Today, morning: Ring Necked Parakeets, 3 Tufted Ducks, Canada Geese, Moorhens, Coots, 2 Cormorants, Crows, Magpies, Wood Pigeons, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Dunnocks, Robins, Wrens

Today, 1100ish: 2 ring necked parakeets either side of the river between the lake and the flats (NE of the lake). 1 was calling occasionally. I've heard them here before. 2 mute swans, Canada geese with largeisg but still cute yellow goslings, Coots with chicks, heron building a nest, feral pigeons, 2 tree creepers, 12 crows on the soggy football pitch, 6 Canada geese on the dryer one by the running track, great tits, blue tits, 2 mistle thrushes

Late report for Weds 4th Mar: (13:30 - 16:00)

To be honest I dont think I had been here since I was a kid 50+ years ago, so I thought I'd take a walk here for a change

- 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 drumming
- c6 Nuthatch
- 4+ singing Coal Tit
- 2+ Bullfinch
- 3 Jay
- 5 Grey Heron (4 occupied nests)
- 1 redhead Goosander
- 1 Common Gull
- 1 Grey Wagtail

2 Tufted Duck
1 Mute Swan

Avian botulism is the likely cause of more than 80 bird deaths at a Manchester park, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said.

BBC website reporting over 80 dead water birds. Do any locals have more info? Particularly interested in whether the herons have been affected.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-28416209

Today 15th march 7 occupied grey heron nests Singing chiffchaff drumming great spotted woodpecker Great crested grebe on nest

'Tis the season to be .....thinking about getting yourself a mate and bringing new life into the world in 2014!

Yesterday (31/12/13) at Boggart Hole Clough some signs of the new breeding season being just around the corner. Several Woodpigeons in stomach-churning, rollercoaster display flight over the woodlands. Two pairs of Magpies titivating one third to half built nests. An unseen woodpecker was drumming. I noticed on one of the rafts two large white-creamy coloured eggs - I'm sure they weren't there last time I visited in early December. Possibly recently laid but seemingly now abandoned Canada Goose eggs?

Also about - 6 Goosander (3 drakes), 21 Tufted Duck, 2 Grey Heron and a Goldcrest. A few Redwing flying over.

With mention of the forthcoming breeding season it seems like a good time to ask, once again, that all of us GM birders make that little bit of extra effort to send into Ian and the GMBRG details of those all important records of our local breeding birds in 2014. How about that being one of our New Year's resolutions? ...one that we stick to! I know I probably sound like an old vinyl record with the needle stuck when I say this .....but please don't forget to add those all important breeding codes to your records. Many thanks.


Bill.

I saw some Goldfinches feeding on Ash keys yesterday,in Heaton Park,Bill.I thought at the time that this seemed unusual.

5th November.

A large mixed flock of c80 birds - Goldfinch and Lesser Redpoll, regularly being put into the air around the lake this morning, presumably by some unseen bird of prey? The approximate split from the calls being made and when the birds landed together for a short time appeared to be roughly 50/50 - so quite a substantial redpoll flock. The Goldfinches rather unusually appeared to be feeding on Ash keys. I can't say that I have ever noticed this activity for Goldfinch before, although I have for other finches - Greenfinch especially and also Bullfinch. The redpolls showed no interest in this food source and when things settled down they flew off to feed elsewhere. On my return home I could find no mention in reference material of Ash keys being a recognised food source for Goldfinch. Maybe the good food source in these keys, an attraction for other sturdier billed finches, can possibly only be accessed by Goldfinch when the keys are as soggy as they are at present?

Cheers,

Bill.

A walk around this morning in the humidity with my twin.

Lots of Nuthatches, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Jay.

2 adult Moorhen and a drake Tufted Duck on what is now quite a filthy lake on side - I don't know what happened but it was depressing to see an unattended Moorhen chick threading its way through a film of scum.

A bit of a change on the lake there is another Great Crested Grebe that has appeared but the one in winter plumage seems to have disappeared which kind of confirms my theory of this being a juvenile ?

In addition there was a single cormorant on the fishing lake. I think the bailiff (something to do with fishing club) took a few pics I rushed home to get my camera by the time I got back (5 mins) he'd scared him off..!! Apparently it's been here early morning so ill have to try and catch it then.
All the usuals geese tufted ducks etc.

Quick walk with dogs after work

Surprised to see a second Great Crested Grebe, the first one isn't showing much in the way of colour? Could this be the female or a juvenile.? Possibly from last years brood.?
2 separate robin singing away
Blue tit
Single male chaffinch
2 goldfinch
Blackbird
Usual tufted ducks
Canada geese
The swan seems to have disappeared again
Various crows (carrion I think)
Rough count of Grey Heron is approx 8. Hard to count as you don't always see one sat low in the nest.

still lots of activity from the grey herons nest building etc

A first spotting for me here today of a Grey Wagtail, seen them before but not here. So im pretty happy with my sighting.
1 Great Crested Grebe so hoping the mate will be along soon.
2 Mute swans
and please let me no if im wrong on this one but an Aylesbury duck.? A lovely couple I speak to think its this so im going along them.
Getting exciting out there now. Looking forward to a busy year getting out with my bins and camera.



-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 18th of February 2013 06:46:13 PM

Lots of Grey Heron activity going on at the moment. Nest building. There are at least six pairs with a whole host of nests so is hard to work exactly how many are being used at the moment.

Met a nice fella from Newton Heath who spotted 5 or 6 Redwing which is a first for me in the Clough.

Lots of Tufted ducks
Mallard
Canada Geese
Blue tit
Great Tit

I did see 4 Mute swans here a couple of days ago which I think is a parent with 3 offspring from last year possibly ? However none seen here today.

12th February.

Ringed Mute Swan - metal ring left leg ZY5126. I'm sure I've seen this number somewhere else before in my records (or possibly not?) - so will have to try and trace its origins.

Cheers,

Bill.

Massive flock of ??? Not sure exactly what type of corvid but reading bills post jackdaw ? Didnt have bins but doubt id have been able to tell in such dark conditions.. Around 5-6 pm.

Have a video on my phone of them flying round making a racket.? Pretty spectacular to watch.
3 grey heron
Tufted ducks a plenty
Mallard
Canada geese

5 grey heron (2 sat on nests)
30-40 Tufted ducks (looking very windswept I have to say)
Not so many Canada geese as is usual here
Variety of gulls ( knowledge is sketchy they all kind of look the same, sorry)
Several coot and moorhen
No goosander seen today
Blue and great tits heard

Quick stroll with my dogs around the lake

Something I've not seen before was a male goosander along with I assume his mate. Beautiful jet black plumage.. So worth the quick walk.

Nothing much else apart from odd blue and great tit.

hi Bill

Your sightings are pretty impressive and I'm secretly envious of your ability to spot the more rare birds such as treecreeper, I'm a keen amateur photographer and would love to take shots of more rare species.

Has anyone been on the nature walk on Sat morning? I just wondered if its worth tagging along if there are chances of seeing rarer species.?-appreciate any comments or tips.

Haven't been out walking the dogs of late due to being pretty dark when I get home from work. :0(

cc

8th November.

c350 Jackdaw in the tall trees surrounding the lake at around 4.00 pm today and birds still arriving in small numbers as I left. The majority of birds (but not all) including flocks of up to c50 birds in size appeared to be coming into Boggart from a south-easterly direction. Possibly a pre-roost gathering?...as I have an earlier record of Jackdaws assembling here late in the day on 29th December 2010, when birds were seen departing north-west 15 minutes before darkness, presumably to roost elsewhere. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to stay 'till nearer darkness today. So possibly this site is a suitable interim meeting up point before they continue in the same direction, heading towards their night time roost? One wonders how far some of these birds must travel each day between the feeding locations and their safe sleeping quarters? Still it was a really nice visual and aural treat late this afternoon.

Also noted Sparrowhawk, Treecreeper and a Tawny Owl was hooting.

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Thursday 8th of November 2012 07:33:41 PM

26th Oct

10 Goosanders
2 jays taking nuts quite happily
robin
Lots a tufted ducks and mallards

Went back following day, yes they are goosanders, only 3 there though. 2 Swans made a brief appearance and a grey heron.

Hi bill,

Thanks for your response, I always seem to get it wrong haha but that's how you learn I suppose. Yes indeed they could be goosanders and a couple I speak to in the clough have said they've seen them in past years. I didn't have my binoculars with me but will take them next time I go. Hopefully will get a better look but I'm thinking most likely to be goosanders. It's difficult as when I googled it the pintail really did look like what saw.. Oh well lack of experience counts I guess.

Thanks again Bill.

Collette Collier wrote:

---

Quick post, had a little stroll round the lake and saw what I'm sure we're 6 pintails. As I'm a novice Id appreciate comments as to the likelyhood of them being pintails. They were very shy, every time they were near the edge and I walked near to get a closer look they swam off into the middle.. Grey body, brown head. Size of a mallard I'd say..

---

Hi Collette,

Have you considered these birds might be Goosanders? Close views will show a different bill from many other duck species, being fairly long and thin looking but with a broadish base and with a noticeable downcurved tip and marked serrations to the bill. They can occur in reasonable numbers on the two lakes at Boggart Hole Clough in the winter months - numbers tend to peak here in the better years at between 10 and 20 birds. They tend to go around as a group in a communal fishing flock and I'm certainly not an expert on Goosander but most of the birds at this time of year are called as "redheads" and thought to be a mixture of females and first year birds of both sexes. Many of the adult males, which don't appear in any numbers until much later in the winter, are thought to fly north to northern Scandanavia to moult, many in one particular fjord on the northern tip of Norway. The adult males when they return have a sleek black head and are quite easily distinguished from the brown headed birds around at present.

Hope this is of some help?

Best wishes,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Friday 19th of October 2012 07:20:23 AM

Quick post, had a little stroll round the lake and saw what I'm sure we're 6 pintails. As I'm a novice Id appreciate comments as to the likelyhood of them being pintails. They were very shy, every time they were near the edge and I walked near to get a closer look they swam off into the middle.. Grey body, brown head. Size of a mallard I'd say..

Today, shower-dodging

Herring Gull, 1 amongs the Blackbacked Gulls on Athletics Track, flew off
20 Starlings, some mingling in with gulls/Woodpigeons here
5 Tufted Ducks (Lake)
1 female Great Spotted Woodpecker, showed well off the lake
A second Great Spotted Woodpecker heard elsewhere.

3rd September.

Brief but reasonably good enough views of a Spotted Flycatcher amongst a roving tit flock around the lake this morning. This is my first record of this species here and luckily was the first of 2 sightings of Spotted Flycatcher in different locations today!

Just a single juvenile of the family party of Great Crested Grebe is left. A female Mallard escorted 8 half grown ducklings around the lake making sure they stayed topped up on bread! A flock of 13 Long-tailed Tit and 5 Tufted Duck too.

Cheers,

Bill.

Nice weather for it.

Nuthatch, Jay, two singles of Swift through, plus 2 Mute Swan and at least 1 well-grown Great Crested Grebe (didn't do the full revolution of the pond due to crowds) and seven Black-headed Gulls on the running track.
Never heard a single Blackcap throughout - perhaps they've gotten sick of the weather and gone home
It was well dry though today, the ground and the mud and puddles seeming to have dried.

-- Edited by John Doherty on Sunday 22nd of July 2012 03:56:21 PM

19th July - am.

Had a quite brilliant half hour this morning watching the antics of one adult and the four well-grown young Great Crested Grebes. The adult was seen on 2 occasions to feed young but for the remainder of time showed some considerable aggression towards members of the brood. I couldn't find any studies on parent to offspring aggression in Great Crested Grebes but one on Moorhens (which admittedly may not be entirely relevant!) suggested that parental to juvenile aggression helps reduce sibling competition and encourages chick independence. It also suggested that there was a correlation between the amount of feeding and the level of aggression shown towards a particular chick. Those that had been fed more, also got more aggro ..............primarily to drive them away for a short time so that those that hadn't been fed could get closer to the adult and then get a chance of any food. Seems fair enough. I also read that broods for this species are quite often divided, usually by week 6. So maybe this adult was attacking the other adults young - in effect feeding "in" chicks and attacking "out" chicks? I suspected brood division in Little Grebe when watching two late breeding pairs in different parts of GM last year where individual adults showed signs of "ownership" of certain young. The two adults of these pairs seemingly just fed their 3 and 1 and the other pair 1 and 1 respectively and when the "other adults" young approached begging for food were shown aggression and chased away. Anyway, back to the Great Crested Grebes - Collette first reported young on this thread on May 13th - so the oldest of the young will be at least 67 days old (possibly older as the nest was occupied on April 2nd, if not earlier) and reference studies suggest fledging at 71 - 79 days, so maybe it's just time for them to try and get their own food! The study on Moorhens did suggest that adults and offspring are expected to disagree about the timing of independence and after the parental aggression today the juvenile Great Crested Grebes all made attempts at diving for their own food but without any visible success. You wonder how many young grebes may die at this late stage because they can't quite master such a complex skill?

Also a small number of uncounted Siskins flew over calling and a Canada Goose appears to have paired up with a large white farmyard type goose and they look to have 2 hungry goslings.

Cheers,

Bill.

This is a long shot but here goes. I am a really keen photographer and would love to photograph or even just see one of my all time favourite birds the elusive Kingfisher.

I've heard there's one at Daisy nook but wondered if anyone is willing to share further sightings/location. ? I no its one of those things that people are wary of giving out but I'm genuinely just looking to take photos and achieve one of my all time goals.

My email address is userf3133@aol.com

I live in North Manchester so any other local places of interest would be greatly appreciated.

Post not meant to cause any offence as none was intended.

Thanx CC

Go with your gut instinct Collette; your first thought is usually the right one

Had a quick walk before the rain came, around 3pm, amongst the many Canada geese I saw what a think was a Kestrel, ? It was soaring higher and higher like how Buzzards catch thermals now I'm unsure if Kestrels do this. It was a small ish bird with at what looked like a square tail but difficult as it was really high ive looked at some of the photos of Kestrels in flight and the tail can look square but usually is rounded.

I do lack experience at identification but welcome your thoughts and experience.

Also saw one Adult Great Crested Grebe and just 2 of the chicks.
Pair of Tufted ducks

4 grey heron plus one very
noisy chick making a real
racket for at least an hour
a pair of tufted ducks
1 adult great crested grebe plus
4 very healthy looking young i
saw the adult catch 3 good size
fish for the young and had the
pleasure of watching them eat
a real treat to watch
plenty of canada geese
a pair of mute swans
plus chiffchaff,blackcap,and nuthatch,
not a bad morning considering the weather.

called in today 1-2pm.

2 Mute Swans
1 Great Crested Grebe adult, seemed to be accompanied by just the one chick, but possibly more under the overhanging greenery.
A fair few coot chicks plus parents
1 Grey Heron
Far too many Canada Geese (chased into the lake by a off-the-leash Staffie

Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Nuthatch around.



-- Edited by John Doherty on Tuesday 19th of June 2012 04:20:19 PM

All 4 Crested Grebe chicks out swimming on the lake ths afternoon. Lovely to see

This afternoon -

Highlights - 1 Nuthatch (spied it without it calling, which was a bonus) 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Swifts over, 3 Mute Swans on lake + a fair few coot chicks and geese goslings.

Plus the usual tits, finches and expected common warblers.

Well firstly there are loads of grey heron chicks, I counted at least 4 Off the nests

Lots a coot chicks at various stages of development

Walked round with my head in the sky as opposed to down looking around the lake and sure I saw a pair of peregrines.. Swooping down tucking their wings back, they were right over the far trees way beyond the lake. Could be the pair from city centre ?

Today i saw the grebe chick for the first time. I'm sure there is only one this time It was on the back of what I think is the female, the male came over and the chick entered the water very briefly then got back on the female. Very nice to see.

Hoping she comes farther out so I can get a photo.

:0)

Hi bill

Thanks for the reply, I've looked at photos and it could well be the sedge warbler haha my confidence is wavering. But hey I guess this is the way you learn ? Well I do anyway.

Exciting that it could be he same bird you saw too.

Thanks again :0)

CC

Hi Collette,

There's no reason why Garden Warbler shouldn't turn up at Boggart Hole, indeed there's plenty of suitable habitat for it there. Not sure how reliable the RSPB bird identifier is though? given that amending one field alters the likely suggestions. From my own experience - I haven't recorded Garden Warbler at BHC although there's plenty of Blackcaps in the area, as well as a few Chiffchaffs. Garden Warblers, if not singing, are one of those species where a decent view is required, although they are not usually that obliging!

On a visit this morning - having just stated that Garden Warbler would be an unusual record here, there was a singing Sedge Warbler in the scrub around the lake - the first time I have recorded this species here!

Also - Carrion Crow on a nest, a Coal Tit taking food into a subterranean nest, fledged Long-tailed Tits and a Sparrowhawk flying over, along with the usual species.

Bill.

Yes I'm now fairly confident this is a garden warbler ? Just googled several photos and it does look like the bird I saw.

Now I'm sure someone will steal my thunder and say we don't get them round here but I'm sure it was.

Haha I'm bugging myself now.!!!

In relation to my last post, I now don't thnk it was a tit.? As its nothing like any of the tits on Rspb page but their identifier says its a garden warbler.?

Could this be correct .?

Thanks folks. :0)

-- Edited by Collette Collier on Friday 4th of May 2012 03:00:11 PM

Just had a walk around the lake.lots of heron activity Feeding young etc

I did spot a bird I've never seen before exactly half way round the lake where it's very dense. It looked like a tit of some sort quite jittery movement high up in the trees. Very plain looking pale fawnish colour with darker strip down the front.?

Ideas anyone as I may then be able to identify if I have a starting block ?

Thanks
CC

Also saw a song thrush in same place

-- Edited by Collette Collier on Friday 4th of May 2012 02:47:19 PM

Excellent find, Bill!

11th April.

A Common Sandpiper foraging along the raised edge of the wooded island was a nice surprise here this afternoon.

Cheers,

Bill.

Collette Collier wrote:

---

Thanks Ian, tried it find your email address on here ? Am I not looking in the right place ? Member profile ? lol sorry to bug...

---

Look on the Manchester Birding website under who's who page Collette.

As for ispot, I have my own opinion which is perhaps best not aired here

Hi Steve

Great site, tho only looked at the video you sent link for... Still not sure haha but am still convinced its mistle... Tall in stance so swayed at mistle... . .?

Maybe one I'll get good at ths..!!! :0(

Thanks Ian, tried it find your email address on here ? Am I not looking in the right place ? Member profile ? lol sorry to bug...

If Mistle and Song Thrushes are your problem, this page of the BTO website is just what you need:

http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/know-your-thrushes-song-and-mistle

A useful site to help you with your ID skills - not just birds, but mammals, reptiles, insects, etc. etc. is

http://www.ispot.org.uk/

It's a reputable site set up by the Open University. David Caron has mentioned it in his posts and he seems to find it useful. My work colleague started posting his insect photos on the site a couple of years back. He was a novice at the time, but now he seems to be Manchester's expert on hoverflies (now, if you think birds can be tricky...)

Steve