Urban birdwatching at Sale Water Park and Sale Ees in Manchester

Jennifer Sizeland

4 years ago

Sale Water Park is a great place for urban birdwatching in Manchester and as it’s in my local area I’ve been photographing birds and logging my sightings here during lockdown.

The park used to be a gravel pit which was flooded after the gravel was taken to build the M60 in the 1970s, now its a haven for wildlife and some welcome green lungs in the city. It is now made up of meadows, streams, woodlands, reedbeds and of course, the lake.

Here are some of the beautiful birds that I’ve seen here, as well as the different habitats they live in.

Sale Ees

The woods and meadows on the approach to the park from behind Jackson’s Boat pub and along the Barrow Brook are a great place to see herons.

Woodlands

The woodlands along the ees and around the water park are home to a plethora of birds.

Ring-necked parakeets nesting in a telegraph pole

The parakeets nest in the woodlands and you’ll certainly hear them before you see them. They’re so green that they actually blend in really well with the trees.

Other large birds like the Eurasian jay, blackbirds, crows and woodpigeons make their homes here too.

Smaller garden birds like the robin, bullfinch, blue tit, coal tit, great tit and goldfinches also feed and nest in the trees.

Lake

The lake is a great place to watch waterbirds especially when springtime comes along and no boats on the lake,

Mallard and ducklings, Sale Water Park, Manchester

There are usually a few mallards with their ducklings here as well as on the River Mersey.

Coot with chicks, Sale Water Park, Manchester

Coots have started raising broods in the reed beds before venturing out in the lake with them.

There are also moorhens in the lake, but I haven’t seen any with chicks yet.

Great crested grebe, Sale Water Park, Manchester

There are a few pairs of the magnificent great crested grebe living on the lake.

Nesting little grebe, Sale Water Park, Manchester

The smaller little grebe is shyer but can still be seen on the lake as well as on Broad Ees Dole (where the concrete bird hide faces). I saw this beautiful bird nesting but sadly it was sadly flooded.

Canada goose with goslings, Sale Water Park

Canada geese breed on the lake and hang out with their goslings near the car park. You can see birds like woodpigeon and crows on the car park and jetty too,

Electricity pylon

Like true urban birds, there are cormorants that feed in the lake and roost on the pylons.

Cormorants on a pylon, Sale Water Park, Manchester

Reed beds

There aren’t many reed beds near the lake, but the ones that are there are well-used by birds.

Reed warbler in Sale Water Park. Manchester

Look out for reed warblers that you’ll hear before you see them. There are also reed buntings, wrens and other small birds who like to hide or feed in the reeds.

Sale Water Park and Ees are home to many birds and this is not an exhaustive list! There are sightings recorded on the Manchester Birding Forum on a regular basis to keep up-to-date depending on the season. There is plenty of other wildlife like foxes, weasels, dragonflies and various species of butterflies too.