Ring-necked duck

Female ring-necked duck, Alexandra Park

A very windy night and was followed by a breezy morning so the birds in the garden were hugging the cover, except the blackcap which seems to be permanently glued to the fat feeder today.

The winds had brought a pile of gulls into the school playing field though no lesser black-backs and just the one common gull.

• Black-headed Gull 68
• Common Gull 1
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Herring Gull 18,  including 3 adults, 3 4th-winters, 1 3rd-winter, 2 2nd-winters, 7 1st-winters
• Jackdaw 15
• Magpie 2
• Rook 5
• Starling 2
• Woodpigeon 15

There had been reports of a ring-necked duck at Alexandra Park yesterday and as it's within lockdown exercise distance (but only just!) I decided I'd go over and see if it stayed the night. It took a while to get to Alexandra Park. Along the way I noticed that there were a lot fewer pigeons in Stretford town centre than usual: there's generally more than fifty kicking about and this morning there was only twenty-nine (slightly better on the way back: forty-seven). 

Ring-necked duck and tufted ducks, Alexandra Park

There were plenty of tufted ducks on the lake at Alexandra Park so I got my eye in on those before trying to find the ring-necked duck. I've never seen a female before so I wanted to fix the tufties in my mind before trying to pick it out. As it happened I needn't have worried, the bird was most unlike any plumage of tufted duck and had a rather pochard-like look about it. The conspicuous pale spectacles formed by the eye ring and eye stripe suggest that it's a first-Winter bird (I'm not being clever, I looked it up).

Female ring-necked duck, Alexandra Park

Female ring-necked duck, Alexandra Park

The thing that made both this bird and the drake that spends its Winters on Pine Lake stand out amongst the crowd for me was the size of the bill, It might be an optical illusion caused by the pale subterminal band and the huge black nail at the end, it might be because it looks like a continuation of the slope of the forehead. It certainly looks longer and more spade-shaped than the tufties' bills do.

Female tufted duck, Alexandra Park

A pair of herons were making a racket on the nest on the island in the middle of the lake while a third loafed down on the ground looking a bit sorry for itself and a pair of ring-necked parakeets wheeled around in a typically demented fashion. Walking up towards the Claremont Road end of the park I noticed there were a lot of goldfinches still managing to find pickings from the birches and alders along the path.

A long wheel back through Whalley Range and Old Trafford took me to White City where I did a week's shopping and got a lazy bus home. Along the way it struck me that I was seeing far more goldfinches than house sparrows.

Spending time in nature consultation

I spent a bit of time filling in Greater Manchester Combined Authority's survey on "Spending time in nature" consultation form. I flagged up my concerns about the inadequacy of the green space in the urban environment, particularly when that space has to try to fulfil the needs of both the communities around them and the wildlife that live in them; the need for some areas of unmanaged natural space ("waste land"); and the danger of creating isolated pockets of "natural space." In particular:

• Tackling climate change and preserving biodiversity depend on a multiple strategy approach: having isolated islands of "nature areas" isn't going to work. I'm concerned that so many mosaic environments on brownfield sites are considered fair game for development. I'm equally concerned that so much development doesn't provide a mosaic of the built and unbuilt environment so that communities have some green space (some managed, some left to nature — "waste" land is important for warblers and willow tits just as much butterflies and beetles) to allow for the mental well-being of the community as much as to act as "island hopping" links between "nature areas.

The consultation is here if you want to have your two penn'orth: https://www.gmconsult.org/environment-team-policy-and-strategy/help-nature-recover-in-greater-manchester/consultation/

Flixton

Gorse, Flixton

Another mild and mostly dry day today and a rather leisurely pattern of business in the garden. The spadgers were in and out all morning, never much more than a dozen at a time, and accompanied by the blackcap more often that not. I haven't seen the goldcrests or coal tits for a while, I hope they haven't succumbed to the weather or the local cats. As the cat I live with seems to have decided she's a house cat the local youngsters have started taking liberties so I think I'll buy some lion dung pellets to put them off a bit.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 2
• House Sparrow 13
• Jackdaw 1
• Robin 1
• Starling 4
• Woodpigeon 1

There was a Spring vibe on the school playing field with a dozen woodpigeons, a couple of dozen jackdaws and thirty-odd black-headed gulls. Oddly, though, no rooks (in fact, I had a completely rookless day all told). The large gulls were a couple of lesser black-backs (an adult and. first-Winter) and four first-Winter herring gulls.

I decided to head off to Flixton for a walk, it's nearly always a lot less busy than the Stretford and Chorlton lengths of the Mersey Valley. I'd been talking to my sister on the 'phone and I said we seemed to be missing the cold wind they were getting over their way. I should have kept my mouth shout: as I passed Flixton Station and turned the bend on Carrington Road the wind picked up and for the next hour had a definite edge to it.

I had a short wander down Flixton Road to check out the fields on the other side of the river. They were still wet, with big pools of shallow water dotted about. I was hoping for waders but was rewarded by carrion crows, woodpigeons and magpies.

Flixton

Crossing back over I walked down to the end of Carrington Road and onto the open ground south of the railway line (I think this is the area called "Fly Ash Hill" by local birders). A loose mixed tit flock — a pair of great tits and a couple of pairs each of blue and long-tailed tits — bounced round the trees by Carrington Road and a few robins sang from the undergrowth. Out in the open ground there was just a few magpies and half a dozen mallard flew over. Looking over the lagoons the floods had flattened the reeds enough to open up the view and I could actually see the open water. A moorhen disappeared into the reeds, a few black-headed gulls flew overhead towards the water treatment works and a willow tree had a dozen magpies chattering about in it. I walked down the hill and joined the muddy track by the railway. Blue tits, great tits and goldfinches flitted round the drowned willows and a willow tit scolded from the top of a bramble patch.

Dutton's Pond was entirely clear of ice. A couple of Canada geese and a coot loafed in the middle of the pond and half a dozen moorhens were getting frisky in the mild weather. Eight mallards made up the total of waterbirds.

The path between Dutton's Pond and Jack Lane

As I left Dutton's Pond a drake goosander flew overhead towards the river. There were just a couple of magpies and carrion crows in the fields by the railway line. I was secretly amused to watch the antics of a couple of walkers in full gear as they negotiated a huge puddle halfway down the path. I was shown up a chump myself when it was my turn: the floods had washed the path away completely and in parts I was shin-deep in water. Still, it got the mud off my boots. As I was sloshing my way along a terrier trotted past somehow barely getting its feet wet. I will never know how it did that.

I walked around Jack Lane nature reserve. If the good paths were that bad I wasn't taking the path through the reedbeds. A jay upset the blue tits in the willows and a couple of dozen redwings flew out of the trees and straight back in again, churring all the way. No joy finding any reed buntings, they've become this year's bogey bird for some reason.

Down Jack Lane to Town's Gate then down the road to Irlam Locks. Fifty or sixty starlings joined a couple of dozen each of black-headed gulls and magpies on the water treatment works. Three young mute swans, nearly completely moulted into their whites, fed on the Ship Canal. Approaching the locks there was a group of half a dozen tufties — five drakes and a duck — and a lone great crested grebe. A couple of dozen mallard, a few pigeons and forty or so black-headed gulls loafed on the locks themselves.

I struck lucky on the way back, I was nearly home when it started raining.

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.

Dreich

Cool, wet, very windy and very grey weather made for another quiet day's garden birdwatching (and another day's really can't be bothered going for a walk). The birds were out there — I could see the food going down in the feeders — but they were keeping well under cover except for sorties to the feeders lasting barely a minute a go. I nipped out to refill the sunflower seed feeders and had cause to ask the long-tailed tits to stop picking on the blue tits.

• Black-headed Gull 3 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 2
• Collared Dove 1
• House Sparrow 17
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Robin 2
• Song Thrush 1
• Starling 4
• Woodpigeon 1

The black-headed gulls were back on the school playing field, together with a heap of jackdaws. The woodpigeon numbers are picking back up again, which I'm taking to be a sign of Spring.

• Black-headed Gull 30
• Common Gull 7
• Feral Pigeon 2
• Herring Gull 1 adult
• Jackdaw 33
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 3: 2 adult, 1 1st-Winter
• Rook 11
• Woodpigeon 15

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

Trafford Park

Great crested grebes, Manchester Ship Canal, Barton

A cold night followed by a bright sunny day which would have been lovely if the wind didn't have that edge to it so the garden was fairly busy. The blue tits stayed all day while the spadgers did the rounds, to-ing and fro-ing in small groups and turning up mob-handed late in the morning as usual. The blackcap was back having a couple of visits to the fat feeders again. Three goldfinches were a nice change, they don't come in often enough these days.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blackcap 1
• Blue Tit 3
• Carrion Crow 1
• Collared Dove 1
• Dunnock 2
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 21
• Magpie 1
• Rook 3
• Long-tailed Tit 2
• Robin 1
• Starling 11
• Woodpigeon 1

Had a lunchtime stroll round the local patch which was fairly quiet except for the magpies which are congregating in their pre-breeding groups like so many boisterous teenyboppers. I was dropping down the steps to St. Modwens Road when the buzzard turned up, flying in from the Trafford Centre and being swiftly mobbed back again by a pair of carrion crows.

Bridgewater Canal approaching Barton Aquaduct

I decided to have a wander along the canal through Trafford Park to Barton. The canal was frozen over so there wasn't much in the way of waterbirds — three Canada geese on the towpath and a moorhen that had found a tea tray sized patch of open water amidst the roots of a canalside willow.

Small numbers of gulls — lesser black-backs, black-headed gulls and herring gulls — loafed on factory roofs or drifted overhead in one's or twos. Pairs of crows and magpies made a racket in the trees by the towpath but none seemed to be working on nests yet. As I approached the bridge for Parkway another pair of carrion crows harassed another buzzard (this was the one that's often perched in the trees by the tram lines) and a jay sat at head height ten feet from me and watched me walk by (I had to look three times: a jay sitting still that close to me and doing it quietly is a bit unusual).

I got to Barton Aquaduct and climbed up onto the platform over the canal. The Bridgewater Canal was frozen but the Ship Canal was clear of ice. A pair of great crested grebes cosied up to each other, a cormorant fished in mid-water and a couple of dozen mallard loafed and quacked by the far bank. A very striking sinsensis cormorant flew overhead — its huge white thigh patch caught my eye first, its nearly entirely white head almost disappeared into the clouds in the sky. A lot of angry croaking heralded a carrion crow come in to harass a sparrowhawk soaring over from Trafford Park, another crow flew in from Barton and the trio circled on and off into the distance.

Mallards, Manchester Ship Canal, Barton

I walked past the church and down Old Barton Road along the Ship Canal. A flock of fifty or so black-headed gulls congregated with a few dozen Canada geese on the banks of Langland Waterside on the opposite bank. Scanning through the crowds I found a couple each of common gull and herring gull and half a dozen lesser black-backs flew over. A couple turned up with a dog and some bird seed, which brought a dozen mallard and a mute swan to the party. I'd hoped to bump into a reed bunting or two in the scrub (I've had no luck with reed buntings this year). There were plenty of goldfinches and spadgers but no buntings.

Bullfinch. Barton Embankment

I walked down Barton Embankment and onto Trafford Way. A male bullfinch fed on hawthorn buds and a family of long-tailed tits bounced through the trees by the big development plot on the corner. I looked to see if either of the peregrines was on the roof of Beyond or on any of the telegraph pylons but the only birds about there were pigeons and jackdaws.

I walked down to the Trafford Centre and thence home. Pigeons, woodpigeons and black-headed gulls all the way. Back home to find the long-tailed tits and great tits on the feeders and the blackcap in for a late afternoon top-up.