Mosses

Lavender Lane 

The foggy day promised by the Met Office didn't materialise. Instead it was that thin mizzly rubbish that gets into every crevice of the soul. But visibility had improved, it was still pretty grim but improved. Then I remembered it was Saturday, and a Saturday in the holiday period to boot, so I decided not to push my luck any.

The train to Irlam was running (five minutes late, as per) so I got that and was soon walking down Astley Road where the Zinnia Close spadgers were shouting the odds at each other from the privet hedges. 

Astley Road 

I looked in vain for any partridges on the fields between Astley Road and Roscoe Road. A buzzard sat in a tree, wings open and feathers fluffed up, bathing in the rainy mist. A female kestrel shot by. And there were a dozen woodpigeons where I hoped the partridges would be.

Astley Road 

A small flock of fieldfares flew overhead towards New Moss Wood. There were plenty of blackbirds rummaging about in the hedgerows by the road, usually in twos and threes. The tit flocks were, oddly, all family groups. A handful of blue tits bounced about the hedgerows of Zinnia Close. A pair of great tits were in the trees by the landscapers, a dozen long-tailed tits by the Jack Russell's gate, another pair of great tits by the motorway, more blue tits at the stables and more long-tailed tits at Four Lanes End. Very odd this time of year.

A flock of about a hundred black-headed gulls loafed on the wet field behind Worsley View. I expected similar again on the other side of the motorway and was surprised to find the turf field apparently empty. It was only as I approached the farmhouse on the corner I saw any birds: a few goldfinches and a robin on the field margins and a dozen pied wagtails on the damp corner of the grass. As I was trying — and failing — to take photos of the wagtails in the lousy light a flock of finches flew onto the field. At first I assumed they were linnets but once I found where they'd landed I had second thoughts. They were dark gingery brown, snub-faced and oddly uniform, there wasn't any variation amongst them. Three of them flew in closer, about a hundred yards away, and this closer look confirmed they were twites. A nice surprise.

A flock of starlings flew into the poplars by the stables, noisily bubbling and squeaking as they landed. A quick check through of the crowd found handfuls of fieldfares and redwings settling in with them.

At Four Lanes End I had a look out for any short-eared owls, this time last year there were a few about on the fields here. A chap was parked up at the corner, he'd seen one about quarter of an hour ago but it had flown off. I heard similar from a group parked up at the gate to Little Woolden Moss. I got talking to one of the regulars who'd managed to get a photo of the one that got away, and very good it was, too. He has a passion for owls and gets very protective of them and doesn't like people disturbing them to get photos. I've said before that trying to creep up on owls is a waste of time, as well as bad for the birds. His photos demonstrated the virtue of standing still patiently and letting the owls come to you, he had some cracking shots taken on a trip up in Lancashire using his car as a hide.

Lavender Lane 

Having a gossip at sunset in the middle of nowhere isn't the best idea. It was far too late to see if that hooded crow was still about — it had been reported again a few times this week. I decided to head back down Astley Road, it's the shortest route and would be quiet of trucks on a Saturday teatime and I could walk down to the station and see about getting the train home. The road was busy with cars, a few of them carrying cargo from the chip shop, but safely so. I got the train with a minute to spare and a bag of chips on the way home from Urmston.

Astley Road