Not a pear tree in sight

Posted by Cliff Birchall on March 26, 2008 12:28 PM

AS you pass through Great Altcar you are likely to see a lovely little bird.
The grey partridge doesn't have the swagger of the pheasant and likes to keep itself hidden rather than run across the road in front of you!
You are more likely to catch sight of it in among the growing rows of wheat as it scurries about looking for food. It does have an attractive barring to its feathers despite its overall grey countenance and is a nicely proportioned bird.
It is rare enough for farmers to be encouraged to support it. Shooters have opted for the heavier pheasant when it comes to beaten shoots and partridges are really only appreciated by rough shooters. Strictly ground birds, there is no chance of finding one in a pear tree - even at Christmas!
Look out for it as you pass. You are also likely to see the red-legged or "French" partridge, which has a more colourful disposition, with a lovely white facial marking and barred wings.
Yesterday was another ticking off day. There was a kestrel in Broad Lane flying low across a field. A couple of partridge. A heron flying northwards along the Downholland Brook from Altcar Road. And a barn owl quartering a field in Lord Sefton Way.
Music On The Moss: Lent having finished, normal service is resumed. I'm easing back into rock with one of my favourite groups, The Byrds. My favourite albums are Younger than yesterday and The Notorious Byrd Brothers. YTY is perhaps my favourite, although Notorious is a must for anyone, with its glorious array of special effects used when the group test recorded the studio CBS built to record Simon and Garfunkle's Bridge over troubled water album. YTY is perhaps the most recognisable as a Byrds LP, with its 12-string and harmonies. It also has David Crosby, who left in a huff when they were part-way through Notorious. Give either a listen.

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All together now

Posted by Cliff Birchall on March 20, 2008 3:28 PM

YOU expect a tractor or two on a country road.
But I wasn't expecting a whole procession of them.
Turning off the A59 in Aughton to take the Formby road across the moss and there in front of me was a digger followed by two tractors, each towing a large muck spreader.
I foolishly assumed they would hare off down a cart track towards Clieves Hills. But no, they kept going. And nothing was passing them, and they were doing 35mph to give them their due.
Towards Downholland a third tractor pulling a seed drill appeared and led the procession at a somewhat more sedate pace as we all drove across Delf Lane past the Scarisbrick Arms.
To give him his due, though, he did pull off the road and allow us quicker mortals to overtake him. A gentleman farmer indeed.
Yet, by the time we reached Hill House a second digger equiped with buckets fore and aft had appeared to lead the parade.
And so it continued. And continued. And continued.
What are the odds on following a tractor all the way from Aughton and past Duke Street Park? Yet that was where they all went.
Looking at the queue of traffic behind me, it was lent an even more surreal air by the van which had a ladder and an upholstered armchair on the roof.
Mind you, it did give me chance to have a good spy round the fields. In Altcar Lane I spotted my first oystercatcher of the year, rooting around in the long grass.
Music On The Moss: Lent is still not quite finished so we are still listening to the sanctified stuff. This week it's some glorious old-style gospel songs from The Blind Boys of Alabama. They might be in their seventies but they can still turn a tune. Their backing musicians are blues legend John Hammond Jr, slide player David Lindley, harmonica wizard Charlie Musslewhaite and bassist Danny Thompson. Their version of Amazing Grace is, well, amazing. And they kick off a storm on I'm A Soldier (of the Lord) and This Might Be The Last Time. Wonderful music.

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Big birds flying across the sky

Posted by Cliff Birchall on March 7, 2008 10:02 AM

No, I'm not about to continue the rest of the verse from Neil Young's Helpless but it sums up today's blog.
Buzzards are becoming a common sight in this part of the north west. I passed one [or under one] being harassed by pigeons on Clieves Hills this morning.
Yesterday two were in more liesurely aerial antics in Flatman's Lane at Downholland. For fairly big birds they can be graceful and elegant when soaring on the wind. It's always makes the heart beat a little faster when you see something of their size in the sky near you.

A flock of gulls rising from the nearby fields caught the morning light in just the right places, too; you would not think there was that much difference between white, silver and grey but the nuances of their plumage was picked out smartly against the blue sky.
There is plenty for them to go at in the fields, too, now that farmers have brought out the plough and started tilling fields ready for sowing. The rich black earth of the mosslands is always a joy to see against the green and fawn of the fallow fields.
The hares are beginning to become noticeable, too, now. I spotted a couple of them together on the way home last night.
Music on the Moss: The rock-n-roll ban is still in place so we're sticking with the sanctified stuff for the last couple of weeks of Lent. Twenty years ago a redneck-turned-revivalist called Vernon Oxford left the rattlesnake preacher churches of Tennessee to visit an inmate at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. The BBC made a fascinating documentary of his visit, including music played in the prison, on the streets of Belfast and in local churches. Power In The Blood is country-meets-religion in the way that only people who love Hank Williams can do. Powerful stuff.

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Dig this, man

Posted by Cliff Birchall on March 5, 2008 2:22 PM

There is an awful lot of earth being brought to the surface this week - and I don't just mean the work of the moles - although they have been really busy over the past 10 days or so - there are lot of new molehills in fields all round, breaking through the short green shoots of wheat and grass alike - as a child I was always told that they each led to one big molehill, a "fortress" where the female gave birth to her young and looked after them, mostly from predatory males who would eat them - I had to smile when I came past a home-made football pitch with those little mini-goalposts and a pattern of molehills all over the grass - I guess dad/groundsman will have to do a fair bit of spadework to cope with them.

No, the earthworks I was referring to were in Farmer Ted's big field. For the past few days a big digger has been scooping out a "ditch" around the outskirts of the field, the last of the soil being taken away this morning.

At first I thought it could be a track for whippet of ferret racing, or may be event pig racing as that is popular at agricultural shows. But packing the dig with hardcore makes it look like it is a track for his popular tractor rides, which can cut up the field quite badly in wet weather.

We shall see in due course.

There has not been a lot of wildlife about. Pinkfeet were favouring a field near Hill House Stud last week. Woodpigeons were providing an aerial ballet around the trees by one of the farms in Great Altcar. A barn owl has been patrolling the barns and there was one flying round Smithy Farm in Broad Lane at Downholland this morning. The hedgerows are becoming a bit busier with birds looking for nesting sites.

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Dig this, man

Posted by Cliff Birchall on March 5, 2008 2:22 PM

There is an awful lot of earth being brought to the surface this week - and I don't just mean the work of the moles - although they have been really busy over the past 10 days or so - there are lot of new molehills in fields all round, breaking through the short green shoots of wheat and grass alike - as a child I was always told that they each led to one big molehill, a "fortress" where the female gave birth to her young and looked after them, mostly from predatory males who would eat them - I had to smile when I came past a home-made football pitch with those little mini-goalposts and a pattern of molehills all over the grass - I guess dad/groundsman will have to do a fair bit of spadework to cope with them.

No, the earthworks I was referring to were in Farmer Ted's big field. For the past few days a big digger has been scooping out a "ditch" around the outskirts of the field, the last of the soil being taken away this morning.

At first I thought it could be a track for whippet of ferret racing, or may be event pig racing as that is popular at agricultural shows. But packing the dig with hardcore makes it look like it is a track for his popular tractor rides, which can cut up the field quite badly in wet weather.

We shall see in due course.

There has not been a lot of wildlife about. Pinkfeet were favouring a field near Hill House Stud last week. Woodpigeons were providing an aerial ballet around the trees by one of the farms in Great Altcar. A barn owl has been patrolling the barns and there was one flying round Smithy Farm in Broad Lane at Downholland this morning. The hedgerows are becoming a bit busier with birds looking for nesting sites.

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