6th April.

1 singing Willow Warbler.
A flock of 6 Linnet, having a little earlier found a flock of 8 at Kingsway Business Park - looks like a small influx of what is mainly a summer visitor to this part of GM.

Reservoir levels are way too low at Piethorne for early April - we could do with some rain!

Cheers,

Bill.

redshank on Kitcliffe Res mid afternoon - otherwsie very qiuet

4th April,

No sign of any birds whatsoever on Rooden Reservoir at first light, or at least when the heavy fog/mist finally lifted!

2 Fieldfare were seen and a Golden Plover called from somewhere in the upper valley.

Bill.

3rd April.

A rare evening visit.

3 Swallows over Ogden Reservoir and 1 male Tufted Duck.

Drove past Rooden Reservoir in the upper valley on my way home and scanned the water in the last 10 minutes of daylight from the car park of the Rams Head pub! (SD977119) A male Shoveler was accompanied by a male Wigeon. A male and female Goldeneye were together. These are not particularly common species here and it looks like there may have been a passage of ducks taking place.

Therefore:-

There was a duck that looked like it might have been a female Red-breasted Merganser. However, it was almost dark and I was watching from several hundred yards away through my telescope in the gathering darkness! This res is a known resting place for Goosanders but it did not look like one of them to me. Might be there at first light? Will try and check out first thing in the morning and if it is such will let Ian or Judith know. Disclaimer!:- Anyone who comes to look, does so of their own accord, especially if it turns out to be a wild goose chase!!!


Cheers,

Bill.

31st March.

3 Shelduck at the side of Rooden Reservoir early afternoon. Only my second ever record of this species here and the first since 11/2/2005.

1 Swallow over Ogden Reservoir - a very early bird for here! Time to pull on the Piethorne anorak once again and browse through the old records! - had a look through my old reports for '03 -'08 and Neil Calbrade's reports for '94 -'01 and the next earliest seems to be 4/4/05. Mid-April is much more of a typical date.

3 Teal (2 males) on Ogden Reservoir.

Lots of recently born lambs in the fields.

Gary - interested to read you post of 26/3. Pleased to hear of developments at Dovestones - but wonder where these 100 extra wader scrapes are going? Certainly not Piethorne and I would guess not at Dovestones either. Unfortunately, I think the fencing is a necessary evil - to keep the sheep out - from grazing on and destroying the young saplings.


Cheers,

Bill.

Monday 30-3-09 13.00-15.30

Goosander 1 male on Hanging Lees
Dipper 2 on Piethorne
Great Crested Grebe 1 on Piethorne
Raven 4 in the air

plus common species

Gary

Bill Myerscough wrote:

---

....SCaMP is a joint initiative being run by United Utilites (UU) and the RSPB that is "a ground-breaking project that will benefit water and wildlife". More info is available at http://www.unitedutilities.com/AboutSCaMP.htm

Hope this is of some interest.

---

Thanks for this info Bill. Presumably this explains the planting that's gone on at Dovestones as well. The 100 extra wader scapes sounds good. Not too sure about the 200km of extra fencing though.

Gary

March 25

Searched high and low, up to Rooden and Norman Hill and still couldn't find a Wheatear

Very quiet around the valley, quite a blustery wind, Dipper at Norman Hill Resr, Cormorant and pair of Oystercatcher on Ogden, Little Owl in the usual quarry and Sparrowhawk overhead.

Re the fire, I passed on Friday night about 9pm and the moor was well alight then

Tuesday 9.30-11.00

Wheatear in the valley this morning only a single found.

Also Dipper, Curlew, Goosander, Grt crested Grebe, Oystercatcher, Linnet, Greenfinch,Goldfinch and usual species.

I mentioned in my post dated 22/3 the subject of SCaMP. So what is SCaMP?...... the name of the Blue Peter dog?......the trendy name for some boring internet bank?... No actually, it stands for Sustainable Catchment Management Programme! Can't claim to understand all of it but this is my limited grasp of it. SCaMP is a joint initiative being run by United Utilites (UU) and the RSPB that is "a ground-breaking project that will benefit water and wildlife". More info is available at http://www.unitedutilities.com/AboutSCaMP.htm

At Piethorne the project has specifically focused on establishing clough woodland in the upper reaches of the valley - presumably from a birding point of view to bring the western upland woodland suite of birds into this area - but obviously many decades further down the line! All of the planting of saplings was completed in a very short space of time last year, with minimal disruption and these areas are now fenced off and free from any grazing pressure.

So hopefully in many, many years to come Common Redstarts, Pied Flycatchers and Wood Warblers will have become so common and numerous at Piethorne that all birdwatchers will get thoroughly bored with seeing them! However, I just wonder if the level of global warming that is predicted for this century is actually realised, then what impact this might have on the success or otherwise of the programme?

Hope this is of some interest.

Cheers,


Bill,

I can't comment as it's the same area though it seems highly likely, but I was working at Oldham on Saturday (making up for manning shortages at their station) and we attended a large area of moorland on fire very early in the morning. It certainly wasn't started as a deliberate attempt to regenerate and a very large area of moor had been 'blackened', fortunately though due to the time of year it didn't burn into the soil and really did only scorch the vegetation which should regenerate quickly.

Steve Suttill wrote:

---

Hi Bill

I noticed the areas of burnt grass on my way over to Yorkshire (insert emoticon of your choice) yesterday. Do you know whether it is a result of arson, accident or a deliberate attempt to regenerate heather?

Steve

---

Hi Steve,

Suitable emoticon for Yorkshire?... how about... .. which my dictionary says is "a blissful state" (OK, know I'm using quite a bit of "artistic licence" with that emoticon there!) ... but still that should keep any Yorkshireman happy!

Re the burning; - will try and find out more but sometimes it is carried out by United Utilities, just to burn off the old moorland grass (unfortunately, there isn't that much heather in that area!).

Best wishes,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Monday 23rd of March 2009 12:23:48 PM

Hi Bill

I noticed the areas of burnt grass on my way over to Yorkshire (insert emoticon of your choice) yesterday. Do you know whether it is a result of arson, accident or a deliberate attempt to regenerate heather?

Steve

22nd March - am.

A Buzzard that looked like it might be drifting across the Pennines into Yorkshire was being given a helping hand on its way by 2 loudly "pronking" Ravens.

Skylarks singing, Meadow Pipits displaying and Curlews "yodelling" - despite the chilly and breezy conditions.

Pairs of Canada Geese were found in the most isolated and unexpected locations - no doubt having found their way there in their desire to attempt to breed!

Since I last visted on Friday, it would seem that a large expanse of Bleakedgate Moor in the upper valley has been burnt . Some of this burning has come quite close to the SCaMP managed areas of the valley at Piethorne. Will try and post some details on the SCaMP project here in my next posting. Not sure about this moorland burning? - still probably better to do it in mid-March than later in the breeding season? In some of the previous years the recently burnt areas have attracted small foraging flocks of Twite on passage - feeding no doubt on the seeds exposed by the burning process?

Still no Wheatears!

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Sunday 22nd of March 2009 01:43:22 PM

21st March

1 Dipper around Foulwater Lodge, Raven behind Piethorne Plantation, 3 GC Grebes (2 Ogden, 1 Piethorne) and 2 Oystercatchers at Hanging Lees but no Wheatears yet

A pair of Teal on Piehtorne res this afternoon at 3.30 pm. not there by 5pm.

15th March.

Evidence of some spring movement this morning:-

2 Redshank - 1 calling bird flew west at 7.50 am and approx. 45 mins later 1 was seen "paddling" at the side of Hanging Lees Reservoir.
6+ Lesser Redpoll were found feeding on the ground,
A flock of 9 Curlews were together near Rooden Reservoir,
There had been a small arrival of Meadow Pipits and small numbers also passed northwards over the valley, - a small number were displaying and fighting already - didn't take long for things to "kick-off" with them then!
On a beautiful spring morning at least 5 Skylarks were singing - giving a lovely stereo surround sound effect, whilst walking the valley!,
The highlight of the morning was watching a Stock Dove giving a really beautifully controlled and elegant display flight - first time I have ever witnessed this.

Came specifically looking and hoping for an early Wheatear - but no luck there.

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Sunday 15th of March 2009 12:54:00 PM

David Winnard wrote:

---

A pair of Gadwall (scarce in Rochdale) and a pair of Wigeon were on Piethorne, luckily Bill was about and managed to see them.

1 Tawny Owl
1 Great Crested Grebe (Ogden)

Wildlife Sightings on the Wildlife Forum

Dave

-- Edited by David Winnard at 18:28, 2009-03-07

---

Dave - the pair of Gadwall were an excellent find - many thanks for the phone call - it was nice to be able to rush to Piethorne and do a bit of twitching on my local patch!! Almost felt like being a proper birder!!

If I can just pull on my Piethorne "anorak" and trawl through the archives! This would appear to be only the third ever record of Gadwall in the valley. Males were seen on 13/11/95 and 25 & 26/12/2006. Would seem to be the first ever record of more than one bird here and also the first sighting of a female.

It's just a crying shame that they didn't have the courtesy to turn up on my morning visit!!

My only decent sighting of the morning was a mixed flock of c140 birds of Fieldfare:Redwing:Starling in approx. ratio of 5:1:1.

Cheers,

Bill.

A pair of Gadwall (scarce in Rochdale) and a pair of Wigeon were on Piethorne, luckily Bill was about and managed to see them.

1 Tawny Owl
1 Great Crested Grebe (Ogden)

Wildlife Sightings on the Wildlife Forum

Dave

-- Edited by David Winnard at 18:28, 2009-03-07

2nd March.

Flocks of c60 Fieldfare and c300 Starling seen this morning.

There appears to be up to 4 singing Song Thrushes in the valley at present - each with its own identifiable territory. 5 to 10 years ago and further beyond it was a struggle to even record this species at all and indeed many years had no records whatsoever at Piethorne. Nice to report that not all is doom and gloom and that there is the occassional positive story to report.

Cheers,

Bill.

27th February.

First Oystercatchers of the summer - 2 at the side of Ogden Reservoir this morning.

A fairly typical date - in the last 6 years - the earliest reported sighting for Oystercatcher @ Piethorne has been 15th February (2008) and the latest 9th March (2003).

Cheers,

Bill.

23rd February.

2 Wigeon - 1m & 1f - this a.m. - not much else about!

Bill.

20th February.

A single Curlew was an early "returner". For those with an interest in phenology - this equals the most recent (20/2/07) early date I have for Curlew at Piethorne. For the four years 2003 - 2006 and for 2008 the first returning Curlew was reported in the first two weeks of March.

Also present today - 3 Tufted Duck (2 males), 3 singing Song Thrush, 3 singing Chaffinch, 3 singing Skylark. Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming, Green Woodpecker yaffling, 7 Lesser Redpoll, 15 Fieldfare, female Goldeneye, Treecreeper, Stonechat and Dipper. There was evidence of a small northerly movement of Woodpigeons.

Cheers,

Bill.

19th November.

The Green Woodpecker that arrived in the valley in early August was seen again today and has hung around long enough to make it into the BTO winter atlas records!! Had a report from Matt from United Utilities that he saw this bird on 7th November along one of the catchwater drains in the upper valley at an altitude of approx. 325 metres above sea level!! Didn't realise this species had such a head for heights!

Also today - c15 Redwing flew west & a flock of 19 Stock Doves were counted. A Mistle Thrush was singing in the lower valley.

Keep atlasing!!

Bill.

Hi Simon,

Many thanks for posting details of that info. It's appreciated.

I did try looking yesterday at the Spurn observatory website at http://www.spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/ but their recent sightings page is a few days behind. In my many moments of idle day dreaming I often have imagined that the Starlings and winter thrushes that pass over GM and Yorks might come in on the east coast around Spurn - almost due east of these two areas - and head up the Humber estuary and move directly west across the country - or maybe this is just purely wishful thinking!!

I also had a look at a website that you might also have been looking at - the Bradford Ornithological Group at http://www.bradfordbirding.org/ They have an excellent blog http://vismig.blogspot.com/ given over to visible migration, which is always very interesting and has some great photos.

Once again, many thanks.

Best wishes,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough at 08:11, 2008-11-14

Hi Bill

There was a big movement of starlings today over the pennines in Bradford, one flock was est. at 700 birds which moved W- SW.

I also had a flock of about 50 go west over the flat while i was getting ready for work i've i had been up early prob would have had a few more!

Si

13th November.

An enormous and dense flock of several thousand birds passed quickly over the northern slopes of the valley, heading purposefully west, at around 8 o'clock this morning. 95% certain they were Starlings but they were gone before I could get my eyes fully trained on them. Twenty minutes later a flock of c200 Starlings headed west. Hope someone else managed to see the first flock somewhere further in the west of our recording area! If I had my arm twisted and was asked to hazard an educated guess as to numbers, I would estimate that 5,000 birds would be a conservative minimum!

All sounds a bit vague this! Sorry.

Bill.

12th November.

Singles of both Greylag Goose and Pink-footed Goose with the Canada Goose flock early this afternoon.

Bill.

11th November.

Ever tried bird-watching in a wind tunnel? No sign here of the windproofed, heated, luxury leather seated hides with waitress service and other such creature comforts that you "westerners" have got used to at Pennington Flash!!!
Try visiting Piethorne when it's just ever so slightly breezy! - um, not that there were actually any birds to look at when I visited early this afternoon!!

Got a phone call a little later from my local "informant" - thanks again Bev - that a solitary swan was foolishly braving the elements on Ogden Res. "Dashed up" - every lollipop lady/man was on "red"! - through the school rush to see a Mute Swan timing its take off to perfection just as I parked the car. Still I guess it was worth it - Mute Swans are scarcer here than Whoopers! - honest!

Cheers,

Bill.

10th November.

Pink- footed Geese:-
c35 east @ 7.58 am
c50 east @ 8.04 am

1 Woodcock, 1 Little Owl.

Bill.

5th November.

8 Whooper Swans (7 ads & 1 juv) on Piethorne Reservoir this morning. I am ever so grateful to one of the local Piethorne residents - many, many thanks Bev! - for phoning me yesterday to let me know that a party of 8 unidentified swans were in the valley on 4/11. Unfortuntely, I was away all day and wasn't able to visit! Getting up at 5.20 this morning was certainly worth the effort, as the birds were still present at first light and I had a really good viewing before they flew off at 8.15 am. Had managed to see 6 Whoopers at Fairburn Ings, Castleford on 3rd Nov - so why then is it so much more exciting and rewarding to see the same species on your "own" patch? The swans became more active prior to departure with much more "head bobbing" and calling and all took to the air and flew around the reservoir several times to orientate themselves before flying off in a south-easterly direction. A fantastic spectacle!

Also 70+ Jackdaws leaving a roost at first light and 3 Lesser Redpolls.

Cheers,

Bill.

30th October.

Early morning - a large flock of c350 restless thrushes feeding on hawthorns in the valley - 95% of which were Fieldfares. Small numbers of Redwings, Starlings, Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes made up the numbers. Spent a good while scanning the birds hoping for a late Ring Ouzel - but no luck - can't recall seeing any sightings on this forum of this species on autumn passage in GM this year? Unusual?

1 Pink-foot still with the Canadas.

Bill.

29th October.

Early morning - 2 Pink-footed Geese "down" with the Canada Geese - all attempting to forage on the frozen grassland.

+ 1 Lesser Redpoll.

Bill.

28th October.

Visit at first light - not a lot of birds but the valley looked very picturesque! The areas of beech woodland were aglow with bronze, gold and yellow tints. The reservoirs were like glass, with layers of mist swirling over the water. The mist was like the dry ice effects from a "Top of the Pops" studio circa 1980 - you half expected Cliff Richard to appear out of the mist and start singing - thankfully he didn't!

Visit early afternoon - a few more birds about.
1 Pink-footed Goose - down with the flock of c115 Canada Geese,
c45 Fieldfare,
Many more Blackbirds than normal - 14+ in a small area (mostly males) - feeding on hawthorn berries - presumably migrants?,
1 Kingfisher,
c20 Common Gulls.

A few snow flurries this afternoon! - in October Whatever happened to global warming?

Cheers,

Bill.

Cracking find, Bill! Let's hope it does a tour of all the local reservoirs.

Steve (green with envy!)

21st October.

After several weeks of relatively uninteresting birding here I was fortunate enough to find a female/imm Long-tailed Duck on Ogden Reservoir at 9.10 am!!
Unfortunatley though it was close to the waters edge and was spooked by a dog-walker and flew off in a westerly direction. Hopefully it will turn up somewhere else in GM for others to enjoy or being more selfish about it possibly return to Piethorne and spend the winter here!

This is the first record for this species at Piethorne and I am advised the first Rochdale record (of which there can't be that many) since 1983!

My enjoyment of seeing this bird is lessened by the fact that this local scarcity wasn't able to be seen by all the other local birders.

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough at 10:58, 2008-10-21

18th October.

c130 Redwing, c70 Fieldfare & 10 Siskin all moving west.

A Moorhen attempted to take a low flight over the water from one side of Ogden Reservoir to the other only to be targeted (unsuccessfully) by a Sparrowhawk.

17th October,

5 swans flew south at moderate height @12.35. I initially assumed that these had been some of the Whooper Swans that had been on Hollingworth Lake earlier that morning but with hindsight I would guess that they were probably the 5 Mutes that had also been there?
Goosander numbers slowly building up - 15 today,
c20 Linnet.

Cheers,

Bill.

10th October.

1 Goldeneye,
7 Goosander,
2 Great Crested Grebe,
2 Dipper - 1 singing,
2 pairs of Stonechat.

Not much else to be honest and no winter thrushes yet.....

Bill.

Paul Cliff wrote:

---

at least the valley was lacking in photographers today bill!

---

Hi Paul,

Have only just seen this post! Must remember to open my eyes ocassionally!!

It was good of yourself, Dave and Rose to come over to the valley on 1st Oct - even though the weather was atrocious. Shame you had to end up photographing me - can't understand why Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell indicated they weren't that keen on a photoshoot at Piethorne!

By the way - didn't you manage to sneak away carrying my weeks supply of Kit-Kats! Have had to make do with Twix ever since!

Cheers,


Bill.

at least the valley was lacking in photographers today bill!

3rd October.

A morning of finches!

c50 Greenfinch, c20 Goldfinch, a handful of Chaffinch - all part of a loose and mobile feeding flock. Elsewhere - c15 Linnet, 4 Bullfinch, Siskin & Lesser Redpoll heard but not seen.

Also flocks of - 14 Mistle Thrush, c20 Meadow Pipit and c20 Starling.
1 Green Woodpecker and 3 Goosander.


Bill.

28th September.

In addition to Steve Atkins excellent find of a Light Bellied Brent Goose at Ashworth Moor Res. late yesterday afternoon, he also managed to find time a little earlier to discover a single Pink-footed Goose down with the Canada Geese on Ogden Reservoir at Piethorne. Not a bad afternoons work Steve!!

29th September.

c12 Linnet feeding on the seeds of Common Sorrell Rumex acetosa
4 Bullfinch feeding on Silver Birch catkins.
Small numbers of Siskins and Lesser Redpolls flying about - no winter thrushes yet...

Cheers,

Bill.

26th September.

Buzzard - 1,
Wigeon - at least 7 still present,
Sparrowhawk - 2 - one nearly had a Grey Wagtail for a mid-morning snack!
Goldcrest - 7+,
Lesser Redpoll - 4,
Chiffchaff - 2.

Cheers,

Bill.

23rd September.

Little Grebe - first record of the year for this species here,
Canada Geese - 145,
Treecreeper - 2,
Meadow Pipit - 80+,
Swallow - 2,
Chiffchaff - 2 (1 singing),
Sparrowhawk.

24th September.

Wigeon - initially 3, later increasing to 8 - another "first" for this year,
Cormorant - 1,
Goosander - 3.

Cheers,

Bill.

22nd September.

1 Lesser Redpoll flew over.

16th September.

It was nice to see a female Pheasant with at least 2 well-grown young this morning.

Also 2 Grey Partridge, 2 Goosander, 4 Chiffchaff (3 still singing), Robins more prominent than of late - 17 singing/alarm calling, a flock of 60+ Meadow Pipits down in the valley, 4 Skylarks flew over heading south.

Cheers,

Bill.

Hi Judith,

Many thanks for that - very interesting - looking at the birds from underneath in gloomy light and at the height they were I was disappointingly unable to pick out any distinguishing plumage features. What I did note - which made me not try to claim Pink-feet - was that not only did they seem noticeably smaller than Pink-feet, which I have seen flying over the valley many times, but also that their flight action was (for a goose) very direct, with fast wingbeats - almost duck like in its urgency (and for that matter also in size) - again not really like the Pink feet I have seen overflying Piethorne whose flight has seemed in comparison more "laboured" than these 4 birds. Unfortunately, I guess this sighting will go down as some of those that have "got away". Still, I can console myself that I haven't messed-up on getting Brent Goose on the Piethorne all-time list - as I had been lucky enough to have found one down in the valley on 3rd Nov 2004!

Best wishes,

Bill.

Maybe Brents. Bill? Given there were 8 at Pennington Flash on Friday and 1 at Scotmans Saturday.

15th September.

Some moderate sized flocks of some of the commoner species this morning:-

11 Mistle Thrush,
5+ Bullfinch,
5+ Coal Tit,
Goldcrest everywhere - presmuably there had been an "arrival" of this species as they were present in areas and in woodlands that they are not usually seen in.
9+ Siskin - cracking views of them on feeding on silver birch catkins.
Whilst on the subject of Siskins - earlier in this thread I recorded the presence of this species in the valley in late June/early July. Whilst visiting Fairburn Ings (Castleford) yesterday - and dismally failing to find the Glossy Ibis that has been there for over a week! - I called in at the visitors centre and looked through the sightings logbook and noted that this reserve had recorded a flock of up to 50 Siskins in the first half of July. Remarkable numbers at a very unexpected time of year for this species there - presumably there must have been a movement or passage of this species at this time in certain parts of the UK but where had all these birds come from and why?

Finally, at 10.00 a.m. 4 small geese flew silently at moderate height over the valley heading south-east. Pink-feet? Unfortunately, I was not able to identify them - I blame the light quality, the height of the birds, the fact they were silent - in fact anything other than my ID skills!!

Cheers,

Bill.

September 12th - 10.00 - 11.30 am.

An hour and a half of visible migration watching in the lower valley this am.

Meadow Pipits - 53 - flying at moderate height mainly south or south-west - largest party was of only 8 birds.

Swallows and House Martins - 470+ not possible to count every bird accurately but I would estimate a 70%/30% split for Swallow and House Martin respectively. Many small groups flew purposefully south. The largest mixed groups were 159 counted in a 30 second period immediately after a heavy rain shower had passed over the valley. This 159 will have been but a fraction of the birds passing over after this spell of rain - as birds could be seen moving south on a broad front but all could not possibly be counted. Approx 20 mins later another "wave" of 82 passed over in a minute, again heading south.

Peregrine - 1 flying north-east.

Pied Wagtail - 1 south at height.

Siskin - parties of 6 and 5 at low altitude moving east.

In the valley - Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker and 50+ restless Black- headed Gulls milling about.


Cheers,


Bill.