On New Year’s Day John Agar and I went for a walk in the Mersey Valley. More accurately we trailed along behind a larger, more organised group of ‘dedicated’ walkers. Because we dawdled along and stopped frequently to look at things and to take photographs we soon got left behind. Personally, I’ve never been keen on striding about for the sake of it – but I had an excuse on that day because I was still recovering from a nasty chest infection which had afflicted me over the Christmas period.
Nevertheless, I think we saw some interesting things which the others probably missed.
On Ivy Green the frost had wrought its usual magic and, transformed the dead stems of Ragwort, Hogweed, Thistles, Willowherb and various grasses with a gleaming white coating of ice crystals. In one of the fenced-off compounds on Chorlton Ees the magnificent ‘shuttlecocks’ of Scaly Male Fern were still standing (albeit a bit battered) and still green beneath their coating of frost.
We walked along the river bank to the Metro Line at Stretford then crossed the river to Sale Water Park. There was a fair amount of bird life on the lake and I took some pictures of some Cormorants on one of the jetties. These fish-eating sea birds have been moving inland and feeding at sites like Sale Water Park for some decades now; I remember first seeing them at Sale at least 25 years ago. Further along we saw some strange looking ducks among flocks of Canada Geese, Black-headed Gulls and Mallards all being fed by delighted small children and their parents. John identified the strange birds as Muscovy Ducks. According to the name these birds should be from Russia (‘Muscovy’ = ‘of Moscow’) but, in fact, they are from Central and South America and no-one appears to be quite sure where the ‘Muscovy’ name comes from (moral: never trust common names for things!). These ducks had either pure white plumage or white plumage with black wings bars and black flecks on the head. They also had bright red, wrinkly skin around their eyes and claws on their webbed feet. John told me that they have been present at Sale for some years but was not sure where they had come from. According to an article on the Internet they are now naturalised in several parts of North America and Europe.
We continued along the outflow channel which links the Water Park with the river near Jackson’s Boat. This is a favourite spot in spring and summer because it is very rich in water plants. In the channel some small ducks caught my eye and John identified them as Teal - which are Europe’s smallest duck. The females (‘ducks’) are pale brown with darker brown flecks but the males (‘drakes’) are more brightly coloured with chestnut heads with a bordered green stripe over the eye.
These little ducks are very fast flyers and, I suspect, could normally be quite difficult to photograph but, under the bone-chilling conditions of New Year’s Day, they fell easy prey to my camera.
We caught up with the rest of the party at Jackson’s Boat where they were planning to carry on along the river to Chorlton Water Park. Unfortunately, by this time, my chest infection was beginning to take its toll and I was flagging a bit so John and I sloped off back to my place for a cup of tea.
My photographs can be found in the ‘Birds’ album attached to this blog – see:
http://picasaweb.google.com/friendsofchorltonmeadows/
or just double click on the little slideshow on the right-hand side of this page.
Dave Bishop, January 2009.
Nevertheless, I think we saw some interesting things which the others probably missed.
On Ivy Green the frost had wrought its usual magic and, transformed the dead stems of Ragwort, Hogweed, Thistles, Willowherb and various grasses with a gleaming white coating of ice crystals. In one of the fenced-off compounds on Chorlton Ees the magnificent ‘shuttlecocks’ of Scaly Male Fern were still standing (albeit a bit battered) and still green beneath their coating of frost.
We walked along the river bank to the Metro Line at Stretford then crossed the river to Sale Water Park. There was a fair amount of bird life on the lake and I took some pictures of some Cormorants on one of the jetties. These fish-eating sea birds have been moving inland and feeding at sites like Sale Water Park for some decades now; I remember first seeing them at Sale at least 25 years ago. Further along we saw some strange looking ducks among flocks of Canada Geese, Black-headed Gulls and Mallards all being fed by delighted small children and their parents. John identified the strange birds as Muscovy Ducks. According to the name these birds should be from Russia (‘Muscovy’ = ‘of Moscow’) but, in fact, they are from Central and South America and no-one appears to be quite sure where the ‘Muscovy’ name comes from (moral: never trust common names for things!). These ducks had either pure white plumage or white plumage with black wings bars and black flecks on the head. They also had bright red, wrinkly skin around their eyes and claws on their webbed feet. John told me that they have been present at Sale for some years but was not sure where they had come from. According to an article on the Internet they are now naturalised in several parts of North America and Europe.
We continued along the outflow channel which links the Water Park with the river near Jackson’s Boat. This is a favourite spot in spring and summer because it is very rich in water plants. In the channel some small ducks caught my eye and John identified them as Teal - which are Europe’s smallest duck. The females (‘ducks’) are pale brown with darker brown flecks but the males (‘drakes’) are more brightly coloured with chestnut heads with a bordered green stripe over the eye.
These little ducks are very fast flyers and, I suspect, could normally be quite difficult to photograph but, under the bone-chilling conditions of New Year’s Day, they fell easy prey to my camera.
We caught up with the rest of the party at Jackson’s Boat where they were planning to carry on along the river to Chorlton Water Park. Unfortunately, by this time, my chest infection was beginning to take its toll and I was flagging a bit so John and I sloped off back to my place for a cup of tea.
My photographs can be found in the ‘Birds’ album attached to this blog – see:
http://picasaweb.google.com/friendsofchorltonmeadows/
or just double click on the little slideshow on the right-hand side of this page.
Dave Bishop, January 2009.
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