Southport

Gadwall, Marshside

It was another fine day and scarce waders had been reported all week at Marshside so I thought I'd head that way for a bit of exercise, the hope of an addition to the year list and perhaps one last chance of adding another goose to the year list before Autumn. Things didn't quite go to plan.

Since Northern last tweaked the schedules getting the train out to Southport is a bit of a palaver but I got there OK and it wasn't long after getting there I was getting off the 44 and walking up Marshside Road. It was a hazy sunny day and would have felt a bit sweaty but for the light sea breeze. Spadgers, starlings and collared doves fussed about in gardens and on rooftops, pigeons and woodpigeons came and went and a couple of house martins hawked low over chimney tops.

House sparrow, Marshside

I can never remember the names of the marshes on Marshside. I think the one on the left-hand side of the road is Rimmer's and the one on the right is Sutton's but don't quote me on that. We've only had a couple of weeks of not-Autumnal weather but the marshes had dried out considerably. The lake on the left had become wet meadows, muddy patches and pools, on the right grassland with damp hollows and creeks. A profusion of Canada geese and lapwings was dotted about both. Greylags had goslings in tow, coots had baldycoot youngsters. Woodpigeons and starlings foraged in the grass, spadgers and goldfinches worked the remains of the hawthorn hedgerows with a handful of linnets. There's still enough hedgerow to support a couple of whitethroat territories and they sang at each other loudly across the road.

Whitethroat, Marshside

There were a lot of gadwalls about. I'm not used to seeing flocks of dozens of gadwall flying overhead. Small groups of three or four of them congregated in pools to court, the drakes spending at least as much time pecking holes in each other as head-bobbing with the ducks. Oystercatchers and redshanks flew about on both sides of the road. There was a lot of wader action going on in the mud across the road with small groups of black-tailed godwits joining the lapwings and redshanks feeding on there. I spotted a couple of smaller waders and immediately got my hopes up but they were bigger than the linnets and meadow pipits hopping round and when I walked down the road a bit to get a clearer look at them they both had typically dunlin beaks. Still, if dunlins are about there might be something else if I keep my eyes open.

Sedge warbler, Marshside

I checked out Junction Pool, which was still a pool and had a few coots, gadwall and tufted ducks sitting about in it. A big white farm goose was cosying up to a Canada goose on the bank by Marshside Road and black-headed gulls were peppered about the marsh. A sedge warbler riffed madly in the hawthorn next to the screen. Scanning round there were a lot of herring gulls further out and a black swan sitting on her nest. I'd heard she was back. I could see no sign of her mate.

Black swan, Marshside

After a short chat I set off towards Nel's Hide. Skylarks and meadow pipits sang in the breeze, black-headed gulls and little egrets flew by. The traffic on the road was heavy. I stopped at the halfway screen and had a scan round. The black swan had set her nest up directly in front of the screen. A family of coots were pottering about and she kept an eye on the male as he foraged, giving him the evil eye whenever he got too close. 

Coots, Marshside

A bunch of linnets were fussing about in the grass on one of the small rises, a couple of the males having extremely bright carmine pink breasts. Another small bird dropped in and at first I thought it was another linnet. Luckily for me it hopped up and perched halfway up a grass stem and I could see the distinctive short-tailed and dumpy chat silhouette. I had it down as a female stonechat, it had its back to me but I could see it didn't have a black head. Then it bobbed down to the ground and bobbed back up again, facing me this time so I could see the broad pale eyebrows of a whinchat. I'd given up on them this Spring.

Second-calendar-year little gull

An unexpected movement over one of the pools caught my eye. Two small white birds were pirouetting low over the pool then rising and sweeping about in a tern-like manner. My first thought was little gull but they didn't have black underwings then I saw the black W across the backs of their wings, recalled that first Winter little gulls have white underwings and did a quick image search for second calendar year little gulls to confirm the ID. It's not a plumage I see often enough not to be able to second-guess myself about.

Skylark, Marshside 

Greylags and redshank, Marshside 

I walked down to Nel's Hide, the skylarks making themselves heard over the traffic. I was the only person in the hide, which is unusual this time of year. There were lots of greylags and Canada geese about and a gang of large gulls, nearly all of them herring gulls, were having a wash and brush-up. A second calendar year great black-back cruised around like a dreadnought. I had a scan round for waders, finding a few redshanks and lapwings.

Greylags, Marshside 

Herring gull and great black-back, Marshside 

On the walk back I had another quick scout at the halfway screen. The swan sat on her nest, the coots milled about. There was no sign of the whinchat but the male linnets were still very vivid in the sunshine. One of the waders up to its thighs in water in the distance was too small for a redshank but didn't look right for a dunlin, for one thing it looked too dark even accounting for the backlighting. I was just about to give up on it when it stopped feeding and raised its head as it walked a few paces forward and I could see it was a curlew sandpiper. If I still harboured any doubts it strolled over a bit of mud and showed off its relatively long legs before wading into another puddle.

There was a cluster of birdwatchers with telescopes at the Junction Pool. Apparently a wood sandpiper and a garganey had been spotted. I eventually found the wood sandpiper, having twice glanced at it thinking it was a redshank until a passing tuftie gave me a sense of scale and I looked properly. I had no luck whatever with the garganey.

The corner of Marshside Road 

I walked over to Sandgrounders, whitethroats and goldfinches singing either side of the road, a chiffchaff singing over on the sand plant and a Cetti's warbler singing from somewhere in a gorse bush on the bank by the path.

Avocet, Marshside 

It was quiet a Sandgrounders. The black-headed gulls that had taken a chance on nesting on the island on the pool had been having a rough time with marauding lesser black-backs and were busy mobbing an adult great black-back that had come to loaf on the bank. The lady volunteering at the hide told me those nests had been pretty thoroughly plundered. Avocets and black-tailed godwits fed in the pools, shelducks dabbled and tufted ducks drifted about half asleep. I looked in vain for any small waders.

Avocets, Marshside 

Snow geese, Marshside 

I walked along the rough path beside the road towards Crossens Marsh. There were a lot of white birds on the banks of Polly's Pool which I took at first to be little egrets, there were plenty of them elsewhere on the marsh. As I got closer I realised I was wrong. They were geese. Snow geese. Twenty two of them. A feral flock had been doing the rounds of Lancashire during the week and they'd decided on a return visit here. It was very nice to see them, and it was nice to see a blue morph snow goose in a wild setting so that I could get my eye in for the future, but I couldn't in all conscience add them to the year list. A voice in my head kept saying: "But you count the Canada geese don't you?" but the temptation has been resisted. One bird on its own I could give the benefit of the doubt but not twenty two.

Shelducks, Marshside 

The bulk of the black-headed gull colony has drifted into this side of the marsh where the grass is longer and the ground bumpier. They looked very spread out, I don't know whether or not this helps chick survival by not being so much of an easy buffet lunch for predators. I suspect it pays dividends in the case of an avian flu outbreak. The creeks and gullies were busy with gadwalls, tufties, shelducks, avocets and godwits and every ten yards or so a pair of Canada geese would be standing in the drain staring as I passed by.

Black-tailed godwit, Marshside 

Shelducks and snow geese, Marshside 

I was getting good views of the snow geese now and compared them to the white farm goose I'd seen at Junction Pool. The obvious differences were the size and shape: the snow geese weren't much bigger than pink-footed geese and the farm goose had a rectangular body with a very steep, deep breast rather than the rounded breasts of wild geese.

Whitethroat, Marshside 

More whitethroats sang in the bushes, skylarks sang over the marsh, I had to be careful not to trip over goldfinches and wall brown butterflies. I added herons and shovelers to the day's sightings.

Snow geese, Crossens Outer Marsh 

I crossed the road and scanned Crossens Outer Marsh. After the crowd scenes of Winter it looked deserted despite the hundreds of wood pigeons, dozens of Canada geese and shelducks and the little egrets skittering about. I sat at Mackenzie's lookout point and tried to find any pink-feet without any luck. A lot of strange honking alerted me to the snow geese flying over from Marshside. They landed agreeably close to hand and, as a bonus, four pink-footed geese that had been deep in a tussocky hollow popped up to see who'd arrived.

Snow geese, Crossens Outer Marsh 

Snow geese, Crossens Outer Marsh
The blue morph bird is in the middle of the line.

As I carried on walking I looked over the road onto Crossens Inner Marsh. There were lots more Canada geese and greylags, gadwalls and tufties, avocets and black-headed gulls. I was a bit surprised to find a couple of pairs of wigeon hiding in plain sight in the middle of the marsh. Oddly I didn't see a single teal all day, they must be very busy somewhere in the more secluded creeks and drains.

Crossens Inner Marsh 

I got the bus back to Southport Station from Crossens, I'd just missed the stopping train and had three-quarters of an hour for the train to Oxford Road which ran late all the way before threatening to break down completely at Bolton. My train home from Oxford Road was cancelled and i just had time to leg it down the road and catch the bus home (there'd be a half-hour wait for the next bus, a two-hour wait for the next train). So I got home somewhat later than intended — did I say that getting to Southport is a faff these days?

It had been a full, and unusual, day's birdwatching and well worthwhile despite the trains.

Mersey Valley again

Blackbird, Priory Gardens 

It was another train strike day which limited my options, I didn't feel like doing much and had an excuse for not doing it. It was also another fine sunny day and I could hear myself complaining about all this sunshine any day now so I dragged myself out to play while the weather was nice.

I went over to the Trafford Centre and played bus schedule bingo. The 18 was the next bus out so I caught it and got off at Priory Gardens for a walk along the Mersey.

Priory Gardens 

Priory Gardens was a riot of sound nearly all of which was blackbirds, robins and wrens. A song thrush struggled to make itself heard. Blue tits, great tits and blackcaps bounced about in the undergrowth. A couple of blackcaps sang in the distance but it wasn't until I near the clearing by the motorway I could hear them clearly, together with a couple of chiffchaffs and a whitethroat. I joined the path by the motorway and went over the bridge onto Sale Water Park.

Mute swan and Canada geese, Sale Water Park 

Mute swans and Canada geese loafed by the waterside café. A couple of pairs of geese had goslings in tow. A few mallards were scattered about and a cormorant panted on the pontoon, they seem to feel the heat quicker than most birds.

Cormorant, Sale Water Park 

Ring-necked parakeet, Sale Water Park 

There was more singing in the trees — blackbirds, robins and wrens, blackcaps and chiffchaffs, and song thrushes trying to drown out all the rest. Pairs of dunnocks chased around in the bushes, woodpigeons and ring-necked parakeets clattered about in the treetops.

Robin, Sale Water Park 

I had a sit-down by the café, not expecting much activity on the bird feeders. It was pretty quiet: a squirrel had taken up squatter's rights on the bird table and a couple of great tits flitted to and from the sunflower feeders. Every so often a robin would bob by or a coal tit sneak in while nobody was looking. Everything scattered when a couple of kids passed by and they tried to see where the squirrel went. The first bird back on the feeders was a willow tit. It had the chance to grab one sunflower seed before it was chased off by a great tit which didn't bother to stop and feed, it was evidently just in the mood for a bit of bovver. While I was watching this my first azure damselfly of the year landed on my camera bag then zipped off to hunt around the cranesbills on the bank.

Barrow Brook

I walked along Barrow Brook towards Jackson's Boat. Yet more robins, wrens and blackbirds sang in the trees. Great tits and goldfinches flitted about the hedgerows almost as much as the brimstones and speckled woods fluttering about the path margins.

Jackson's Boat 

Blackcaps joined the soundscape at Jackson's Boat, accompanied by chiffchaffs and whitethroats over the river. A couple of drake mallards dabbled about by the water's edge.

Mallard and ducklings, River Mersey

I stayed on the Cheshire side of the river, it's quieter on this side and I didn't want to have to negotiate my way round swarms of Chorlton cyclists. Additions to the songscape were a willow warbler singing in the trees by Chorlton Golf Course and a meadow pipit singing on Sale Golf Course. There were plenty of mallards about on the river, one duck had a bevvy of ducklings spread from bank to bank. I looked in vain for wagtails or damselflies but there were plenty of brimstones and large whites fluttering about the banks in the sunshine.

River Mersey heading towards Kenworthy Woods 

There were more brimstones and large whites fluttering about Kenworthy Woods. The songscape had been turned up to eleven, mostly blackbirds, wrens, blackcaps and robins with backing vocals from chiffchaffs, woodpigeons, song thrushes and chaffinches. Blue tits very quietly went about their business in the hawthorn bushes and were hard work to see behind the leaf cover. I suspect the quiet times during the July post-breeding moult are going to be hard going for me, the long wet Autumn that was Winter has generated a lot of very lush vegetation.

Kenworthy Woods 

I walked through and headed for the Yew Tree Road bus stop. No matter what the time of day, or whatever the schedules and web pages tell me, the 101 I am going for always passes me at the corner before the stop. Luckily they're every quarter of an hour or so, I got the next and had a similar time to wait for the 25 home from Hough Green. 

Enchanter's nightshade, by the River Mersey

Mersey Valley

Goosander, Banky Meadow

It was another nice day and after cat-napping most of the night I was in a better frame of mind for having a lunchtime walk. I decided to head over to Irlam for a walk across the mosses, skipping Little Woolden Moss this time and having a nosy round Croxden's and Barton mosses. So of course the train was cancelled at the last minute. I could faff around with the bus connections, which would have been better half an hour earlier or I could do something else. So I headed for Cob Kiln Wood. Walking away from the station a pair of swifts streaked over the chimney tops. I took that as a good omen.

Over Ousel Brook into Cob Kiln Wood 

The robins, wrens, blackbirds and song thrushes were singing lustily at the entrance to Cob Kiln Wood. As I crossed the bridge over Ousel Brook blue tits and great tits bounced about in the hedgerows and goldfinches flitted about the treetops. For all the rich soundscape there wasn't a warbler to be heard, very unlike yesterday on Stretford Meadows. I'd almost reached the electricity pylon clearing when I heard the first chiffchaff.

Cob Kiln Wood 

Approaching the electricity pylon clearing 

A buzzard lumbered off and flew over the trees as I entered the clearing. A blackcap sang in the trees and a whitethroat sang from deep in the dogwood patch. A few more blue tits and goldfinches bounced about, a pair of long-tailed tits were carrying huge beakfuls of insects and woodpigeons lumbered about in the treetops. It was nice to be able to walk along the paths and not play hopscotch across the clumps of comfrey. The weather brought out the butterflies: holly blues and speckled woods flitting about in the trees, large whites, orange tips and brimstones in the clearing.

The electricity pylon clearing 

Comfrey patches coming into flower 

I dropped down onto Cob Kiln Lane and walked down towards the river. There was a terrific commotion up in the trees as a pair of mistle thrushes made their objections to magpies conspicuously clear.

Cob Kiln Lane 

I decided to cross the river and have a wander round Banky Meadow. A few pigeons flitted about the Carrington Spur Road bridge and a drake mallard drifted by the bank. I was just thinking to myself that it was a shame that the river's got into a tatty state again when I spotted something down river. Something long and dark was fishing underwater a couple of hundred yards down. I waited for the cormorant to bob back up again. It didn't. It wasn't a cormorant. A brown back broke the water and submerged again. An otter. An otter? No, probably a mink. Then a head broke water to take a breath. A dog face, not a ferret face. An otter. Gosh. I got a couple of photos of splashes in the water as the tip of the tail flipped underwater. Which is about par for the course whenever I try to photograph otters.

Banky Lane 

Banky Lane was noisy with robins, wrens and blackbirds. I didn't hear any warblers until I got to the fork in the lane and bumped into the first singing chiffchaff. Thereafter things changed plenty with blackcaps, chiffchaffs and a garden warbler singing in the damp woodland and whitethroats singing in the open glades.

The path down to the river

I took the detour to the river to see if anything was about (and in the hope that the otter might have drifted down and fancied a bit of sunbathing on the beach). A few mallards drifted about and a pair of goosanders sat on the shingles.

River Mersey

Cutting through back onto Banky Lane the only ring-necked parakeets of the day rattled in the treetops by the car park. I walked round onto Carrington Road and got the 18 back into Urmston and thence home. It had been a pretty good afternoon.

Banky Meadow 

Stretford

Goldfinch, Stretford Meadows

I overslept and heavily so I missed the trains for any of today's planned jaunts and a banging headache didn't put me in the mood for going far. It looked like a nice day so I decided to take my headache for a walk anyway.

It was a warm but heavy sort of a day with a lot of cloud cover. I walked over to Stretford Meadows. Blackbirds and robins sang in gardens, starlings and spadgers had noisy young to feed and woodpigeons canoodled on television aerials.

Too easy

I had no need to hop across the palettes into the meadows, the mud was baked hard. The trees were lively with house sparrows and greenfinches and the songs of blackbirds, wrens, blackcaps and robins. There were chiffchaffs about but only a couple singing.

Looking towards Newcroft Road 

Out on the open meadow amongst the orange tips and small tortoiseshells every bramble patch with an hawthorn and an oak sapling had its singing whitethroat. Goldfinches bounced about the young trees, the linnets and reed buntings were trickier to spot and every hundred yards a pair of magpies would be rummaging in the long grass. 

Stretford Meadows 

Stretford Meadows 

A bramble patch and friends

I know we're supposed to be sniffy about scrub but I'm all in favour of it, partly because it's an excellent habitat in itself but also because it rewilds the spirit, reconnecting it with the natural timescales of environmental change. Left to its own devices this area will become woodland during the course of a human lifetime which to my mind is a satisfying symmetry. And along the way it'll host a wide range of flora and fauna. The brambles aren't in flower yet but judging by the foliage and habit I could recognise there were twenty or thirty different types on the meadows — thank God I'm not a botanist so I wasn't tempted to try and identify them, gulls are bad enough! It seems perverse to grub up a random assortment of brambles to plant cloned whips in the name of biodiversity.

Jackdaw, Stretford Meadows 

A possible lesser whitethroat singing in a distant bramble patch wasn't a good enough identification for a year tick. None of the more accessible patches I visited had one singing though there were plenty more whitethroats with the wrens and robins. Pairs of woodpigeons and pigeons and single stock doves flew overhead, a reversal of the usual trend. A flock of jackdaws rummaged about in the open grass taking food back to hungry mouths in the trees and chimney tops of Urmston Lane.

Walking down the mound

The M60 is very close nearby

Walking beside Kickety Brook 

Dropping down the hill I walked along Kickety Brook to Stretford Ees. Blackbirds, robins, chiffchaffs and great tits sang in the hedgerows. A pair of great tits hunted spiders on the ceiling of the underpass beneath Chester Road, making an already eerie walk-through sound positively creepy.

Bridgewater Canal Aquaduct 

Grey squirrel, Stretford Ees

I bumped into the first ring-necked parakeets as I reached Hawthorn Road and turned onto the footpath beneath the pigeons' nests under the aquaduct.

Stretford Ees

A flock of half a dozen parakeets wheeled around Stretford Ees, not sure whether to sit in the trees by the cemetery or the trees by the tram line. Blackcaps and chiffchaffs in the trees competed for sound with the whitethroats on the ees. Reed buntings and goldfinches bounced about the willows by the pond, a moorhen and its chick relaxed for a while in the sunshine.

Moorhen, Stretford Ees

Moorhen chick, Stretford Ees

The headache hadn't got much better but I'd got some exercise and there was plenty about. I didn't much fancy meeting the after-school rush in Chorlton Ees and looking at the clouds I was reminded that the thunderstorm we'd been forecast yesterday evening hadn't happened so I walked over the football pitches of Turn Moss and waited for the bus home.

Water horsetail, Stretford Ees