Poynton Park 19th February 2012

Poynton Park 19th February 2012

We wanted to visit Poynton Park because on of our birding group had been there recently and had seen Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers there. The web site describes the site thus : “The park is situated just a few minutes walk from the centre of Poynton village covering 21 hectares including the pool, which is fished by Stockport Federation Angling Club. A surfaced circular path takes you from the car park at South Park Drive, alongside the pool, the lime avenue and through the grassland.  There is a linear public footpath from the car park at Anglesey Drive, which takes you alongside the western edge of the pool. The grassland is maintained solely by the sheep grazing.”

As you enter Poynton take the A523 (London Road North) in the direction of Stockport. Take the third right (about 1 km) into South Park Drive and there is a car park on the left. We had been told that the birds had most often been seen in one of the 2 rows of small lime trees that cross the park from the lake. We started off with a short walk along the length of the lake where there were only a few bids – Coots, a couple of Mute Swans, a Moorhen or two and some Mallards. A little further along we saw two male and one female Goosander, a Great-crested Grebe and a Cormorant on the water and another roosting in a tree. There was also a solitary Grey Heron.

We then systematically went up and down the avenues of Limes – rather magnificent trees some of them with very obvious nesting opportunities for all sorts of birds. We were sure that as we walked along the very first row we could hear Lesser-spotted Woodpecker sounds – rather like a hyperactive squeaky toy – but we looked and looked and just could not see it. As we walked up and down the lines of trees it was obvious that this must be great place for birds. The housing surrounding most of the park was all rather expensive with gardens with big trees and lawns creating a generally favourable environment for birds. As we continued walking a small flock of Redwings flew from tree to tree ahead of us, occasionally dropping to the ground to feed. A small number of Long-tailed Tits also tumbled from tree to tree and we also managed to spot a couple of Nuthatch.

We didn’t manage to see the Woodpeckers, unfortunately, but this is definitely worth a return visit perhaps in the early morning. On the last row of trees – the one nearest the car park – we saw two trees that were likely candidates for |Woodpeckers as they had a couple of dead branches and a bit of a dead stump inside the tree. It can be identified because a telegraph pole is situated between the two trees concerned. Although we spent quite some time looking at these two trees we saw nothing but we were convinced that there was a good likelihood that, if there were LSW’s here, it would be at these trees that they would be found.

Bird Sightings : Poynton Park