Ian Woosey wrote:

---

Mark Rigby wrote:

---

Black-tailed Godwit still present at 1615hrs when I left but not at 1630hrs when Mr.Thorpe arrived.

First rule of twitching-get the bird in first before partaking in idle chit-chat

---

Just a couple of points here gentlemen:

1) Mr Rigby, do you mean to tell me you have done a 40 mile round-trip to twitch a Black-tailed Godwit ?????

2) Mr Thorpe, you knew about the said Black-tailed Godwit at 09:00 and yet you nonchalantly amble up at 16:30 (and miss it) ? That is the TRUE Wigan spirit pal !

-- Edited by Ian Woosey on Sunday 7th of March 2010 08:59:09 PM

---

And Redshank................Yearlist..............Idiot................Ring any bells Mr.Woosey?

Mark Rigby wrote:

---

Black-tailed Godwit still present at 1615hrs when I left but not at 1630hrs when Mr.Thorpe arrived.

First rule of twitching-get the bird in first before partaking in idle chit-chat

---

Just a couple of points here gentlemen:

1) Mr Rigby, do you mean to tell me you have done a 40 mile round-trip to twitch a Black-tailed Godwit ?????

2) Mr Thorpe, you knew about the said Black-tailed Godwit at 09:00 and yet you nonchalantly amble up at 16:30 (and miss it) ? That is the TRUE Wigan spirit pal !

-- Edited by Ian Woosey on Sunday 7th of March 2010 08:59:09 PM

Black-tailed Godwit still present at 1615hrs when I left but not at 1630hrs when Mr.Thorpe arrived.

First rule of twitching-get the bird in first before partaking in idle chit-chat

7/3/10 (am)

Dover Basin & Lightshaw Hall Flash with Mr Meadows. Noteable sightings included:

1 Black-tailed Godwit
1 Redshank
2 Shelduck
1 Buzzard
1 Little Owl
2 Goosander
2 Yellowhammer
1 Kestrel
1 Sparrowhawk
10 Gadwall
22 Teal

Monday 01 March 2010

2 Raven north over Dover Lock at 09:20. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe.

Sunday 28 February 2010

Dover Basin & Lightshaw Flash at 15:00ish:
2 Common Shelduck
3 Great Cormorant (on canal)
2 Eurasian Oystercatcher
2 Northern Raven (over, heading south)

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Dover Basin & Lightshaw 17:00-18:00:
6 Mute Swan
5 Common Shelduck
8+ Gadwall
c30 Eurasian Teal
10+ Mallard
2 Northern Shoveler
11 Common Merganser
3 Grey Heron
Common Snipe (heard)
2 Stock Dove
Yellowhammer (singing)

21/02/10 am

Webs day ,snowing, cold must be mad but
200+ wood pigeon up off a roost(viridor i think)
1 cormorant over
2 magpie
2 jay
4 mallard
1 farm duck,all on the brook
1 buzzard
2 crows

Dover basin
8 gadwall
2 bh gull
2 shelduck
4 shoveler
44 teal
2 coot
1 grey heron,16 fieldfare over,7 fieldfare,perched up
cheers geoff

13/2/10 (am)

Dover Basin:

Four Ravens flew in over the railway line from Viridor Wood direction, giving excellent views as they wheeled around together interacting . Looked like two pairs - the Wigan birds, or interlopers from the Mosses ? Probably the latter as they drifted off in a Southerly direction...........brilliant sight either way !

2 Shelduck
10 Goosander
10 Gadwall
27 Teal
1 Yellowhammer
2 Skylark
2
3 Reed Bunting
1 Kestrel

Afternoon mooch around the pub fields and marsh towards viridor woods
Abram flash
5 mute swans
6 teal
4 mallard
2 shelduck (saved a walk to dover)
2 coot
fields and marsh
1 kestrel
4 crows
1 snipe
water rail heard
1 partridge flushed and flew into the allotments
very quiet

cheers geoff

Saturday 06 February 2010
early afternoon:

2 Shelduck (pair) on Dover Basin
c300 Pink-footed Goose over NW
1 Little Owl

30/1/10 am

Dover & Lightshaw:

2 Buzzard
14 Goosander (8 drk)
1 Snipe
64 Teal
2 Grey Partridge
3 Stock Dove
1 Kestrel
1 Sparrowhawk
5 Cormorant (over, towards Pennington from Wigan)
5 Jay
3 Willow Tit

Monday 25 January 2010

112 Pink-footed Goose over, heading west, at 10:00. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe.

Friday 22 January 2010
Dusk:

5 Cormorant (over)
1 Grey Heron
2 Shelduck
3 Snipe
1 Buzzard
Tawny Owl (heard)

Saturday 09 January 2010

Coffin Brook area 11:00-12:00, snow still deep:
2 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
1 Pheasant
1 Water Rail
14 Lapwing (over)
3 Herring Gull (over)
2 Collared Dove
3 Fieldfare
1 Willow Tit

Dover/Lightshaw area 12:00-13:15:
1 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
4 Pheasant
41 Lapwing (over)
4 Snipe
1 Great Black-backed Gull (over with several Herring and a few Lessers)
3 Stock Dove
1 Kingfisher
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker (heard)
9 Fieldfare
2 Willow Tit
1 Jay
2 Bullfinch

Tuesday 05 January 2010

Coffin Brook Flash area, mid-afternoon in the snow:
1 Grey Heron
3 Snipe
several Moorhen
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker (heard)
1 Jay (heard)
3 Bullfinch
1 Greenfinch (over)
1 Dunnock
2 Wren
2 Blackbird
1 Reed Bunting
All very quiet indeed!

Lightshaw,crows,woodpigeon,cormorant and a grey heron,the lake is frozen over as expected so no waterfowl to be found

Dover basin only 6 teal in a very small clearing in the ice

Pub to coffin brook and glovers(frozen over)
1 buzzard
1 kestrel
1 sparrowhawk
6 moorhens in the field
4 bullfinch
usual other small stuff,and a bit of bad weather to boot

cheers geoff

11/12/09 am

Sightings from Dover Basin, Lightshaw Hall Flash, Dover Marsh, Red Lion Marsh, Coffin Brook Flash and Glovers Pool:

9 Goosander {4 drk} (Dover Basin)
3 Buzzard
1 Snipe
2 Willow Tit
8 Bullfinch
1 Sparrowhawk
2 Kestrel
19 Teal
2 Shoveler
6 Reed Bunting
9 Mute Swan
1 Fieldfare
5 Pheasant
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker

38 species seen in total.

This am, on a mission with judith,charlie and derek,
of note
1 kingfisher
1 buzzard
not many waterfowl around,the water level has reached 'just flooded'

cheers geoff

Dover basin,12.00 ish

14 mallard
3 mute swan
1 buzzard perched up
1 great spotted

little else and dissapointing

cheers geoff

Wednesday 11 November 2009

1 Jack Snipe at Red Lion Marsh this morning. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe.

I,m not sure and am prepared to be shot down in flames,but looking at judith,s 2005 list in the abram watchers bibleI,d say it,s a first but i hope it,s not the last one to be seen here.

Bring on the daylight Geoff

Rob Thorpe wrote:

---

VERY BELATED REPORT so don't try twitching it Mr Woosey:

A Red-breasted Merganser (female) on Coffin Brook Flash, 10th & 11th April 2007. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe's notebook.
I thought it might be of interest to the few Abram regulars...

---

...........I`ve just looked through my notebooks to see where I was on those dates ~ on the 10th I was ont moors at Horwich watching the Heather grow , and on the 11th I was dodging dog turds at Wigan Flashes . Wait for this though..........I was actually at Abram on the 12th ! I never check Coffin Brook Flash (apart from when I did the WeBS)....SO, a salutary lesson indeed !

VERY BELATED REPORT so don't try twitching it Mr Woosey:

A Red-breasted Merganser (female) on Coffin Brook Flash, 10th & 11th April 2007. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe's notebook.
I thought it might be of interest to the few Abram regulars...

Monday 02 November 2009

70+ Pink-footed Geese heading east at 09:55. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe.

Saturday 31 October 2009

1 Brambling flew south over Dover Basin mid-morning. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe.

Friday 30 October 2009

Dover Basin @ 14:00ish:
1 sick Whooper Swan
1 Mute Swan
62 Teal
54 Gadwall
8 Mallard
7 Shoveler
5 Moorhen

Have ordered the RSPCA boat for early next week for the Whooper - that's as early as it can be arranged. Not easy to catch (I speak from experience!) but we'll do our best. Probably lead as that water's been shot over for many years.

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Dover Basin at 09:30ish:
1 Whooper Swan still present and looking sick
85 Pink-footed Goose over W
200+ Fieldfare over SW
"lots of Redwings"
info thanks to Terry Thorpe

Just before I went away, (15th), I noticed that corn was being put down to attract duck for shooting at Dover Basin. I reported this to Martyn Walker at Lancs WT

mwalker@lancswt.org.uk

as they bought the site recently and do not allow shooting - it has been regularly shot over as long as it's been one of my patches, which is since 1982. On my return I found a reply from one of their staff saying that they are looking into it and confirming they don't allow shooting on their land which is where this bait was. (I have given them the name of the person running the shoot who may not be aware the water has changed ownership - having said that, British Waterways didn't allow shooting either and they with the police and myself apprehended the shooters back in 1997 but nothing was ever done to enforce it)

Therefore, if anyone sees persons shooting over the water (not just pheasants on the adjoining fields) they should immediately contact the Trust on 01204 663754, or the police. Shooting was on Saturdays and Wednesdays in the late afternoon.

Yeah, I think the spaniels must be responsible for at least some of them Geoff, that would be a whole lot of logs for one man!

Why doesn`t he have a sh*te before he turns out...............next time I see him I`ll ask him.

Jimmy i,m not sure how we missed each other,but the bloke with the spaniels is always there at some point of the day and must be responsible for most of the tu$ds on the banking. Still nice to see the swans have stayed.

cheers geoff

Must have just missed you Geoff

Something flushed the Teal out while i was there 46 in Total
4 Shoveler
1 Buzzard

Chap with 10 Spaniels

Cheers Jimmy

25/10/09 dawn

2 whoopers still present
3 snipe over
plus usual suspects

cheers geoff

22/10/09 Mid morning

Dover Basin:

The 2 Whooper Swans are still present. One of them is continually calling, even though they are always side-by-side...... When I left the site they were both sat in the grass on the banks of the flash.
3 Goosander (f)
1 Buzzard perched up
3 Snipe
56 Teal
19 Gadwall
6 Shoveler
1 Sparrowhawk
2 Yellowhammer
29 Lapwings over, heading for Pennington
21 Redwing over
2 Skylark
5 Mute Swan
Water Rail (heard).

Geoff Hargreaves wrote:

---

theoy changed, 6 cobs ont razzel,two get lost

---

Geoff, these 2 are quite clearly not from your party of 6, otherwise Mr Thorpe senior wouldn't have got 2 tournament points for them, would he Ian!? Controversial? I think so!

Atleast I didn't fall asleep infront of the telly

Ian,yes I thought they were juveniles,but once again i,ve read it wrong, I thought the features i picked out indicated 'young uns' but on closer checking the collins they only attain 'whiteness' and full bill colour next year(hope thats right).Still got the species right ,i.m not so sure of their origins,just goes to show how much there is to learn

cheers geofftheoy changed, 6 cobs ont razzel,two get lost

Geoff Hargreaves wrote:

---

the 2 on dover are juviniles split from the family,

cheers geoffwhat,s spellcheck

---

Are you referring to the two currently on Dover as juveniles Geoff? They're clearly adults but of course that doens't undermine your theory either way pal Photos of the birds will be on by tonight at some point. Probably, depends if I fall asleep infront of the telly or not...

saw the whoopers this morning, thanks for directions.

quick look over the border(wigan that is)dover -whooper swans still present-12pm
also 30+teal
4 wigeon
25+ redwing

Just to clear this up cos i,m confused who wrote what when,if you want to go to dover basin ,use the mancy bible (A to Z) page 106 3a 'simples'.As for the bread test,I wouldn,t want to get that close and spook the birds.I,ve taken quite a few photographs of the remaining two,my best guess is that a family party of 6 landed in the area then after various upsets the 2 on dover are juviniles split from the family,

cheers geoffwhat,s spellcheck

Rob Thorpe wrote:

---

JOHN TYMON wrote:

---

Rob Thorpe wrote:

---

JOHN TYMON wrote:

---

brian fielding wrote:

---

is dover basin on the right of the tow path when walking down from the dover lock pub towards pennington?

---

not 100% but pretty sure its the small flash heading towards wigan from the dover lock pub and its on your left about 200 yards downgive em the bread test thoughas they are hangin about for a bit longer than expectedthen again a young un was takin bread from cars the other winter at penny

---

Brian, Dover Basin is the first pool on your right when walking from Dover Lock towards Pennington. The one John is referring to is called Coffin Brook Flash.

---

sorry its almost out of county for me that

---

Don't worry about it Mr Tymon, we'll just put it down to lobbies induced disorientation

---

i've getten a lobby ont boil as i speyk ney.

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Monday 19th of October 2009 08:44:32 PM

JOHN TYMON wrote:

---

Rob Thorpe wrote:

---

JOHN TYMON wrote:

---

brian fielding wrote:

---

is dover basin on the right of the tow path when walking down from the dover lock pub towards pennington?

---

not 100% but pretty sure its the small flash heading towards wigan from the dover lock pub and its on your left about 200 yards downgive em the bread test thoughas they are hangin about for a bit longer than expectedthen again a young un was takin bread from cars the other winter at penny

---

Brian, Dover Basin is the first pool on your right when walking from Dover Lock towards Pennington. The one John is referring to is called Coffin Brook Flash.

---

sorry its almost out of county for me that

---

Don't worry about it Mr Tymon, we'll just put it down to lobbies induced disorientation

Rob Thorpe wrote:

---

JOHN TYMON wrote:

---

brian fielding wrote:

---

is dover basin on the right of the tow path when walking down from the dover lock pub towards pennington?

---

not 100% but pretty sure its the small flash heading towards wigan from the dover lock pub and its on your left about 200 yards downgive em the bread test thoughas they are hangin about for a bit longer than expectedthen again a young un was takin bread from cars the other winter at penny

---

Brian, Dover Basin is the first pool on your right when walking from Dover Lock towards Pennington. The one John is referring to is called Coffin Brook Flash.

---

sorry its almost out of county for me that

JOHN TYMON wrote:

---

brian fielding wrote:

---

is dover basin on the right of the tow path when walking down from the dover lock pub towards pennington?

---

not 100% but pretty sure its the small flash heading towards wigan from the dover lock pub and its on your left about 200 yards downgive em the bread test thoughas they are hangin about for a bit longer than expectedthen again a young un was takin bread from cars the other winter at penny

---

Brian, Dover Basin is the first pool on your right when walking from Dover Lock towards Pennington. The one John is referring to is called Coffin Brook Flash.

There's nothing too unusual in them hanging around, the Wigan Flashes used to have a regular wintering herd some years ago, as did atleast a couple of other sites in the county

thanks john, im sure they will be wild, c u at penny tomorrow if your about.

brian fielding wrote:

---

is dover basin on the right of the tow path when walking down from the dover lock pub towards pennington?

---

not 100% but pretty sure its the small flash heading towards wigan from the dover lock pub and its on your left about 200 yards downgive em the bread test thoughas they are hangin about for a bit longer than expectedthen again a young un was takin bread from cars the other winter at penny