Chat Moss

Roadside meadow: poppies, chamomiles and cornflowers, Chat Moss

Afternoon stroll across Chat Moss from Irlam and thence on to Glazebury. Each time it started to get too warm a cloud conveniently passed over and let the breeze do its work. 

All a bit July quiet birdwatching-wise but both reed buntings and yellowhammers were singing. The hedgerows were full of finches and warblers very quietly and unobtrusively about their business and frustratingly difficult to pin down. A male lesser whitethroat flying out of a maple bush and alighting momentarily on a fence post was a nice surprise. And, sadly, all the swallows seemed to have flown. 

On the plus side I heard my first quail singing. On the minus side I may as well have been watching an episode of Michael Bentine's Potty Time for all I saw of the bird. So I'll just have to settle for ten seconds' worth of "Wet my lips" coming from a corner of a field of ripe barley.