Very quick visit to the Lower Res this morning was very cold, wet and windy. Had the wife in tow and had already dragged her round Strinesdale.
Usual on the feeders
Blue Tit Great Tit Greenfinch
Not much on the res itself
6 Cormorant (2 in water diving, 4 at waters edge) Numerous Gulls 1 Embden Goose 20+ Canadas grazing field above the res 150+ Canadas in a field to the right of the lower dam wall.
Nor bad really for a very brief 15 minute visit.
Mark Rigby said
Tue Jan 17 7:32 PM, 2012
Iceland Gull (2nd winter) till 3.30 when it flew towards High Moor tip.
Also
Goldeneye (fem) 26 Magpie Cormorant 31 Mallard
Mark Rigby said
Mon Jan 16 10:20 PM, 2012
Goldeneye (fem) on Lower reservoir till dusk
Also
2 Goosander 161 Canada Goose 29 Mallard
Graham Beverley said
Sat Jan 14 5:22 PM, 2012
14.00
Kingfisher showing well
Derek Ireland said
Fri Jan 6 10:29 PM, 2012
No problem at all Mark, I really like turning up and seeing the birds munching away. Quite funny really i must have bought that feeder about three months ago and despite having loads of birdlife in the garden i've never once seen a bird on the nyjer feeder. However as i hung it on the tree up there today i turned around as i got back to the car a Chaffinch was already inspecting it! I'm really enjoying my walks up there, only problem is i think a scope may be in order as i'm having difficulty identifying the birds at distance through my bins
Mark Rigby said
Fri Jan 6 8:15 PM, 2012
Derek Ireland wrote:
Was up at around 11.30 this morning. I took my nyjer seed feeder up and hung it in one of the car park trees as nothing seems to feed on nyjer at my house.
Cheers Derek, very much appreciated, mystery solved. We are not used to feeders appearing. They are normally shot or destroyed by the wind!
Derek Ireland said
Fri Jan 6 3:48 PM, 2012
Was up at around 11.30 this morning. I took my nyjer seed feeder up and hung it in one of the car park trees as nothing seems to feed on nyjer at my house. It truly was a Gull fest this morning with around 200 Black Headed Gulls plus Herring gulls. 50 Canada Geese. 50 Fieldfare Kestrel Buzzard 6 Redwing 2 Mistle thrush 12 Mallards 4 Cormorant But no Great Northern Diver.
Dave Colton said
Fri Jan 6 3:29 PM, 2012
Took my Mother up for a look at the Diver about 2:15 and no sign - gutted, must have just gone when you got there Mark.
Did see:
3 Cormorant 70+Canadas grazing one of the fields 2 Tufted Duck on the lower res (I think, it was at distance and I am still very much a novice)
Chaffinch Greenfinch Great Tit Robin all on or around the feeders.
She went home happy, even witout seeing the Diver.
Mark Rigby said
Fri Jan 6 3:07 PM, 2012
No sign of the Great Northern Diver at 1500hrs. Kingfisher on Upper reservoir and Goldeneye (fem) on Lower.
-- Edited by Mark Rigby on Thursday 5th of January 2012 05:46:35 PM
JSPALDING said
Thu Jan 5 2:24 PM, 2012
Great Northern Diver still present on the upper reservoir at 1-30pm
Geoff de Boer said
Wed Jan 4 3:56 PM, 2012
Sorry to be slightly out of sync here...
This morning 08:00 to 08:45 Canada Goose (48) Great Northern Diver (Preening on top res and had a 5 minute fly around) Herring Gull (1) Jackdaw Carrion Crow Kestrel
On the feeders Wood Pigeon Blackbird Robin Wren Dunnock Blue Tit Great Tit House Sparrow Greenfich (20+) Goldfinch Reed Bunting (2)
Mark Rigby said
Wed Jan 4 2:08 PM, 2012
Great Northern Diver still on Upper reservoir at 1400hrs showing very well sheltering from the wind along the dam wall.
Steve Suttill said
Tue Jan 3 5:33 PM, 2012
If you need to top up on fuel before attempting to brave the gale-force winds on Castleshaw Top Bank, try Edna's Cozy Cafe behind the craft shop in Delph.
Steve
SMcRoyall said
Tue Jan 3 4:26 PM, 2012
If only you had hung around a bit longer! I was beginning to give up hope at about 12.15 when it popped up in ther middle of the top reservoir then kept resurfacing closer and closer to the wall giving me excellent views for about 20 mins or so until the cold got to me and I headed for a warmer venue and a cup of tea.
John Doherty said
Tue Jan 3 2:08 PM, 2012
Sorry to report - no sign of the Diver when I left at 11.15 after an hour looking for it. Perhaps the wind became too much for it?
I must have been mad to have gone to Saddleworth in those winds but... it was worth it for the Cheese pie and chips from the Delph chippy!
Mark Rigby said
Tue Jan 3 8:39 AM, 2012
Great Northern Diver still present at 0830hrs on Upper Res.
Mark Rigby said
Mon Jan 2 3:48 PM, 2012
Great Northern Diver showing very well at 1400-1515 almost always 10-20 metres off the dam wall.
Geoff Walton said
Mon Jan 2 2:15 PM, 2012
11am-1pm. Showing well on top Res. as stated below. Hope it was warmer than me. Did we speak JSP?.
Got a few fair photos.
Nice to meet you Michael.
Derek Ireland said
Mon Jan 2 2:12 PM, 2012
No sign of the Diver at 12.15 However the Buzzard was near the bottom res again and watched a Kestrel hovering for a good while at the corner of the top res. 80+ Canada Geese. 20+ Fieldfare 6 Redwing 30+ Black Headed Gull 5 Cormorant Plus the usual Greenfinches Chaffinches etc at the feeders. Very windy but a lovely walk and nice to bump into Graham again.
JSPALDING said
Mon Jan 2 12:58 PM, 2012
Great Northern Diver still present at 11 am. Showing very well.
kerry skelhorn said
Sun Jan 1 4:07 PM, 2012
Well its not often that you can walk from your front door to see a Great Northern Diver, especially on New Years Day...what a great start to 2012!
Ian McKerchar said
Sun Jan 1 3:10 PM, 2012
In all honesty John, the previous 1000 odd registered users have done okay without one. They're a bit of a bug bear for me if I'm really honest, sure some new users might like to say hello and thats fine, if they see fit then they can do just that as a few others have but you end up with a thread of endless replies of 'welcome to the forum', something akin to the frankly rediculous state of such threads in other forums
We've survived fine without one so I really don't see the need to introduce one now though I really appreciate your consideration.
John Doherty said
Sun Jan 1 2:45 PM, 2012
It will be a very sound idea to pin a 'Introduce yourself' topic in the Discussions area so that newbies can introduce themselves properly, say where they're from and where they bird. I don't think it would be unsuccessful as I introduced one on a forum with similar traffic to this one and it's 26 pages long now - it's the first thing people look for when they come to a new forum.
Dave Colton said
Sun Jan 1 2:23 PM, 2012
Hi all and Happy New Year.
As this is my first post I need to point out that I am no expert in this field, but as a young lad (now nearly 50) I was pretty good at identifying birds and have always had a passing interest.
However my interest has recently been re-kindled by a bit of rivalry with a mate over ID'ing birds.
I post in the Castleshaw forum as it is only 15mins drive from home and I stumbled across the posts about the Great Northern Diver and duly set out to have a look myself. I am now seemingly hooked again and returned once more last Thursday for another view of the bird.
Having told the above mentioned Mate about the Diver we decided to go up this morning so he could tick the box so to speak. As we got there and started scanning the top Res about 10.45am there was no sign. I was starting to feel like I had taken Chris on a wild Diver chase!!
However about 11:10 we spotted something flying down from above the Res and there it was, great relief for me. We spent about 30mins watching it diving and departed down the lane where we also got an excellent view of a circling Buzzard beyond the bottom Res.
Bit of a long winded post but I just wanted to share the expierience.
Great forums by the way.
steve ashworth said
Sun Jan 1 1:25 PM, 2012
great northern diver still here on upper res i am watching it now at 1.24
Ian McKerchar said
Sun Jan 1 11:09 AM, 2012
Seen to possibly fly in the direction of Piethorne Reservoirs?
Graham Beverley said
Sun Jan 1 10:22 AM, 2012
Great northern diver gone at about 10.10 poss to dowry?
Ian McKerchar said
Sun Jan 1 9:35 AM, 2012
Great Northern Diver still present this morning.
Info thanks to Mark Rigby
Graham Beverley said
Sat Dec 31 9:47 AM, 2011
At 09.00 this morning Great Northern Diver gave a short yodal and then took off for a flight into the distant fog and rain before returning to top res
Steve Suttill said
Fri Dec 30 11:15 PM, 2011
Think I just missed Derek, but did encounter Pete Hines and Mark (Mr. Castleshaw) Rigby.
Oh, and 1 Great Northern Diver giving much better views in the incessant drizzle than it did in the howling gale a couple of days ago!
Steve
Derek Ireland said
Fri Dec 30 2:19 PM, 2011
There today between 11am and 12.30, Goldfinch x4 Redwing x2 Fieldfare x15 Starling x2 Pheasant Male Cormorant 2 Adult 1 Juvenile Black Headed Gull x20 Great Northern Diver Kestrel Off road vehicles x6 Post office van x1
Gorgeous weather made me want to run around naked
-- Edited by Derek Ireland on Friday 30th of December 2011 02:23:15 PM
Mark Rigby said
Fri Dec 30 9:29 AM, 2011
Great Northern diver still present on Upper Res at 0920hrs.
Mark Rigby said
Thu Dec 29 2:20 PM, 2011
Great Northern Diver showing well along the dam at 1400 and Kingfisher on overflow showing well.
Mark Rigby said
Thu Dec 29 10:57 AM, 2011
Great Northern Diver still on Upper Res at 1057hrs. Difficult to see due to the driving rain and the waves!
Steve Suttill said
Wed Dec 28 11:07 PM, 2011
Great Northern still present at 3.30pm though couldn't be described as "showing well". Very cold and windy indeed. Diver must still think it's on its arctic breeding grounds!
Nothing else on upper resr. Very little else in the area apart from a few Mallard, a few Canadas, Crows, Jackdaws and a flock of Fieldfare.
Almost thawed out now
Steve
Mark Rigby said
Wed Dec 28 8:35 AM, 2011
Great Northern Diver still on Upper reservoir at 0830hrs.
Graham Beverley said
Tue Dec 27 1:08 PM, 2011
11.00-13.00
Great northern diver Kingfisher Fieldfare 100+ over Reported buzzard Kestrel Greater spotted woodpecker Mistle thrush
-- Edited by Graham Beverley on Tuesday 27th of December 2011 06:34:50 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Dec 27 8:51 AM, 2011
Great Northern Diver still present this morning.
Info thanks to Ian Woosey
Charles Farrell said
Mon Dec 26 2:09 PM, 2011
Mark Rigby wrote:
Great Northern Diver showing well at 1200hrs from dam wall.
Was that you with the Camera by the Dam Wall?
Also Kestrel while driving towards the carpark Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Chaffinch and Greenfinch on the feeders
- 5 Cormorant - c30 Black-headed Gull + a couple of larger imm gulls that I didn't get a good look at - c50 Canada Goose (many more earlier before they flew off) - Pheasant
Mark Rigby said
Mon Dec 26 12:38 PM, 2011
Great Northern Diver showing well at 1200hrs from dam wall.
Mark Rigby said
Mon Dec 26 10:13 AM, 2011
Yes and no
John Doherty said
Mon Dec 26 8:48 AM, 2011
I take it the Great Northern Diver wil be in the non-black and white winter plumage? Does it call much if at all? Fabulous call they have!
Mark Rigby said
Sun Dec 25 2:57 PM, 2011
Great Northern Diver asleep in the middle of the upper reservoir at 1430hrs.
Adam Jones said
Sat Dec 24 2:58 PM, 2011
8.30 - 9.30am
Very similar list to Graham's below, with the addition of 2 Cormorants on the lower reservoir, a 14 strong flock of Greenfinch and 150 Canada Geese flying in noisily at 9.30. Great views of the Diver as it came very close to the dam wall, which made the trip well worth it. Great site, and will have to come back on a warmer day. That wind was bitter.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Graham Beverley said
Sat Dec 24 1:34 PM, 2011
11.00-13.00
Great Northern Diver Goldcrest Reed bunting Meadow pipit Great spotted woodpecker Coal tit Fieldfare 6 Wren Kestral Birds nearly outnumbered by birdwatchers not difficult at Castleshaw Nice to meet plenty of new faces merry Xmas all
Ian McKerchar said
Sat Dec 24 9:19 AM, 2011
Great Northern Diver still present this morning.
Info thanks to Adam Jones
DAVID KENNEDY said
Fri Dec 23 11:20 PM, 2011
The great northern diver was still there upto 3.45pm today. Spent most of the 2 1/4 hours I was there just off the "north coast" and the dam wall.
It comes wonderfully close to the dam wall - that's THE spot for any photographers as the wall is lower there than anywhere else and is a good rest for a steady shot.
Goldeneye 2f
Goldeneye (fem)
4 Goosander (2m)
10 Tufted Duck (5m)
3 Mallard
Cormorant
Buzzard
Moorhen
4 Reed Bunting
12 Greenfinch
6 Chaffinch
40+ Fieldfare
Usual on the feeders
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Greenfinch
Not much on the res itself
6 Cormorant (2 in water diving, 4 at waters edge)
Numerous Gulls
1 Embden Goose
20+ Canadas grazing field above the res
150+ Canadas in a field to the right of the lower dam wall.
Nor bad really for a very brief 15 minute visit.
Also
Goldeneye (fem)
26 Magpie
Cormorant
31 Mallard
Also
2 Goosander
161 Canada Goose
29 Mallard
Kingfisher showing well
Quite funny really i must have bought that feeder about three months ago and despite having loads of birdlife in the garden i've never once seen a bird on the nyjer feeder.
However as i hung it on the tree up there today i turned around as i got back to the car a Chaffinch was already inspecting it!
I'm really enjoying my walks up there, only problem is i think a scope may be in order as i'm having difficulty identifying the birds at distance through my bins
Cheers Derek, very much appreciated, mystery solved. We are not used to feeders appearing. They are normally shot or destroyed by the wind!
I took my nyjer seed feeder up and hung it in one of the car park trees as nothing seems to feed on nyjer at my house.
It truly was a Gull fest this morning with around 200 Black Headed Gulls plus Herring gulls.
50 Canada Geese.
50 Fieldfare
Kestrel
Buzzard
6 Redwing
2 Mistle thrush
12 Mallards
4 Cormorant
But no Great Northern Diver.
Did see:
3 Cormorant
70+Canadas grazing one of the fields
2 Tufted Duck on the lower res (I think, it was at distance and I am still very much a novice)
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Great Tit
Robin all on or around the feeders.
She went home happy, even witout seeing the Diver.
Kingfisher on Upper reservoir and Goldeneye (fem) on Lower.
Also
16 Lapwing
3 Goosander
10 Fieldfare
Kestrel
182 Canada Goose
26 Mallard
4 Reed Bunting
Moorhen
2 feeders destroyed by the wind
-- Edited by Mark Rigby on Thursday 5th of January 2012 05:46:35 PM
This morning 08:00 to 08:45
Canada Goose (48)
Great Northern Diver (Preening on top res and had a 5 minute fly around)
Herring Gull (1)
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Kestrel
On the feeders
Wood Pigeon
Blackbird
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Blue Tit
Great Tit
House Sparrow
Greenfich (20+)
Goldfinch
Reed Bunting (2)
Steve
I must have been mad to have gone to Saddleworth in those winds but... it was worth it for the Cheese pie and chips from the Delph chippy!
Got a few fair photos.
Nice to meet you Michael.
However the Buzzard was near the bottom res again and watched a Kestrel hovering for a good while at the corner of the top res.
80+ Canada Geese.
20+ Fieldfare
6 Redwing
30+ Black Headed Gull
5 Cormorant
Plus the usual Greenfinches Chaffinches etc at the feeders.
Very windy but a lovely walk and nice to bump into Graham again.
We've survived fine without one so I really don't see the need to introduce one now though I really appreciate your consideration.
As this is my first post I need to point out that I am no expert in this field, but as a young lad (now nearly 50) I was pretty good at identifying birds and have always had a passing interest.
However my interest has recently been re-kindled by a bit of rivalry with a mate over ID'ing birds.
I post in the Castleshaw forum as it is only 15mins drive from home and I stumbled across the posts about the Great Northern Diver and duly set out to have a look myself. I am now seemingly hooked again and returned once more last Thursday for another view of the bird.
Having told the above mentioned Mate about the Diver we decided to go up this morning so he could tick the box so to speak. As we got there and started scanning the top Res about 10.45am there was no sign. I was starting to feel like I had taken Chris on a wild Diver chase!!
However about 11:10 we spotted something flying down from above the Res and there it was, great relief for me. We spent about 30mins watching it diving and departed down the lane where we also got an excellent view of a circling Buzzard beyond the bottom Res.
Bit of a long winded post but I just wanted to share the expierience.
Great forums by the way.
Info thanks to Mark Rigby
Oh, and 1 Great Northern Diver giving much better views in the incessant drizzle than it did in the howling gale a couple of days ago!
Steve
Goldfinch x4
Redwing x2
Fieldfare x15
Starling x2
Pheasant Male
Cormorant 2 Adult 1 Juvenile
Black Headed Gull x20
Great Northern Diver
Kestrel
Off road vehicles x6
Post office van x1
Gorgeous weather made me want to run around naked
-- Edited by Derek Ireland on Friday 30th of December 2011 02:23:15 PM
Nothing else on upper resr. Very little else in the area apart from a few Mallard, a few Canadas, Crows, Jackdaws and a flock of Fieldfare.
Almost thawed out now
Steve
Great northern diver
Kingfisher
Fieldfare 100+ over
Reported buzzard
Kestrel
Greater spotted woodpecker
Mistle thrush
-- Edited by Graham Beverley on Tuesday 27th of December 2011 06:34:50 PM
Info thanks to Ian Woosey
Was that you with the Camera by the Dam Wall?
Also
Kestrel while driving towards the carpark
Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Chaffinch and Greenfinch on the feeders
- 5 Cormorant
- c30 Black-headed Gull + a couple of larger imm gulls that I didn't get a good look at
- c50 Canada Goose (many more earlier before they flew off)
- Pheasant
Does it call much if at all? Fabulous call they have!
Very similar list to Graham's below, with the addition of 2 Cormorants on the lower reservoir, a 14 strong flock of Greenfinch and 150 Canada Geese flying in noisily at 9.30.
Great views of the Diver as it came very close to the dam wall, which made the trip well worth it.
Great site, and will have to come back on a warmer day. That wind was bitter.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Great Northern Diver
Goldcrest
Reed bunting
Meadow pipit
Great spotted woodpecker
Coal tit
Fieldfare 6
Wren
Kestral
Birds nearly outnumbered by birdwatchers not difficult at Castleshaw
Nice to meet plenty of new faces merry Xmas all
Info thanks to Adam Jones
The great northern diver was still there upto 3.45pm today. Spent most of the 2 1/4 hours I was there just off the "north coast" and the dam wall.
It comes wonderfully close to the dam wall - that's THE spot for any photographers as the wall is lower there than anywhere else and is a good rest for a steady shot.