Mosses

Blackcap, New Moss Wood

I had thought the garden warbler had moved on at the beginning of the month but it was back this morning. It has more robin-like tones than the blackcap and sings faster than both, trying to get the song over and done with as quickly as possible. 

Grey squirrel, my garden

It's good to see the piebald woodpigeon's still around, too, though I notice the squirrel's not thrilled about it. The pigeon has beak-to-nose staring competitions with the squirrel.

Brimstone on dandelions, New Moss Wood

The weather was set fair, if muggy, so I decided I'd finally get round to starting a walk across the Salford mosses by starting with a wander round New Moss Wood.

Now the leaves are properly out it was hard work finding most of the birds I was hearing. At one point I was boggling at a stand of trees trying to make sense of the competing songs of a wren, a song thrush, a blackcap, a garden warbler and a whitethroat, all in there somewhere. I eventually managed to find the blackcap singing in an alder and the whitethroat in a hawthorn by the ditch but the rest were just noises in the leaves. To add to the unreality, while I was trying to sort this lot out a pair of jays silently flew in front of me.

There were quite a few blackcaps and whitethroats about. I heard a handful of chiffchaffs in the oak trees in the centre of the wood but just the one willow warbler, singing from some young willows at the edge of the wood. It was only when I returned to Moss Road that I realised I hadn't heard or seen any great tits.

The usual peacocks, brimstones and small whites feeding on the flowers along the paths were joined by my first small copper of the year. In this case a very small copper as something had nibbled half of one of its hind wings.

The buzzard that had been flying over Moss Road as I started my walk flew low over the wood and spooked a sparrowhawk, which in turn panicked a small flock of goldfinches.

Kestrel, Cadishead Moss

It was fairly quiet on Cadishead Moss up to the motorway. A few swallows flew round and a small flock of house sparrows flitted in and out of one of the farmhouse hedges. A kestrel sat on one of the telephone lines looking out for any movements in the field of young barley underneath.

It was a bit busier past the motorway. A couple of fields had nesting lapwings and a pair of oystercatchers were doing a bit of courtship displaying. Another buzzard floated over and was promptly set upon by one of the lapwings. Lapwings aren't especially fast but by cracky they're manoeuvrable, some of the wingtip turns made it impossible for the buzzard to avoid all the blows.

Pied wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

Little Woolden Moss makes you work for your rewards. Today it was a male marsh harrier which floated in, upset the lapwings a bit and floated out in the direction of Astley Moss.

I expected more dragonflies in this weather, though I suppose the cool days earlier this week may have postponed the crowd scenes. There were a few female chasers and my first black darter of the year.

For the first time in a while I managed to see both of the curlews instead of just hearing them. They and the lapwings were the only waders today.

Yellow wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

I hadn't seen any yellow wagtails on the fields on the way up so it came as a bit of a relief to find a couple feeding on the bunds at the West end of the reserve. There were a few more feeding in the field of barley by the path to Little Woolden Hall. 

Skylark dustbathing, Little Woolden Moss

I had to stop awhile to let a skylark finish dustbathing on the path. It was in no hurry and didn't seem particularly bothered so long as I kept my distance.

I walked down to Glazebrook, just missing the train home so I nipped back over Glaze Brook and got the 67 from Cadishead.

Frodsham

Black-tailed godwits

The weather was set dry, if cloudy, so I had my first trip out to Frodsham of the year. The walk down from the station to the motorway bridge was uneventful, once over it I bumped into the first of the many singing warblers of the day: a sedge warbler and a whitethroat competing for air time in the field on the corner of Moorditch Lane. I walked down Moorditch Lane towards No.6 Lagoon. At the fork in the road another sedge warbler flew into a hawthorn bush and I spent a few minutes unsuccessfully trying to see a Cetti's warbler that was singing in nettles scarcely higher than my shin.

Tufted duck

I took the path up to No.6 Lagoon. The wind was strong enough to make the swoosh of wind turbines the dominant noise along the first hundred yards. Out on the salt marsh Canada geese, shelducks and mallards were dotted about, mostly in pairs, amongst the sheep and lambs. A few carrion crows and rooks fed on the field margins and quite a lot of jackdaws bounced around following the sheep but there was only a handful of ravens, this not being the season for easy pickings.

The water on the lagoon looked fairly deep at this end. A couple of dozen tufted ducks bobbed about on the waves. A few shelduck fed over on the Moorditch Lane side. Over on the shallow end a couple of groups of black-tailed godwits fed and preened at the water's edge. A flock of about thirty sand martins wheeled about, joined by single figures of swallows and swifts.

Black-tailed godwits

Walking down the path I added more whitethroats, sedge warblers and a blackcap to the warbler tally, plus two more Cetti's warblers singing invisibly in nettles in the ditch.

As the bank got lower it became possible to get better views of the godwits. They were showing the full range of plumages from Winter grey and white through various shades of gold and rusty brown to full-blown bright brick red. A couple of pairs of gadwall dabbled beside them and a pair of avocets flew in briefly.

Marsh harrier

A murmur of disapproval rippled through the godwits as a marsh harrier rose from the reeds but it flew away from them so they stayed as they were. The harrier spent a couple of minutes hunting over the reeds before floating off to try its luck on the salt marsh.

Black-tailed godwits

There were fifty-odd godwits on the pool at the corner of the path further on, in the company of a couple of pairs of shelduck, a lapwing and a ringed plover. A sparrowhawk flew over and they all studiously ignored it.

Pathside verge: marsh thistles, oilseed rape, butterbur and teasel

Turning the corner I heard the first and only reed warbler of the day — there must be loads of them in all those acres of reeds down in the lagoon pretty much out of earshot. The fourth and last Cetti's warbler of the day was singing from a clump of thistles and sedges in a ditch near the wind turbines.

Looking over No.6 Lagoon

Dropping down onto Lordship Lane I walked down to Holpool Gutter. There were a couple of pairs of lapwings in the newly-ploughed fields and a flock of black-headed gulls loafed in the pools of one that had flooded. A few linnets and a lot of goldfinches flittered about the hedgerows and a couple of chiffchaffs sang in the bigger hawthorns.

Holpool Gutter

Looking down towards the river from Holpool Gutter I could see a couple of little egrets feeding on the field beyond the works car park.

I now faced a choice: carry on walking down to Ince and get a bus back to Frodsham, turn round and walk back to Frodsham or take the side road down to Helsby and get the train home from there. I decided to walk to Helsby, I haven't done it before. As I walked down the lane the sun came out and a flock of house martins wheeled about the station as I arrived with five minutes to spare for the train.

High Rid

Black-headed gull

Another wet Autumnal morning promised to settle down a bit so it looked like an opportunity for a late afternoon walk. It was a toss-up between Hollingworth Lake, Watergrove or High Rid Reservoir. Then I saw a report of a female grey-headed wagtail at High Rid so I chose that. Of the yellow wagtail group I've only knowingly seen female yellow wagtails (flavissima) and I've never seen a grey-headed wagtail of any type so this would be a new one for me and something to learn from. And if I didn't get to see it High Rid's a nice hour's stroll.

Walking up Fall Birch Road to High Rid Reservoir

I decided to try and avoid Bolton so I got the train to Lostock Station and walked up to Chorley New Road and thence up to High Rid Reservoir. The weather was dry but cloudy, every so often the sun would come out and it would get quite warm. Walking up Rumworth Road I questioned the wisdom of wearing a body warmer, walking round the reservoir I was glad of it.

High Rid Reservoir

There was no sign of a twitch going on, just one runner and a chap with a telescope who seemed to be concentrating on the gulls and terms on the water. He told me the wagtail had skittered off an hour earlier so I concentrated on having a walk and a scout round.

A few mallards loafed on the banksides and a dozen tufties snoozed on the water. Fifty-odd black-headed gulls bobbed around on the waves, every so often rising up to join the handful of common terns picking insects off the water. Try as I may I couldn't turn the black-headed gulls into anything other than black-headed gulls or the terns into anything but common terns. There were also half a dozen lesser black-backs and a herring gull loafing on the water. There was a large flock — a hundred or more — black-headed gulls wheeling about over the moors and a few shuttled in between flocks, presumably carrying food for youngsters.

By High Rid Reservoir

All the while a few dozen sand martins hawked low over the water, joined by a few house martins and a dozen swallows which spent as much time over the mown grass as the water. The arrival of half a dozen swifts coincided with the arrival of some black rain clouds. By then I'd finished the circuit so I had one last scan of the field by the reservoir then called it quits and headed off for the bus to Wigan and thence home.

By High Rid Reservoir

I did manage to see some wagtails: there was a male grey wagtail on the roof of Deansgate Station on the way out, there was a couple of pairs of pied wagtails on the reservoir and there was a juvenile grey wagtail perched on a garage roof as my bus passed through Boothstown.

Leighton Moss

The weather forecast reckoned it was going to be less bad as you head North so I got an old man's explorer ticket and bobbed up to Leighton Moss.

Spadglings

Just as I was about to go out the first of this year's spadglings descended on the garden. It's always nice to see them.

Waiting for the train at Humphrey Park six of the local swifts made their first group appearance, coinciding with the start of the rain. Up till now it's been ones or twos round here. There were a dozen more at Trafford Park Station.

As the train approached Silverdale I could see there were plenty of black-headed gulls and shelducks on the coastal pools. There were also seven sleeping spoonbills opposite the Eric Morecambe Hide and a great white egret on the railway embankment.

Leighton Moss was busier than last time, understandably, but not uncomfortably so. It was a nice sunny day, too. I skipped the Sky Tower this time, that was too busy.

Leighton Moss

I walked down to the reedbed hides. Chiffchaffs sang near the visitor centre, willow warblers sang further out where the willows were sparser and mostly younger. I hadn't gone far when I bumped into a marsh tit and a treecreeper feeding on the same mossy tree branch, both of which were quite unconcerned about my standing ten feet away, both of which hid behind the branch every time the camera focussed on them. Four or five reed warblers were holding singing territories.

The first marsh harrier of the day floated high over the reedbeds carrying what looked like a large vole or small rat, then it flew back the way it came. I'd assumed it was carrying food for chicks but perhaps it was by way of being a packed lunch. The harrier was loosely escorted by black-headed gulls while a few dozen swifts weaved in between the bodies.

Tim Jackson Hide was open and quiet so I spent a while there. Fifty-odd black-headed gulls looked to be nesting in the far pool behind the bund, a couple of pairs of lapwings put on displays though it would seem a bit reckless for them to have any young so close to a gull colony. There were also half a dozen black-tailed godwits in various stages of mottled rusty. The near pools were quiet save a family of coot, a pair of gadwall and a few mallard.

Greylags

There were a couple of families of greylags on Griesdale Hide, together with a nesting mute swan and more coots and gadwall. Half a dozen drake shovelers wheeled round the pools before flying off towards the causeway, probably because they had nothing better to do.

The walk back down to Lilian's Hide was punctuated by more reed warblers, swifts and black-headed gulls. A family of coots fussed around in the ditch under the bridge while a water rail gave a full-bodied gut-wrenching squeal from the reeds nearby. Nearer the hide I was mugged by a couple of blue tits and a great tit but I didn't have any mealworms on me.

Black-headed gull

The black-headed gulls at Lilian's Hide had at least two dozen nests between them. There's too many for the rafts so there are nests scattered round the reed edges, which possibly explains why the mallards were camped out deep in the reeds. A pair of pochard emerged from the reeds at the far side but it didn't look like they had any ducklings with them. Similarly the raft of tufted ducks.

It was starting to get more busy so I called it quits. I'd had a couple of hours' wander and I wanted to quit while I was still enjoying it.

I got the Barrow train as far as Dalton — I wanted to have a look over the Kent and Leven estuaries and there's a ten-minute connection with the Manchester Airport train at Dalton.

There weren't many waders on the open mud on the Kent Estuary – most are away on their breeding quarters this time of year. A few oystercatchers and a couple of curlews were all I could see. A few more families of greylags peppered the marshes on the Grange side of the estuary. The marshes between Cark and the Leven Estuary were littered with little egrets, they'd been few and far between up to then. The flock of seventeen eiders loafing on the mud on the banks of the Leven brought the year list up to 150. On the way back, sitting on the other side of the train, there were another couple of dozen eiders upstream of the railway bridge. A little further on I noticed some goosanders on a pond on the approach to Cark.

Thence home, via Stoke on Trent to max out the value of my ticket.

Sunny Sunday

Pochard, Chorlton Water Park

It's been quiet in the garden: I know birds are out there because I can see the seeds going down in the feeders and every so often I'll see a few spadgers' heads poking out of the rose bushes.

I had a wander round the local patch while it wasn't raining. It felt quiet but there was actually quite a bit about. There were plenty of goldfinches about and the greenfinches showed well, too. It sounded like there's a family of blue tits in the oleasters by the old railway line. The blackcaps and chiffchaffs sang out loudly but there was neither sight nor sound of whitethroats until I'd almost finished my walk round when one flew into the thin bit of remnant bramble left behind when someone had fun with a strimmer. Ironically, there weren't any in the bramble patches that are usually the centre of whitethroat territories. Half a dozen swifts hawking low overhead were an antidote to the otherwise Autumnal feel of the day.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 5
• Blackcap 3
• Blue Tit 3
• Bullfinch 1
• Chaffinch 1
• Chiffchaff 2
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 8 overhead
• Goldfinch 16
• Great Tit 2
• Greenfinch 4
• Herring Gull 1 overhead
• House Sparrow 8
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
• Magpie 9
• Robin 3
• Swift 7
• Whitethroat 1
• Woodpigeon 4
• Wren 4

The weather was looking to be steady if uninspiring so I went over to Chorlton Water Park for a nosy round. The mute swans had half a dozen cygnets in tow but the Canada geese were still sitting on nests. The usual pochard was out in the open for a change. It turns out that the reason it hasn't moved on is a badly injured right wing. It doesn't seem to be stopping him getting by.

I had a short wander through Barlow Tip, which was surprisingly dry underfoot. Again, chiffchaffs and blackcaps sang out loud but the whitethroats were keeping a lot lower profile. A male churring from the middle of a gorse bush by the path was the boldest. Overhead the heavy weather seemed to be working in favour of a flock of swifts and a couple of pairs each of swallow and sand martin.

Juvenile grey wagtail, River Mersey by Chorlton Water Park

I walked along the river to Kenworthy Woods. A couple of swallows and thirty-odd swifts hawked low over the river. A pied wagtail flew sorties out into the middle of the water and plucked insects off the surface while a grey wagtail was content to do its fly-catching close to the bank where its youngster was waiting to be fed.

Kenworthy Woods

It started raining when I got to Kenworthy Woods, which seemed to be the signal for all the blackbirds and song thrushes to have a singing contest. Even the parakeets were drowned out.

I could see why they need this sign asking people to leave the dead wood where it's lying: some parts of the wood look like Iron Age reenactment villages.

One of them days

When I got up I was full of intentions to take advantage of a day's break in the rain to perhaps visit Frodsham for the first time this year or maybe have a walk round the outside of Martin Mere or something.

On the busy train into Manchester I decided I didn't really fancy travelling far or having a long walk and seriously considered going back home. So I decided I'd do the short trip out to Audenshaw Reservoir to see if I could find out how the people I keep seeing walking their dogs round the perimeter get in and if I could find the red-rumped swallow that's been hanging round there.

I didn't, and didn't.

• Black-headed Gull 1
• Blackbird 5
• Carrion Crow 5
• Collared Dove 3
• Dunnock 1
• Feral Pigeon 14
• Goldfinch 12
• House Martin 1
• House Sparrow 20
• Jackdaw 2
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 11
• Magpie 1
• Mistle Thrush 1
• Starling 12
• Swallow 60+
• Swift 200+
• Woodpigeon 11

Stretford

Juvenile long-tailed tit

It was a nice day so after running a few errands I went for an afternoon stroll around Stretford Meadows.

Blackcaps, chiffchaffs and wrens sang in the trees at the Newcroft Road end of the meadows but we're fiendishly difficult to spot. We seem to be early into the season where the foliage completely obscures the bird life. Even the woodpigeons played vanishing tricks.

Out in the open meadow half a dozen each of magpies and jackdaws weren't sure if they were feeding cooperatively or having a gang fight, ofttimes both simultaneously. Ignoring them completely were five singing whitethroats.

Stretford Meadows

There's been a lot of tree-planting in the areas that have been cleared of brambles. Looks like a mixture of maple and beech, all in unnaturally serried ranks. I'd intended skirting the lower slopes of the main mound in the hopes of hearing a lesser whitethroat in one of the remaining bramble patches but a combination of new tree plantations and extremely muddy paths along this stretch meant I ended up walking around the periphery of the meadows and down through the woods to where Kickety Brook runs past the recycling centre. Which is no bad thing but hard work when all the small birds are seen but fleetingly as they skitter about in the dense foliage.

Some birds are better at dissolving into the background than others

Bullfinch

Walking down to Stretford Ees I found two long-tailed tit families foraging in the willows along Kickety Brook. I could also hear young great spotted woodpeckers calling but only managed a brief sighting of one of the adults.

Juvenile long-tailed tit

Stretford Ees was quiet, save a couple of goldfinches and a singing reed bunting that took exception to a passing Jack Russell terrier. I wandered on through Turn Moss and got the bus home for the next errand on today's list.

Mosses

Channel wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

The weather was set fair for the day so I decided to go for the walk across the Salford mosses I've been putting off while rain's been stopping play. And a jolly lucky decision that turned out to be.

Grey partridge, Irlam Moss

Things bode well when a grey partridge posed nicely for the camera as I was walking down Astley Road from the station. I took a couple of photos then it noticed me and sank slowly into the barley as if it was on a descending platform until I could only see the top of its crown.

There were plenty of whitethroats and blackcaps singing in the hedgerows down Astley Road but it wasn't until I was almost at Four Lanes End before I heard the first chiffchaffs of the day. Virtually every field had a small flock of starling feeding hungry young mouths. Swallows hawked low over the fields of turf, joined by a pair of house martins over the field by the motorway.

Hobby, Little Woolden Moss

Hobby, Little Woolden Moss

My arrival at Little Woolden Moss was heralded by whitethroats and willow warblers and I hadn't gone far down the path when a hobby flew in, wheeled round and flew off southbound, much to the dismay of a few swifts that immediately flew up into the clouds.

There was a work party on the bunds at the Astley Road end of the reserve so most of the waders were more heard than seen: a pair of redshanks, one or two oystercatchers and at least one curlew were out there. The lapwings made themselves very conspicuous, particularly when they were chasing off carrion crows. As I looked out from the site of the old hide a very fine looking male yellow wagtail landed on one of the distant bunds.

Hares tail grass, Little Woolden Moss

The hares tail grasses have gone to seed and are looking almost more like cotton grass than real cotton grass does. A broad-bodied chaser was my first dragonfly of the year. A few females patrolled the paths while a couple of males covered the open water. It took me a while to recognise them, every Spring's a back to school day for me with dragonflies. A few large red damselflies skittered about the small birches by the path, all females I think as they ranged from nearly black to dark dull red and not a bright red one amongst them.

I walked round and took the path heading towards Glazebury. The field by the reserve held a couple of pairs of lapwings, a small flock of linnets and a single singing skylark. I walked down the path across the field, got to the end, turned to walk parallel to the poly tunnels and literally stared a Channel wagtail in the face.

Channel wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

Channel wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

I said a bad word, unearthed my camera and took a few photos while the wagtail obligingly posed. It was so close I had to switch off autofocus and hope my eyesight was good enough to go. Channel wagtails are hybrid blue-headed x yellow wagtails. The head is lavender grey rather than slate blue like the blue-headed wagtail and the chin and throat is white while both its parents had fully yellow throats. In this bird the white's limited to the chin and upper throat so in some poses it was easy to miss.

We bid our adieus and I walked on down to Moss Lane. There were a few pied wagtails, a pair of oystercatchers and a small flock of house sparrows on the turf field next to the poly tunnels. More spadgers made a racket on the bird feeders by one of the farmhouses. The only birds on Glaze Brook were a pair of tufted ducks.

I got the bus from Glazebury, off home via Warrington and Altrincham on a day rover ticket for a change.

Dove Stone

By Binn Green car park

It had been raining stair rods all morning and I was getting bored with it so I checked the Met Office app to see if anywhere locally was any better. It was all much the same though with a promise that it would get better by teatime.

So it was that I got the mid-afternoon train into town and went out to Greenfield with a view to seeing if I could find the wood warbler that's set up a singing territory in the car park above Dove Stone Reservoir.

Dove Stone Reservoir and the Chew Valley 

By the time I stepped out of Greenfield Station the weather had calmed down and though there were plenty of dark clouds around none of them looked particularly threatening. I walked down to Holmfirth Road but instead of turning off onto Bank Lane to go down to the reservoir I carried on up the road. I haven't done this before, I wish I had as the views are splendid.

At the bottom of Holmfirth Road there were plenty of song thrushes and great tits singing in the trees. Further up, as the the trees thinned out on the steep slopes grazed by sheep these were replaced by mistle thrushes and coal tits. Blackbirds, robins and especially jackdaws were constant companions. 

Dove Stone Reservoir

The trees thickened up again and chiffchaffs and willow warblers tried to make themselves heard over a singing mistle thrush. It was interesting to watch a nuthatch demonstrating that fossicking about for food works the same way on a moss-covered wall as on a moss-covered tree trunk. (And frustrating because it wouldn't stay still for a photo.)

There's a small conifer wood by the approach to Binn Green car park, and the entry into the Peak District National Park and this is where the wood warbler had been reported. I hadn't realised I'd reached my destination until I heard it singing as I was scanning the trees following a small bird that turned out to be a coal tit. There was about five seconds of song from somewhere in the middle of the wood. At this point I was identifying it by a process of elimination rather than anything more positive, I don't bump into wood warblers often and when I do they're usually quietly feeding up on passage. The bird moved on, the next song was further away, so I carried on to the car park and had a look round from up there.

Looking towards Greenfield Reservoir

There were plenty of chaffinches about and almost as many pheasants as lambs in the field. A few blue tits and coal tits quietly foraged in the trees and a willow warbler sang from somewhere halfway up the steps down to the lane below. I found a seat and did a search on my phone to confirm that what I'd been hearing was a wood warbler. 

I decided that rather than traipsing round the wood trying to find the bird I'd be better off staying put, keeping my ears open and try to track it down by sound. It didn't take many minutes for me to be joined by a singing chaffinch and a couple more willow warblers started singing in the tree canopy. After about five minutes I heard the wood warbler singing again, this time from somewhere near the top of the steps. Could I find it? No I could not. I kept still in the hopes that it might come closer or that I might see it flitting about but no such luck: a few minutes later it was singing from down near the lane. I lingered awhile, then had a bit of a wander but didn't hear it again.

Yeoman Hay Reservoir

I started walking back down Holmfirth Road, pausing only to stop and listen to the wood warbler singing from where I'd been ten minutes earlier. I looked at the weather and looked at the time and decided I wasn't for spending any more time playing peep-oh! with the bird today. 

The reservoir had been barren of birds on the way up, on the way down I noticed a couple of Canada geese and two drake mallards on the margins and an oystercatcher flew across the water.

The mistle thrushes in the field dropping down to Bank Lane included a couple of well-grown spotty youngsters. A nuthatch foraging in the trees at the junction with Bank Lane obviously had mouths to feed.

Rather than getting the train back I walked down to The Clarence and got the 350 bus to Ashton and thence home. I'd had a good couple of hours' easy toddling about in nice scenery in fair weather. The drake mandarin duck I spotted on the canal as we went through Mossley was a bonus.

Across the Mersey

Buzzard, Carrington Moss

I needed a walk today so I decided to go through Cow Kiln Wood and on towards Carrington.

Cob Kiln Wood

Cow Kiln Wood was noisy with birds, mostly chiffchaffs, whitethroats, wrens and song thrushes. Great tits and blue tits moved quietly through the hedgerows and robins skittered round the paths. I could hear a stock dove singing near the usual field of horses but I was damned if I could see it. A pair of jays were unusually quiet; I recognised one that shadowed me from the paddocks to the electricity pylons by the gap in one of its wings where it had lost a couple of primary feathers.

Banky Lane

I crossed the river onto Banky Lane. More of the same woodland birds, though with a higher proportion of chiffchaffs and goldfinches. The wet woodland behind the fence looked drier than usual, despite last week's rain. A moorhen was the only water bird to be seen on here (ironically, a pair of mallard were feeding noisily in the field on the opposite side of the path).

I crossed Carrington Lane and took the path  fringing the margin of Carrington Moss and leading to Isherwood Road. The section of path going through the trees was quiet of anything that wasn't a blackcap or a wren. 

Yellowhammer, Carrington Moss

Yellowhammers, Carrington Moss

Yellowhammers and goldfinch, Carrington Moss

Out over the fields a sedge warbler sang from the ditch and goldfinches and yellowhammers pulled dandelion clocks to pieces on the path. It was good to see a young yellowhammer amongst the flock. There were only a couple of skylarks singing and no meadow pipits at all. A pair of buzzards soared around each other over the trees by the riding school. It wasn't until I'd got to the hedges by the rugby pitch that the first swallows appeared, feeding low over the fields. The wind picked up and the clouds darkened and the swallows were joined by a couple of house martins and a flock of sand martins that seemed as intent on chasing each other as any flying insects. 

Carrington Moss

I looked again at the weather that was blowing in and took the hint. Instead of carrying on through Carrington Moss I walked up into Carrington and got the buses home.