Moss Side

You wouldn't have thought it would take up to four people the best part of three weeks to clear a semi-detached house and then clean it from top to bottom, but I hadn't ventured for the fact that 95% of all the goods that China has produced over the last ten years to be crammed into every cupboard, nook and cranny.

It was good therefore to be able to take the opportunity to restore my sanity with a trip to Fenn's Moss.

It was hardly peaceful with the RAF training helicopters pratting about, but fortunately they were unable to drown out a calling Cuckoo, nor deter a hunting Hobby whose mastery of the air made the 'copters attempts at manoeuvrability look comical.

Before I had even reached the moss proper, I had bagged my first Ringlet of the year - a lone flyer amongst the ranks of Large Skipper and Meadow Brown.

Dragonflies, as expected were everywhere: the vast majority were Four-spotted Chasers, with a few Broad-bodied thrown in for good measure. The specialty - White-faced Darter was thankfully not hard to find - a male even had the temerity to land on my knee whilst I was sat next to one of the ditches!

A singing Garden Warbler nearby completed a superb morning - it wont be long before I'm back for more..

Until later.

The Iron Oxide Duke

A walk along the breakwater at Greenfield this morning yielded good numbers of commoner estuarine birds – especially Gulls – all enjoying life loafing on the sand banks and dozing in the spring sunshine.

By my humble reckonings, this stretch between the small dock and the rusting Duke of Lancaster has potential for a good selection of migrants during spring.

The habitat is a mixture of wet grassland, arable, rough pasture and scrub all squeezed between the railway and the estuary. Wheatears in particular would feel at home here, especially today as the farmer – with perfect timing – was busy ploughing one of his fields.

In many ways it is similar to the front at Leasowe and whilst this spot on the North Wirral coast is probably better positioned to receive migrants, Greenfield is much quieter and considerably less disturbed.

I had half expected to find a Wheatear today. I have noticed that a couple have cropped up in Cheshire over the last few days in addition to one or two in North Wales, so surely it wont be too long before one appears on the Dee.

Monday afternoon was spent in the company of John Boswell trying to track down a Crane at F/W Moss. No Crane and very little else to boot. The moss is notoriously home to few birds and yesterday it excelled itself even by its own low standards – there were more birders than birds!

Nevertheless, it was interesting to learn about the hitherto unknown to me Sundew plant. Perhaps not surprisingly given the poor quality soil at the moss, it supplements its diet by other means – eating insects. After swatting up in the evening, I also learnt that Butterworts consume insects too - but according to BBC News there is a third…

The invasive Japanese Knotweed has apparently supplanted (pun intended) Indian Balsam as the gardeners’ nemesis. Not only does it grow at a fantastic rate – but according to the considered opinion of the beeb it is also ‘a real life Triffid.’ Cripes.

Until later.

Moss Bros

With all the hysteria over Tiger Woods’ ‘apology’ and Amy Williams gold medal for going down a chute on a dinner tray, I was reminded of a line from Joseph Heller’s glorious Catch 22 “Like Olympic medals and golf trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else."

Still, it is easy to escape the media overkill and there is no better place to flee to than the quiet and austere terrain of Fenn’s and Whixall Moss. The English Nature managed site is not a reserve of great numbers of birds, more a reserve of great birds and this morning I set off with the hope of connecting with one of its most sought after visitors - the Great Grey Shrike.

Heading off from the car park I was encouraged by the news that a GGS had been clocked near the old peat factory at the north-east corner of the moss. Today must have been about attempt number six or seven for an over-wintering Shrike here, but despite bumping into another satisfied birder, I failed miserably yet again despite walking over what seemed every hectare.

That’s two misses in one week now, but at least when I looked last Tuesday I was treated to a Marsh Tit and a Green Woodpecker. Still, a Treecreeper, a Goldcrest, a lovely pair of Bullfinch, plus a single Raven is not a terrible return for three hours work.

It was after last week’s visit that I stumbled on a webpage detailing the birds, butterflies and dragonflies of the moss. It’s quite interesting as Mr Fry might say - the list of butterflies is particularly impressive.

Link: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/whixallweb/species.htm

Until later.