Mosses

Lapwing, Little Woolden Moss

It being a Saturday and the weather being good I went for a wander on the Salford mosses. I got the train to Irlam and wandered down Astley Road. As usual there were lots of spadgers in the garden hedgerows and the goldfinches were very vocal. Orange tip butterflies and large whites brought confirmation it was Spring.

Leaving town the hedgerows were full of goldfinches and greenfinches. The great tits, blue tits and chaffinches were very self-effacing and must already have mouths to feed  No sign of the usual kestrels or buzzards today, nor yet any of the yellowhammers. There weren't even many woodpigeons on the fields though there were more than plenty of pheasants.

Irlam Moss

Crossing over the motorway and down to Four Lanes End there were a couple of singing blackcaps in the hedgerows before the lawn turf fields. A song thrush and I stepped off the road to allow a procession of cars and cyclists to pass by (the state of the road along this stretch I try to give them the space to avoid the worst of it). Once they'd passed the thrush took its huge beakful of worms into the depths of the bushes on the other side.

Just the one swallow and one pied wagtail on the turf fields, early days yet.

Forget-me-nots and alkanet, Four Lanes End

As usual it wasn't until I got to the stables approaching Four Lanes End that I heard the first chiffchaff of the walk. There are just as many trees and thick hedges by the Jack Russell's gate but no chiffchaffs, I think it must be the horses that make the difference here. I finally saw a kestrel — a female — as I was walking down to Little Woolden Moss.

Brimstone, Little Woolden Moss

The willow warblers have landed at Little Woolden Moss. There were a dozen singing males fighting it out with each other just in the bit of birch scrub by the car park. Brimstones and orange tips fluttered about the undergrowth and a wren had to shout to make itself heard over the warblers.

Little Woolden Moss

It was one of the busy days for birds on the pools today. Lapwings were mostly busy with display flights and chasing carrion crows. Half a dozen redshanks were busy making a racket and a pair of oystercatchers were busy being surprisingly inconspicuous on the exposed peat. Most of the small birds around the pools were meadow pipits and pied wagtails with a couple of linnets and my first reed warbler of the year. Pairs of Canada geese and mallards and a pair of gadwall swam about the open water.

Little Woolden Moss

Willow warblers sang in the birch scrub the full length of the path. There were dozens of them. I can't imagine they'll all be holding successful nesting territories here but it's heartening to hear so many, the past couple of years seemed to have been a bit thin of them.

Skylark, Little Woolden Moss

I walked on down past Little Woolden Hall, the fields busy with lapwings, skylarks and linnets. A flock of half a dozen sand martins flew in and about my head as I was crossing Glaze Brook and I spent a few minutes failing to get any photos of them. The first and only buzzard of the day was hunting low over the field by the motorway.

And then down into Glazebrook for the train home. Glazebrook always seems to have more than its fair share of collared doves. The train times meant I had to get a train out to Birchwood to connect with the train that would get me back home. The skylarks in the field next to Birchwood Station provided the background music for my wait.