any of the local sites today and stayed home.

• Black-headed Gull 2 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 1
• Carrion Crow 2
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 2
• Feral Pigeon 2
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 10
• Magpie 2
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 9
• Woodpigeon 2

I've no idea where the black-headed gulls were today, they certainly weren't on the school playing field.

• Black-headed Gull 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Common Gull 4
• Herring Gull 3: 2 Adult, 2 2nd-winter
• Jackdaw 12
• Rook 7
• Woodpigeon 10

Stretford

Female blackbird

An overnight light dusting of snow brought the spadgers and starlings in to pretty much monopolise the remnants on the feeders. An odd visitor was a single long-tailed tit amongst the spadgers. A long-tailed tit on its own doesn't feel natural somehow. The blackcap came in a couple of times when thing had quietened down for a while and showed quite well but wasn't for being photographed well.

Robin

Male blackcap

Song thrush

• Black-headed Gull 2 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 1
• Great Tit 2
• Herring Gull 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 23
• Jackdaw 2
• Long-tailed Tit 1
• Robin 2
• Rook 1
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 16

It was another busy day on the school playing field, too.

• Black-headed Gull 69
• Common Gull 6  (adult 6)
• Herring Gull 9  (3 adult, 1 4th-winter, 2 3rd-winter, 1 2nd-winter, 2 1st-winter)
• Jackdaw 8
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 3  (2 adult, 1 1st-winter)
• Rook 14
• Starling 12

On the way into Stretford to buy what I hope will be two weeks' worth of bird food I walked through Victoria Park. A lot of mobile leaves under one of the trees turned out to be a dozen redwings.

Trafford Park

Scarlet macaw, Trafford Park
I suspect this might not be a Category A vagrant.
[I'm told his name is Pancho and he escaped from an aviary in Sale last Saturday]

The big local birdwatching news was a Richardson's cackling goose over on Lightshaw Flashes, about quarter of an hour's walk from Pennington Flash. I've never seen any type of cackling goose so it would have been a dead easy — and delightful — lifer. Except for the lockdown. Ah well.

A mild, dry but thoroughly gloomily overcast morning brought plenty of birds into the garden but not much in the way of crowd scenes. The blackcap was back, though it seems it isn't welcomed by the blue tits or the robins. The giant pine cones are a great hit with the goldcrests, they and the coal tits can dig out the suet left deep inside after the other birds have abandoned the search. 

• Black-headed Gull 4 overhead
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 1
• Carrion Crow 2
• Collared Dove 1
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 2
• Greenfinch 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 14
• Jackdaw 2
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
• Magpie 1
• Robin 2
• Rook 1
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 1

There were thirty-odd black-headed gulls on the school playing field together with a trio of lesser black-backs and a second-Winter herring gull. The usual jackdaws and rooks were kicking about, joined by a couple of woodpigeons, and one of the magpies was collecting twigs for the nest. A pied wagtail flew over from one of the flat roofed school buildings, the first I've seen here for a while.

Barton Clough

I had a walk around the local patch which was a bit busier than it has been of late.

• Black-headed Gull 4 overhead
• Blackbird 3
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 4
• Chaffinch 1
• Common Gull 1 overhead
• Dunnock 3
• Feral Pigeon 81 overhead
• Goldfinch 24
• Great Tit 4
• Greenfinch 1
• House Sparrow 4
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Magpie 16
• Redwing 5
• Robin 7
• Song Thrush 2
• Starling 5
• Woodpigeon 9
• Wren 1

Lesser black-backed gull, Trafford Park

I didn't want to go home just yet even though it had started drizzling. I decided to take a walk down the Bridgewater Canal through Trafford Park and as far as the Pomona Dock, it's been a while since I last did that walk. 

Bridgewater Canal, Trafford Park
Approaching the canal junction by Watersmeet

As usual, plenty of gulls about: mostly black-headed gulls with lesser black-backs, except on the Eurofreighter compound where the large gulls were all herring gulls. As I got to the Freightliner terminal the drizzle turned into heavy rain and a couple of hundred black-headed gulls wheeled overhead. As they moved on towards the quays I noticed an odd-looking bird heading our way. At first I though it was a cormorant until I realised all the length was at the back end, not the front. A carrion crow, perhaps, with a particularly ambitious bit of nesting material. As it neared it looked more outlandish; it turned out to be a scarlet macaw. Not a tickable vagrant but it took my mind off the cackling goose.

Cormorant and magpie, Trafford Park

As I passed the United ground I added grey wagtail to the year list. I was harbouring a remote hope of adding firecrest, too, as one had been seen yesterday in bushes on the approach to Throstle Nest Bridge but I had no luck: there was nothing smaller than a dunnock to be found today.

A bit of shopping on the way home, adding a pair of mute swans on the canal by Stretford Marina to the day list, and a desperately-needed pot of tea.

Big Garden Birdwatch

My Big Garden Birdwatch results

I was sneaky this year and timed the start of my count for the Big Garden Birdwatch with the arrival of the starlings on the sycamores on the railway embankment. Most of the local open spaces being busy with Saturday mid-morning dog walkers the starlings turned up mob-handed. They and the spadgers made up most of the numbers, with everything else either making a cameo appearance or not turning up at all. I've no idea where the great tits have been this past few days. I had hoped to be able to scrape the list off the RSPB web site but it just shows you your "top ten" in graphical form. The tally for the whole morning was:

Black-headed Gull 6 overhead

Blackbird 1

Blue Tit 2

Carrion Crow 1

Coal Tit 1

Collared Dove 3

Common Gull 1 overhead

Feral Pigeon 2

Goldfinch 2

House Sparrow 25

Jackdaw 2

Magpie 2

Robin 1

Rook 1

Starling 26

Over on the school playing field there were 66 black-headed gulls and a couple of common gulls. The only large gull was a rather dainty looking first-Winter herring gull. The magpies seem to have given up on nest building for now though they're noisily in occupation of the tree ready for when the mood takes them again.

It seems strange to get this far into January without seeing any grey geese or whooper swans, pintail, wigeon or shelduck. I keep finding myself making plans to go for a walk over the Salford mosses but while it's only ten minutes on the train it's ten minutes breaking lockdown so I have to knock it on the head. The charms of places within walking distance in miserable weather is wearing a bit thin, though the lengthening days mean that every man and his dog isn't trying to share the same space in the few hours available. Still, could be worse.

More home thoughts

Black-headed gulls and a (?first-Winter) common gull

Another mild late January day. We're a pigeon down after one of the local cats had it yesterday (my intervention was too little too late). The same cat strolled through this lunchtime which gave me and the cat I live with the opportunity to stare daggers at it. For some reason the cat I live with hasn't been out at all this month, she usually likes nosing round in the rain. Anyway, at least I know she's not bothering the bird life.

Plenty of black-headed gulls on the school field. Larger gulls were mostly heard but not seen, except for a first-Winter herring gull that loafed around for a bit. The handful of common gulls included a couple of younger birds, a first-Winter and a second-Winter I think. Young common gulls always have me scratching my head and I don't have the safety net of "probably a herring gull" that there is with larger gulls.

The dog fox decided to do a bit of early afternoon advertising, yelping awhile as he strolled down the railway line. His promenading was accompanied by seven magpies and six jackdaws, all torn between mobbing him and hanging onto his coattails in the hopes of getting scraps.

• Black-headed Gull 7 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blue Tit 3
• Carrion Crow 1
• Coal Tit 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Goldfinch 1
• Great Tit 1
• House Sparrow 18
• Jackdaw 6
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
• Long-tailed Tit 4
• Magpie 7
• Robin 1
• Starling 21
• Woodpigeon 3

Home thoughts

Spadgers

The onset of milder weather after the snows has made for less frenetic activity in the garden this week. Having said that, it got a bit busy when both the spadger families arrived at the same time at one point this morning. The family that is centred around the station tends to come in and exit from stage left, the family centred on the brambles and ivy on the embankment from stage right. At the moment they're both a bit more mobile, the one moving counterclockwise around the small field on Humphrey Park, the other moving clockwise, bumping into each other every so often at favoured feeding places like my garden. I suspect this way young, unpaired birds get to move between family groups and stop too much inbreeding.

• Black-headed Gull 4 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blue Tit 1
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 2
• Common Gull 1 overhead
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 1
• Great Tit 1
• Herring Gull 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 29
• Jackdaw 2
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Starling 7
• Woodpigeon 1

Home

Goldcrest

The heavy snow of the morning was succeeded by a dry, sunny afternoon and by the end of the day half the snow had disappeared. The spadgers set up camp all day though even they had to retreat when forty-two starlings came in and devastated the day balls. Once they'd gone I refilled the feeders and went back inside to see what else turned up (mind you, the blue tits and robins didn't even bother waiting until I'd finished filling the sunflower feeders).

A more usual photo of a goldcrest

The pair of coal tits came in and posed winsomely in the rowan tree, only splitting up and moving off as my camera got them into focus. A pair of goldcrests also gave me plenty of opportunity to get photos of where they had been as they flitted round the base of one of the feeders where the starlings had given a pine cone a hard pecking.

Collared dove

The usual pairs of collared dove and great tit were latecomers to the party today, neither being seen before lunchtime. The long-tailed tits didn't turn up until sundown when they came in, spent a good five minutes topping up from the fat feeders then bounced off to roost.

The school playing field was quiet and frozen, just a handful of black-headed gulls and a common gull loafed on the roof of one of the school buildings. There were plenty more gulls on the field by the station which is a wee bit on the damp side.

• Black-headed Gull 2 overhead
• Blackbird 4
• Blue Tit 3
• Carrion Crow 1 2 overhead
• Coal Tit 2
• Collared Dove 3
• Common Gull 1 2 overhead
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 2
• Goldcrest 2
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 2
• Herring Gull 1 2 overhead
• House Sparrow 26
• Jackdaw 6
• Magpie 3
• Robin 2
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 44
• Woodpigeon 2

Local patch

Jay, Lostock Park

The heavy rain of the last few days was replaced by a sunny day and, despite a bitingly cold wind, it was mild enough to melt most of last night's heavy snow. The sparrows came mob-handed into the garden and stayed most of the day. Both the pigeons came in but didn't linger long, nor did the woodpigeon: they were all a bit spooked by one of the neighbourhood cats walking through. The gulls were back, with a particularly noisy bunch feeding on the little dog-walkers' field on the other side of the railway line. 

Spadgers. Silver team's alpha male on the left

• Black-headed Gull 7 overhead
• Blue Tit 3
• Carrion Crow 1 overhead
• Coal Tit 1
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 2
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 2
• Herring Gull 2 overhead
• House Sparrow 23
• Long-tailed Tit 3
• Magpie 1
• Starling 8
• Woodpigeon 1

Over on the school playing field all the regular black-headed gulls were back, together with seventeen jackdaws, but no large gulls.

Robin, Lostock Park

I didn't really want to go for a walk so I forced myself to get my boots on. The Mersey Valley was still on red flood alert up to where Kickety Brook meets Stretford Meadows so I stuck to the local patch. 

Great tit, Barton Clough

The footpath down from Old Hall Road was (unsurprisingly!) fearfully muddy and very quiet of birds. Wandering around the old cornfield was a mixed bag: a big flock of pigeons flew to-and-fro overhead and a dozen goldfinches fed in the trees behind the blinds workshop but there wasn't much feeding in the scrub bar a couple of dunnocks and a robin. I disturbed a rabbit on the old railway bed and this alerted a pair of great tits to my presence, they flew into the hazel bushes to let me know I wasn't welcome. A few black-headed gulls and carrion crows flew overhead, the gulls heading roughly towards Salford Quays and the crows flitting about between the flyover and the poplars in the park. A large black bird approaching overhead turned out to be a raven, flying North because it's the afternoon of course.

Redwing, Lostock Park

Walking back through the park I bumped into a flock of redwings feeding on the wet grass and a small flock of goldfinches feeding on alder cones. A couple of jays silently foraged for cached acorns in the leaf litter. A few blackbirds and a couple of song thrushes rummaged round in the leaf litter under the shrubs near the corner of the park. Out on the football field a couple of crows had a bath in the centre circle and four mistlethrushes were feeding on the outfield, which was marginally drier.

Blackbird, Lostock Park

• Black-headed Gull 9 overhead
• Blackbird 5
• Blue Tit 5
• Carrion Crow 3
• Chaffinch 1
• Common Gull 2 overhead
• Dunnock 3
• Feral Pigeon 63 overhead
• Goldfinch 24
• Great Tit 6
• Jay 3
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
• Magpie 19
• Mistle Thrush 4
• Raven 1 overhead
• Redwing 16
• Robin 9
• Song Thrush 2
• Starling 10
• Woodpigeon 1
• Wren 2

Home

House sparrow, a first-Winter cock

The foxes had another busy night a-courting so there was no great surprise to find nearly all the local jackdaws sitting in the sycamore trees on the railway embankment to see if there was any pickings as the dog fox trotted down the line back to its lair.

I've had to refill the sunflower seed feeders again today, the sparrows, titmice and goldfinches have been giving them a lot of hammer. It took a while but I managed to establish that two goldcrests were visiting the garden, a male and a female. The male is the one I generally see coming into the garden, I've spotted the female on the sycamores a few times in the past, today she was feeding on the cherry tree.

• Black-headed Gull 8 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 3
• Carrion Crow 1
• Coal Tit 1
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 2
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Goldcrest 2
• Goldfinch 7
• Great Tit 2
• Herring Gull 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 18
• Jackdaw 15
• Long-tailed Tit 6
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 8
• Woodpigeon 1

Over on the school field the large gulls were a first-Winter lesser black-back and ten herring gulls: one adult, five first-Winters, two second-Winters and two third-Winter birds.

Stretford

The view from the living room window

Another cold, damp day in paradise. Today the garden had a visitation from thirty starlings and three goldfinches came in to the seed feeders, the largest number for this Winter, which would have unthinkably low even ten years ago. The pair of coal tits were back in together again, I felt a bit smug at being able to identify the male before the female popped out of the bushes. A male goldcrest came in just after lunchtime and spent a while being dwarfed by the giant pine cone it was feeding from. This gave me the opportunity for this year's first assays for the album of photos of where a warbler was a moment ago.

• Black-headed Gull 2
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 2
• Coal Tit 2
• Collared Dove 3
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 20
• Jackdaw 1
• Magpie 2
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 30

The magpies are nest-building in the same tree they used last year. The large gulls on the school field were all herring gulls. No adults this time, and just the one first-Winter bird with a big fourth-Winter and three third-Winter birds. 

As I waited for the train at Humphrey Park (I was nipping to the shops) I listened to a couple of robins having a singing duel. One to be careful of: the robin on the Manchester platform has added a couple of willow warbler cadences to its song.

Home

The female bullfinch found the nyger seedheads

A pair of bullfinches visited the garden today in the rain. I must say, given the huge amount of sunflower hearts kicking around out there it was a bit off of them to spend ten minutes eating buds off the blackcurrant bushes. Luckily we can spare a few buds: the bushes are both as tough as old boots and very productive (I'm still working my way through the last three pounds of currants in the freezer).

Male bullfinch abusing the hospitality of the garden

Both of the coal tits came in at the same time this morning which gave me a rare opportunity to see the differences between them. The male's underparts are flushed with a rich peach orange whereas the female's are a warm straw brown. When they're sat side-by-side on a branch the difference is obvious but when they're feeding on their own it's a very subtle difference and an easy one to miss if the light's not on your side.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blue Tit 3
• Bullfinch 2 pair
• Carrion Crow 1
• Coal Tit 2 pair
• Collared Dove 1
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Goldfinch 1
• Great Tit 2 pair
• House Sparrow 14
• Jackdaw 1
• Magpie 1
• Robin 2
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 1

Barton Clough

An hour's wander round the local patch in the pouring rain was predictably quiet.

• Black-headed Gull 1
• Blackbird 7
• Blue Tit 2
• Bullfinch 1
• Carrion Crow 2
• Chaffinch 1
• Common Gull 3
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 8
• Fieldfare 3
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 1
• Herring Gull 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 8
• Magpie 14
• Mistle Thrush 2
• Robin 1
• Starling 11
• Woodpigeon 13

Home

Collared dove

A light flurry of snow led to a bit more activity in the garden, not many more birds than the past couple of days but they nearly all stayed for the duration. I had my first exercise walk of the lockdown down into Stretford to do a shop, I could have put it off a few days for myself but there was a definite shortage of bird food. It was lucky that I did: I'd got as far as Park Road when I spotted a raven flying overhead towards Trafford Park. I've come to the conclusion that the local ravens only fly North in the afternoon (the only time I've seen one flying South it was mid-morning).

My (and the birds') luck was in: the shop in Stretford had a load of the fat-laden pine cones in stock. 

Blue tit

Today's garden tally:

• Black-headed Gull 1
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 4
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 1
• Goldfinch 2
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 24
• Jackdaw 2
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Magpie 1
• Rook 1
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 9
• Woodpigeon 1

Lockdown

Herring gull, Lostock School

Well, here we are again.

It was a glorious sunny January day but I decided not to go out for an exercise walk today. I'm not sure why not.

The sparrows dropped anchor in the garden half an hour after sun up and scarcely budged until sundown. The only time they dispersed at all was when I nipped out to refill the feeders and accidentally spill a load of birdseed on the patio. The great spotted woodpecker made an appearance, the first time this year, giving the last of the pine cones a hammering.

Over on the school playing field there was the usual twenty-odd black-headed gulls and thirty jackdaws. Today's selection of herring gulls (it's different every day lately) was an adult, a third-Winter and two or three first-Winter birds. The third bird comes under the "probably a herring gull" category: a tall, rangy bird with a very pale head and a very long bill. I'd barely reached for my binoculars before it was off and away so I didn't have the chance to check its particulars one way or another. Gull-watching can drive you barmy if you can't reconcile yourself to mystery.

Home thoughts

Red-throated diver, Dawlish Warren November 2018

Well, we have another lockdown on the near horizon, which comes as no surprise, sadly. I've spent the past few weeks whizzing round trying to fit in as much as I can before the curtain comes back down again while trying to avoid silly risks.

During the first lockdown I became heartily sick of dodging bodies and barbecues along the Mersey Valley. This time it'll be different as people will be still in work or at school (this isn't the place for my views on that). We also know a lot more about the transmission of the virus so I think it should be safe to use the local rail service for the five or ten minute off-peak journey to Flixton or Irlam for an occasional change. So, weather permitting (possibly regardless some days), I should be able to get out for a walk and a bit of birdwatching. Which is good as in the absence of so many other things I've come to depend on it this year as something to hang onto. I'm fortunate that I'm pretty much antisocial so I've not suffered as much as most people this year but it's still been a struggle at times.

So that leaves the next three days. I was thinking about going over to Pennington Flash today but then I started worrying that the Trafford Centre would be heaving with people doing last minute Christmas shopping and I didn't want to get entangled in that en route (a good call: the reports are that it was very busy indeed). In the end I couldn't be bothered going out and tomorrow is another day.