Late afternoon to dusk tonight produced highlights of:

Adult Caspian Gull

Adult Yellow-legged Gull (the recent small bird)

3 adult Mediterranean Gull in various stages of head moult

530 Herring Gulls

147 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

14 Oystercatcher

36 Cormorant

42 Goldeneye

Only one Little Egret along the edge of Ramsdales

1 Kingfisher by Sorrowcow Farm

Sunday 19th February 2023

1 x Common Snipe

John Lindsey Photography[/url], on Flickr

Late post for 18/2/23

Little Egret showing well at Tom Edmondson hide

The small adult Yellow-legged Gull was in the roost again this evening, along with an adult Mediterranean Gull. A Little Egret was in Ramsdales and a drake Pintail on Teal Scrape.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

So far this morning:

4 Pintail (2 drakes)

5 Little Egret

9 Goosander 7 Oystercatcher  

42 Shoveler on Teal Scrape

Info thanks to Bill Harrison and Barry Hulme

Late afternoon up to dusk today:

11 Oystercatcher

346 Herring Gull

112 Lesser Black-backed Gull

27 Goldeneye

3 Little Egret together in Ramsdales

Cetti’s Warbler around Sorrowcow Pond

This evening five Little Egrets flew into roost together and an adult Mediterranean Gull roosted 

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

So far this morning:

8 Oystercatchers

2 Snipe

4 Little Egret

2 Shelduck

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

Earlier this morning, 6 Oystercatcher, 3 Snipe, 3 Little Egret, 100 Lapwing and 29 Redwing

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

Adult Iceland Gull present this late afternoon, also present last night too.

Into thanks to Phil Rhodes

A very quiet morning, 5 oystercatchers, 1 little egret and 20 redwings were the best I could manage 08:15-10:30.

This morning, 09:00 - 11:30

Shelduck 1

Oystercatcher 5

Redwing 60 Mossley Hall

Little egret 2

This evening in the gull roost, the smaller adult yellow-legged gull, also 5 shelduck at the Slag lane end and 6 oystercatchers on the spit.

This morning, 8-15-10:15, now 7 shelduck at the western end, also 3 oystercatcher.

6 Shelduck this morning, 2 Oystercatcher and 3 Little Egret.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme 

Four Little Egrets present this morning.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

Late afternoon up to dusk today:

Very small gull roost (as is pretty usual on a Sunday) with only 520 Herring Gulls

Adult Mediterranean Gull

Kingfisher off Sorrowcow Farm

1 Chiffchaff around Sorrowcow Pond (also present 30th Jan)

2 Raven flew over east together at 4:40pm

9 Greylag Geese flew straight though west at 5:15pm

3 Little Egrets flew from Ramsdales to the south side to roost at 5:05pm

33 Goldeneye

1 Oystercatcher on the sailing club shore

This afternoon, 13:40 - 16:00

Mediterranean gull 1 adult flying off the ruck

Little egret 3 in Ramsdales

This morning 8:30 - 10:30;

Mediterranean gull 1 adult on the car park

Pintail 2 male and female western end

Little egret 4 in Ramsdales

Oystercatcher 2

Goosander 23 inc. 13 from Teal hide

The Mediterranean gull has a ring on it's left leg but I couldn't make much out on it other than the number 7. However the ring looks very like the ring on a bird which was first seen at the flash over 10 years ago, but unless the bird gets seen again and in much better light we'll never know for sure.

Late afternoon;

Yellow-legged gull 1 adult

Mediterranean gull 1 adult

Oystercatcher 7

The overall spectacle today was just staggering at times. I've never seen so many jackdaws at the roost, they're difficult to count because they swirl around over the water and dive bomb the gulls, with smaller flocks breaking away and other flocks joining in, but there must be close to 3000 birds. While all of this was happening a lorry drove down to Sorrowcow farm and hundreds (thousands?) of gulls took to the air and swirled around with the jackdaws, an amazing sight.

This morning, 8.30-10.30;

Little egret 5 Ramsdales 

Wigeon 3 (2 drakes) Western end

Oystercatcher 3 boat club

This evening's gull roost held more Herring Gulls than yesterday but nothing more interesting than one (possibly two) adult Mediterranean Gull but there were plenty of Herring Gull pairs (and a single Great Back-backed Gull pair) in some form of display or pair bonding with much calling across the roost.

57 Goldeneye

2 Oystercatchers

Late afternoon this evening with Pete Berry:

760 Herring Gulls

2 Kingfishers

110 Pink-footed Geese over west at 4:10pm

58 Goldeneye at dusk with all but three of them in a single flock at the western end 

This morning, 5 little egrets in Ramsdales was the highest count I've ever had of the species at the flash.

Early this morning, Bittern showing in Ramsdales Reedbed and 22 Goosander present.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

This late afternoon up to dusk, 4 Little Egrets flew to roost and an adult Mediterranean Gull roosted.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

I only had time for a 20 minute look from the boat club this morning but with no reports of the Smew at Rumworth Lodge up to that point it seemed a worthwhile exercise. Sadly no smew that I could see but 2 little egrets, 3 pochard, 20 goosander and at least 20 greylags. 

A lovely sunny morning with ice still on the pools.  I was disappointed by the lack of maintenance on the reserve:  Horrocks hide still shut because of rotten wood on the ramp, the spit is overgrown with dogwood,  Ramsdales hide had a bank of uncut reed blocking the view, and there was more litter than usual.  Goldeneye, Goosanders and Little Grebes on the flash and a small flock of lapwing, and plenty of activity at the Bunting Hide Feeders including Bullfinches, a f Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Stock Dove, but no sign of the Willow Tits in an hour of watching.  The work on the new cafe looks almost finished.

A quick look first thing this morning produced;

Little egret 4 around Ramsdales 

Goosander 27 in Ramsdales 

Redwing 120 Mossley Hall farm 

Raven 1 over Mossley Hall farm 

Pochard 2

Goldeneye 40+

pm With Colin Davies most of the time .

Caspian Gull - 2nd Winter off end of spit , then flew west at 2.30pm

Yellow Legged Gull - 2 Adult , 1 very large bird one more normal , Also 1 x1st Winter 

Mediterranean gull - 1 adult

Little Egret-3

and a massive Jackdaw roost that must be one of the birding sights of the NW imagine a starling Murmuration on steroids , hard to count but must have been 5000+ anyone whos never witnessed this its one of the strangest sights ever at dusk with thousands of jackdaws firing round the flash. 

Late afternoon up to dusk today:

2680 Herring Gulls

The second winter Caspian Gull again

2 Little Egrets (one in Ramsdales and one fishing just west of the sailing club)

17 Goosander

This morning;

Little egret 3 in Ramsdales

Pochard 3

Redwing 82 in sheep fields at Mossley Hall Farm

Greylag 61

Late afternoon up to dusk today:

2760 Herring Gulls roosted (another 1-200 flew off SW prior to dusk)

1 adult Yellow-legged Gull roosted

1 second winter Caspian Gull roosted (the intermittently present bird since December)

59 Greylag Geese at the western end

1 Kingfisher in Ramsdales

3 Little Egrets around the spit and Ramsdales, two of which flew to the south side together to roost prior to dusk

14 Goosander

Resident Oystercatcher bossing the large gulls on the spit about!

96 Pink-footed Geese over NW at 3:40pm

This morning, 2 whooper swans at west end from boat club, also 3 little egrets in Ramsdales and 4 pochard.

A very late visit to the roost this evening, 16:30-17:00;

Yellow-legged gull 1 the large adult

Mediterranean gull 1 adult

Little egret 3 in Ramsdales

Greylag 80+ these birds were at the western end when we arrived but flew west almost immediately. I counted at least 80 but then they started disappearing behind trees and I couldn't count all of them.

A very quiet morning at the flash, 2 little egrets were the best I could find and duck numbers seem down with just 2 pochard.

A first winter Mediterranean Gull dropped onto the flash at 3:35 this afternoon and furiously bathed for a couple of minutes before flying off SW!

The gull roost itself was the smallest it has been for a while for me and for the first time in months contained no Great Black-backed Gulls (though 10-15 flew straight over SW prior to the main arrival of roosting birds)

16 Goosander in Ramsdales

This morning, 8:15 - 11:15;

Shelduck 2 in Ramesdales and off the spit. Spring is here!

Siskin 40+ in alders along the canal. The largest flock I've seen at the flash for a few years.

Little egret 1

Goosander 10 in Ramsdales

Pochard 8

Goldeneye 40+

Very little ice on the flash, mainly in Ramsdales but even here it was mostly open water.

Thank you colin

Also in the roost tonight, the regular adult Mediterranean gull, and late news from yesterday a drake wigeon was at the west end.

David, 234B was ringed as an adult at the flash on 29/11/2021. I've so far read 13 blue rings at the flash and all except one were ringed as adults at the flash. The exception was 2B98 which was ringed as a nestling at Martin Mere. This doesn't mean that they are resident at the flash, as was proven by 2T62 which was ringed at the flash in 2020 but in the summer of 2022 was seen at a breeding colony in Poland before returning to the flash this winter.

This late afternoon up to dusk:

An adult Yellow-legged Gull present but not the recent large-billed bird, seemingly a noticeably more demure bird and may have flown off prior to dusk as couldn’t be redound later

1950 Herring Gull

Drake Goosander on Sorrowcow Pond for a short while

This may have been reported previously. today a Black Headed Gull with blue ring number 234B left leg 12 30 pm

This morning, 8:15 - 10:30;

Siskin 5 in alders along canal

Pink-footed goose 60 over east

Willow tit 3

Pochard 8

Lapwing 60

The main car park is closed today and tomorrow for re-surfacing.

Also in the roost this evening, the regular adult Mediterranean gull.

Late afternoon up to dusk today:

Adult and first winter Yellow-legged Gulls in the roost, the former the regular large and big-billed bird and the latter the same bird as has been infrequent since late December. The adult spent some time on one of the buoys for a nice change and the first winter really seems to have a fondness for them and is a very aggressive bird!

81 Great Black-backed Gulls

640 Herring Gulls

37 Goldeneye

14 Pochard

57 Collared Doves in the Sorrowcow farm roost

Resident Oystercatcher on the south side briefly before heading back off towards the car park area