Mosses

Skylark mobbing a kestrel, Mosslands Farm

The feeders had been filled up, the wind had died down considerably and the birds were still hiding in the garden. I know they're around, the bird food's being scoffed, they're just being cagey about emerging from the bushes. Over on the school playing field a couple of common gulls and a few herring gulls joined the three dozen black-headed gulls.

It had been a sunny morning and boded to be more of the same so I had an afternoon wander around the Salford Mosses.

Astley Road

I took a singing goldcrest in the conifers by Irlam Station to be a good omen. As it happened, Irlam was fairly quiet again and I was a couple of hundred yards down Astley Road before I bumped into the first mixed tit flock and that was blue tits, chaffinches and robins. There were no flocks of woodpigeons or pigeons on the fields. The weather was a bit odd: everywhere I looked it was bright and sunny and there were but a few clouds on the horizon but Astley Road itself was in shade due to one big black cloud that covered the sun most of the way down.

First-Winter kestrel, Irlam Moss

The first of many kestrels I'd be seeing today was a youngster sitting a hawthorn near to the Jack Russell's gate. (The Jack Russell made sure I moved on down the road.) The hedgerows further on were full of blackbirds and chaffinches feeding on hawthorn berries. The usual adult pair of kestrels were hunting in the fields either side of the road.

Male kestrel, Irlam Moss

A couple of mistle thrushes were chasing each other in the trees at the junction with Roscoe Road. I stopped to watch them and found more thrushes in the canopy: a couple more mistle thrushes and a couple of redwings. A big van drove down Roscoe Road, flushing these and another four mistle thrushes out of the trees and off over the fields. A couple of song thrushes stayed behind. I suspect the local crowds of thrushes are being supplemented by Winter visitors.

Astley Road

Over the motorway and down to Four Lanes End was even quieter though there was a flock of pied wagtails feeding on one of the turf fields that had been flooded. I was checking them out when we got ten minutes of heavy rain. Once that had been and gone and done the wind picked up, moved the cloud quickly on and it became a very pleasant Autumn afternoon.

Over-mature female common darter, Four Lanes End

Ruddy darter, Four Lanes End

At Four Lanes End I turned and walked down to Little Woolden Moss, tiptoeing past dragonflies along the way as they basked in the sunshine on the path. Most were ruddy darters but there were a few common darters in the mix to stop me getting cocky about identifying them.

Little Woolden Moss

A mixed tit flock, a couple of robins and a small flock of linnets were busy in the trees at the entrance to Little Woolden Moss. Any hopes this was a portent of a bumper bird bonanza on the reserve were misplaced: the usual family of crows were knocking about and a meadow pipit flew overhead. The only wader of the day was a snipe I accidentally flushed that had been feeding in the hares-tail grasses by the path.

Toadstool, Little Woolden Moss
These were abundant by the path on the stretches where the peat had been top-dressed with wood chippings.

Some of the brambles are colouring spectacularly

On the other hand there were lots of dragonflies, mostly ruddy darters and common darters, with a few black darters. Some of the common darters looked very small and a couple of times I wondered if I was finally going to see a white-faced darter but they were very out of season and all common darters. Something to look forward to next year.

I'd decided to take the path through Mosslands Farm to Moss Lane and then get the bus home from Fowley Common. There was a flock of eighteen carrion crows (I double-checked to make sure they weren't rooks) feeding on the far side of the field of barley stubble but otherwise it all looked very quiet.

Which just goes to show how wrong you can be.

There's a covey of partridges in there somewhere

I'd got as far as the bit where the path turns at right angles and runs along the ridge between the stubble field and a field of earthed-up potatoes when a covey of grey partridges rose up from the dead thistles on the margin and disappeared into the deep furrows. The last I saw of them were half a dozen sandy grey shapes plummeting into the shadows, their orange outer tail feathers shining in the sunlight. Try as I might I couldn't find them again. The furrows were a good couple of feet deep and partridges know how to use them for cover.

Kestrel Mosslands Farm

I carried on walking down when there was a sudden commotion over near the crows and a lot of skylark alarm calls. A dark, brown shape shot low across the field margin, scattering a cloud of skylarks, meadow pipits, linnets and starlings. A small falcon landed on the "public footpath" sign at the edge of the field. And turned out to be a kestrel doing a very good impersonation of a merlin. Just to make sure I knew it was a kestrel it flew over my head and hovered over the stubble field. Most of the small birds had settled back down to feed but the skylarks were still very angry and persisted in mobbing the kestrel and putting it off its hover.

I don't know which toadstool this is. There were plenty of them in the grass by the potato field on Mosslands Farm. The translucent caps seemed to be sticky. Altogether a bit sinister.

I turned at the signpost and followed the path down towards the farmhouses. I was still a bit puzzled by what I'd seen. I know merlins can hover given a stiff breeze, it was a windy day, was I really sure that was a kestrel when it looked classic merlin when it flew in. The kestrel did me a favour by flying over and sitting on one of the tractor sheds so I could get a better look at it.

Kestrel, Mosslands Farm

The hedges by the farmhouses were full of spadgers getting ready to roost and blackbirds and mistle thrushes guzzling hawthorn berries.

Linnets, Moss Road

Linnets, Moss Road

As I joined Moss Lane a large flock of linnets flew in and perched on the telegraph lines.

Glaze Brook was in full spate after the rains of the past few days so there was no chance of any wagtails or kingfishers. A flock of redwings was feeding on the hawthorns along the bank a way upstream.

A nice autumnal walk with plenty to keep me on my toes.

Moss Lane

Moss Lane