It the time to carry out a Winter Bird Count on the Lancashire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve on Astley Moss. There I was at the cusp of my teenage years back in the Sixties, wandering the track that leads to this unique (well one of only a handful remaining in the UK) inland raised peat bog.

A carrion crow cawed me out of my reverie and placed me firmly back where I was walking today, the very same track (looking little changed in six decades) other than, when I was in my forties, when the LWT purchased this land off the National Coal Board and began its slow restoration.

In truth, these surveys usually take me two and a half hours. I don’t usually end up with a large list of bird sightings, for the site hosts only a few birds in the winter as if almost dormant whilst waiting the return of its summer migrants, such as willow warbler, whitethroat and, although rarely these days, the odd cuckoo - a bird in decline in the UK.

I managed to record snipe and teal, plus another quite rare bird these days, willow tit, clinging on in this area due to the efforts made by the LWT to give it the habitat it needs, damp woodland.

My early years first encounter with willow tit left me with a lifetime love of these diminutive birds, which I usually hear before I see. Today, as ever, I gave as much time to these birds as I could, before they moved in within a mixed flock of other “titmice” - great tit and blue tit.

My Marsh Man efforts over, it’s certainly a challenging area to pass through without getting waterlogged, but a touch of self-congratulation followed when once more my  NOT teenage legs got me along reasonably well.

It was now time to check out the strips of woodland, some of which are adjacent to the Manchester-Liverpool railway line and melancholy started to creep in as if carried by the dampness of this landscape. I noted that many of the silver birch trees (lifespan usually less than 100 years) I had first encountered in my youth were now showing wear and tear that, in truth, seemed to measure my own declining years.

Oh dear, I needed a positive to end these #12DaysWild and this came as I noted the oak trees, also living here, were looking as strong as they were back then. Here is my point, the birch and I can reflect on time well spent out on this reserve. Recognising that, like the oak, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust will go on for decades, maybe centuries, caring for this and other precious landscapes on Chat Moss and beyond, it will give us some comfort in our gentle decline.

Positively glowing I marched off. Oh yeah, well almost, at such a pace, content in knowing that Day 13 and beyond await more positivity out on Chat Moss.

Thanks to the LWT once more for offering this challenge. At least I wasn’t dancing in peat bogs whilst writing these notes. Then again, I can’t wait to get out there, for there are more bird and wildlife surveys to do.

And thanks to Dave for keeping us informed and entertained over the past 12 days. He keeps a watchful eye on our peatlands and his records are vital to all the work we do on these amazing landscapes. Hopefully we can continue to create habitats for wildlife with the same passion as the Salford Birding Legend.

This year, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust has launched its biggest ever appeal, we are trying to raise £300,000 to continue to grow our work on the wide range of habitats across the North West. This Step Up for Wildlife funding will ensure that wildlife that we know and love, like the willow tit and cuckoo, will still be around for generations to come.