Mosses

Short-eared owl 

I felt unconscionably tired and would have idled the day half-reading a book but decided that after all the miserable weather lately I should take advantage of a decent afternoon. I got the mid-afternoon train into Irlam and went for a walk on the mosses to blow away the cobwebs.

Pheasant, Irlam Moss 

The Zinnia Drive house sparrows were numerous and active in the privet hedges. Walking down Astley Road the trees and hedgerows were busy with goldfinches, greenfinches and blue tits; robins, chiffchaffs and blackcaps sang and I lost count of the number of blackbirds singing, fossicking about in the undergrowth or fighting with each other on the roadside. There were pheasants in the fields on either side of the road, skylarks sang and a pair of lesser black-backs loafed on the wet field by the Jack Russell's gate. A pair of jackdaws escorted an immature female kestrel out of their territory and into town.

Irlam Moss 

There was a crowd of woodpigeons on the fallow field by Prospect Grange and a couple of pairs of lapwings flew display flights whenever the mood took. There were chaffinches, goldfinches and greenfinches in the hedgerows but neither sight nor sound of any yellowhammers. 

Irlam Moss

I crossed over the motorway and walked on towards Four Lanes End. Swallows hawked over the turf fields by the motorway while flocks of starlings rummaged in the grass for leatherjackets. Further out lapwings sparred with carrion crows and mallards dabbled in the puddles. I kept hearing a buzzard over the noise of the traffic but couldn't pick out where it was. The hedgerows were heaving with starlings, goldfinches, blackbirds and chaffinches and the songs of chiffchaffs, wrens, blackcaps and robins.

The turf fields further along looked empty, and certainly were devoid of the usual pied wagtails, but far over on the other side I could see a big flock of woodpigeons feeding in the margins and more lapwings and carrion crows. A couple of curlews flew into Little Woolden Moss.

Chat Moss 

As I was passing one field I noticed a pale lump in the middle of it. Can there still be short-eared owls about I wondered. Yes, there could.

Short-eared owl, first sighting 

I watched the owl awhile getting perfectly good views from the road and wondering why on earth that bloke had gone into the field and walked round to the other side to get close and personal with it. With the gear he was carrying there's no reason why he couldn't have been able to get full frame photos from the road. The owl seemed to be fairly phlegmatic about it and rewarded him by flying in a bit closer to the road.

Short-eared owl 

Walking between Four Lanes End and Little Woolden Moss I kept an eye out for any wheatears or wagtails and saw neither. A kestrel sat on a telegraph pole and a pair of shovelers dabbled in one of the new ditches cut in the middle of one of the fields.

Little Woolden Moss 

It was teatime as I headed into Little Woolden Moss and the birch scrub was fizzing with willow warblers, chiffchaffs and blackcaps. The moss was in one of its generous moods though at first sight the open country looked quiet. A few black-headed gulls flew about and the usual gang of crows bounced about on the far bank of the pools. Canada geese lurked in the long grass over there. Willow warblers, robins and wrens sang in the scrub and meadow pipits flitted about. 

Suddenly there was a lot of movement going on in the distance. A crowd of jackdaws and lapwings rose from the fields beyond the nature reserve. I thought the cause might be the heron flying low over the fields then I caught sight of the marsh harrier cruising even lower over them.

Little Woolden Moss 

I checked bus times and decided I'd be pushing my luck walking into Glazebury for the bus into Warrington and didn't think I'd have the legs for the walk into Glazebrook so I headed for the path onto Moss Road for the walk into Cadishead. Along the way mallards drifted onto the pools, the gadwalls and teals took a bit of finding. Pairs of moorhens drifted about the pools, pairs of pied wagtails and oystercatchers loafed on the bunds. It's not often you see a pied wagtail loafing. The curlews called from somewhere beyond.

Moss Road 

I joined the path and negotiated the mud between hedgerows noisy with robins and blackcaps and onto Moss Road. The hedges along the road were busy with blackbirds, robins, goldfinches and house sparrows; the farmsteads busy with collared doves and pied wagtails; the fields busy with woodpigeons, stock doves, carrion crows and lapwings. Skylarks and robins sang, pheasants croaked and long-tailed tits bounced about in the elder bushes by the stables.

New Moss Wood 

It was getting late and my knees had noticed I'd gone for a walk so I didn't stay long in New Moss Wood. It was a full-on songscape; blackcaps, blackbirds, chiffchaffs and robins, chaffinches, greenfinches, wrens and dunnocks and a song thrush almost succeeding in drowning them all out. A few swallows flew overhead, it had become a very nice Spring evening.

Walking past the allotments to get the bus home the songscape was just as varied though the singers not as numerous. I was rather glad I'd dragged myself out for a walk.

Little Woolden Moss