Mosses

Little Woolden Moss 

It was more than high time I had the first visit to Little Woolden Moss of the year. I decided on a late afternoon stroll, there wouldn't be much of a day shift this time of year and there's always the possibility of bumping into an owl in the twilight (I haven't yet but keep seeing reports of them so it's worth a go).

I got the train into Irlam, picked up a 67 into the Glaze Estate in Cadishead, nipped over the bridge and walked up to Little Woolden Moss from Glazebrook. It was a grey, mizzly afternoon that kept threatening to pour down but never got round to it. It had also become surprisingly mild and I felt distinctly overdressed. The gardens and hedgerows of Glazebrook were busy with spadgers, dunnocks, blackbirds and robins, collared doves and woodpigeons were liberally scattered about the rooftops and a couple of big trees were thick with goldfinches and greenfinches.

As I got to the road to Little Woolden Hall I looked down Holcroft Lane to see if any birds were in the field of sheep. A few carrion crows were obvious enough but it took me a while to realise the dark tufts of "grass" bobbing up and down on the crests of the drumlins were feeding lapwings.

Little Woolden Moss
The grazing and river North of the hall 

I walked down the road past the hall and into Little Woolden Moss nature reserve. Half a dozen Canada geese grazed on the Cheshire side of the Glaze while teal, mallards and a pair of goosanders floated upstream. It was a bit late in the afternoon so any skylarks or meadow pipits would have settled down for the night. Small flocks of fieldfares, stock doves and woodpigeons had one last fly round before settling down to roost in the copse upstream of the hall. A flock of twenty-odd long-tailed tits bounced around in the trees by Little Woolden Hall before joining a few starlings as they flew off to roost in the wood on Great Woolden Moss.

Little Woolden Moss 

At first sight there was nothing about on the nature reserve. The pools were conspicuously empty. I noticed a few birds flying over the moss on the inaccessible North side: a couple of crows heading off to join the pigeons and a pair of female/immature marsh harriers, all dark with glowing golden crowns, flying in to roost in a distant bare tree. 

Turkey tail fungus 

Little Woolden Moss 

It was thin birdwatching, the day shift had largely settled down to roost and the night shift hadn't really kicked in. Robins, blackbirds and carrion crows sang in the trees and great tits and wrens let me know I was unwelcome as I passed by. I scanned the open ground for any signs of movement but it wasn't my day for short-eared owls. They'd probably heard I was coming and stayed away.

I decided to walk into Irlam via Twelve Yards Road rather than Astley Road. It feels like a shorter walk even though it's actually slightly longer and if I was going to end a walk in twilight I'd better fancy my chances on Cutnook Lane than the bottom of Astley Road. Song thrushes, robins and blackbirds sang while great tits, blue tits and greenfinches called from the trees at Four Lanes End. A kestrel sat on the telephone wires of the farmhouse.

Twelve Yards Road 

Further along I surprised a female sparrowhawk which shot out of the drain and disappeared down the road. I don't know what it had caught but there was a lot of long straw sticking out from its claws. Robins, wrens and blue tits fidgeted around in the drains and hedges beside the road. The surprise of the day was a willow tit in the thick hedgerow by the field with the kestrel nest boxes. 

I had no more luck finding owls on Chat Moss than I had on l had on Little Woolden Moss. I walked down Cutnook Lane accompanied by the calls of blackbirds in the trees and the gentle quacking of mallards dozing on the fishery.

Cutnook Lane