Mosses

Yellow wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

The plan was to have a lazy day today and catch up with some writing, which isn't a good idea because I find I struggle with creative writing in daytime and by mid-afternoon I was less forwarder than I had been at lunchtime. So I decided to go for a walk and seeing as the Irlam train was due soon I could go to Irlam, pick up the 67 bus to Cadishead, nip over the bridge and walk through Glazebrook to Little Woolden Moss. That was the plan.

The bad news was that the train was quarter of an hour late. The good news was that it was stopping at all stations due to an earlier cancellation so I got off at Glazebrook and saved myself a bus journey and half a mile's walk.

Glazebrook 

It was a bright, sunny day and even though I was slavered in factor thingy I was glad I was walking with my back to the sun (and yes, I sun-block the bald patch). House martins and swallows hawked high above the houses and the collared doves were too sleepy to coo. A buzzard drifted up from the fields and circled over Cadishead Moss. There were at least half a dozen house martin nests on the houses at the corner of Woolden Road.

Oystercatcher, Little Woolden Hall

Holcroft Lane passed over the motorway and Little Woolden Hall came into view. Oystercatchers and lapwings fed in the fields with the sheep and weren't much fussed when I crossed over to walk down the lane to Little Woolden Moss.

Little Woolden Hall

Sand martins, swifts and a couple of swallows hawked over the Glaze. A couple of pied wagtails fly-catched from the bridge and some youngsters fidgeted on the exposed mud banks further downstream. The mallard ducklings are half-grown, it didn't look like either the tufted ducks or Canada geese had young. Banded demoiselles fluttered over the banksides giving the whole scene a picture book air.

There were more swallows to-ing and fro-ing about the old stables by the hall.

Yellow wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

The only yellow wagtails of the day were in the barley fields by the nature reserve but they were very showy.

Yellow wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

Yellow wagtail, Little Woolden Moss

There were a dozen lapwings and a couple of pairs of oystercatchers on the pool by the entrance to the reserve. Way beyond a kestrel was hovering over a field. The willows and birches planted along the path hide the rest of the pools but provide singing posts for willow warblers, linnets and reed buntings. Skylarks sang overhead and meadow pipits performed their parachute song displays. A hobby shot by just over my head and disappeared over the pools behind the willow scrub. It's not often they come in that low, I wonder if it had a particular prize in sight. Lapwings and oystercatchers were keeping busy chasing off carrion crows.

Willow warbler, Little Woolden Moss

I hadn't expected to see many butterflies this time of day, perhaps a few large whites and speckled woods, so I was surprised to see a couple of large heath butterflies dash by over the bracken. I was glad to bump into some meadow browns further down the path to confirm I hadn't misidentified them (the large heaths have lots more "eyes").

I'm glad I'm not a botanist, the bramble complex would drive me demented.
This variety with the open star-shaped flowers I only see on Chat Moss and Little Woolden Moss.

Most brambles have five or six petals. Not this one.

Wrens, robins and yet more willow warblers sang from the thin ribbon of trees alongside the reserve. Another kestrel hovered overhead, occasionally darting down to assay a strike on the field margins. A flock of a couple of dozen swifts arrived and spent the rest of my visit hawking at tree height around the reserve. I quickly gave up trying to get a decent photo of one.

Little Woolden Moss 

Out on the pools on the Eastern side of the reserve a few dozen lapwings and three pairs of oystercatchers dozed in the late afternoon sun. A redshank was fussier, I couldn't see its partner nor any youngsters about. Pied wagtails and meadow pipits foraged on the bunds and linnets and reed buntings kept busy in the heaths and cotton grasses. A few four-spotted chasers whizzed over the pools.

I followed the path round and onto Mosslands Farm where lapwings, skylarks, woodpigeons and pied wagtails browsed the fields and I had no luck finding any more yellow wagtails. A hare and some chickens sat at a field edge watching me go by.

Moss Road 

I walked down Moss Road where blackcaps and chiffchaffs sang in the trees and whitethroats sang in the fields. Curlews called from the fields behind the bungalow.

A couple of mallards drifted down the Glaze as I crossed over. I made it to the bus stop at Fowley Common Road with five minutes to spare for the 28E bus into Warrington. By pure luck I noticed that this one does a detour into Birchwood and gives me ten minutes to connect with the stopping train home.

As I was sitting at Birchwood Station a blackbird, a goldfinch, a wren and a whitethroat were trying to sing over the Muzak.

By Little Woolden Hall