My Struggle at the Marches Mosses

One of the things that I have been finding myself doing, is perusing Google Maps to find local nature reserves where I could visit and photograph. One of the locations that I have found was Whixall Moss, which along with the Fenn, Bettisfield, Cadney and Wem Moss, make up the Marches Mosses, one of the largest raised peat bogs in the UK. So, with my location chosen and the March weather absolutely stunning, I packed my bag and headed over to Ellesmere and the Marches Mosses.

There are a number of walking trails here, and ahead of time, I checked out the walking trail map and decided that I would head out on the green trail, then peel off and follow the purple trail all the way to the Mammoth tower, that overlooks the whole site.

I didn’t have to walk far to see my first glimpses of the wildlife that calls this place home, along with all the common smaller UK birds that you can expect to find here, there are a lot of kestrels, and one flew straight overhead on its way out hunting. Unfortunately, I was not ready in time, and it was pretty high up, so I didn’t get a photo.

Along my walk there were Stone Chats and Long Tailed Tits, but these favoured the deep woodland and also on the side of the trail that had the sun directly behind it, making photo opportunities few and far between.

I did manage to get a couple images of a male and female Stonechat, which was a good start, but I was finding the photography very hard going.

I left the green trail and continued on my way towards the Mammoth Tower, I saw a few kestrels flying over the mosses, as well as buzzards. On my visit, I was a bit early for the Hobbys that summer here, living off the dragon flies, and was unable to spot any harriers, which I was very much looking forward to seeing. The issue that I was finding was, that even though the access to this amazing site was excellent, the raptors were all hunting far out in the distance, where there was no access and I was left watching specks in the distance though my viewfinder.

I tried to keep my hopes up when entering the more wooded areas of the site, as I joined the Shropshire Union Canal. I did take the opportunity here to photograph a female Mallard Duck, so that I could feel like I was making some progress in my day, and also managed to get a snapshot of a Thrush with a snail in is beak. There was a lot of bird life along the canal, but other than those two images, I struggled here as well, I could hear the birds all around me in the woods and got glimpses of them whizzing around between cover, but was unable to get any further images.

I eventually got to the Mammoth Tower, which did raise my spirits, I climbed to the top, and the views from here, over the Moss were just spectacular. At this point, I had walked about 4km, so decided that this would be a great spot to stop for my lunch. I sat myself down on the benches that look out over the moss, and tucked into my absolutely delicious BBQ beef brisket wrap with homemade coleslaw – a very much needed pick me up! As I was munching away, I spotted a frog, making its way down the path opposite me. This was another, much needed and unexpected visitor that I could photograph, to give me a boost in my day. I had only packed my 200-600 mm lens, so needed to get quite a way back, so that I could get the frog into the minimum focus range.  I am really happy with the images that I got of this Common Frog, and after eating the rest of my lunch, I continued on my journey.

A canal boat had passed me, so coming to a crossroad, I headed back onto the green trail and into the moss, as I felt that any animals would have been disturbed by the boat passing, and it meant I would end up back in the woods where I had first seen the kestrel.

While I tried my best here, I was unsuccessful in capturing any images. What was there was again, deep in the vegetation or far out over the expanse of the moss. Having reached the trail that would take me back to the car, I thought I would give the red trail a little go and see if my luck would change.

After walking another half a kilometre on the red trail, I tuned and headed for the car and the Sinkers Field Bird Hide. On my way back to the car, I got very lucky and managed to get a couple of images of a Wren on some of the dried ferns.

I next headed straight for the bird hide, on my way here, keeping with the theme of the day, there was a buzzard sat on the top of a tree.

Once at the hide entrance, I found that I needed a code to be able to enter, this was a bit of a surprise as I hadn’t read that on any of the websites I had looked at. Thankfully though, after scanning the QR code and filling out the form, I was instantly able to get the code and enter the hide.

The hide was very nice, with murals of birds on the walls and viewing ports at various levels out over the pond. Unfortunately, the sun was not in my favour, being right out behind the pond meaning I was shooting into the light that was harsh and also reflective of the water. I tried to sit it out here, but again I was unsuccessful, there were a few Mallards, Teal and a Moorhen off out on the other side of the pond, but nothing really photo worthy and after about 45 minutes I called it a day and headed back to the car and home.

Though I do usually try and see the best in things, and to enjoy the day regardless of what photo opportunities there are, I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed in my day. I had set my expectations too high and felt very lost and out of my depth having put too much pressure on myself to capture images. Looking back now on what images I did take, I am quite happy with them.  The Frog was defiantly an unexpected highlight, but the images I captured of the Wren are actually quite good.

I would definitely go back to the Marches Mosses, but later in the year when I feel I would be more successful with my photos as the marches come alive with insects and the animals that live off them. I would also try and find a lighter set up to take with me (aka loose the gimbal head) as my walk came in at just under 7km for the day.

If you want to find out more about the Marches Mosses, then here are some helpful websites:

https://www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/marches-mosses-boglife
https://themeresandmosses.co.uk/