Black-winged stilt, Little Woolden Moss

This evening I had a quick dash to Little Woolden Moss in order to see a female black-winged stilt. Little Woolden is part of Chat Moss and if you look at it on the map it's only 5.5km as the stilt flies from home so it should be easy enough. It's not that simple though, it sits in the middle of mosslands and farmers fields with access and parking virtually impossible and the road to it.... normally I would walk in from the west at the Culcheth end, but for some reason I decided to follow the instructions and approach from Astley Road in the east. Never again!

I came in from the Irlam direction and it was the most undulating road I've ever been on. It was making me seasick it was so bad, but seriously at times I was very concerned that the car would ground or even tip over! Then there were the potholes, which in places were so frequent as to be almost impossible to avoid. In places the road seemed to be sliding into the mosslands, there was a great gorge, almost a fault line running down the middle, and either side of it the road sloped away on an angle. It reminded me of the tectonic plate boundary in Iceland, with the ground moving away in either direction! What a place, nowhere to park, nowhere to go if a vehicle came the other way, no way to turn around.

Eventually I found my way to a small parking area and started to walk. I walked and walked, nearly 3km in total and eventually got to the viewing area, only to find that there were several birders cars parked here. Slightly frustrating to say the least. I wish I'd also ignored the "Private Road" signs. 

Anyway, the bird showed very well in good light. Also this evening an excellent array of other birds such as marsh harrier, four greenshanks, barn owl, ringed plover, little ringed plover and two common terns. There's been an influx of stilts into the UK over the past couple of weeks, mirroring the recent influx of night herons and before that alpine swifts. Not sure what's going on, but this isn't normal and quite worrying.

However for now, my main concern was getting home. Another 3km trek back to the car was followed by a tough decision. Do I go back the way I came or shall I try heading north towards the East Lancs which in theory should be the shortest route? I chose the latter. The tarmac ended, the road became a potholed gravel track, but I kept going and it was actually better than the Irlam way. I did have to negotiate two closed gates at a level crossing, but eventually I reached the relative civilisation of Astley and from there the East Lancs. It did make me wonder if it would have been quicker to get my push bike out. If only I'd fixed that puncture.......