Hi Julian - am I right in thinking you were on the N side of the M60, in an area bounded by the M60, the ship canal, Redclyffe Rd and Trafford Boulevard? (Just so that I can put the records in the right place). The area we call Barton triangle is on the other side of the flyover, W of the M60 and bounded by the A57 and the ship canal, and has the Salteye brook flowing through it.
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
30/04/09. Late afternoon walk across scrubby field between Chill Factor, Trafford Centre and Ship Canal.
Major works are underway in preparation for what Im assuming is more development by Peel Holdings, including large water filled trenches with deposit mounds and embankments.
On the parts of the field still accessible I must have clocked at least a dozen Whitethroats, as well as a single Sedge Warbler and two Reed Buntings. Highlight was a single female Wheatear which flew off to land by the trenches. Later on in this same patch I also counted three Lapwings coming into land.
Other notable sights were many House Martins collecting mud from deposit mounds, Swifts (my first of the year), and, along the Mersey by the Monastery, many more Whitethroats, a single Chiffchaff and numerous gulls, ducks, corvids, herons, etc.
Sad to see this last patch of scrub being eaten up. Before the Trafford Centre this whole area along the canal leading up to Barton flyover was a haven for Sky Larks, as well as being extremely rich in botany and associated invertebrates.
This is the area of rough land bounded by the Ship Canal, the A57 and Barton Bridge on the M60. The Salteye brook runs through it and then into the canal at Barton Locks. Park in the lorry park at the Barton Moss Rd turnoff, cross the dual carriageway and go through gap in hedge onto road to locks. See it now before Peel develop it into Port Salford!!! On the abandoned fields between the A57 and the canal, a pair of Stonechats. On the Salteye Brook 20+ Teal (Ian Moffat has had over 40) On the ship canal - 70Tufties, 4 Little Grebe, 2 GC Grebe, 6 Mute Swans and more Teal. NB don't go at weekends as the area heavily used by off road bikes.
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
