Mosses

Cutnook Lane 

I'd set my alarm early for to go for an adventure but my knees were still feeling the effects of yesterday's mudlarking so I decided to have an hour's kip instead. (It's the sheer and rotation stresses when part of the foot slips sideways that causes the problems.) As it was I didn't miss anything as the target had flown by dawn.

Lostock Park 

It was a mild and cloudy, fitfully sunny, day which I didn't want to waste so after a rather bleak wander round the local patch I headed for the Trafford Centre to head further afield. Had it not been for the eight blackbirds — most of them first-Winter males — having the last of the berries in the bushes by the engineering workshop there'd have been fewer birds than I had in my back garden.

I wasn't after much of a walk, just a toddle round a country park or something to get a bit of gentle exercise. Anyway, the first bus that came along was the 100 heading for Irlam so I had a walk on the Salford Mosses.

Cutnook Lane 

The winds of the past few days had blown a lot of the leaves of the trees so the noise of the motorway was an issue as I walked down Cutnook Lane. I could hardly hear the contact calls of the long-tailed tits and great tits in the bushes along the drain and I nearly missed the couple of goldfinches flying overhead. Over in the paddocks a couple of dozen pied wagtails were flitting about amongst the magpies. Oddly the turf field on the other side of the road was completely empty. A kestrel hovered far over the field of rough beyond the fishery. 

Twelve Yards Road 

On a whim I turned right onto Twelve Yards Road and headed for Barton Moss. This stretch of the road is lined with trees which makes it tricky to see into the fields at times. Although it was only mid-afternoon there was a feeling that everything had long since gone to bed: aside from the scolds of wrens as I passed by there wasn't a peep from any small birds. There was plenty of noise from the buzzard which landed in the trees by Cutnook Lane.

I scanned the wet field to the North and found only a couple of magpies. The field of rough to the South was scarcely more productive. A small tilled field just beyond had half a dozen carrion crows foraging on it. A covey of about a dozen grey partridges scurried across one corner and disappeared into the rough.

Along Twelve Yards Road 

Passing Barton Moss Cottage a few more crows and magpies rummaged about in the fields as the wind got up and blew heavy clouds in. A few chaffinches flew overhead. It was positively gloomy as I passed by Black Wood and the small mixed tit flock in the canopy was just a medley of dancing silhouettes. The long-tailed tits were easy enough to identify, I had to go by their contact calls to be sure of the blue tits and great tits at that distance.

Beyond Black Wood it's open rough grazing on both sides of the road. The field by the motorway just had a couple of crows on it. On the other side of the road a few sheep had started making inroads on the rough while the rest of the flock fed on the soft grass near the railway. More chaffinches passed low overhead and lesser black-backs flew to their roost somewhere along the Mersey. One of the sheep disturbed a couple of pheasants and their noisy flight in turn disturbed a pair of stonechats which flew off into the rank vegetation by the field drain next to the wood.

Barton Moss 

It started raining as I approached the motorway bridge and it was a steady downpour as I walked down Barton Moss Road. Collared doves and blackbirds kept to the cover of the hawthorns by the road and I couldn't blame them.

I didn't have long to wait for the next bus, a 67 which took me into Barton. The rain had stopped when I got off and walked down to the bus stop by the canal and headed off home in the twilight.