Owt for a lark

Shore lark, Mow Cop

I was about to leave the house when there was a panic in the garden with spadgers bashing against the window, something that the adults never do because it's so filthy. In the end the young sparrowhawk causing the furore gave up the chase and sat in the rose bushes to catch its breath.

Sparrowhawk

The sparrowhawk had had a busy morning judging by the feathers scattered round the station platform.

It was going to be a fine but windy day. I decided I'd chase after the shore lark that's been showing well on Mow Cop, just on the Cheshire side of the border with Staffordshire. It looked straightforward to get to where it was reported and it looked like I should get better views than I did with my first one at Oglet last year.

I got the Stoke train to Kidsgrove. Woodpigeons seemed to be on ration past Stockport, they were one every kilometre and sometimes not even that. Even the pigeons at the stations at Cheadle Hulme and Macclesfield were no-shows. We were approaching Adlington when I saw a red kite floating over a field, its tail twitching and turning in the wind. It's an odd thing: if I see a kite in Yorkshire I recognise it immediately as a kite, I see them so rarely this side of the Pennines that when I see one I have a long moment where I'm asking myself what I'm seeing.

Mallard

I got off at Kidsgrove, crossed the bright orange Macclesfield Canal and its gang of mallards and had a short wait for the 95 bus which goes through Mow Cop on its way to Biddulph.

It wasn't long before I was getting off the bus by St Thomas's in Mow Cop. Google Maps said to follow the road down and round and up onto Castle Road but I noticed a footpath up the hill directly opposite the church and took that instead. Conveniently enough, I only had to cross Castle Road for the little road I needed to follow up the hill to the field where the lark had been reported.

Walking up to Castle Road 

In the teeth of the wind

Turning the corner at the top, where it meets the Gritstone Trail and the teeth of a strong wind, I could see a small knot of birdwatchers by a gate. I walked down slowly and carefully, scanning the field as I went, hoping I wouldn't spook the shore lark if it was there. As I got closer it became apparent that they were looking at something in the next field along and just behind the stone wall separating the fields.

Shore lark

I got to the gate, looked over, and there was the shore lark, all on its own and in plain sight.

The lark had stopped for a preen when I arrived

Every so often it would look over at us birdwatchers…

…have a bit of a fidget…

…then get back to preening

It spent the next few minutes preening, stopping every so often to stare at a handful of birdwatchers as if to wonder if they were a thing. It didn't seem any more bothered by us as by the cattle in the field. Once it finished preening it gave its feathers a good shake, gave an odd little chirp and flew a few yards deeper into the field. A couple of the birdwatchers crept along the stone wall to try and pick it up again; I left them to it, I was plenty happy with the view I'd had.

Looking over to the Peak District 

I took in the views, which were wonderful. I debated walking round for a look at the ruined castle but I was already feeling too windswept and interesting for words. 

Looking over towards the Cheshire Plain

St Thomas's Church

I retreated downhill for the bus back to Kidsgrove.

Macclesfield Canal 

I had half an hour to wait for my train at Kidsgrove so I had a potter about the canal. Mallards bathed, moorhens pottered about and a fair-sized flock of house sparrows made a lot of noise as they flitted about the bushes either side of the canal.

Moorhen

I took a circuitous route home. The woodpigeons were still on ration in Cheshire.

Rain (and train) stopped play

The weather forecast looked decidedly iffy, to put it mildly. Not a day for walking abroad half an hour or more from public transport. I decided I'd get an old man's explorer ticket [1] and ride round to a few places close to railway stations so I could beat a hasty retreat when the rain hit but still try and fill in a few gaps. 

Normally when I'm planning on hit-and-run birdwatching like this I aim for Leighton Moss and the Furness Line but I did that last Thursday. I decided to head South instead, the plan being to go down to Stoke for half an hour's wander round the nature reserve at Staffordshire University ten minutes' walk from the station then get the train across to Crewe (a journey not covered by the explorer ticket but not expensive) and either visit Sandbach Flashes or, more probably, Mere Farm Quarry at Chelford. The flashes would be pushing my luck with the predicted weather but you never know for sure with fast-moving broken shower patterns so I had them pencilled in as a possible. Then I'd go as the spirit bade me.

I set off on a sunny but cloudy morning got to Stoke and wasted ten minutes by leaving from the wrong exit and having to walk round. It made no odds in the end but it's a daft mistake. I walked down to the bridge where, a couple of years ago, I was five minutes too late to see or hear a marsh warbler. It's late in the year for hearing most warblers but there was the reassuring squeak of chiffchaffs in the willows. There was also an incessant clatter and rattle of woodpigeons and magpies in the trees about.

The River Trent by the bridge

And downstream

I followed the path beside the River Trent. At the bridge it was a sluggish, turgid stream, twenty yards downstream it abruptly became a bubbling brook. I couldn't see the reason for such a sudden transition. A few dunnocks and great tits rummaged in the undergrowth, a party of long-tailed tits bounced through the hedgerows and family groups of goldfinches twittered through the treetops. The only swallow of the day twittered as the breeze carried it quickly overhead.

I was thwarted in my attempt to visit Manorfield Pools, the path was blocked by construction work on a new bridge. I turned back and took a looped walk along the fields and back down to the bridge, passing robins, squirrels and blackbirds along the way and disturbing a lot of speckled wood butterflies.

Canada geese at Hanley Park 

I had time before my train was due so I walked over the rugby pitches to the main road, crossed over and had a look round Hanley Park. I'm a great believer in urban parks as wildlife oases though they tend to be most productive in late Winter and Spring. Still, this time of year anything can be anywhere, especially young birds on their first migrations, and don't look don't see. In the event the small birds were very thin on the ground, or in the bushes. A gaggle of Canada geese knew which were the best benches for the best views of the lake and stationed themselves accordingly. A crowd of mallards loafed under trees, mute swans and coots cruised the lake, moorhens rummaged on the banks and magpies rummaged on the lawns. An unspectacular visit perhaps but reassuring in its way.

It had clouded over so it wasn't surprising that it started raining soon after the train passed through Etruria (the station trains never stopped at now being a figment of history). The rain got heavier at Alsager and the sky was black at Crewe. Sandbach Flashes were off the agenda. I checked the trains and the weather. Chelford was off the agenda, too. I'd be best sitting on the train counting the woodpigeons in the fields on the train back to Manchester then go on from there. Despite the weather there were plenty of woodpigeons, crows and rooks along the way. The surprise of the day was a red kite floating its way overhead just before Wilmslow.

The train had a long stopover out of the pouring rain at Manchester Airport (if you ever wonder why the journey between Styal and Heald Green, two miles away, takes twenty minutes). I looked at the options and concluded it wouldn't be a bad idea to get the train home from Manchester, get a pot of tea and something to eat and then head out for a second outing. And it wouldn't have been a bad idea had the train home from Oxford Road been cancelled with the next one due an hour and a half later. I looked at the options and byconceded defeat. I made my way home as best could and arrived about a quarter of an hour earlier than if I'd sat at Oxford Road for an hour and a half.

[1] A Northern Explorer 55 West. I think the code is N5W.

Friday wander

Garden warbler, Birchwood

The weather forecast promised more of yesterday's nonsense with a chance of sunshine late on. The cat promised more of yesterday's nonsense starting at 5:20 (yes, I bear a grudge) after the first time I've managed to sleep through the dawn chorus all week. So I left home.

Moorhen, Buxton

I was weary through lack of sleep and had the attention span of a mayfly on acid so I got myself an old man's explorer ticket, bobbed over to Piccadilly and played departure board bingo, which is how I arrived at Buxton in a dry but cloudy interval. I wandered over to the Pavilion Gardens which were looking lush but some of the lawns still haven't recovered from Winter. Chaffinches and robins sang in the trees, mallards and tufted ducks dozed on the banks of the ponds, moorhens and coots fussed about. The youngest in a party of visitors rustled a paper bag whereupon seventy-odd Canada geese charged over from the other side of the gardens looking like a dangerously bad-tempered Sunday park run.

Canada geese, Buxton

Barnacle goose, Buxton
This chap toddled along behind the Canada geese. It won't be going on my year list though I'd have been tempted if it was January.

Mandarin duck, Buxton

It started pouring down. A drake mandarin duck, halfway moulted into eclipse plumage, ran under a tree and fossicked around in the daisies on the lawn. I left the park and walked up the hill to the bus stop and got the bus to Macclesfield. 

This bus route winds its way along the tops of picturesque Pennine valleys past the Cat and Fiddle before descending into Macclesfield. I've long since given up on trying to get photos of the scenery and just sit back and enjoy it, especially on days like today when the ride coincides with a sunny break in the weather. There's not usually much visible birdlife about, today was a lot busier than usual with a few pairs of carrion crows rummaging about in fields, and a mixed flock of jackdaws and rooks off Old Buxton Road. As we'd just negotiated a tight bend just before the Cat and Fiddle a red kite floated past. At first I assumed it was a hen harrier, I've seen a couple on this stretch over the years, but as it got closer and we passed it I could see the different structure and paler head, the light not picking up any fox red tones.

I got off the bus at Macclesfield Station in the rain and got the train to Stoke because it was there. The weather cleared up en route so I walked down to Manorfields Pools which, now I know the way, is five minutes' walk from the station. A flock of large gulls, mostly lesser black-backs, wheeled high over in the direction of Hanley Park. I should have a nosy over there some time. 

The goldfinches and blackbirds of the university campus gave way to blackcaps and chiffchaffs and it had become warm enough for a handful of common blue damselflies to be flitting about the rank vegetation by the river.

Manorfields Pool

I followed the path round and noticed a gate leading to an overgrown path through the trees to the large pool. It turned out to be a very overgrown path and I suddenly didn't feel so bad about my back garden. Robins, wrens and song thrushes sounded like they were singing within arm's length as I barged my way through dog roses, brambles and nettles. I got to the pool where a pair of mute swans drifted about, a family of coots fussed about and moorhens and mallards kept a low profile. The drake mallards had almost completed their moult into eclipse plumage. I carried on down the path where it was becoming apparent I was the first visitor all year. In the end I gave up, I would have been drier standing in the pouring rain and the vegetation was getting so thick I couldn't disentangle the branches. I retreated, found a set of steps up to the path by the meadows and had a more sensible walk.

Baby coots, Stoke

Magpies and mistle thrushes bounced about the meadows and swifts flew low overhead. Robins and dunnocks hopped about on the path ahead of me, there were more of them in the bushes by the path with more blackcaps and chiffchaffs and a family party of blue tits. What I assumed to be more blue tits in the high branches of a tree turned out to be a pair of goldcrests with a couple of youngsters. A few of the damselflies flitting about by the river turned out to be azure damselflies, they stayed still long enough for me to identify them.

Azure dragonfly, Stoke

I clocked the time and made my way back to the station to catch the train back to Manchester (my ticket was only valid for the hourly Northern stopping train). The train hadn't yet set off when it started pouring down. An hour later we approached Manchester in bright sunshine on a warm Friday afternoon.

I was very tired but I didn't want to waste the weather. I bobbed over to Oxford Road and caught the Warrington train, getting off at Birchwood with a view to having a quick look at Risley Moss before getting the direct train back home just after six. 

Birchwood Forest Wood 

I didn't get there, contenting myself with three quarter of an hour's wander round Birchwood Forest Wood, which has one of my favourite names of multiple redundancy. It's a nice little ribbon of woodland between the railway and the housing estate. Blackbirds, blackcaps, chaffinches and chiffchaffs sang in the undergrowth, song thrushes and woodpigeons sang in the trees. Robins, wrens and dunnocks fussed about the path margins and a great spotted woodpecker's alarm calls made it clear I wasn't a welcome passerby. A juvenile willow warbler was a nice surprise, as was a garden warbler. I'm seeing more garden warblers than I'm hearing just lately which is very much against the usual rub of the game.

I dawdled my way back to the station, had twenty minutes to wait for the train, got home, fed the cat, had a cup of tea and had a few hours' sleep. Somehow or other I'd managed to see forty-six species of birds in the day.

Stoke: Manorfields Pools

Sketch map: Manorfields Pools

(This post's a bit of a cheat, it's not so much of a map or guide as a reminder to myself how to avoid a half mile walk following Google Maps' directions.)

The Manorfields Pools Local Nature Reserve is a small stretch of the River Trent on the University of Staffordshire campus ten minutes' walk away from Stoke on Trent Station. There's a small reed bed by the pool at the Western end of the reserve and another by the bridge connecting the campus with the path to Lordship Lane. The area by the retail park is lightly wooded and hedgerows separate the path to the pool from the field by Lordship Lane.

I went hunting for the marsh warbler that had been seen here in June 2023 and missed it by an hour. There were plenty of other warblers about: chiffchaffs and blackcaps in the trees, whitethroats in the hedgerow and sedge warblers in the reed beds. There was also a profusion of dragonflies on the river.

One of those sites to pop over to for an hour's wander if I'm ever in the area,

Stoke

Juvenile blackcap

I had just looked to see how the trains were running and taken plans A to D out of the equation when I noticed that for the past few days a marsh warbler has been holding a singing territory half a mile from Stoke-on-Trent Station. A marsh warbler would be a lifer and there are so many trains running between Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent it would be hard work to be stranded long. Besides, Stoke is such an unlikely place for a twitch it was irresistible.

I got a lunchtime train out, figuring to get to the appointed place after the lull and when warblers start tuning up again. The reports said that the warbler was singing by the river near the bridge to Lordship Lane and the last report was just after twelve.

I made the mistake of using Google Maps' directions to get to the right place and ended up in an alley behind a carpet warehouse overlooking the river. I've been in more unlikely twitching spots but the absence of any bridge or anybody else staring at the river through the high fence didn't suggest this was the right place. Chiffchaffs, blackbirds, robins and wrens and great tits and blackcaps sang in the trees, giving me a bit of encouragement.

Lordship Lane 

I decided to find Lordship Lane, wander down it and see where I got. It was about fifty yards down the road, signposted as a footpath to the station and it ducked behind a distribution warehouse. A little path up a bank looked interesting so I bobbed up it and found myself in a field. I could see where the river was a couple of hundred yards ahead so I headed that way. 

River Trent, Manorfields Pools
The marsh warbler had been in there somewhere 

I soon bumped into a chap with a pair of binoculars. "Have you seen the marsh warbler?" he asked. I replied that I'd only just arrived. "It's nice here, I've not been before, do you know the place?" he asked. I replied I hadn't even known it was there. "Come on, I'll show you where it's supposed to be." And he did. His mate had seen it at five in the morning and had sent him a photo at the time. It turned out to be just where I was wanting to be when I was on the other side of the fence. He'd had no luck and was on the point of giving up until I'd arrived. We stayed on the bridge watching and listening for anything that could be a marsh warbler for about an hour.

Juvenile blackcap

Juvenile blackcap

Juvenile blackcap

The chiffchaffs, blackcaps, blackbirds and a song thrush kept up a loud background noise almost drowning out the staff announcements from the warehouse. A family of blackcaps in the willow tree ten feet in front of us were a perpetual distraction. I managed to get a lot of "There was a warbler there a moment ago" photographs. A mallard and her tiny ducklings kept whistling from under the bridge and a mixed tit flock of juvenile great, blue and long-tailed tits bounced around the trees along the river. I also kept getting distracted by the shoals of minnows swimming in the river.

Minnows

Mallard ducklings

After an hour with no joy I decided to have an explore upstream, thanking the chap and wishing him luck. I crossed the bridge, looked over a rugby pitch and realised I'd walked a mile out of my way. The nature reserve is called Manorfields Pools, it's managed by Staffordshire University and it's a couple of hundred yards from Leek Road.

River Trent, Manorfields Pools 

I wandered back and found the chap still there and still having no luck. I joined him and we spent the next half hour still having no luck but enjoying the blackcaps and titmice in the trees and the ducklings, minnows and banded demoiselles on the river. It was his turn to give up, "They might think I've gone to the quarry to watch them making a bag of cement from scratch." I lingered another half hour and left two newcomers to it with my best wishes.

Large skipper

Whitethroat

I had a bit of an explore downstream, bumping into a couple of whitethroats in the hedgerows and a sedge warbler singing in a small reedbed. A moorhen chased a heron off the river with a bit of help by my turning up to see what the noise was about. There were more banded demoiselles, black-tailed skimmers chased each other over the shallows and a male emperor dragonfly patrolled the hedge tops and very intimidating he was, too.

Walking back to the station I reflected that if I was a twitcher I'd be disappointed about dipping. While it would have been very nice to have seen, or just heard, the marsh warbler I'd had a good walk, explored a very pleasant little nature reserve and added the week's second site within fifteen minutes' walk of a railway station to my repertoire. I'd say that was better than a poke in the eye with a pencil.