Rare bird makes its home on historic canal

AN increasingly rare bird has made its home in woodland at Warrington’s historic New Cut Canal.
The Willow Tit was once a common sight in the British countryside but is estimated to have suffered a near 90 per cent decline since 1970 with less than 3,500 breeding pairs in the country.
It has declined so much that it merits a red alert from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Members of the New Cut Heritage and Ecology Trail Group are delighted the Willow Tit has made its home in the heavily wooded section of the New Cut Canal at Paddington.
Sightings are all the more remarkable because the canal – formerly part of the historic Mersey and Irwell Navigation – has been abandoned for decades and has a polluted bed resulting from the Industrial Revolution.
Willow trees have colonised the area close to the River Mersey – and Willow Tits like habitats that have a good tree canopy and are dark and damp.
They feed on insects, seeds and berries and are a similar size to the Blue Tit, a species that frequently competes with the Willow Tit for nesting sites.
The canal has, since 2002, been progressively improved by Warrington Borough Council and more recently by the newly formed heritage group.
Member Lynda Eagan said: “It is marvellous to think that this important stretch of historic canal has new life both as a nature reserve and an area of recreation.  This new discovery provides more evidence of value to the environment that Warrington’s wonderful waterway history provides.”
Group press officer Anne Price added: “Local residents first alerted us to the possible presence of the species and now they have been seen everyone in the group is delighted.
“We have been selected as one of the locations to be surveyed as part of a co-ordinated surveillance of this species.
“The survey is being undertaken as part of the Carbon Landscape project under the guidance of Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside Wildlife Trust.”
The survey has already recorded sightings of one bird, plus information of confirmed sightings of at least three additional birds seen on other occasions.