Mosses

Hare's tail grass, Little Woolden Moss

Seeing as it was a nice, sunny Spring day, and seeing as I hadn't been able to decide on a firm plan of action for the day I had a wander over the Salford mosses in the hopes of bumping into a yellow wagtail.

Irlam Moss

As usual, the hedgerows of Astley Road were chock full of a motley collection of finches, spadgers and titmice. Though the usual hordes of woodpigeons roamed the land the flock of pigeons which was a feature of Winter visits was nowhere to be seen. It was good to see and hear so many greenfinches, hopefully their populations are recovering. A heron fishing in one of the ditches was unexpected.

It wasn't until I turned the corner at Four Lanes End and started walking towards Little Woolden Moss that I saw my first yellow wagtail of the year, out at the far side of the ploughed field. Distance, heat haze and the glare of the sun made it hard work but eventually I spotted five male wagtails. There was something else, too, with a pale head but I lost it as it disappeared into a furrow. Scanning round I noticed that the white shape I'd assumed was light shining from a bit of broken glass was moving. And another one. And another. There were lots of something else with pale heads. I was fifty yards down the lane before the angle with the sun let me confirm that there were eight wheatears in the field with the wagtails.

Yellow wagtail, Irlam Moss

I was greeted at Little Woolden Moss by a willow warbler and a whitethroat. On the open moss lapwings were busy with display flights, a flock of black-headed gulls were fussing over one of the pools and the usual gang of carrion crows lurked at the far margins. It took a while to pick up most of the birds on the bunds. A lone Canada goose was obvious enough but the redshanks and meadow pipits had to be located by call. Luckily, once I'd pinned down the redshanks I spotted a little ringed plover running along the base of the same bund. Just in front of this the silhouette of a small female duck baffled me until she swam into the shadows and I felt confident enough to confirm she was a teal. A male yellow wagtail flew in and foraged on one of the bunds, a little further back I could pick out a couple of pied wagtails feeding at the edge of a pool. I retraced my steps (I'd decided to walk over to Glazebury) and got as far as the old hide site when I spotted another wagtail, this time a male white wagtail. 

Linnet, Little Woolden Moss

I walked round to the path leading to Moss Lane and thence to Glazebury. So far I hadn't seen any raptors. Looking over the fields to the North I could just see two buzzards soaring high somewhere over Astley way. I hadn't gone far when a couple of yellow wagtails flew over. The barley was starting to show through in the fields and pairs of lapwings were busy staking their territories.

A lot of noise coming from somewhere near Barton Aerodrome heralded a Eurofighter which spent five minutes banking and rolling over Irlam and Cadishead, possibly to quell the natives' independence movements. The noise disturbed a few pheasants and a buzzard which rose up from New Moss Lane.

I'd hoped to see more yellow wagtails by the polytunnels. No luck but there were some fine pied wagtails and a couple of flocks of linnets. The first and only kestrel of the day flew over as I reached the first farmhouse.

The hedgerows along Moss Lane were busy with finches and spadgers and every third tree seemed to have a pair of blue tits attacking its greenfly population.

Glaze Brook

A mallard flew over as I approached Glaze Brook. Looking North from the bridge half a dozen tufted ducks dozed on the bank and a couple of drake teal sat on the water at the bend. Behind them a female teal was accompanied by twelve ducklings.

Looking South from the bridge I found a male grey wagtail. I hadn't quite got the full set of wagtails — a Channel wagtail had been reported from Little Woolden Moss — but it wasn't bad going.