i'm starting to worry about penny theres nowt being seen except at weekends!!theres got to be summat on
What are you talking about Mr Tymon? It was only last week when there was a Goshawk at the flash!
You seem to be spending time at pennington these days Rob - finally accepted the superior quality of the place?
Rob Thorpe said
Wed Nov 18 7:27 PM, 2009
JOHN TYMON wrote:
i'm starting to worry about penny theres nowt being seen except at weekends!!theres got to be summat on
What are you talking about Mr Tymon? It was only last week when there was a Goshawk at the flash!
JOHN TYMON said
Wed Nov 18 7:00 PM, 2009
i'm starting to worry about penny theres nowt being seen except at weekends!!theres got to be summat on
Rob Thorpe said
Sun Nov 15 5:29 PM, 2009
Sunday 15 November 2009
Evening at East Bay with Mr Woosey: Most of the large gulls arrived quite late this evening, so it was difficult to get accurate numbers... 10+ Great Black-backed Gull 100+ Herring Gull 150+ Lesser Black-backed Gull 106 Common Gull loads of Black-headed Gulls 84 Tufted Duck 27 Pochard 1 Grey Heron 1 Kingfisher and a Bat sp flew over the flash, harrased by gulls along the way...
JOHN TYMON said
Sun Nov 15 5:12 PM, 2009
Ian McKerchar wrote:
5 Whooper Swans by the car park early afternoon.
Info thanks to John Tymon
flew off late afternoon plus 10 goosander 18 + golden eye 1 buzzard and 1 very large female sparrowhawk landed on the point,and chasing lappys
Ian McKerchar said
Sun Nov 15 1:55 PM, 2009
5 Whooper Swans by the car park early afternoon.
Info thanks to John Tymon
JOHN TYMON said
Sat Nov 14 7:19 PM, 2009
sat morn 9-11 pretty quiet-water levels high kinfisher-1 golden eye-17 common snipe -2 and the normal stuff
Rob Thorpe said
Thu Nov 12 4:41 PM, 2009
Thursday 12 November 2009
From sailing club at 16:00ish: 7 Herring Gull 139 Lesser Black-backed Gull 95 Common Gull (but I think I missed a few) 5000+ Black-headed Gull
Judith Smith said
Thu Nov 12 4:25 PM, 2009
The Environment Agency are preparing a hydraulic model for the Hey Brook, which is the main feeder for Pennington Flash and is badly affected by flash flooding from urban run-off in Hindley. It flows through the Abram Flashes before it reaches Pennington and floods that area out very easily, resulting in many nest failures when this happens in the breeding season. The EA told me this week they are having problems with this model as it keeps toppling over. (I'm not sure what this means exactly!) Anyway, it's unlikely that anything can be done, even if a solution is found, because flood defence money has to go to areas where properties are at risk, and there are hardly any along the Hey Brook and R. Glaze (which it becomes). It's a pity, as so much land is passing into sympathetic ownership in the Abram Flashes, but with current government restraints that's the situation. I have a meeting with the EA in January when the work might be completed, so may understand what they propose , better, then!
JOHN TYMON said
Thu Nov 12 1:01 PM, 2009
Geoff Walton wrote:
A general question. Is the water level at Penny totally dependent on rainfall? I ask as the last few times I have been, I thought it was very low from Horrocks. I remember seeing Snipe last year, and now there is no water at that part.
Cheers
Geoff
yep the rain,the water comes in from all the surrounding brooks and canals and the the brook at the west end brings most in from the platt bridge ,wigan area,and as more land turns over to buildings the water drains into the brook ,and into the flash.so over the last few years it seems worse,but ive seen it where it was flooded much worse,so you would not be able to use any paths on the north bank. The water can also drop as quick almost as it comes up ,so don't assume that if its flooded one weekend,it will be the following week as it soon changes.also population of expecially dabling ducks ,teal shoveler,can drop by a more than half if the levels come up or even more,but sometimes the extra water can attract a diver,or a rare grebe.,and the gulls seem to like it when when the levels are high.
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Thursday 12th of November 2009 01:19:33 PM
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Thursday 12th of November 2009 01:22:14 PM
Geoff Walton said
Thu Nov 12 10:31 AM, 2009
A general question. Is the water level at Penny totally dependent on rainfall? I ask as the last few times I have been, I thought it was very low from Horrocks. I remember seeing Snipe last year, and now there is no water at that part.
Cheers
Geoff
JOHN TYMON said
Thu Nov 12 6:16 AM, 2009
Ian McKerchar wrote:
That's a shame John and was not my intention I assure you. As I said, you're well entitled to your opinion and I like so many others feel the fourm would be a poorer place without it. It's unfortunate you've edited your post, no one's upset by it and if they were they too are entitled to their opinion . Unfortunately (sometimes) in my position as the sole moderator and owner of this forum it's only right I play devil's advocate occasionally and put across another point of view to balance an argument or another's opinion. Sometimes threads sway in one direction and I like to add an 'alternative' opinion, often it's surprising how many others felt the same way (even though somtimes I might not even agree with the point I'm expressing!) but due to their overwhelming direction of the thread away from their personal opinion, were uneasy in posting it for themselves.
Now John, all you've got to do is rewrite your edited post...
no worries,we all take this hobby too seriously,and i do not think apart from the old school that there is anyone who knows penny like I do,and at the moment im fed up of seeing and hearing these records from penny,that I, know are unlikely,and i don't mean the goshawk,i mean birds that are below that rarity banner,that i definately don't see at penny but are seemingly weekly at some times of the year,and at the end of the day end up in reports etc.(there i go again) me and charlie was on penny the other day when a birder with more leica than warehouse express,had convinced a full hide that they were watching the slav grebe,they were all pleased,charlie owen and me looked through our bins,only to find they were all looking at a pale little grebe thats been hanging round rammies for weeks,and charlie only has one good eye at the mo,and his bins arn't up to much,but if we hadn't been there,it would probably have been posted on here later as the slav,then picked up and put into the reports,newsletters etc. anyway i hope it was a goshawk,but im still not convinced off toot factoryweekend birding only now due toot light
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Thursday 12th of November 2009 06:54:57 AM
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Nov 11 10:09 PM, 2009
That's a shame John and was not my intention I assure you. As I said, you're well entitled to your opinion and I like so many others feel the fourm would be a poorer place without it. It's unfortunate you've edited your post, no one's upset by it and if they were they too are entitled to their opinion . Unfortunately (sometimes) in my position as the sole moderator and owner of this forum it's only right I play devil's advocate occasionally and put across another point of view to balance an argument or another's opinion. Sometimes threads sway in one direction and I like to add an 'alternative' opinion, often it's surprising how many others felt the same way (even though somtimes I might not even agree with the point I'm expressing!) but due to their overwhelming direction of the thread away from their personal opinion, were uneasy in posting it for themselves.
Now John, all you've got to do is rewrite your edited post...
Rob Thorpe said
Wed Nov 11 9:31 PM, 2009
-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 10:07:15 PM
JOHN TYMON said
Wed Nov 11 9:22 PM, 2009
Ian McKerchar wrote:
The observer of the Goshawk has already contacted me on the day of the sighting and seems hightly likely to submit a description to the county rarities committee, which is more than I can say for a lot of other reported rarities, some of which appear on this forum!
The bird was actually 20 yards away (not 20 feet) and parts of the spit are clearly as close as that. With no real details to go on and no idea of the observers experience it's unfair to judge his sighting off a paragraph in a blog. It's your opinion of course John (and you're entitled to it) but I remember one of the old records of Goshawk at Pennington also coming from a bird on the spit and if we're accepting that as true then obviously it can happen. Lets hope we get a chance of assessing a full description as there hasn't been a Goshawk in the county for a couple of years now.
As for rarities and non-submission of them, the Pennington Flash Alpine Swift was never submitted to the national rarities committee and as such it cannot form part of the definative county list
fair enoof,if it gets excepted thats good enough for meso as not to upset anyone ill delete my threadsand moderate myself
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:25:43 PM
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:31:32 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Nov 11 8:57 PM, 2009
The observer of the Goshawk has already contacted me on the day of the sighting and seems hightly likely to submit a description to the county rarities committee, which is more than I can say for a lot of other reported rarities, some of which appear on this forum!
The bird was actually 20 yards away (not 20 feet) and parts of the spit are clearly as close as that. With no real details to go on and no idea of the observers experience it's unfair to judge his sighting off a paragraph in a blog. It's your opinion of course John (and you're entitled to it) but I remember one of the old records of Goshawk at Pennington also coming from a bird on the spit and if we're accepting that as true then obviously it can happen. Lets hope we get a chance of assessing a full description as there hasn't been a Goshawk in the county for a couple of years now.
As for rarities and non-submission of them, the Pennington Flash Alpine Swift was never submitted to the national rarities committee and as such it cannot form part of the definative county list
JOHN TYMON said
Wed Nov 11 6:53 PM, 2009
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:27:40 PM
JOHN TYMON said
Wed Nov 11 6:39 PM, 2009
Pete A wrote:
Awww when are they coming then ?
they are never guarenteed at penny,if you get one long stayer all winter your lucky,if its brambling your after your better looking on the mosslands to the east of penny
An interesting read - any more reports of a goshawk there?
JOHN TYMON said
Sun Nov 8 5:24 PM, 2009
full circle round 12- dusk-with charlie owen,no signs of slav,but had it pointed out to us 3 times by different birders,and each one was a little grebe so be wary,if anyone points it out,work it out for yourself:the slav has more of the jizz of a small great crested than a little grebe and the white is very clean when seen fom close .wink: 6 goosander 11 golden eye and big gull rooste,but nothing out of the ordinary i could see,although didn't have the scope.
chrisneild said
Sun Nov 8 4:02 PM, 2009
IF ANY BIRDER FOUND A CAMERA IN TEAL/HORROCKS HIDE TODAY PLEASE GET IN TOUCH.LEFT BEHIND AT APPROX 2PM HAVE NOTIFIED WARDENS ON SITE AS WELL.
-- Edited by chrisneild on Sunday 8th of November 2009 04:09:53 PM
brian fielding said
Sun Nov 8 2:53 PM, 2009
0730 till 2pm, didnt see the slav grebe again, peregrine, redshank, aprox 200 pink footed geese going south east, wigeon, goldeneye, goosander, snipe, willow and coal tits from bunting hide.
Geoff Hargreaves said
Sun Nov 8 11:16 AM, 2009
Sunday 8.00 yacht club end
1 long staying Slavonion grebe swam from the west end of the flash past the club and was lost to view towards the eastern end, it did appear to be on a mission on the suface all the time
1 skien of pink feet over
cheers geoff
Tim Wilcox said
Sat Nov 7 8:08 PM, 2009
No sign of Slav Grebe in the gloaming at 4.10pm plus. Another birder from Stockport (not on the forum) told me that Mute Swans were feeding from the nearly submerged feeding tables from Bunting Hide!! The spit had practically disappeared though the Lapwings were clinging on.
Ian McKerchar said
Sat Nov 7 8:50 AM, 2009
Slavonian Grebe seen again this morning, though typically mobile and elusive!
Info thanks to John Lyon
JOHN TYMON said
Fri Nov 6 3:53 PM, 2009
David Hindley wrote:
Ive twice seen waxwing but not at the flash. Once was on Harrier Close where I used to live off Clough House Drive in ahawthorn bush and once last winter on a roundabout near Birchwood, nearly crashed my car!
yep there were hundreds in the warrington area last year,best site half way down battersby lane
David Hindley said
Fri Nov 6 12:19 PM, 2009
Ive twice seen waxwing but not at the flash. Once was on Harrier Close where I used to live off Clough House Drive in ahawthorn bush and once last winter on a roundabout near Birchwood, nearly crashed my car!
JOHN TYMON said
Fri Nov 6 6:37 AM, 2009
David Hindley wrote:
Any sign of any Brambling or Waxwing yet or is it a bit too early?
brambling at penny,best bet is the bunting hide where in recent years we have had the odd one overwintering,but in 32 years ive never seen a waxwing at penny,and there arn't many berries at penny this year
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Friday 6th of November 2009 10:03:52 AM
David Hindley said
Thu Nov 5 10:59 PM, 2009
Cheers Rob, having a mooch to the flash in the morning. Ive been birdwatching since I was very young and ive never seen a Brambling!
Rob Thorpe said
Thu Nov 5 10:00 PM, 2009
David Hindley wrote:
Any sign of any Brambling or Waxwing yet or is it a bit too early?
Bit early for Waxwings me thinks, but there's been quite a few Brambling around the area in the last few weeks, not sure if any have been seen at Pennington though...
David Hindley said
Thu Nov 5 9:55 PM, 2009
Any sign of any Brambling or Waxwing yet or is it a bit too early?
dave broome said
Thu Nov 5 4:34 PM, 2009
a very wet gull roost tonight: 108 Lesser Black-Backed, 1 Herring, approx 3800 Black-Headed, a few dozen Commons
7 Goldeneye
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Nov 5 1:44 PM, 2009
9 Whooper Swans (7 adults and 2 juveniles) flew onto the flash at 12:13 today.
Info thanks to John Lyon
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Nov 5 11:09 AM, 2009
6 Whooper Swans present until they flew off east at 10:40.
Info thanks to Barry Hulme
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Nov 5 8:21 AM, 2009
Slavonian Grebe again this early morning, off the spit.
Info thanks to Barry Hulme
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Nov 4 4:25 PM, 2009
Today 11:50-14:30
Chiffchaff- 1 on the south side Fieldfare- 200 flew SW at 12:50 and a further 22 SW at 13:15 Tufted Duck- 173 Canada Geese- 407 Song Thrush- 47 (yes I was that bored...)
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Nov 3 12:51 PM, 2009
No sign of the Slavonian Grebe so far today. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not there though
Info thanks to Barry Hulme and Brian Fielding
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Nov 2 2:00 PM, 2009
Slavonian Grebe still present at 1:50pm at the north western end of the flash by Slag Lane.
Info thanks to Ann Ribbands
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Nov 2 7:19 AM, 2009
Slavonian Grebe stil present this morning (07:15) out in the middle of the flash.
Info thanks to Barry Hulme
Geoff Hargreaves said
Sun Nov 1 4:05 PM, 2009
Sunday am,in what passed for daylight and just a tadge of rain down by the yacht club.
6 little grebe, 2 great crested grebe,not a slav to be had,lot,s of others but I need the slav for my county list,so much for the long staying,well watched title I was hoping for.
can,t win em all, geoff
JOHN TYMON said
Sun Nov 1 1:12 PM, 2009
Ian McKerchar wrote:
The recent aduly ylg doas have a completely white head,so it would possibly be the same bird as i photographed a couple of weeks ago.Im pretty sure that county rarity forms still have to be completed for yellow legged gulls.just thought id make people aware of that,as i didn't think they needed it until Ian mentioned it the other week.
Allow me to clarify the situation.
There appears to have been atleast two adult Yellow-legged Gulls at Pennington in the past couple of weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if there had been more going through. A recent bird was smaller than yours John and was possibly a female whereas yours looked like a male to me. The smaller bird also had slightly more fine streaking around the ear coverts and cross the crown. Most have white heads at this time of year so identifying individuals, unless the same observer has seen both or photos exist, is very difficult. Having done it's circulation of the rarities committee your photos will be going on the galleries very soon for all to see John
Descriptions are required for adult Yellow-legged Gulls from anyone without a previously county rarity committee accepted submission of an adult bird. I suppose it's sort of showing the committee your are capable of identifying one and thereafter you'll be okay. Personally, I don't feel it's an ideal situation and may be reconsidering that stance. Just to have one accepted doesn't mean you know how to identify the species. The trouble is that just three or four observers account for perhaps more than 90% of all the Yellow-legged Gull records in the county and that could include 10 or so adults each! They are all very capable and dedicated gull watchers, there is absolutely no reason to doubt any of their sightings as they have proven time and again that they know what's what but to ask them for a description of each adult they see is rediculous. So, to make it 'fair' we have the current criteria of having had one accepted previously but knowing an adult Yellow-legged Gull in September and knowing one in February are two completely different things, The more I think about it, the more I think it has to change. But anyway...
Dave has had many YLGulls acepted previously and doesn't have to do a form, although everyone has to do one for immmatues which is still a bind for regular county gullers
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 1st of November 2009 11:19:46 AM
sound awreet to me
Ian McKerchar said
Sun Nov 1 11:17 AM, 2009
The recent aduly ylg doas have a completely white head,so it would possibly be the same bird as i photographed a couple of weeks ago.Im pretty sure that county rarity forms still have to be completed for yellow legged gulls.just thought id make people aware of that,as i didn't think they needed it until Ian mentioned it the other week.
Allow me to clarify the situation.
There appears to have been atleast two adult Yellow-legged Gulls at Pennington in the past couple of weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if there had been more going through. A recent bird was smaller than yours John and was possibly a female whereas yours looked like a male to me. The smaller bird also had slightly more fine streaking around the ear coverts and cross the crown. Most have white heads at this time of year so identifying individuals, unless the same observer has seen both or photos exist, is very difficult. Having done it's circulation of the rarities committee your photos will be going on the galleries very soon for all to see John
Descriptions are required for adult Yellow-legged Gulls from anyone without a previously county rarity committee accepted submission of an adult bird. I suppose it's sort of showing the committee your are capable of identifying one and thereafter you'll be okay. Personally, I don't feel it's an ideal situation and may be reconsidering that stance. Just to have one accepted doesn't mean you know how to identify the species. The trouble is that just three or four observers account for perhaps more than 90% of all the Yellow-legged Gull records in the county and that could include 10 or so adults each! They are all very capable and dedicated gull watchers, there is absolutely no reason to doubt any of their sightings as they have proven time and again that they know what's what but to ask them for a description of each adult they see is rediculous. So, to make it 'fair' we have the current criteria of having had one accepted previously but knowing an adult Yellow-legged Gull in September and knowing one in February are two completely different things, The more I think about it, the more I think it has to change. But anyway...
Dave has had many YLGulls acepted previously and doesn't have to do a form, although everyone has to do one for immmatues which is still a bind for regular county gullers
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 1st of November 2009 11:19:46 AM
JOHN TYMON said
Sun Nov 1 8:48 AM, 2009
dave broome wrote:
Late afternoon today: adult Yellow-Legged Gull (appeared totally white-headed, but probably because of my distance from it, so possibly the same bird as seen recently). It drifted in to East Bay with other gulls due to a few late boats. By the time I'd walked from Sorrowcow to nr East Bay for a closer look I couldn't relocate it.
Adult Mediterranean Gull 231 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls 2 adult Great Black-Backed Gulls just several Herring, didn't count Common Gulls but probably less than 100 approx 8200 Black-Headed Gulls (still displaying their peculiar habit of occurring only in exact multiples of 100
330 Lapwing came up off the spit 3 Wigeon at least 46 Magpies roosted on south side of Flash
-- Edited by dave broome on Saturday 31st of October 2009 10:15:44 PM
-- Edited by dave broome on Saturday 31st of October 2009 10:17:25 PM
The recent aduly ylg doas have a completely white head,so it would possibly be the same bird as i photographed a couple of weeks ago.Im pretty sure that county rarity forms still have to be completed for yellow legged gulls.just thought id make people aware of that,as i didn't think they needed it until Ian mentioned it the other week.
You seem to be spending time at pennington these days Rob - finally accepted the superior quality of the place?
What are you talking about Mr Tymon? It was only last week when there was a Goshawk at the flash!
Evening at East Bay with Mr Woosey:
Most of the large gulls arrived quite late this evening, so it was difficult to get accurate numbers...
10+ Great Black-backed Gull
100+ Herring Gull
150+ Lesser Black-backed Gull
106 Common Gull
loads of Black-headed Gulls
84 Tufted Duck
27 Pochard
1 Grey Heron
1 Kingfisher
and a Bat sp flew over the flash, harrased by gulls along the way...
flew off late afternoon plus
10 goosander
18 + golden eye
1 buzzard
and
1 very large female sparrowhawk landed on the point,and chasing lappys
Info thanks to John Tymon
pretty quiet-water levels high
kinfisher-1
golden eye-17
common snipe -2
and the normal stuff
From sailing club at 16:00ish:
7 Herring Gull
139 Lesser Black-backed Gull
95 Common Gull (but I think I missed a few)
5000+ Black-headed Gull
I have a meeting with the EA in January when the work might be completed, so may understand what they propose , better, then!
yep the rain,the water comes in from all the surrounding brooks and canals and the the brook at the west end brings most in from the platt bridge ,wigan area,and as more land turns over to buildings the water drains into the brook ,and into the flash.so over the last few years it seems worse,but ive seen it where it was flooded much worse,so you would not be able to use any paths on the north bank.
The water can also drop as quick almost as it comes up ,so don't assume that if its flooded one weekend,it will be the following week as it soon changes.also population of expecially dabling ducks ,teal shoveler,can drop by a more than half if the levels come up or even more,but sometimes the extra water can attract a diver,or a rare grebe.,and the gulls seem to like it when when the levels are high.
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Thursday 12th of November 2009 01:19:33 PM
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Thursday 12th of November 2009 01:22:14 PM
Cheers
Geoff
no worries,we all take this hobby too seriously,and i do not think apart from the old school that there is anyone who knows penny like I do,and at the moment im fed up of seeing and hearing these records from penny,that I, know are unlikely,and i don't mean the goshawk,i mean birds that are below that rarity banner,that i definately don't see at penny but are seemingly weekly at some times of the year,and at the end of the day end up in reports etc.(there i go again
me and charlie was on penny the other day when a birder with more leica than warehouse express,had convinced a full hide that they were watching the slav grebe,they were all pleased,charlie owen and me looked through our bins,only to find they were all looking at a pale little grebe thats been hanging round rammies for weeks,and charlie only has one good eye at the mo,and his bins arn't up to much,but if we hadn't been there,it would probably have been posted on here later as the slav,then picked up and put into the reports,newsletters etc.
anyway i hope it was a goshawk,but im still not convinced
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Thursday 12th of November 2009 06:54:57 AM
Now John, all you've got to do is rewrite your edited post...
-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 10:07:15 PM
fair enoof,if it gets excepted thats good enough for me
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:25:43 PM
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:31:32 PM
The bird was actually 20 yards away (not 20 feet) and parts of the spit are clearly as close as that. With no real details to go on and no idea of the observers experience it's unfair to judge his sighting off a paragraph in a blog. It's your opinion of course John (and you're entitled to it) but I remember one of the old records of Goshawk at Pennington also coming from a bird on the spit and if we're accepting that as true then obviously it can happen. Lets hope we get a chance of assessing a full description as there hasn't been a Goshawk in the county for a couple of years now.
As for rarities and non-submission of them, the Pennington Flash Alpine Swift was never submitted to the national rarities committee
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:27:40 PM
they are never guarenteed at penny,if you get one long stayer all winter your lucky,if its brambling your after your better looking on the mosslands to the east of penny
15 Pochard
151 Jackdaw flew east in several flocks
nope
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:28:56 PM
-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 10:06:13 PM
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 09:29:46 PM
An interesting read - any more reports of a goshawk there?
6 goosander
11 golden eye
and big gull rooste,but nothing out of the ordinary i could see,although didn't have the scope.
-- Edited by chrisneild on Sunday 8th of November 2009 04:09:53 PM
1 long staying Slavonion grebe swam from the west end of the flash past the club and was lost to view towards the eastern end, it did appear to be on a mission on the suface all the time
1 skien of pink feet over
cheers geoff
Info thanks to John Lyon
yep there were hundreds in the warrington area last year,best site half way down battersby lane
brambling at penny,best bet is the bunting hide where in recent years we have had the odd one overwintering,but in 32 years ive never seen a waxwing at penny,and there arn't many berries at penny this year
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Friday 6th of November 2009 10:03:52 AM
Bit early for Waxwings me thinks, but there's been quite a few Brambling around the area in the last few weeks, not sure if any have been seen at Pennington though...
7 Goldeneye
Info thanks to John Lyon
Info thanks to Barry Hulme
Info thanks to Barry Hulme
Chiffchaff- 1 on the south side
Fieldfare- 200 flew SW at 12:50 and a further 22 SW at 13:15
Tufted Duck- 173
Canada Geese- 407
Song Thrush- 47 (yes I was that bored...)
Info thanks to Barry Hulme and Brian Fielding
Info thanks to Ann Ribbands
Info thanks to Barry Hulme
6 little grebe
can,t win em all, geoff
Allow me to clarify the situation.
There appears to have been atleast two adult Yellow-legged Gulls at Pennington in the past couple of weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if there had been more going through. A recent bird was smaller than yours John and was possibly a female whereas yours looked like a male to me. The smaller bird also had slightly more fine streaking around the ear coverts and cross the crown. Most have white heads at this time of year so identifying individuals, unless the same observer has seen both or photos exist, is very difficult. Having done it's circulation of the rarities committee your photos will be going on the galleries very soon for all to see John
Descriptions are required for adult Yellow-legged Gulls from anyone without a previously county rarity committee accepted submission of an adult bird. I suppose it's sort of showing the committee your are capable of identifying one and thereafter you'll be okay. Personally, I don't feel it's an ideal situation and may be reconsidering that stance. Just to have one accepted doesn't mean you know how to identify the species. The trouble is that just three or four observers account for perhaps more than 90% of all the Yellow-legged Gull records in the county and that could include 10 or so adults each! They are all very capable and dedicated gull watchers, there is absolutely no reason to doubt any of their sightings as they have proven time and again that they know what's what but to ask them for a description of each adult they see is rediculous. So, to make it 'fair' we have the current criteria of having had one accepted previously but knowing an adult Yellow-legged Gull in September and knowing one in February are two completely different things, The more I think about it, the more I think it has to change. But anyway...
Dave has had many YLGulls acepted previously and doesn't have to do a form, although everyone has to do one for immmatues which is still a bind for regular county gullers
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 1st of November 2009 11:19:46 AM
sound awreet to me
The recent aduly ylg doas have a completely white head,so it would possibly be the same bird as i photographed a couple of weeks ago.Im pretty sure that county rarity forms still have to be completed for yellow legged gulls.just thought id make people aware of that,as i didn't think they needed it until Ian mentioned it the other week.
Allow me to clarify the situation.
There appears to have been atleast two adult Yellow-legged Gulls at Pennington in the past couple of weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if there had been more going through. A recent bird was smaller than yours John and was possibly a female whereas yours looked like a male to me. The smaller bird also had slightly more fine streaking around the ear coverts and cross the crown. Most have white heads at this time of year so identifying individuals, unless the same observer has seen both or photos exist, is very difficult. Having done it's circulation of the rarities committee your photos will be going on the galleries very soon for all to see John
Descriptions are required for adult Yellow-legged Gulls from anyone without a previously county rarity committee accepted submission of an adult bird. I suppose it's sort of showing the committee your are capable of identifying one and thereafter you'll be okay. Personally, I don't feel it's an ideal situation and may be reconsidering that stance. Just to have one accepted doesn't mean you know how to identify the species. The trouble is that just three or four observers account for perhaps more than 90% of all the Yellow-legged Gull records in the county and that could include 10 or so adults each! They are all very capable and dedicated gull watchers, there is absolutely no reason to doubt any of their sightings as they have proven time and again that they know what's what but to ask them for a description of each adult they see is rediculous. So, to make it 'fair' we have the current criteria of having had one accepted previously but knowing an adult Yellow-legged Gull in September and knowing one in February are two completely different things, The more I think about it, the more I think it has to change. But anyway...
Dave has had many YLGulls acepted previously and doesn't have to do a form, although everyone has to do one for immmatues which is still a bind for regular county gullers
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 1st of November 2009 11:19:46 AM
The recent aduly ylg doas have a completely white head,so it would possibly be the same bird as i photographed a couple of weeks ago.Im pretty sure that county rarity forms still have to be completed for yellow legged gulls.just thought id make people aware of that,as i didn't think they needed it until Ian mentioned it the other week.