Sale Water Park and Kenworthy Woods 22nd December 2011

Sale Water Park and Kenworthy Woods 22nd December 2011

On 22nd we went to Chorlton Water Park where we parked up and then went for a walk.  It was a beautiful winter day with lots of sun and unusually mild considering it was nearly Christmas – not at all like last year ! We started out going counter-closkwise to keep the low sun out of our eyes. The usual mixture of Black-headed Gulls and Canada Geese dominated though there were a couple of Cormorants flying overhead and a Wigeon on the water. We decided that we would take the opportunity to go to Kenworthy Woods so we only went around the water park as far as  Bailey Bridge which we crossed at and walked up the main path through Kenworthy Woods. We turned into the old orchard where I could see the silhouette of a bird with a long pointed bill at the top of a tree at the far side of the orchard. On closer examination this turned out to be a Great-spotted Woodpecker. We walked around the woods a bit more spotting two Buzzards flying low as well as the usual range of small song birds andcoming back to the river Mersey where we walked along the south bank. On the water there we saw a Great-crested Grebe and two pairs of Goldeneye which we got very good views of for as long as they chose to come up from under the water. We turned at Jackson’s Boat and paid a quick visit to the Mersey Valley Visitor Centre (which was closed) and on the feeders there we saw Willow, Great and Blue Tits as well as Chaffinch ans a couple of rats feeding on the spillage from the feeders.

We stopped for a brief drink at Jackson’s Boat before crossing Jackson’s Bridge and walking back along the north side of the river Mersey returning to our starting point at Chorlton Water Park.

Bird Sightings : Chorlton Water Park, Kenworthy Woods, Jackson’s Boat