My experience with wryneck is that they either show incredibly well or are incredibly skulking.... fortunately todays bird in George's lane on the flanks of Rivington Pike chose the former.
From visiting this place many times I knew that I could park close to the kennels now turned cafe, but instead I opted to park at the start of George's lane and walk the mile and a half to where the bird had been seen. It was a nice day and I felt like a walk and really there is no point in rushing to see a wryneck. If it wants to show itself it will be there right in front of you, if it doesn't then no amount of dashing around will make it appear. In anycase I'd already seen three wrynecks in the north west following birds in St Helens (1996), Seaforth (1997) and Fairhaven Lake (2015), and I don't really keep a Manchester list, so no real pressure, just enjoy the day and hopefully the bird will perform.
It took me about 30 minutes to reach the cafe from where I parked and as soon as I got there I immediately saw the wryneck sitting on top of a fence post. Result, job done! I watched it for a couple of minutes and managed to fire off a few photos before unexpectedly the bird flew right towards me and landed in a small bush about 5m in front of me. Unfortunately it only remained here for about 10 seconds before flying over a fence and dropping onto the ground in amongst the juncus, still only about 10m distant but out of view.
However a few minutes later somebody picked it up feeding on the ground just behind the fence and it showed very well for the next 20 minutes or so until finally it flew to the far side of the juncus and again out of view whereupon I decided it was time to call it a day. I nearly didn't bother leaving the house today, but I'm glad that I did because it was a smart bird and well worth the effort.
This is the area that the wryneck was in, just behind the fence in the foreground.
Plenty of ling Culluna vulgaris in flower at the moment, a beautiful sight.
Elaine and I often do the same walk as I did today but continue further to the Great House Barn cafe and then back. It's a good walk with some nice views.
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