Mosses

Spotted redshank, Little Woolden Moss

I'd been wondering why I've been aching so much after the past few days' walks, particularly in my shins and knees, so I had a look at my boots. The soles were OK, there's still some tread on them. Then I had a look inside. Anyway, to cut a long story short I thought I'd best ignore my aches and pains and see if the new gel insoles made any difference.

Irlam Moss

I got the train to Irlam then set off up Astley Road just as the rain stopped. The hedgerows were even busier with finches and sparrows than last time and the fields by the side of the road were littered with blackbirds and pheasants. The first swallow and yellowhammer of the day were perched on overhead wires where Astley Road and Roscoe Road converge and the usual kestrel was back hovering over its favourite field.

The field by the motorway hosted a large flock of woodpigeons and a pair of stock doves. This became a theme for the afternoon, every flock of woodpigeons had a pair of stock doves by its side.

The field of turf just over the motorway, which is generally barren of birds, held two pairs of lapwings and a flock of two dozen woodpigeons.

By Four Lanes End

When I got to Four Lanes End I spent a while scanning the field that held the wheatears and yellow wagtails last week. The light was a lot flatter so I should have a better chance of seeing what was about. Again, all the action was going on at the other end of the field. The lapwings were easy enough to identify, it took a while to be confident that they were accompanied by a small flock of skylarks (the skylarks helped a lot with the identification by occasionally leaping up and having a bit of a sing). Eventually I found the only yellow wagtail on the field behind one of the ploughed ridges, my first female of the year.

Willow warblers and chaffinches singing by the entrance of Little Woolden Moss came as no surprise but the grasshopper warbler reeling its song from the long grass at the field margin did. 

Little Woolden Moss

I'd been hearing a curlew calling, for once it was the first bird I saw on the open pools. A couple of pairs of lapwings and the usual flock of black-headed gulls were fairly conspicuous, the Canada geese were heard but not seen until one poked its head above one of the bunds.

Curlew, Little Woolden Moss

A wader lurked at the base of one of the bunds. Superficially it looked like a redshank but was darker and overall not right. It moved from behind a clod of earth and I could see that its legs were nearer black than red and the bill was long and thin. A spotted redshank. I watched it as it moved into the water and started feeding in a surprisingly phalarope-like way. A redshank flew over onto the pool just to show how different the birds were.

Spotted redshank, Little Woolden Moss

I headed off towards the path to Moss Road. Another yellow wagtail flew over, this time a male. It turned out I wasn't catching the local Channel wagtail this time, either. Plenty more lapwings and skylarks though.

The field across the way from the first farmhouse had recently been stripped of turf. The bare earth and trimmed bits of turf proved popular with flocks of house sparrows and linnets as well as a few pied wagtails and lapwings.

The Glaze Brook was a bit quiet this time, just a pair of mute swans and a heron.

I walked down to Cowley Common Road for the bus and thence home.