This is NOT Upper Moss Side. Perhaps if it was, there'd be some hope for the site. But alas no...
Let me explain.
After an eight year absence from the patch I returned to find the east end of the reserve much changed - see Plucked and Seasoned and so I decided to visit the west end today. For the uninitiated, this comprises the walk from the black and yellow gate, west along the Manchester Ship Canal to Halfway House (the bend in the river opposite Fiddler's Ferry power station), then back up along the canal east to the Ethylene Station and then cutting through to Upper Moss Side, where, once upon a time, farmland birds (Tree Sparrows, Yellowhammers, Grey Partridge, Barn Owl) were regulars, Brown Hares almost guaranteed once every few visits and occasional surprises like Quail and Great Grey Shrike, popped up. On top of that, the hide overlooking Norton Marsh was great for a leisurely mid-walk cuppa and scan of the pools and marsh for waders and wildfowl, the odd Stonechat, Marsh Harrier and Short-eared Owl. Even Osprey occasionally put in an appearance on it's way north at the right time of year and Green Sandpipers could often be heard 'kloy klee klee-ing' somewhere out on the marsh.
It is not like that any more. It now looks like this... Unkempt...unloved... and abandoned.
The rich farmland has gone, replaced instead with unmanaged scrubland devoid of anything but the odd Great Tit, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Chaffinch and Dunnock surreptitiously clinging to the remnants of hedgerows and the newly encroaching saplings in muted embarrassment - rewilding at its lazy worst in a casual attempt it seems, to absorb the area into the Mersey Forest. Well, I'm sorry, but I'd much rather have a mosaic of habitats, rich in birdlife than the homogenizing scrubland we now have. It's a poor substitute and seems destined to turn the west end of the reserve into the same sanitized 'parkland' as the east.
It's lost its wildness... and I guess that was the whole idea - to make a space where people can jog, walk their dogs and ramble... reconnect with nature. In itself of course, that has to be a good thing and I know I sound like a NIMBY... but what gets my goat is this kind of claim... sorry Mersey Forest, but it really does!
It's not ALL about woodlands you know! How does replacing a relatively rare local habitat (rich farmland) with MORE woodlands and ponds boost biodiversity? Biodiversity is about, well... diversity and the site has lost a ton of it now... and it saddens me. Truly. And then there's Norton Marsh...
Now if you want to get the full impact of what can happen to a place when it ceases to be managed for wildlife, go take a look at my original blog on Upper Moss Side here...
In particular, there's this photo...
That my friends is the Norton Marsh bird hide. It was great... now, it looks like this...
Yep. It's gone... and the marsh? Well, let's just say there are no pools and you can't even see the river anymore. What I wonder is the opposite of 'Halcyon Days'?
Ah well... little point I guess in me grumpily dwelling on the gallons of spilt milk I waded through this afternoon with the pooch and so instead, I'll finish off with the birds we DID see... I'm afraid there weren't many :/
We parked up at the black and yellow gate having perilously navigated the ever deepening but thankfully frozen potholes of the track to it...
... and made our way along the canal to Half Way House (HWH) where we picked up; 15 Tufted Duck, 8 Gadwall, 4 Mallard, 3 Little Grebe, 2 Coots, I Herring Gull, 2 Black-headed Gulls and a Common Gull on the water.
Along the path itself was a sparse and eerily quiet sprinkling of Great Tits, Blue Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Robins, Dunnocks and Chaffinches.
HWH itself was ill-timed. The tide was in (I had forgotten to check) and so there was no exposed mud.
There were however 5 Grey Heron adults tucked into the far bank, 3 Canada Geese and 2 Shelduck way off by Norton Marsh, a solitary Black-headed Gull on the water and a couple of Ravens calling to our left, probably annoyed by the Buzzard that was soaring overhead and that, apart from 2 Carrion Crows and a Magpie over... was that. The rest of Upper Moss Side yielded nothing new save for a pair of Bullfinch in one of the hedges bordering what was once Tree Sparrow Field.
At least the dog enjoyed his run, but I think it will be a while before I venture to UMS again. Still, cuts out the middle bit and gives me more time to check the east and west ends of the patch. Let's see what turns up eh? Who know, perhaps the Longhorns will come back one day... miss you guys ;)
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