The wild offered another cuppa, a comfy chair, a garden suddenly buzzing with birds - 15 goldfinch, seven long-tailed tit, six greenfinch and even a magpie seemed to suggest that I needn’t wander…

Recording the elusive Wild on Barton Moss for the Carbon Landscape Winter Farmland Bird surveys.

The Wild had to come knocking on my door today, if it wanted to be noted for my fifth day of Christmas.

A late night . . . a late morning . . . a wander from my front door searching for the Wild away from the moss.

As the sun quietly began to nibble at the dawn there was now sufficient light for the first birds of the day to rise, carrion crows.

On the second day of Christmas, a mistle thrush made a half-hearted attempt to utter a few notes of its early spring song - practice makes perfect - as if to lift the light. The rain soon put a…

Mosslands birding legend Dave Steel begins his 12 days of Christmas on the moss with a slow, slow sunrise - Merry Christmas