Wythenshawe

Waxwings

I was feeling mildly idle today after having had a long weekend with not much exercise so I toddled over to Wythenshawe to see if the waxwings that have been around this past week were still about.

There were roadworks everywhere so a simple journey involving getting over to Withington on the 25 then the 101 down to Wythenshawe Hospital seemed to take forever. I walked down Clay Lane and through the cut to Capenhurst Road and there were three trees absolutely jam-packed with bright red berries but no waxwings. I walked back to the entry (I didn't want to be lurking round people's front doors) and had a look round. Robins, great tits, coal tits and blackbirds sang in the trees along Clay Lane, there were loads of woodpigeons about, dunnocks and spadgers bounced about in hedges. But no waxwings.

I was about to give up when I heard an unfamiliar call, a thin starling-like call with none of the embellishments. A couple of starling-like birds flew into the tree above my head. Then a couple more. And more. I counted a dozen in the end. I tried to get a few photos but, inevitably, they were all silhouetted against the flat grey sky. A couple flew out of the tree, did a quick skittering circuit and ducked back in again.

I had this waxwing focussed so that it was smiling for the camera so it stuck its beak in its back feathers.

The waxwings weren't going to give me any better photos but they were, as always, nice to see. I had one last look then walked back to the hospital for the buses home.

Woodsmoor

Waxwing

It was a bright and breezy sunny day right up to the point when I put my boots on and it started pouring down, so I took the hint and went to look for waxwings in Stockport. A few had been reported in the car park at Stepping Hill Hospital yesterday and they'd been seen again this morning so I gave it a go.

There are reasons why I tend to stay local at weekends, or at least try to avoid the city centre. It's a dead straightforward trip out to Woodsmoor Station, next to the hospital. Train into Oxford Road, wait two minutes for the train to Piccadilly, five minutes for the Buxton train. The connecting service to Piccadilly was cancelled so I missed the Buxton train. Getting to Piccadilly and seeing the meltdown on the departures board I scotched Plan B (a trip out to Glossop) and decided to get the London train to Stockport and the bus down to Stepping Hill. Which was my next mistake. I should have taken the hint when it was ten minutes late coming into the station but I didn't fancy waiting half an hour for the Hazel Grove train at Piccadilly. Waiting half an hour at Piccadilly is never nice, it's hell at weekends. So I got the London train which should take ten minutes. The train broke down between stations in Longsight. After a couple of full system reboots it got to Stockport a tad late but every other train was late, too so I hadn't missed the Hazel Grove train, it was in the queue waiting to get into the station. The journey from Stockport to Woodsmoor took five minutes and was uneventful. I sometimes wonder why I do this.

I walked down to the hospital and walked through towards the car park entrance where the waxwings were reported. I overshot a turn by the car park and turned round to retrace my steps.

"They're funny starlings on that lamppost with the woodpigeon," I thought to myself.

Waxwings and woodpigeon

Waxwings

Waxwings

Waxwing and woodpigeon

Waxwings

Waxwings

Waxwings

Waxwings

Which is why I do this.

Waxwing

Lazy day

Waxwings, Hyde

My joints spent the night making their opinion known to me about sliding about in mud on the highest point of the landscape for miles around in December wind and rain so I decided to have an easy time of it and went to take photographs of the flock of forty-odd waxwings in the trees on Talbot Road in Hyde. They were a tad skittish and spent a lot of the time I was there sitting at the top of a row of poplars but they came down to feed a few times, never stopping more than a minute or so each time. Sadly I couldn't get them against a dark background and a lot of the photos turned out as silhouettes. Still, it's nice to get a picture of a flock of them.

Bolton

Waxwing, Darcy Lever

Feeling a best less sorry for myself and filled with tea and porridge I set out for Bolton to see if the waxwing was still hanging about the housing estate in Darcy Lever. 

It was only a short ride out on the 511 from Bolton and perhaps a hundred yards walk from the bus stop, complicated by roadworks and pavements being dug up. I'd scarcely turned into Laurel Avenue when I spotted where the waxwing was: there were a dozen people standing round a tree in somebody's front garden. The sight dismayed me, especially once I noticed that it was sitting in the top of the tree eating berries and I was getting a better view of it than anyone trying to stare through the tree. I stayed where I was, took a couple of record shots and moved on. I dare say I could have got better pictures by moving a little way down the street but I didn't want to bother. The welfare of the bird — and the local residents — comes well before my need to have a photograph.

Darcy Lever gravel pits 

Seeing as I was in the area I thought I'd have a nosy at the Darcy Lever gravel pits, just behind the housing estate. It's mostly wet birch and alder woodland with a few small pools, the sort of environment that makes you think of willow tits and woodcocks even if you see no sign of either. It was a blustery day and all the small bird noises were being made by the trees so I had to search by sight alone. The teal in one of the pools and the magpies and robins in the trees were easy enough, the flocks of long-tailed tits and blue tits were harder work.

Darcy Lever gravel pits 

Elf's cup fungus

I dropped down into the Darcy Lever half of Moses Gate Country Park, another place I've not explored before. The woods were very quiet, most of the small birds were keeping under cover in the wind. It's an odd sort of walk round when a treecreeper's the most conspicuous bird. A female bullfinch skittered about in an evergreen bush I couldn't recognise and great tits, dunnocks and robins called from deep cover somewhere in the brambles along the path. It took me a while to realise that the path I was walking was actually the wall of this end of the Bolton and Bury Canal.

The Bolton and Bury Canal 

Moses Gate Country Park 

I crossed the road into the Moses Gate half of Moses Gate Country Park, which was a bit busier. A buzzard floated about the field next to the road and a mixed tit flock bounced around the hedgerow by the path. There were hundreds of black-headed gulls about, split between birds loafing on the grass by the play area and birds loafing on the water with the dozens of herring gulls in one corner of the lake. There was plenty of waterfowl about: dozens of coots, mallards, Canada geese and mute swans, small rafts of tufted ducks and a few great crested grebes. 

First-Winter great crested grebe, Moses Gate Country Park 

First-Winter herring gull, Moses Gate Country Park 

I had a slow wander about for an hour then called it quits for the day. I'd kept the year list ticking over and explored a couple of new places to me.