Adult Kittiwake present loafing off the car park at 5:40pm at least, then seen circling high to the west.

Common Tern also present today.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

2 Little Gulls out towards the sailing club this afternoon. Both birds appeared to be adults, but only one in full summer plumage. I will stand to be corrected if not!

Osprey over edmonson hide at 11.15 during a heavy down pour. Circled low then headed off north.

No sign of Little Gull by 0725hrs

Common Sandpiper
3 Redshank
5 Snipe

Little Gull present at 6pm this evening.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

This morning:

150+ Sand Martin
6 Swallow
3 Shelduck
1 Redshank
4 Snipe
1 Oystercatcher
8 Linnet

Info thanks to Shaun Murphy

Late Sunday record; Kingfisher giving great views on the fishing lodge by Sorrowcow Farm, Green Lane.

No sign of the Little Egret at 4pm.

300 Sand Martin present.

This morining:

200 Sand Martin
3 Swallow
Coal Tit
Kingfisher
14 Snipe
1 Little Ringed Plover

Info thanks to Shaun Murphy

2 Black-tailed Godwits
4 Redshank

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

From Ramsdales midday today:

Little Egret watched it for 20 mins distant photo taken of it in reeds on far bank working its way up towards car park direction. When I returned for second visit at 2 pm no sight. Black-tailed Godwit. Two Redshank. Two Shelduck. Willow Warblers, Blackcap, Chiffchaff. 2 Jays. Possible further Shelduck further up but could have been one of the pair seen from Ramsdales.

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 9th of April 2012 04:26:35 PM

11.50-14.15
black tailed godwit-2
sand martin- 500+
swallow - 25+
house martin-c10
common snipe-4
willow warbler-2
blackcap-8
redshank-4
plus the usuals

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Monday 9th of April 2012 06:33:41 PM

The single Black-tailed Godwit remains on the sandbank at the western end this morning.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

early morning in the rain,pretty quiet ,things of note
willow warbler-3
chiffchaff -12
shelduck-1 pair
Common snipe-6
sand martin - 200+
swallow-20+
house Martin-4
Kingfisher-1
Blackcap-8
plus the usuals


-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Sunday 8th of April 2012 03:36:22 PM

Nice to meet you Bill and your partner. Hope you both enjoyed your time this morning.

Nice to meet you as well Bill

Also seen were 2 Swallows flying over the Golf course as I was returning to my car.

Osprey flew over very high at 1:20 this afternoon, heading north (ish).

Info thanks to Bob Potts

Saturday 7th April

Not a lot out of the ordinary this morning.

I counted 8 Snipe once the sun came out and gave their position away on the spit.
1 Redshank
1 Kingfisher flew towards Horrocks hide and beyond.
3 Oystercatchers
10 Wigeon
30 or so Sand Martins early on.
Quite a few Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs around plus lots of the usual.

am/pm
only things of note
Wigeon-10
willow warbler-3
blackcap-8
black tailed godwit-1
plus the usuals.

07.30am/13.00pm

Highlights:

Main Lake/Spit
6+ Goldeneye (Early)
30ish Sand Martins (Early)
12+ Mute swan
20+ Great Crested Grebe
4 Jays
10 Wigeon
1 Snipe

Bunting Hide
Pheasant m+f
Lots of Bullfinch m+f
Reed Buntings m+f :)
1 Willow Tit

Ramsdale
Shoveler
Gadwell
Lapwing
Heron
1 Black Tailed Godwit
1 Kingfisher (Thanks to Sean)
2 Redshank
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Treecreeper
1 Goosander (m)

Plus 2 Male Blackcaps
Goldfinch
Chiffchaff
+ The usuals

Approx 50 Species seen

Was great to meet a few forum members too

Adam Jones, John Doherty, Dave Thacker & Sean Murphy








-- Edited by Bill Glover on Saturday 7th of April 2012 09:06:42 PM

Spent early morning at the Flash 9-12, missing narrowly the Osprey. It's exactly a year to the day since I began the hobby!

Nothing much on the Horrocks' both at the start and the beginning.
The main flash had a group of 6 Goldeneyes and many Great Crested Grebes, a pair of which came to rest on the spit at noon.

Ramsdale was where the birds worth seeing were:
1 x Common Sandpiper - IDd by a chap with a scope on the edge of the back island.
2 x Redshank
2 x Little Ringed Plover
2 x Snipe
1 Shoveler, drake
etc

There were lots of Blackcaps singing - I sighted four, all males. Chiffchaffs were everywhere, Willow Warbler was also heard.








-- Edited by John Doherty on Saturday 7th of April 2012 06:04:51 PM

Robin Tong wrote:

---

Sending the birds up were 2 local kids, ran right down the spit!!!

---

I knew that would happen soon,the water levels are the lowest i can remember at the spit,and ditches around it.the dogs will be on next

Sending the birds up were 2 local kids, ran right down the spit!!!

Tanmay Dixit wrote:

---

Hi all, just logged in to the forum.

9.00-12.30 at Pennington

Caught a glimpse of what was almost certainly the osprey across main flash at about 9.15 (lifer)

Of note was a surprising find of a ringtail hen harrier which flew across the spit at Horrocks, flushing the birds on it. A site first for me.

Also:

Horrocks:
Ringed plover, various waders, a juv. lesser black-backed gull eating an eel (or trying to, it couldn't get it down its throat and kept dropping it as it was too heavy)

Usuals at bunting with at least 2 willow tit. also nice was 1 stock dove.

Ramsdale's hide: 2 little ringed plover + at least 1 kingfisher showing really well

loads of chiffchaff singing.

also really nice to see John Tymon, having seen his name repeatedly on these forums, good to be able to put a face to it

-- Edited by Tanmay Dixit on Friday 6th of April 2012 03:06:07 PM

---

nice to speak to you also Tanmay ,no sign of your Hen Harrier later unfortunately,although an hour later,something put every bird up off the spit including the cormorants,but by that time we were in rammies hide so didn't see the culprit,
3 black tailed godwit and a few house martins,swallows and stacks of sand martin where the only things of note this aft.

At 11:35 the Osprey was seen flying low over the junction of St.Helens Road and the Atherleigh Bypass heading towards the flash again.

Info thanks to Kane Brides

Osprey low over at 9:20 this morning. Mobbed by gulls it headed off NW and was lost to view behind trees. It's not known if it was the same individual as was present on 4th at this point.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

Hi all, just logged in to the forum.

9.00-12.30 at Pennington

Caught a glimpse of what was almost certainly the osprey across main flash at about 9.15 (lifer)

Of note was a surprising find of a ringtail hen harrier which flew across the spit at Horrocks, flushing the birds on it. A site first for me.

Also:

Horrocks:
Ringed plover, various waders, a juv. lesser black-backed gull eating an eel (or trying to, it couldn't get it down its throat and kept dropping it as it was too heavy)

Usuals at bunting with at least 2 willow tit. also nice was 1 stock dove.

Ramsdale's hide: 2 little ringed plover + at least 1 kingfisher showing really well

loads of chiffchaff singing.

also really nice to see John Tymon, having seen his name repeatedly on these forums, good to be able to put a face to it

-- Edited by Tanmay Dixit on Friday 6th of April 2012 03:06:07 PM

No Osprey for me or anyone else I talked to today. But Jon Taverner and I did have fantastic views of three Snipe that walked across the nearest pool right in front of Horrocks Hide - the best I've ever had.

Also of note was a Great Crested Grebe which Jon had mentioned and I found on my way back to the car. It had swum (is that right?) up the channel towards the bridge over the bypass and so was very easy to photograph as it couldn't get too far away. Nice to see it swimming underwater too as the stream is quite clear here. Seems fairly unphased by humans.

Also seen today was a distant Kingfisher at Pengy's Hide. a Blackcap high in the trees on the way to Tom Edmonson's Hide and a Black-tailed Godwit and Oystercatcher at Ramsdale's Hide as well as all the usuals.

Good unrestricted views tho distant of the Osprey constantly being harassed by gulls. Would love to take the credit for relocating it but that goes to Mike Baron. Also from the Horrocks hide:
2 Med Gulls
Kingfisher
2 Goosander
1 House Martin
And a Mink!

Cheers
Jason

After a fair bit of searching this afternoon I finally managed to locate the Osprey over the Teal hide at 4.20. It then disappeared again until re-located again by Jason as per the post below.

Really nice to see around a hundred Sand Martin on the flash along with at least 8 Swallow too. My first of the year!

Another first of the year was a quite brown looking Willow Warbler that dropped in right in front of Horrocks hide whilst I was talking to Karen Foulkes.

A nice couple of hours birding and also good to meet fellow Manc birders Simon Ghilks and Jason Atkinson.

Osprey still present at 5:15pm.

Info thanks to Jason Atkinson

Other birds present today included:

120 Sand Martin
2 House Martin
20 Swallow
1 Peregrine
2 Ringed Plover
2 Little Ringed Plover
3 Goosander

Good views of the Osprey 2.10 to 2. 20 this p.m.... flying in a fairly tight area on the South side of the Flash and a little East of the Sailing Club.
Viewed from outside Horrocks.

GM lifer for me.

Osprey still present at 2:30 though very mobile in the area.

Osprey still present at 1:30pm, stood on a tall post along the south-western edge of the flash by Mossley Hall.

Osprey currently present.

Originally found at 11:30 (by Bill Harrison) it caught a fish and by midday was sat by the path on the ruck visible from Horrock's Hide. Mobbed by corvids it rested briefly in a tree by the point, did a length of the flash and landed in a small conifer in the east bay where, mobbed by corvids again, it flew off very low east with what appeared to be remnants of it catch still in its talons!

This morning so far:

5 Swallow
70 Sand Martin
1 White Wagtail in front of Horrocks Hide

Info thanks to Bill Harrison

1-3 pm.

100s off sand martins
4 oystercatchers
4 redshanks
4 lapwings
1 pied wagtail
2 wigeon
5 goldeneyes
5 snipe
8 gadwall

info thanks to phil kelly.

More in hope than expectation,after a quick pie for teathe spit and 'rammies'19.00 till 20.00

redshank,oystercatchers,snipe in abundance compared to the flashes
no sign of the avocet(much needed wigan tick) or the white-fronted goose(gm lifer)

cheers geoff

2 Avocets flew onto the spit at 2pm, one a colour-ringed bird.

Info thanks to Pete Hines

Single Greenland White-fronted Goose present from 11:30 today and still present at 12:45 on the spit. Unringed and fully winged!

Original info thanks to Paul Brown

Patrick Baglee wrote:

---

Over the weekend I made two trips down to the Flash.

Saturday 07.30-10.00
Common Scoter (1)
Goldeneye (5)
Snipe (28+)
Black Tailed Godwit (1)
Redshank (2)
Sand Martin (75 E>)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (2)
Shelduck (2)
Grey Wagtail (2)
Buzzard (1, distant over East Lancs)

Sunday 10.00-11.00
Oystercatcher (2)
Goldeneye (5)
Blackap (c.3 in song)
Chiffchaff (c.5 in song)
Nuthatch (1, Pennington Hall Park)

---

Missed you by 10 mins both days

Over the weekend I made two trips down to the Flash.

Saturday 07.30-10.00
Common Scoter (1)
Goldeneye (5)
Snipe (28+)
Black Tailed Godwit (1)
Redshank (2)
Sand Martin (75 E>)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (2)
Shelduck (2)
Grey Wagtail (2)
Buzzard (1, distant over East Lancs)

Sunday 10.00-11.00
Oystercatcher (2)
Goldeneye (5)
Blackap (c.3 in song)
Chiffchaff (c.5 in song)
Nuthatch (1, Pennington Hall Park)

This morning:

11 Redshank
2 Black-tailed Godwit
20 Snipe

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

6 7PM
KINGFISHER LOW OVER RAMMIES
2 BLACK-TAILED GOWIT + 2 RINGED PLOVER AT WEST END
COMMON SCOTER ON MAIN FLASH HALF WAY BETWEEN SPIT AND SAILING CLUB
2 SAND MARTIN
PLUS USUALS

late AM/PM Mooch with Charlie Owen and Jon Taverner
Common Scoter - 1 Imm Male (In very SE corner when I left at 2,30)
Common Snipe-28
Blackcap-4
plus the usuals

Doc Brewster wrote:

---

Robert, I think you have to be one of a select few to get one of Ian's famous private massages

---

I'm sure I'll get around you all at some point!

In fact I was merely trying to keep the thread free of 'personal chat' and trying to keep it to what it's good at...bird sightings

Robert, I think you have to be one of a select few to get one of Ian's famous private massages

Ian McKerchar wrote:

---

I've sent you a private massage Paul.

---

Is that service available to us all?

Single drake Common Scoter present this morning and 50+ Sand Martins.

Info thanks to Bill Harrison

I've sent you a private massage Paul.