Mosses (again)

Roe deer, Chat Moss
Sadly, the chap down the road didn't see them crossing over.

I felt that I had unfinished business with Chat Moss, not even getting to try and find the hooded crow the other day so I thought I'd nip over and see if I could find it. In the event "nipping over" turned into a four and a half hour's meandering walk over the mosses.

It was a bright and sunny morning as I got the 100 from the Trafford Centre to Irlam. As we passed Port Salford I was surprised to see a roe deer grazing on the lawn of one of the industrial units. I'm more used to seeing serried lines of molehills around there.

By Cutnook Lane 

I got off the bus and walked up Cutnook Lane, encountering a reassuringly conventional mixed tit flock — great, blue and long-tailed tits — bouncing round the trees either side of the motorway. A couple of dozen magpies fed on the flooded field of turf, no ducks this time, while woodpigeons and carrion crows fossicked about the paddocks.

There were a lot of cars parked up at the junction of if Cutnook Lane and Twelve Yards Road. I was worried that the lanes were going to be busy with people working up an appetite for lunch by walking the dog but I only bumped into a couple. Perhaps something else was going on.

Chat Moss 

Chat Moss 

Further up the little lane the pools could be seen well through the birch scrub in the bright light. A couple of shovelers and at least one teal mingled with the dozen or so mallards clustered in the corner of one pool and a heron sat on one of the islands. Nearly all the open water was empty of birds. A lot of carrion crows were flying around, mostly in pairs, and I checked each as they came but wasn't seeing any hoodie amongst them.

Croxden's Moss 

I walked out onto the open peatland of Croxden's Moss at the end of the lane and had a look round. Over to the East a buzzard and a few black-headed gulls were wheeling low over the trees. Closer to hand there was a lot of activity at the edge of open land where the railway track is thickly lined with trees. A crowd of jackdaws and carrion crows were making a hell of a racket and were being very skittish, settling in the peat to feed and loaf for a few minutes then retreating to the trees. I had a look to see what was spooking them without any success, I was told later that a peregrine had been circling about.

Walking along the path running parallel to Twelve Yards Road I was keeping an eye on the flock of corvids. There was plenty of scope for confusion: a few of the carrion crows had extensive white markings in their wings (this is usually due to a dietary deficiency rather than leucism) and the strong light was bouncing off the glossy plumage of the crows on the ground like mirrors. But of course all the light bits were in the wrong place for a hooded crow. It took a while to find it because, ironically, it was standing in a shadow so looked mostly dark compared to the sunlit carrion crows around it.

Croxden's Moss 

A few mallards flew into the pool further on and a snipe flew out of it. I bumped into a very small flock of chaffinches — ten birds — and failed to find any bramblings or yellowhammers. I'm definitely worried about the yellowhammers on Chat Moss, my fieldcraft isn't so bad to warrant my seeing none here this year. I let on to a fellow birdwatcher as he walked past and we mourned the loss of tree sparrows here.

Pied wagtail, Chat Moss

At the corner where the path turns towards Twelve Yards Road a female kestrel flew low over the dung heap in the corner of the field and spooked a small flock of wagtails. Most were pied wagtails but there was a grey wagtail in the mix and, to my surprise and delight, a female white wagtail, standing out very pale amongst the others. For the only time of the day I wished the light was as bad as it had been last weekend, bracket the exposures as I may all I could get was bleached out photos of the bird as it stood out in the sunlight. The pied wagtails gave me a sporting chance by getting down and rummaging about in the heap.

Chat Moss 

I'd barely walked ten yards when I heard a sound and two roe deers bounced out of the drain and nearly ran into me. They stopped, we looked at each other and they turned tail. I managed to get a quick photo with my 'phone. Unfortunately the other birdwatcher didn't see them despite their running quite close to him.

I didn't want to retrace my steps down Cutnook Lane and I absolutely didn't want to traipse down Astley Road again. I decided I'd walk down into Little Woolden Moss then go down Moss Road into Cadishead and thence Irlam. 

Lavender Lane 

Walking down Lavender Lane I kept scanning the fields for any owls and finding magpies as cars and vans started congregating at the little car park by the reserve for an owl watch. I wasn't expecting any luck with the owls, it was still only just lunchtime, but I thought I might find the resident marsh harrier upsetting the jackdaws in the trees and fields to the North. I saw a shape float up over the tree line and realised it was a short-eared owl. Another joined it and rose quite high above the trees then floated down like a falling leaf. They were distant and weren't for heading any closer and quicky disappeared into the fields on the other side of the trees. I was getting all the bonuses today.

Little Woolden Moss 

Little Woolden Moss was in one of its quiet moods today with nothing on the water, no pipits, reed buntings or linnets and the resident carrion crows flying to and fro without landing. But it all looked very nice in the Winter sunshine.

The walk down Moss Road was very quiet of birdlife. The local farmers were catching up with maintenance work, including some very neat and tidy hedge trimming, and the noise and bustle was putting off everything but the crows.

Cadishead Moss 

Over the motorway about a hundred black-headed gulls danced for worms in a wet field in the company of handfuls of common gulls, lesser black-backs and woodpigeons

New Moss Wood 

New Moss Wood was surprisingly quiet. Robins sang, wrens chaffed and a buzzard called from the trees across the road. The small mixed tit flock I bumped into silently flitted across the ride and disappeared into the birch trees. A couple of redwings headed in the opposite direction.

It was getting late for moving on elsewhere and the joints were starting to stiffen now the sun was low behind the clouds. I walked into Irlam for the train and got the week's shopping done before getting the train home. It was a nice class of sunset.

Urmston Station sunset