Heaton Park, Manchester

I need to conclude the Manchester account before I end up with a massive backlog of trips to write up. I went to Heybridge Basin yesterday and Cranham Marsh today.  I’m going to keep it brief but I felt that Heaton Park, Greater Manchester, which I visited with Tom, is a remarkable enough green space to be worth a write up. It belongs to a generation of grand, landscaped parks, from the 19^th century and calls to mind the Royal Parks of London, which it exceeds in size. It stands Heaton Hall, an old stately home used to accommodate aircrew on flying training during World War II, until recently open to the public, and now, unfortunately, unoccupied and looking worryingly forlorn.

Heaton House.

Reaching the park we decided to head up to something called the “animal zone” or some such, which turned out to be a collection of grubby farm animals in small enclosures. The highlight was watching the swallows flying in and out from under the eaves, busily attending their chicks, before rocketing out and into the sky in search of insects. Outside the run down looking stately home they alighted on the ground in pursuit of something we could not see. There were a couple of pied wagtails running about as well. 

Swallow at Heaton Park.

The park is a patchwork of long, rough grass, manicured lawn and copses. In the copses the green leaves of Himalayan balsam are in evidence, suggesting this invasive has a hold here, beside the stinging nettles and other flora. Whitethroats could be heard singing but few birds presented themselves among the leaves, those that did turned out to be blue tits. There were plenty of Rhododendrons, presumably planted there for their dramatic flowers, and they indeed looked spectacular. There were dog roses around as well. The woodland, clearly planted, had obviously matured, and spots around the sites main lake, where the Rhododendron lined gaps in the tree cover from which the pavilion could be seen across the water, was testimony to the skill and foresight of the landscapers.

View from the "Temple."

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On the lake we saw a crèche of Canada geese and goslings, and the waterfowl were dominated by Canadas and a number of feral, farmyard type Geese.  Feral Ducks mingled with wild Mallards and tufties. Some of the male mallards appeared to be losing their bright, breeding plumage, and their brown eclipse plumage, providing vital camouflage during the late summer/early autumn moult, was beginning to show through, as brown patches against the smart iridescent green of their heads and the grey of their flanks. A moorhen was feeding a fluffy chuck, and then, somewhat inexplicably, decided to chase it off. There were a few coots on the water, as well as a distant little grebe.

Moorhen and juvenile

Juvenile Coots.

We walked back up to the stately home and to the “temple” an observatory-like structure which may well have been used as such. From this, the highest point, according to interpretive signage, in Greater Manchester, much of the city was screened by woodland, but in front of us the Beetham Tower still loomed, an ever present sense of place.  We elected to try to and have a look at Heaton Reservoir, which appeared on our maps of the park, but we could not get there. Skirting round a barbed wire compound with communication aerials inside, we found ourselves in a patch of meadow which again hosted common spotted orchids.  Mistle Thrushes hopped about among the grass.  We wandered off through the woods until we came to the margins of a rough grassy area, grazed by a number of horses of various sizes and shades. A very handsome Sparrowhawk over our heads was a welcome addition to the Manchester bird list. 

Mallard moulting into Eclipse plumage.

At the tram station on the way home a juvenile blackbird posed for photos, before the tram made its way back among the red brick and new builds of Manchester. The city had offered an unexpected number of birding opportunities, we saw four species of Raptor including the Sparrowhawk here at Heaton Park, and the Peregrines blew us away. So keep your eyes out, if you find yourself up North, wildlife experiences can turn up quite unexpectedly!

Juvenile Blackbird at Heaton Park Station.