Mosses

Kestrel, Cadishead Moss

It was a grey and dismal day but not actually raining. I'd finally fallen asleep about an hour after the dawn chorus kicked in (a blackbird, a robin and two passing black-headed gulls) so I didn't feel like going too far abroad so I got some lunch then got the train to Irlam for a walk round the mosses.

Walking down Astley Road robins sang in the trees and the hedgerows of Zinnia Drive were bouncing with hidden and very noisy house sparrows. Passing onto Irlam Moss the robins in the hedgerows were joined by singing goldfinches, greenfinches, great tits and wrens and a song thrush was belting out its song from a tree over by Roscoe Road. A flock of a couple of dozen redwings flew over from over there, settled in the treetops for a minute then flew over towards Moss Road. I tried to take a photo but the viewing screen was blank. I spent a panicky couple of minutes trying to work out which button I'd accidentally pressed then took the lens cap off. I had more luck with the photo of the chiffchaff feeding in a hawthorn with a couple of blue tits, which is to say that I got a decent picture of the twigs it had been sitting on. Even the long-tailed tits were being camera shy despite coming within arm's distance as they foraged by the roadside.

Irlam Moss
Roscoe Road on the left, Astley Road on the right

I'd been hearing the tweeting of skylarks and one started singing as I passed the Jack Russell's gate. A female kestrel hovered over Roscoe Road before moving on. There were lots of birds over on the far side of the field by Prospect Grange. The woodpigeons were obvious enough, ditto the pheasant strutting about, the mixed flock of fieldfares and redwings blended surprisingly with the dark earth. There were also a lot of smaller birds I couldn't identify with a handful of goldfinches, which I only identified by the flash of yellow as they jumped over furrow ridges.

Mallards, Chat Moss

I crossed the motorway and headed towards Four Lanes End. The turf fields by the motorway looked bare save for the molehills by the side until I spotted a pair of mallards sat plumb in the middle. A sparrowhawk flew by, turned and left the way it came, pursued by mobbing pied wagtails.

Watching the birds flitting about in these birch trees in the breeze was oddly hypnotic 

The hedgerows were busy with pairs of titmice and wrens, singing robins and song thrushes and foraging blackbirds. Greenfinches and goldfinches squeaked and twittered in the treetops as long-tailed tits and blue tits bounced by. There were only a few pied wagtails on the turf fields and just the one mistle thrush. Over in the distance towards Moss Road lapwings danced over the fields and a pair of oystercatchers called as they flew by the roadside. A male kestrel disturbed a big flock of woodpigeons and stock doves over the far end of the turf fields, there were plenty more woodpigeons with the jackdaws, carrion crows and magpies by the stables. The usual moorhens by the ponds were nowhere to be seen or heard, a Canada goose glared at me as I passed.

At Four Lanes End I turned and headed towards Little Woolden Moss. I scanned the rough fields recently bought by English Nature. Skylarks sang, a few magpies rummaged about, the male kestrel flew in and sat on a telephone line. A couple of pheasants strutted about and a male grey partridge emerged from the long grass to watch them on their way before dissolving back into cover. I'll soon be looking for wheatears and yellow wagtails here so I got some practice in with the skylarks and hoped to do better when the time came.

Little Woolden Moss 

The scrub at the entrance to Little Woolden Moss was busy with robins, wrens, blackbirds and long-tailed tits. The open country and pools were quieter, a couple of wrens and robins singing and a reed bunting calling somewhere in the cotton grass.

Oystercatchers, Little Woolden Moss 

The usual family group of carrion crows rummaged by the poolside. Mallards cruised about, the Canada geese were only necks occasionally craned over the long grass on the far side. A pair of oystercatchers slept on one of the bunds, another pair flew in and their calls woke them up, prompting shouts of protest. A redshank called from somewhere but I couldn't find it. A buzzard sat in a birch tree and silently moved on as I passed by.

Little Woolden Moss 

Polytrichum moss

I decided to head for Moss Road and walk back to Irlam via Cadishead. Chaffinches and blackbirds sang in the birch scrub by the path. There were more of them along Moss Road, together with flocks of goldfinches and greenfinches. A recently-stripped turf field was littered with fieldfares and starlings. A kestrel sat on a pole near the roadside, a buzzard on the fence over on the far side.  Further along, pied wagtails and goldfinches bounced around and a flock of rooks and carrion crows worked over a field of pasture.

New Moss Wood

I had half an hour's wander round New Moss Wood as the light faded and the rain began to fall. Wrens, robins and a song thrush almost drowned out the songs of dunnocks and great tits. A buzzard flew low over the rides, calling awhile. 

There was more birdsong as I walked through the allotments into Irlam, chaffinches joining the others and woodpigeons adding to the ensemble at Irlam Station as I waited for the train. I'd done another of those I don't feel like doing muches that turn out to involve being out for three and a half hours doing a five mile walk and my knees were feeling the damp weather. It won't be long before I'll be complaining about hay fever and the heat.