Mosses

Lapwings, Chat Moss 

It was a lovely Spring day, I thought I'd have a short dawdle on the Salford mosses and ended up having a five hour walk.

Stock doves, Irlam Moss 

As I started the walk down Astley Road a couple of robins sang from the trees and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of house sparrows and blackbirds between gardens and hedges. The hedgerows down the road were busy with twittering goldfinches and greenfinches, a couple of chaffinches sang, pairs of great tits and blue tits bounced through the trees and there were plenty more blackbirds. There was plenty about but they were nearly all keeping their distance. A couple of carrion crows shadowed a tractor as it mowed a field of turf by Roscoe Road while closer by a flock of woodpigeons, a couple of pigeons and a pair of stock doves provided a neat identification primer. 

Goldfinch, Irlam Moss 

Approaching the motorway

What's becoming the usual buzzard lumbered out of the trees by the motorway. Unusually I didn't see any kestrels all the way down Astley Road.

The fields of turf were dotted with lapwings in surprisingly regular grids. A gang of a dozen magpies fussed about each other in one corner, carrion crows busied themselves in the rough margins while the pied wagtails kept to the huge dung heap which is now being excavated to provide top dressing for the fields. Pairs of mallards flew past every so often, it wasn't obvious where they were going or where they had been. I might have missed the mistle thrushes silently working their way through the trees had it not been for a cock blue tit's singing and courting. I was trying and failing to get a photo of him as he bounced about the birch twigs with his blue crest fully erect when I noticed the thrushes. Chiffchaffs sang in the trees by the paddocks with the robins and blackbirds.

Lavender Lane 

The usual male kestrel was in the field by Lavender Lane, which came as a relief though he was perched on a post way over the other side then went hunting over the fields beyond. I hadn't seen a marsh harrier about here for a while so was pleased as a female drifted past the kestrel and out of sight. I was hoping to find a wheatear or two in the rough but had no luck.

Little Woolden Moss 

I bumped into one of the regulars and we had a chat, he showed me a "disappointing" photo of a firecrest that would have had me made up for a month. He joined me as I had a quick look at Little Woolden Moss. The pools were littered with birds: every stick and post had a black-headed gull calling from it, pairs of Canada geese cruised about. Curlews called but weren't seen, the usual gang of crows got mobbed by lapwings as they passed over the fields beyond. Chiffchaffs were singing by the entrance, a willow warbler sang in the scrub by the pools. Give it another week and there'll be dozens of them.

Lapwings, Chat Moss 

We split up and I walked down Twelve Yards Road. A couple of skylarks sang and a linnet twittered past. One of last year's young kestrels was sitting on the ground in a field of rough pasture, wood pigeons and carrion crows rummaged about barely visible over the emerging barley in the field opposite. There were a lot more on the more recently-ploughed fields, together with lapwings establishing their nesting territories with close-quarter mock air battles, by some miracle never quite hitting each other in the process. The combatants would then retire to their corners and resume the display flying around their partners for a few minutes before returning to the fray. The manoeuvrability of a lapwing is something to behold.

Lapwings, Chat Moss 

Twelve Yards Road 

At the corner of Cutnook Lane I headed North up the path to Croxden's. The trees were noisy with the songs of robins, wren, chiffchaffs and blackbirds and the objections of great spotted woodpeckers and a treecreeper as I passed by. Fighting the glare of the sun I could make out a few mallards on the pools beyond the birch scrub by the path.

Walking up to Croxden's 

Carrion crows and magpies were dotted about the open peat at Croxden's and a few black-headed gulls and lesser black-backs passed low overhead.

Croxden's Moss 

Walking through the willow scrub I was seeing robins and blackbirds and hearing chiffchaffs and willow warblers. I wondered if the green-winged teal was still about, it was but took some finding as it was hidden in a group huddled on an island amongst reeds. The first time I looked at the group I took the white vertical stripe on its breast as a bit of dead reed catching the light.

Walking back to Cutnook Lane 

I walked back down to the junction of Cutnook Lane where a pair of buzzards circled at treetop height. The walk down into Irlam was noisy with the songs of robins, blackbirds and song thrushes and the chattering of magpies. I was dead jammy and got to the bus stop on Merlin Lane just as the 100 to the Trafford Centre arrived.