As there is much cross posting from Binn Green onto this Dovestones thread and that the two sites are practically one for all intents and purposes I have closed this thread. Please direct all Binn Green/Yeoman Hey sightings to the newly renamed Dovestones thread.

Sunday 16th Jan 8.30-11.30

A longer walk than anticipated as this was my first time at Dovestone. Managed to park at the wrong car park but by chance this meant I saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker on one of the feeders. Many finch flocks.
All of those seen by Gregg below plus these mostly seen at Binn Green car park:

4 Pheasant
1 Kestrel
2 Fieldfare
1 Pied Wagtail
3 Long Tail Tit
1 Nuthatch

Originally posted by Greg Barratt today:

Got to Binn Green for about 11am
12 Siskins
15 Chaffinch
4 Blue tit
2 Coal tit
3 Great tit
3 Brambling
1 Treecreeper

Fri 15th Oct 13.00 Hrs - 14.30 Hrs

2 Blue Tits.

Have had better days round here.

Roger.

Cheers Ian

Anyone else in the area looking for the ouzels then park at the Crowden valley national park on the A628 and park near camping area, walk past camp site towards the crag turn left and go over the bridge and up the pennie way to the right, half way up the hill is a small bunch of about 8 trees all with red berries on them, apparently this flock of ouzels have been favouring these same trees for about a week now

Don't get hung up on where they were Dennis, the point is that they're great birds anyway, especially in such a good sized flock regardless of which county you're in

Dennis atherton wrote:

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Did not realize i had crossed over

Still a superb amount all in one area, a very vocal flock, pity they were in derbyshire,

i did not see any RSPB wardens today so i have no new info on recent crossbill or ring ouzels still on this side of the border in binn green

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tha really are goin toot dark side den-thal be in yorkshire next

Did not realize i had crossed over

Still a superb amount all in one area, a very vocal flock, pity they were in derbyshire,

i did not see any RSPB wardens today so i have no new info on recent crossbill or ring ouzels still on this side of the border in binn green

A quite remarkable flock of Ring Ouzels Dennis, desite being in Derbyshire. One wonders how many are lurking elsewhere?

Ealry morn near binn green car park,

1 Great woodie, 1 green woodie, lots of coal tits, 1 goldcrest, 0 crossbills after visit number 4

1 helpfull birder who said he had a good sighting this week in a near by valley, could be someone on here?

So off i went on a mission to crowden valley, near the camp site up the hill and over the bridge as per instructions and yo and behold as i was told 20-25 ring ouzels half way up the hill, the largest flock i have seen

Also in the woods were 1 treecreeper, 1 siskin and 2 spotted flycatchers,

Also in the air was 2 kestrel, 3 buzzards

Saturday 28th Ashway gap we had among the more regular species:
2 spotted flycatchers
great spotted woodpecker
5 grey wagtail

15+ mistle thrush in field behind main car park.


plus views of 4 kestrels, 2 of which mobbed a buzzard and a peregrine flew over.

Friday was very quiet with a green woodpecker being the highlight.
40+ meadow pipits on the grass embankment of res near Ashway.

No one has reported seeing any crossbills or ring ousels recently.

Tom,
it was me who spotted the crossbill on sunday actually, i told racheal from the rspb ,, it was only a brief glimpse neaer to the car park

Made it up there on Sunday (1000). Saw lots of coal tits, blue tits, great tits on the feeders near the car park, as well as a v good view of a treecreeper. I spoke to the lady at the RSPB peregrine site and she said that someone had reported seeing a crossbill on Saturday (grr!).

It would appear not, Tom. But it's always worth a look!

Steve

Anyone seen the crossbills recently? I'm looking to head over there Saturday morning if poss and was wondering if they were still around.

Also seen on Saturday:
2 great spotted woodpeckers & brilliantly coloured male siskin on feeders at Ashway gap
little owl at charnel clough
ring ousel, not sure where, reported by peak district ranger
5 grey wagtail (2 adult, 3 juvenile)
cormorant
dipper
3 linnet (2 adult, 1 juvenile)
several mistle thrush in field near dove stone main car park.



-- Edited by Simon Harris on Sunday 8th of August 2010 09:28:19 AM

Missed the crossbills again today

peregrine flying over, also buzzard and kestrel, Woods full of coal and blue tits, lots of sighting of goldcrest, also treecreeper, linnets, wheatear, goldfinch, willow warblers, long tailed tits, two sightings of green woodie, one near binn green car park and one near the woods at the entrance to dovestones

5 cross bills at top of one tree Ashway gap car park 11.30am also 9 starlings sat on a sheep near sailing club Dovestones(deep pile luxury perch!)

9.45 a.m. At least 8 Crossbills in trees around car park this morning, a GM, in fact British, 1st for me, a 3rd time lucky visit. I was struck by their distinctive calls, which is how I found them. Also jumped when a Red Grouse flew up from under my feet just off the car park.
Cheers Ian

Rob Thorpe wrote:

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Mark Rigby wrote:

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...and promptly flew off before I could get a photo!

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How "convenient"

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I can vouch for them as I was with him at the time!!

Sorry folks, no point trying for tournament points or GM year listings at this site. According to the latest Birds magazine, the RSPB has just taken over the lease of a large area of land adjacent to Dove Stone reservoir, DERBYSHIRE

Rob Thorpe wrote:

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Mark Rigby wrote:

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...and promptly flew off before I could get a photo!

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How "convenient"

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Mr.Thorpe, whatever are you suggesting!

Mark Rigby wrote:

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...and promptly flew off before I could get a photo!

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How "convenient"

at least you got them mate, one less and Mr Heaton might be looking over his shoulder more often

2 Crossbill flew in to trees at Binn Green at 1800hrs, stayed for just enough time for me to get my camera from the car and promptly flew off before I could get a photo!

Many thanks chaps - that map link was really useful. Shows me that we really didn't know where we were going on Saturday Hopefully try again this weekend!

A site guide is immediately imminent. Unfortunately I've been busy birding and have a major article to publish whilst the mystery bird answers took me until 1am this morning to get done!

tom willis wrote:

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We had a look up there Saturday lunchtime but no joy (although we also spotted the wren family). We struggled with the geography of the place a bit - when you refer to the different plantations, where do you mean?

Cheers!

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If you get yourself the 1:25,000 map or look on http://www.bing.com/maps/?mm_src=home

and all the plantaions and areas can be identified.

We had a look up there Saturday lunchtime but no joy (although we also spotted the wren family). We struggled with the geography of the place a bit - when you refer to the different plantations, where do you mean?

Cheers!

0630-0820

Got out of the car at Binn Green and heard a small flock of Crossbill in the lower plantation which promptly flew across the res without me seeing them!

A couple where calling from deep within Bill O'Jacks plantation, but did not show themselves

Peregrine over, lots of Coal Tits ans a small party of recently fledged Wrens.

Its certainly not a dark side of Manchester Iain, beautiful location I've always been fond of and I have no restraints of boundaries or boroughs but yes, as always, I get about

sneaking into the dark side of Manchester again Ian!

Fourth visit in the past couple of weeks and another 3 hours this am:

28 Crossbill in total. A flock circled twice around the area above the house by the dam at Yeoman Hey Reservoir. The average of a few counts made was of 26 birds, so clearly there could well be more. A further two birds showed much better calling noisily in the trees inbetween the path and reservoir by Bill O'Jacks plantation.

Good numbers or Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Goldcrest, Willow Warbler juvs and a few Treecreeper around the car park showing incredibly well, many enjoying the peanut feeders there.

cool, might see you up there, good for goldcrest and green woodie too,

Dennis atherton wrote:

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Very Sad, way it goes with birding as you already know, better luck next time, i am going up again soon for mission Crossbill myself

Steve Suttill wrote:

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Following a phone call from Roger and Ian's posting, thought I'd check out Binn Green. Having walked all the way there in decent weather, the heavens opened as soon as I arrived!

No Crossbills seen - or any chats, or Ring Ouzels, or Peregrines or Sandpipers

Did find a huge flock of tits - mainly Coal with a few Blues. Pair of Bullfinch in the car park. Raven flyover and 2 Kestrels. Sun made a brief appearance as I got to the top of Greenfield Resr and out came the birds - family of Grey Wagtails, loads of Mipits and a few Wrens - then the rain started again

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Us too!

Very Sad, way it goes with birding as you already know, better luck next time, i am going up again soon for mission Crossbill myself

Steve Suttill wrote:

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Following a phone call from Roger and Ian's posting, thought I'd check out Binn Green. Having walked all the way there in decent weather, the heavens opened as soon as I arrived!

No Crossbills seen - or any chats, or Ring Ouzels, or Peregrines or Sandpipers

Did find a huge flock of tits - mainly Coal with a few Blues. Pair of Bullfinch in the car park. Raven flyover and 2 Kestrels. Sun made a brief appearance as I got to the top of Greenfield Resr and out came the birds - family of Grey Wagtails, loads of Mipits and a few Wrens - then the rain started again

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Following a phone call from Roger and Ian's posting, thought I'd check out Binn Green. Having walked all the way there in decent weather, the heavens opened as soon as I arrived!

No Crossbills seen - or any chats, or Ring Ouzels, or Peregrines or Sandpipers

Did find a huge flock of tits - mainly Coal with a few Blues. Pair of Bullfinch in the car park. Raven flyover and 2 Kestrels. Sun made a brief appearance as I got to the top of Greenfield Resr and out came the birds - family of Grey Wagtails, loads of Mipits and a few Wrens - then the rain started again

Fourteen Crossbills reported early on Friday morning at Binn Green. Feeding on Larch cones the flock consisted of 8-9 juveniles, 3 females and 2 males.

Info thanks to Roger Baker

No sign of Whinchat yesterday pm - must've been on passage - but a Wheatear on the slopes north of Bill O' Jacks plantation and a Red Grouse flushed from the side of the path alongside Yeoman Hey Res. Half a dozen Mipits on the east side of the res.

Yeah some parts are very desolute. You can walk for an hour without seeing a single bird sometimes. Green woodpecker and the illusive crossbills. Also winchat and ring ouzels and goldcrest. Perigrines. There are some good sights to be seen.

In my formative years birding/walking and climbing, I spent a lot of time up here and around Dovestones. You get loads of Wheatears on the slopes up to Chew Reservoir, past where the Ring Ouzels used to live.

Its an amazing place. Can be frustrating at times in the 'lifeless' plantations, but now and again, you will come across lots of birds and wildlife in those plantations.

I am due a visit!

All around dovestones, binn green area,


beltin day today, 2 perigrines in the air over the crag, the woods to the left of dovestones absolutley full of Coal tits, the most i have seen, also nuthatch, long tailed tits, chaffinch, bulfinch, willow warblers feeding young, wheatears just where ian said they were , i did not get any winchats today but i did get an excellent veiw of green woodpecker in the feilds near dovestones car park, also grey wagtails and dippers on the river,

confirmed by rspb warden two recent seperate sightings of ring ouzels and also crossbills flying over near binn green area

Cheers Ian, i read your post last night searching for somewhere new to go today and i was tempted by your sightings and had a great day, its like some kind of subliminal advertising, i missed the winchat but happy to miss a winchat for a green woodie, a bird i always struggle to see

hello to William and the very friendly RSPB wardens i was chatting too today

Almost forgot, nice goldcrest too

-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Saturday 24th of July 2010 08:48:09 PM

-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Sunday 25th of July 2010 08:10:34 PM

This afternoon:

Wheatear- atleast 3 on the slopes just north of Bill O'Jacks Plantation (which is the north end of Yeoman Hey Plantation alongside the reservoir). Certainly one was an adult male but the others were fleeting views on the crest of the slope.

Whinchat- 4 (atleast). Atleast 2 were fully fledged and fully grown juveniles, one was certainly an adult and the other was unspecified due to poor views. All on the same slopes as the Wheatear.

Willow Warbler- 2, one a juvenile mooching in the bracken on the slope as above.

Curlew- 1, over

Coal Tit- a remarkable and noisy flock quickly moving and feeding along the path edge of Yeoman Hey Plantation allowed easy counting and contained no less than 72 individuals (perhaps more!), the vast majority of which were juveniles. Not surprisingly, the rest of the plantation was very quiet!

a great day for all wildlife up here today

12 Curlew
3 Pheasant
1 Peregrine
3 Mallard

plus all the sightings of Mountain Hares and other wildlife on the wildlife forum

Dave

chasing hares, managed to see a Crossbill at Binn Green, also Dipper at the top of the valley above Greenfield Res.

more info on the hares on the wildlife forum.

Dave

myself and phil j had a walk up there today - almost birdless, but for 11 mallard and 3 meadow pipits. highlight was 6 mountain hares sheltering in the rocks above yeoman hey

-- Edited by Paul Cliff at 17:14, 2009-01-18

plus 6 goldcrest

1 dipper on the yeoman hey over flow

also 2 bulky finches over, but sadly was having a wee at the time - doh!

the waxwing was a real surprise, clocked it in flight and managed to track it til it landed, my first in county!

A single Waxwing at Binn Green this morning atop a conifer there.

Info thanks to Paul Cliff

yesterday myself, melanie and my friend phil had a walk up to the top of the crag above yoeman hey.

2 common sandpipers getting fruity!
stonechat
pied, grey and a white wagtail
wheatear
dipper
meadow pipit
red legged partridge
mistle thrush
willow warbler
wren
kestrel was the only raptor seen, sadly.

mealy still present this am plus sparrowhawk!