Mosses

Painted lady, Little Woolden Moss

I'd planned a longer walk than usual across the mosses, setting off from Irlam across Irlam Moss and down Chat Moss to Little Woolden Moss and beyond.

I wandered down Cutnook Lane from Irlam. The hedgerows were pretty quiet but there were a couple of dozen swallows hawking low over the turf fields. A family of long-tailed tits flitted about the hedges by the fishery, joined by a flock of house sparrows and a chiffchaff.

There have been reports of spotted flycatchers in the trees at the junction with Twelve Yards Road so I spent a while checking them out with no success bar a couple of chiffchaffs, a wren and a robin. A buzzard soared overhead, harassed by a couple of carrion crows.

Twelve Yards Road was very quiet birdwise, nearly everything except woodpigeons was keeping its head down out of the wind. A few dragonflies — a couple of brown hawkers, some black darters and a single common hawker — patrolled the field margins. About halfway down to Four Ends another flock of swallows flew overhead.

About this point I met an elephant hawk moth caterpillar. I made sure it crossed the road safely before moving on

Elephant hawk moth caterpillar

Approaching Four Ends I noticed some more woodpigeons in the field. A few flew off and two turned out to be stock doves. I was watching them on their way when my eye was caught by two more birds flying around the far field edge. Dark wings and white rump, a couple of green sandpipers doing a good job of looking like house martins.

The Eastern end of Woolden Moss was quiet, too, with just a few willow warblers calling in the trees and a pair of pied wagtails chasing each other on the pools. There were a lot of black darters with a few Southern hawkers and a couple of common darters. I was busy being bitten by horseflies while I was checking out the dragonflies.

I carried on down the path. A moorhen with a couple of youngsters were fussing about on the pool by the site of the old hide.

A work team was doing some work with a digger a bit further along. I passed them and carried on towards the boundary path on the Western side.

Juvenile ruff (above) and juvenile wood sandpiper, Little Woolden Moss

I could see some more pied wagtails and a little ringed plover flew a short way before disappearing behind a bank. I turned into the boundary path and after a few yards I noticed a juvenile wood sandpiper working its way along the base of of the bunds.

I was watching the juvenile wood sandpiper I'd just found when a juvenile ruff joined us. In this unexpected context it took me ages to realise what it was. Ten yards to the right there were also a couple of juvenile little ringed plovers. Quite a difference to the tally on the Eastern side!

Juvenile ruff, Little Woolden Moss

Juvenile wood sandpiper, Little Woolden Moss

Then, as a change from the usual I walked down to the far side of Little Woolden Moss, through Great Woolden and through Cadishead Moss for a bus home from Irlam. (The intention was to walk through Great Woolden and get the train home from Glazebrook but I took the wrong turn once I'd negotiated my way through a farmyard).

Pied wagtail, Cadishead Moss

I'd crossed the motorway bridge onto Cadishead Moss and saw a commotion over one of the farmyards. A mixed flock of house martins and swallows were chasing off a sparrowhawk. It came back five minutes later and they chased them off again.

The fields were full of pied wagtails and linnets, moving up like a cloud when a tractor drove by.

I took a wrong turning and headed off towards New Moss Lane. Beyond the houses I stopped and had a look round one of the fallow fields, a field like that full of docks and rough grass must surely hold a stonechat or two, or perhaps even a passing whinchat. No such luck. Instead, a juvenile Merlin launched itself out of a tree and floated across the field before flying quickly over someone's back garden.

I carried on down New Moss Lane and past New Moss Wood and into Cadishead for the bus home.