Chat Moss and Little Woolden Moss

Sketch map: Chat Moss and Little Woolden Moss

The rough oblong bounded by the East Lancs Road, the M6, the M62 and the M60 includes most of what remains of the old mosslands of South-East Lancashire, now divided between Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire. The railway line between Manchester and Newton le Willows runs east-west across this area. This post covers some of the mosses in the area south of the railway line and east of Warrington Road as it runs between Culceth and Glazebury. This area is mostly drained farmland though there are a few small pieces of woodland and Little Woolden Moss is being restored to wet peat bog.

Chat Moss

The 100 and 67 buses run down Liverpool Road between Manchester and Cadishead (the 100 calls in at the Trafford Centre along the way). The bus stop for Barton Moss Road is at the South-West corner of Barton Aerodrome. This road carries on over a bridge over the M62, joining Twelve Yards Road on the other side. Twelve Yards Road is a dead straight lane running the length of Chat Moss, past Four Lanes End and thence to Little Woolden Moss. At the Barton Moss end the margins are lightly wooded, past the crossroads with Cutnook Lane it's more open farmland with bits of hedgerow.

The 100 turns off Liverpool Road in Irlam. Get off at the bus stop on Merlin Road (this road runs close to and parallel with the M62), cross the road and walk down Cutnook Road, it runs parallel to the motorway a short way, then over the bridge and onto Chat Moss, passing a stables and a small fishery before reaching Twelve Yards Road. Most of the lane's lightly wooded at the margins.

Chat Moss along Cutnook Lane

The birds found along the wooded stretches include most of the usual subjects. In Summer you may find tree pipits. Great grey shrikes are often reported in Winter but they tend not to linger.

Kestrel, Chat Moss

Yellowhammers tend to make themselves more noticeable as you approach Four Lanes End, the crossroads with Astley Road. Carry on for Little Woolden Moss. Turn right and head North for Astley Moss and Astley (I've not done this yet).

Winter Hill from Four Lanes End

Little Woolden Moss

Little Woolden Moss is through the gate at the end of the road. This is an area of mossland that's in the process of being reclaimed as wet peat bog by Lancashire Wildlife Trust. It's a work in progress at the moment as it's a very new reserve.

Cotton grass, Little Woolden Moss

The path's well-signposted and pretty good. You soon come to a fork in the path: turn left and you'll get good views of the pools on the right and a field's thickness of rough heathland on the left. The most obvious waders on the pools are lapwings, curlews and oystercatchers; I haven't properly got to grips with this part of the reserve, my sightings are a bit sparse compared to most of the reports I've seen from others. Raptors include buzzards, kestrels and hobbies (hen harrier is reported quite frequently but I've not been lucky so far).

Little Woolden Moss

Halfway down the path forks again. The left turn leads on to Moss Road, thence through Cadishead Moss to Cadishead. If you keep going straight ahead you eventually come to a dead end.

Hobby, Little Woolden Moss

Retracing your steps, pass the entrance point and follow the path round the northern boundary of the reserve. The fields to the north include a lot of skylarks and, in Summer, quite a few yellow wagtails.  After a few hundred yards the path leaves the reserve and becomes a pleasant stroll through these fields, passing through a farmyard and eventually joining Moss Lane, crossing Glaze Brook and joining Warrington Road. Turn left for the bus stops, the stop on this side is for buses through Culceth to Warrington, the other side of the road is for buses through Glazebury to Leigh. It's a small, busy main road so be careful crossing it.