Urban birdwatching

Boggart Hole Clough 

When I'm going through Manchester City Centre I always keep one eye on the Gothic rooftops for black redstarts. There's a tiny breeding population up there and once every seven years or so I actually spot one. Today was not one of those days.

I was in Rochdale for lunch with a friend. Had Rochdale and I not had history I'd be quite taken with the town centre, even so I was impressed by the new approach to the Town Hall. I'd seen a post on Facebook about the Town Hall peregrines coming back so I had a good look round. A pigeon's leg on the pavement suggested a peregrine had been around but I couldn't see any evidence of anything other than pigeons or woodpigeons having sat on the clock tower since it was spruced up. There was a background chorus from the trees on the slopes down from St Chads, a blackcap being the most persistent of the singers, with lusty support from robins, wrens, blackbirds and a song thrush. A nosy on the river found a pair of mallards by the bus station and a lone Canada goose further downstream.

Rochdale Town Centre 

After lunch I decided I would play bus station bingo and see where I went. The 17 was first bus out so I got that. I didn't want a canalside walk in Castleton or a walk round Alkrington Woods today, I felt like having a bits and pieces sort of an afternoon. It was only after the bus had passed the stop I remembered Boarshaw Clough was just off Rochdale Road. I did, however, remember to get off at the entrance to Boggart Hole Clough.

Boggart Hole Clough 

Robins, blackcaps and great tits were singing in the trees by the entrance. Blue tits and wrens joined in as I walked through, then chiffchaffs and willow warblers, blackbirds, song thrushes and nuthatches. Somewhere a few dozen layers of treetops beyond a family of young carrion crows were demanding a feed. Magpies scuttled about, woodpigeons barged about in the canopy, dunnocks and long-tailed tits popped up onto twigs and disappeared just as quickly. I passed under a stand of larches on a bend and found a goldcrest foraging in the twigs just above my head.

Large white

There were lots of butterflies enjoying the sunshine. Large whites, orange tips and green-veined whites fluttered about the path verges, commas basked on paths and speckled woods patrolled the woodland margins. The difference a couple of weeks and a bit of sunshine can make.

Comma

Instead of following Boggart Hole Brook to the boating lake as usual I decided to walk up the path running Northeast alongside another little brook. There were lots more titmice, warblers, butterflies and crows, the squirrels were a bit more conspicuous and a couple of ring-necked parakeets screeched in the treetops. And it was altogether a very pleasant walk.

I played bus stop bingo at Grange Park Road. The 149 to Oldham came first so I got it and went to have a look at Alexandra Park to see how the herons were getting on.

As I waited to cross Kings Road I had plenty of time to listen to the willow warblers, robins, dunnocks and wrens singing by the roadside (it's one of those roads that has a line of traffic coming one way and nothing the other and you have to time your crossing for when they flip over). Town centre willow warblers always surprise me.

Alexandra Park, Oldham

There were more in the park, together with blackcaps, goldfinches and great tits. The heron's nest in the tree in the middle of the boating lake had three nestlings too big to fit the nest.

Heron nestlings

Heron nestlings

Heron nestlings

The park was very busy so I only had a bit of a wander round and headed to Primrose Bank for the bus back to Manchester. (Primrose Bank is as well-named as Flowery Field, by the way.) The 79 turned up first and as it wended its way through Limeside a voice in the back of my head suggested I could get off and walk down to Crime Lake and Daisy Nook. Enough is as good as a feast, I stayed on the bus and went off home.

Platt Fields

Canada geese, mallards and coots

Looking out of the window watching the spadgers make swift inroads on a feeder full of suet pellets it struck me once again that me and the Met Office have different ideas of "Light rain." Time was I'd not have cared and would have gone bouncing out to some rain swept corner, which possibly explains why I now have joints that can tell you it's going to rain tomorrow.

The rain eased a bit at lunchtime so I decided I'd bob over to Platt Fields in Manchester to see what was on the duck pond. By the time I arrived it had stopped raining completely though it was still a thoroughly miserable afternoon.

Blue tits, great tits and robins sang in the trees as I walked in from Wilmslow Road. It sounded like the ring-necked parakeets were already going to roost though they were making enough noise to raise the dead. The magpies were positively sedate by comparison.

Platt Fields duck pond

I keep expecting herons on this island but I've yet to see one here

I expected more mute swans and Canada geese on the pond, there were a handful of geese and a couple of swans. On the other hand there were plenty of coots and mallards and a dozen tufted ducks. I checked just in case it was Manchester's turn to host a ring-necked duck again. It wasn't. I had an hour's putter about without adding anything else to the tally so I headed home.

I knew the 150 bus back to Stretford was due soon so I checked on Google Maps. It was due very soon so I clicked on "directions" to see how likely I was to miss it. Google Maps told me it would take half an hour to walk to the bus stop, which was nonsense. I checked it again while I was waiting to cross the road at the corner opposite the bus stop. Sometimes you have to conclude that Google Maps has been drinking.

Some travel advice can safely go unheeded

Pin Mill Brow

River Medlock

It occurred to me that I hadn't done any city centre birdwatching at all this year. There's not the incentive these days as a lot of the redevelopment and gentrification has pushed out the bird life, not many green spaces haven't been concreted over. And time was you could walk down Port Street to watch black redstarts at ground level, these days you need to work in an office overlooking a rooftop near the Town Hall. I record the birds I see as I'm passing through but that doesn't feel quite enough. I was feeling a bit idle so I thought I'd give it the once over today.

I got the train to Oxford Road. As we passed through Deansgate a raven flew low overhead towards Castlefield Basin. At Oxford Road I got the train to Piccadilly then walked up Fairfield Street towards Great Ancoats Street, turning off onto Helmet Street and walking round. It's a less direct route to Great Ancoats Street but it gives me an early view of the River Medlock. 

The rubbish-strewn banks looked worse than they ever did and it's a very long time since I've seen dippers or grey wagtails here but it's worth a look. I noticed the carrion crows were already building their nest. Truth be told, this walk's a bit of a nostalgia trip as I used to walk up this way to work in Beswick. It's only this first stretch that's anything like I remember, I don't get far up Pollard Street before getting bewildered.  The A to Z I used to first find my way about is an archaeological artefact these days.

Limekiln Lane

I crossed the road and walked down Limekiln Lane onto Pin Mill Brow and along the the Medlock. This is a tiny strip but the river and the trees did their work and I hardly noticed the heavy traffic noise beyond. Four mallards, three drakes and a duck, dabbled about in the river which was running low but fast. The mud-washed banks told the story of recent spates. They were the only birds I saw on the river today.

By the Medlock

The thin woodland was very quiet, save the dozen or more magpies rattling their way through. A few blackbirds rummaged about, a dunnock poked its head out of the brambles and a robin sang from deep in some dogwoods. And that was it. Which wasn't unduly surprising for December, I suppose.

Turkey tail fungus 

I crossed the river on Viaduct Street and wandered along the other bank of the river back to Pin Mill Brow. There were yet more magpies and a couple of woodpigeons sang in the trees. I was the bloke standing on tiptoe at the corner of Helmet Street looking over the wall to see if any wagtails were about. The only blue tit of the visit was in an empty car lot on Helmet Street. A heron flew by as I rejoined Fairfield Street.

So a quiet afternoon then. The obsessive in me is glad I did the walk anyway and I got a bit of exercise in. Hopefully I'll be feeling a bit more up to the mark tomorrow to complete the year.

Gorton Reservoirs

Great crested grebes

It had been an exceedingly wet morning and I spent most of it saying: "The garden's needed it." I needed some exercise so mid-afternoon I got the train into town and then the Sheffield train from Piccadilly with the intention of getting off at Bradbury, Romiley or Marple for to go and take photos of mandarin ducks in the rain at Etherow Country Park. It was while I was deciding which of the three stops made the best bus connection I got off at Reddish North and walked up Gorton Road to Debdale Park. Like you do.

It had become a sunny afternoon when I stepped off the train. I wondered how long it would last. I did well, it didn't start raining again until I was wandering round Debdale Park. It became one of those unhealthy feeling walks where you're either hot and sweaty or cool and clammy depending on the disposition of the clouds and the wind at any given moment.

Debdale Park 

Magpies and woodpigeons ferreted about on the grass, mixed tit flocks bustled through the treetops and grey squirrels dashed across paths.

As the path skirted Lower Gorton Reservoir I could hear the mutterings of coots behind the trees. As the path veered off into the parkland I noticed a rough path cutting through the wayside brambles so I took it to see where it went.

Lower Gorton Reservoir 

It took me directly to the end of Lower Gorton Reservoir on the grass below the dam between the two reservoirs. There wasn't a lot of bird life this end of the reservoir: a few coots, a tufted duck and a dabchick were out on the water and a few mallards lurked by the banks under the trees. I could hear great crested grebes, eventually a pair with a couple of noisy humbugs floated into view. While I was looking for them I noticed that a couple of ducks under a willow just beyond them were teal, not mallards.

All the action was down the other end of the reservoir where Canada geese, black-headed gulls and mute swans were mugging for after-school scraps.

Upper Gorton Reservoir 

I scrambled up to the dam and looked over Upper Gorton Reservoir. A pair of mute swans drifted about the near corner, a couple of great crested grebes could be seen in the distance and a peppering of coots got more intense at the far end.

I hadn't taken the path that runs beside the upper reservoir before so I did today. Chiffchaffs and great tits squeaked in the trees and robins struck poses on fenceposts. Out on the water I was finding a few tufted ducks amongst the coots and the Grebes had humbugs in tow. It struck me yet again how difficult it is to take photos of young great crested grebes without their stripey face patterns bleaching out, in the end I was bracketing the exposure on the camera and hoping for the least worst.

Great crested grebes 

Jays screeched in the trees as they squabbled with a magpie over hawthorn berries. I could hear parakeets over by the Fairfield Loop path but couldn't see them.

I took the path that heads straight to Fairfield Station, sort of regretted it because it's a dead straight walk between high wooden fences and then was glad that I did because the train back to Manchester was due in three minutes. 

Mersey Valley (again!)

Juvenile carrion crow, Chorlton Water Park 

The five-minutes-past-dawn chorus was heralded by chattering jackdaws. The robin and one of the woodpigeons started singing soon after and a carrion crow joined in from a chimney pot across the railway line. It had been a spectacularly bad night's sleep and I knew that even if I managed to steal a couple more hours I'd be too bleary-eyed for the day's planned excursion.

I was tired and fidgety after lunch so I got the bus to Didsbury with a view to walking down the river to Chorlton Water Park and see how it goes from there.

River Mersey, Didsbury

Getting off at Withington Golf Club I bobbed down the woodland footpath to the river. A gang of people with Environmental Agency jackets were doing an inspection of works. Of course, I'd forgotten that the stretch from Lee's Steps to Ken's Steps was closed for repair after the New Year floods. It was worth the walk, though: a couple of mandarin ducks were with the mallards pootling about on the river.

Mandarin ducks

It had been a quiet walk down to the river, the birds were ready for me this time and the robins, great tits and wrens barracked me on my way. I walked up Palatine Road, turned onto Mersey Road and Mersey Meadow and onto Hollies Path down to the river.

River Mersey, Didsbury 

It was a muggy day with a chill to the wind, which was good walking weather and a relief after the past week. 

Juvenile grey wagtail blending in with the background 

There wasn't a lot about that wasn't woodpigeons, magpies or ring-necked parakeets. Every so often there'd be a squeak from a chiffchaff or great tit. Around each big turn of the river there'd be a juvenile grey wagtail. I don't know if they're trying to set up their Winter territories but it was looking that way by the way they were spaced out.

Woodpigeon

Pigeons thronged under the arches of Princess Parkway and billed and cooed on the path by the river.

River Mersey, Chorlton 
Kenworthy Woods on the left bank

I walked down to Chorlton Water Park. Woodpigeons and parakeets clattered about the treetops on either side of the river. Robins sang in Kenworthy Woods, chiffchaffs squeaked in the hawthorns of Chorlton, once in a while a chiffchaff squeaked from Kenworthy Woods.

Ring-necked parakeet

A couple of parakeets were gorging themselves in a hawthorn bush by the entrance to Chorlton Water Park. A family of carrion crows were rummaging about on the grass by the path, occasionally stopping to say rude things to passing dogs.

Black-headed gulls 

Out on the water there were rafts of black-headed gulls and Canada geese, small groups of mallards and coots drifted about and the herd of mute swans was strung out along the far bank. I could only see the one cygnet, fully grown and ashy grey. Over by the landing stage a large group of pigeons were hoovering up the visitors' leftovers.

Chorlton Water Park 

I walked round, bumping into a mixed tit flock in the willows and upsetting a nuthatch which made a row as it flew off into the big trees. Did I have the legs to walk round then on to Sale Water Park or into Chorlton I asked myself. I decided not and walked up to Southern Cemetery for the bus home.

Whalley Range

Mallard, Alexandra Park 

The rain started about 3am and persisted down, filling the bird baths in the back garden. The juvenile spadgers jostled for position in the big bath which I thought a mite redundant given it was pouring down. The sun came out just after lunch on my way back from hospital visiting and it brought the winds of Storm Floris with it. The adult spadgers came out for a bath, having the sense to sit in the sun to dry off afterwards.

House sparrow
This cock spadger is old silver cheeks, the oldest male in the troupe that lives in the brambles and ivies by the railway.

Over on the school playing field the nearly fifty gulls hunkered down keeping the wind out of their tail feathers were equal numbers black-headed gulls and lesser black-backs and half a dozen herring gulls. The local pigeons carried on feeding regardless, surprising given their tendency to go and sulk under railway and motorway bridges in inclement weather. It takes very bad weather indeed to put off the rooks, jackdaws and woodpigeons, they were out feeding in the pouring rain when I'd set out this morning.

Tufted duck 

It continued sunny and I decided I needed to get some exercise but I wanted to go a bit further afield for a change. Then I realised I'd be getting embroiled in the rush hour mêlées so I settled for a toddle round Alexandra Park. The target birds were moorhen and tufted duck, which goes some way to explaining why I wanted to go a bit further afield.

Pigeons
It occurred to me that I don't have many photos of pigeons and pigeons is birds after all.

Alexandra Park 

The usual motley assembly of lesser black-backs, black-headed gulls and pigeons flew round Moss Side as the bus passed through. Pigeons, woodpigeons, carrion crows and magpies rummaged about the park lawns, aside from the occasional goldfinch the birds in the trees were dead quiet and even the parakeets didn't make an appearance.

Mallard

Crowds of mallards and black-headed gulls covered the pond., families of coots squabbled, pairs of Canada geese sat about the island. The moorhens on the island took some finding. The half dozen tufted ducks were hiding in plain sight amongst the mallards.  Mission accomplished, I made my way home before more than twigs started falling out of the trees.

Alexandra Park 

Urban birdwatching: a canal walk

Herring gulls and yellow-legged gull, Salford Quays 

It was a teenage armpit of a day but I felt I needed to get some exercise after crashing into a full-night's sleep yesterday and only just waking up in time for the start of the one day match between England and the West Indies. I'd had so many plans for the day, too. I'd decided not to try and be ambitious today and in the end I decided to see what warblers were about on the waste ground prime development land behind the scrap metal merchants in Cornbrook. In the past I've struck lucky and found a couple of lesser whitethroats.

Bridgewater Canal by Hulme Hall Road 

I got the 255 to Chester Road and walked up to the tram station. Sadly, all the paths into the waste land were securely locked out. Ah well. So I walked down to Hulme Hall Road and dropped down onto the Bridgewater Canal towpath at the bridge 

Harlequin ladybird

A pair of Canada geese lounged at the canalside and a moorhen fussed about. A couple of large whites fluttered by. I think all the ladybirds making inroads on the aphids on the brambles were harlequins. Pigeons fluttered about the rooftops and bridges. Here and there amongst the grasses, hawkweeds, ox-eyed daisies and purple toadflax poking through the paving there were spikes of Southern marsh orchids. Blackbirds and wrens sang constantly from unlikely bits of industrial architecture as I walked along.

Southern marsh orchid

Tram bridge (closest) and railway bridge.
The tramline goes all points South and West of Castlefield, the rail is the Manchester to Liverpool line.

I carried on, under the bridges and out onto the stretch opposite the no man's land of this end of Pomona Strand. A couple of common spotted orchids poked through the canalside together with a few that looked enough like neither to probably be hybrids. Goldfinches and a chaffinch joined the blackbirds and wrens. A song thrush sang from the corner of the wrecker's yard. A whitethroat sang from an elder bush perched on the opposite bank. I stopped and watched a holly blue moving through the bushes — they've been surprisingly thin on the ground in my garden this year — and a chiffchaff told me to move on. So I did.

By Pomona Strand 

Pomona Lock with the tramway going over the bridge

The stretch along Pomona was relatively quiet, the blackbirds and wrens giving way to the occasional goldfinch and a willow warbler, of all things, singing by Pomona Lock.

Pomona

I switched canals at Pomona, walking round to the path by the Ship Canal. The walking became more comfortable as a breeze blew up the canal. Upstream there was nothing on the river save a black-headed gull flying about the canalside. Downstream looked considerably busier.

Herring gulls

A pair of mallards dabbled by as I approached the beach by Clipper Quay upstream of Gnome Island. Mute swans, Canada geese and pigeons littered the beach, a few herring gulls and black-headed gulls loafed with them and a grey heron hunted the shallows behind. The canal architecture was decorated with loafing gulls, mostly subadult herring gulls bleaching in the sun with a few young lesser black-backs. A handful of lesser black-backs bathed by the beach.

Canada geese, heron, mute swan and black-headed gull

There was a constant to-ing and fro-ing of large gulls. One passing overhead made me look twice. And a third time when it settled. Grey back… were they really yellow legs? It confounded me by almost immediately joining the lesser black-backs for a wash. I hadn't been convinced by the leg colour (or rather I hadn't been convinced by my identification of it) and now couldn't see them. After a few minutes it gave its wings a good old stretch and I wondered how I hadn't just ticked it off as a yellow-legged gull.

Yellow-legged gull and lesser black-backs 

Lesser black-backs and yellow-legged gull 

Lesser black-backs and yellow-legged gull 
The largely black primary flight feathers and that big white mirror near the end are features to look out for with a YLG.

It's odd, at the time I didn't think that this bird had the bulk and bill of a typical YLG but in the photos they're all there: the big, padded out chest; the long wings and the deep bill with the hook at the end. And the yellow legs, which at least I did notice.

The Lowry and MediaCityUK 

The loafing large gulls on the canalside were mostly herring gulls, the loafing large gulls on the open water of the quays were mostly lesser black-backs. A few of the pairs of Canada geese had goslings in tow. There was a bit of a commotion in the South Bay but I thought nothing of it until I saw a great black-back carrying a gosling into the middle of the water. The gosling tried to make a getaway when the gull landed, it would have been doomed anyway as herring gulls and lesser black-backs crowded in on the off-chance. They disappeared when it became clear the great black-back had the spoils, made all the surer by holding the gosling underwater and drowning it.

Great black-back and Canada gosling
(Cropped photo, it was well out in the water.)

Excitement over I carried on to the Imperial War Museum, getting a few photos of water a sand martin had passed by along the way. I passed the singing chiffchaffs in the tree and walked down to the bottom of Wharfside Way for the 250 to the Trafford Centre. It had turned out to be a more successful walk than I'd anticipated.