18/1/08

Firecrest present again, along main path past New Hide @ 10.15

2 drk Common Scoters present at first light but flew W @ 08.55

Info thanks to Barry Hulme.

181 Great Black-Backed in roost tonight
The large gulls mainly came in really late tonight, as a result didn't count Herring and Lesser BB, though Herring down on last night's count. No white-wingers
Black-Headed also down tonight, approx 4900
Never many Common Gulls here - 25+ tonight (from a scan of about half of the Black-Headeds, before being distracted by Herring Gulls arriving)

170 Jackdaw roosted on south side

last night (Tuesday 15th):
an impressive 228 Great Black-Backed Gulls in roost, like a flotilla of goliaths
371 Herring Gulls
approx 6300 Black-Headed Gulls (funny how this species always roosts in multiples of 100)
plus 12 goosander and 7 goldeneye

Firecrest present again today along the back path behind Teal hide 50 yards further round from the gate at 10:50am.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

SUNDAY-PM SAME AS YESTERDAY APART FROM 1 MALE WIGEON,GOOSANDER-18,SHELLDUCK-1PLUS VERY LARGE GULL ROOSTAlso met sean wilson (coronation streets martyn platt)who was looking for the firecrest seen last week ,had a good chat with him about chat moss and rindle feeding station,seemed a jolly decent fellow-if you read this sean how about posting your sightings on here

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 20:46, 2008-01-13

PM-AS WELL AS WHAT PAUL SAW - PINK FOOTED GOOSE-1 IN WITH THE CANADAS, GOOSANDER-12, GOLDENEYE-16 -CORMORANTS-22(1 SINENSIS TYPE ADULT)-LONG TAILED TIT-28,LOADS OF TEAL,SHOVELER-35 GREATER BLACK BACKED GULL AT 4PM,GULL ROOST NOT AS BIG AS PREVIOUSLY.

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 17:08, 2008-01-12

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 18:19, 2008-01-12

quick wizz around the hides this morning.

didn't see the firecrest, but

brambling
M&F reed buntings
plus all the usual at the bunting hide

kingfisher

2 little grebe teal hide

Just following on from previous comments regarding Gull movements on this thread those Gullers in our midst need to be aware that the next four years will probably see a fall off of Gull desnsity numbers (and therefore the likelyhood of the rarer Gulls) as landfill sites close or change use. Lancashire, Cheshire and Gtr Manchester all have well advanced plans to use alternative technology in the treatment of waste so very little will find its way to landfill after 2012. It will be interesting to see how Gull populations and distributions change over the next 5-10 years.

Ian Woosey wrote:

---

6/1/08 early morning


drk Pintail.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme.

---

shame i was going to claim a point for that one-i didn't know it had been seen early-i found it at 12.30,can i have a point for a good photo of the pintail .as well as what berry saw there were loads of siskins,redpoll(a very pale one as well near the screen)goosander-15,plus all the usual stuff.

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 18:21, 2008-01-06

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 18:23, 2008-01-06

6/1/08 early morning

Firecrest - same area as yesterday.
drk Pintail.
fem Stonechat.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme.

Saturday's gull roost from south side:
Adult Yellow-Legged Gull
95 Great Blacked-Backed
320 Herring
c7800 Black-Headed
didn't count Lesser Black-Backed

The Firecrest was again seen at Pennington Flash this morning, less than 100 yards past Teal Hide.

Info thanks to Paul Hammond

05.01.07-12-4pm-stonechat-1f,pochard-52,goosander-12,brambling-1m,large gull roost,myself charlie owen,and mike Baron,went through em ,but could not find owt!!about 50 greater black backs among em though,loads of herring,LBB,and thousands of black headed gulls.

There's an active landfill at Haydock nr Earlestown. It's been working for a few years and has never seemed to attract much, but I was in the new Tesco store there a few days before Christmas and was distracted by a few thousand gulls rising off the tip. A pity it's outside GM, but it may account for some of Pennington's gulls.

Andrew Newall wrote:

---

Visited Pennington today for olny the 4th time.

. Do you get Merlins at pennington ?

thanks

Andrew

---

i saw a male go down the point at the front of horrocks hide last week!but there are a few male sparrowhawks about too,merlins are quite scarce at penny

Visited Pennington today for olny the 4th time.

bits of note

1 little grebe on the left hand edege of the spit & saw antoher aroudn Kidney Pond area.
Plenty of teal & shoveler in all areas

from Bunting hide
1 Brambling ( lifer for me )
1 Wiow Tit
30 Chafinch
10 Moorhen
8 Dunnock
2 Robin
12 Long Tail Tit
8 Blue Tit
4 Great Tit
and 2 rats wandering among them all happy as larry

Pengys

caught a glimpse pf a raptor as it flew past then went into the thick hedges, watched and waited and it came out sat in a tree for 5 secs then flew on, managed to relcocate it balancing on a bull rush ( i think that what it was ! ) in the middlle of the pond going of what i saw thrush in size greyish upperparts breast a creamy yelow i would have to say Merlin im not confident on my id with it so it wont be going on my list. Do you get Merlins at pennington ?

thanks

Andrew

Scouser,

i live in Ahston U Lyne on the flight path to Audenshaw and all the gulls come from your direction anywhere after 2.30pm. Some nights it seems to be thousnads others just low hundreds.


cheers

Andrew

Re:gulls at Audenshaw. If I do the Webs for Strinesdale res. in the afternoon any gulls in the area leave about 15.00 heading in that direction, but there is also a steady stream coming from the moors to the n.e. towards Marsden & Huddersfield heading that way as well. Riggers, who lives on the same flight path, sees them on a reguar basis and can give a more accurate idea of the time slot. Sadly, although there are plenty of Lesser & Greater Black-backs plus a few Herring, I've never been able to pick out anything uncommon.

Ian

Thanks for the info on the gull movements. I had a conversation with you on this suject approx 6 months ago - that made me take much more notice of the gull movements at HGF - certainly the large gulls have different travel routes to most of the BHG's. There are often large numbers of big gulls which simply fly over HGF late afternoon, moving from manchester sites and heading to the Mersey. This winter I have noticed larger numbers of these big gulls stopping at HGF for a bath before moving on.

Significant numbers of large gulls are rare at HGF away from this mid afternoon window though Black-headed and a few Common Gulls appear at first light (nearly always from the north) and often stay most of the day - obviously from Penny.

A few weeks ago I was at Fishmoor watching the Glaucous Gull found by Bill Aspin. As you know the large gull roost there comes from Winney Hill and also now a local tip in Blackburn. Bill stated that the buildings the gulls roost on in Walker Park are up for sale and there is a possibility this roost may disappear - maybe some of these gulls will then start frequenting Manchester sites. Glaucous & Iceland are relatively regular in this roost.

Mike

Its at times like these when I start thinking I really should call at Pennington on my way home and check the gull roosts - but then I come to my senses again. Hats off to all you gull fanatics - I dont know how you do it.

Saying that - with the chance of a decent white winged chappie I might just..........

The subject of county gulls and their movements has long been centre of discussion for county gullers, certainly for Pete Berry and I during those cold evenings waiting for the masses the drop in, and it's no secret that they utilise tips differently at various times of the week. This is mainly due to tipping activity of course, some like Astley Tip regularly used scaring methods such as falcons to discourage gulls nd although it worked recent increase in gull numbers there suggests they may have stopped or reduced their scaring. ther tips regualrly 'cap' the tips with soil and such to cover the rubbish which also prevents gulls from feeding, this may happen more specifically at say, weekends when there is no tipping so gullsmove to another tip and so utilise another roost somewhere closer.

In general the Heaton Park roost comes from Pilsworth Tip although we regularly have birds coming from the tips in Lancs like Whinney Hilland when they are disturbed, like recently by a Peregrine or distressed gulls caught up with plastic bags or rubbish fom the tip, the roost disperses, probably accounting for the occasionally larger numbers at Audenshaw. Audenshaw's roost is a bit of an mystery sometimes with it's varying numbers of larger gulls but the above reason with birds coming in over the Pennines from the Derbyshire Tips?)may account for some of it, Rob will have a better perspective than I on that one. Pennington's roost has for many years been poor for large gulls but increased numbers are undoubtably connected to their now seemingly undisturbed use of Astley Tip and it's close proximity to Pennington. My house lies directly in their flight line from Astley to Pennington and I regualrly watch them flying west to Pennington before dusk. There is also, as has been mentioned, much movements between tips, with birds from the Cheshire Tips like Arpley and the one near Risley clearly been seen flying from there to Astley Tip and also from Astley to Pilsworth. In the past large gulls definately used to invariably overfly Pennington on their way to the roosts on the Mersey but now it seems that their ability to feed later and fuller bellies have once again seen Pennington's roost come back to life, something I for one am very happy about,as that of course, should and indeed has, led to an increase in good gulls.

It's a subject I could and usually do go on and on about but if you haven't already seen it, the article on county gulling on the website may provide some useful reading.

Finally, my apologies for the crappy spacing and spellingon some of this post but I'm using my dad's computer which is rubbish as half of the buttons don't work from time to timeand it often deletes words as you type them which isn't best pleasing

Hi John

Interesting observations.

I had noticed that large gulls visiting HGF often travel to and from the direction of the Mersey at Warrington (easterly), however they tend to travel in this direction more often to roost. Black-headed gulls usually drop into HGF from the north and leave to roost in a northerly direction - I associated these with Penny.

A Glaucous at HGF would be something!

I THINK THE GULLS NUMBERS IS RELATED TO FEEDING SITES,AT THE WEEKEND THE GULLS WERE COMING IN AT 2.30-3PM,ON MONDAY THEY WERE LATER,AS THEY WERE ON TUES -SEEMS RELATED TO THE TIMES THEY LEAVE FEEDING SITES AT TIPS,NOTICED TOO THEY SEEM TO COME IN FROM DIFFERENT DIRECTION DEPENDING ON THE DAY?AT WEEKEND THEY WERE MAINLY COMING FROM THE EAST/SE,YET ON MONDAY & TUES THEY WERE COMING FROM THE WEST/SW.I THINK A LOT OF THESE LARGE ROOSTS AT PENNY COME FROM THE MERSEY,AND THE LARGE GATEWORTH TIP WEST OF WARRINGTON.I THINK SOME OF THE GULLS THAT DROP IN AT HOUGHTON GREEN ALSO DROP IN AS A RESTING PLACE IN BETWEEN GATEWORTH AND THE FLASH.LETS FIND A FEW GLAUCUS NOW

No sign of Iceland Gull ths evening. Compared to yesterday evening the numbers of large gulls were much, much lower.

John Lyons suggested that perhps the gulls were visiting tips (or other foraging sites) that were not open during previous sightings. Peter Alker suggested that perhaps the behaviour of the gulls is different during the week compared to weekends.

It will be interesting to see if either of these hypotheses prove correct. Anyone have any other ideas?

we couldnt find it at 4.20pm even with Paul Heatons spotlight

A fine adult Iceland Gull was found in the roost tonight (from 3pm onwards) by Peter Alker, apparently it had been on the spit and then joined the other gulls in the roost and gave some excellent viewing by all accounts!

1-1-08-STONECHAT FEM BY CANAL-AND A PINK FOOT WITH THE CANADAS IN EAST BAY18 GOLDEN EYE,35 SISKIN,SPARROWHAWK-1 FEM.PLUS ALL THE USUAL STUFF

they must eat plenty of carrots them gull roosters

aye john same here was nearly dark when we left and didnt see anybody with a torch

caspian gull at 4.20pm??
they must have good eyesit was dark at the flash at 4pm,when me and charlie packed in

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 19:00, 2007-12-31

surfbirds sightings report ,pennington
ad caspian gull in roost at 4.20

Barry Hulme found today's Firecrest at Pennington, along the path round the back of Teal scrape, near to a metal gate close to the brook. A great Pennington record, probably only the 3rd ever there!

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

JOHN TYMON wrote:

---

Ian McKerchar wrote:

---

that iceland's a superb record, your 2nd in a year there john?

---

if i carry on like this i may think of entering your competition in 2008

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 13:09, 2007-12-31

---

and I jolly well think you should John...

If anybody has any information with regards this reported adult Caspian Gull in the roost tonight, could they please contact me via email or phone.

P.s. that's me with my assistant county recorder for rarities hat on that is

Someone has reported an adult Caspian Gull per BG's..

31.12.07-no sign of red necked grebe-1-4pm,don't think anyone saw it today.found a chiff chaff by the screen,no sign of iceland gull,only a quarter as many gulls in the roost tonight.someone had reported a firecrest near to teal hide.

Ian McKerchar wrote:

---

that iceland's a superb record, your 2nd in a year there john?

---

if i carry on like this i may think of entering your competition in 2008

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 13:09, 2007-12-31

31.12.07-anyone recorded the red necked grebe today?

hi ian-2nd this year-pity it was almost dark,there could have been more,didn't see the red neck in rammies,but the light was pretty dim all day.both me and charlie owen did rammies before charlie found out about the red necked,by then it would have been too dark to find the red necked,east bay is always a favorite for red necks,below car park,so anyone taking a look check that out first.
anyone seen the red necked today?31.12.07

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 08:35, 2007-12-31

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 12:45, 2007-12-31

Charlie Owen (not on line) has just told me that John Lyon is claiming a Red-necked Grebe in Rammy's this afternoon.

that iceland's a superb record, your 2nd in a year there john? And absolute proof pennington can still produce the goods and should be ignored at birders peril, that roost is one of the best chances of a bonapartes or franklins gull in the county!

i found a second winter ICELAND GULL in the large gull roost at 3.45pm,with 5000+bhgull,500+LBB,500+HERRING GULL.BRAMBLING STILL AT BUNTING HIDE,14 GOOSANDER.

28.12.07-1-4pm- merlin 1 male went down point at 13.30 (quite scarce at the flash),brambling 1 male,wigeon-11,stonechat-1 fem by canal,goosander-14,whooper swan 1 juv-flew off towards plank lane end 2.30pm,shoveler-32,plus lots of rainbad for the camera

Sheltering from the rain 1130-1430

Juv whooper swan flew into Rammies at 1230, 11 goosander(5 males) and male Brambling at bunting hide.

Dave Thacker wrote:

---

9-11am this morning.

8 Goosanders on the spit
2 Siskins next to path on the way to the New hide
Usual birds at the Bunting hide including 1 Linnit and a 1 legged Wren , is it the bird from Ian Woosey`s garden on its Xmas holiday ?

---

Hope it is Dave...........I`ve not seen that mon in over a year. Merry Christmas to it !

9-11am this morning.

8 Goosanders on the spit
2 Siskins next to path on the way to the New hide
Usual birds at the Bunting hide including 1 Linnit and a 1 legged Wren , is it the bird from Ian Woosey`s garden on its Xmas holiday ?

No sign of yesterday's reported Lesser Whitethroat today after a 2 hour search of the south side of Pennington, not much else either save for a couple of small flocks of Siskin and Long-tailed Tits.

21/12/07

2 Brambling (pair).
2 Stonechat.
2 Golden Plover.
14 Wigeon.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme.

Thursday 20th December.

Lesser Whitethroat reported (observer not known by name) by the wooden bridge at the far end of the car park (golf club side). An intruiging report, requiring confirmation then potentially the possibility of assigning to a particular race, as difficult and as tentative as that can be.

Also present today, 4 Stonechat (Pennington's largest group ever?), 1 Brambling and 1 Buzzard)

All info thanks to Barry Hulme.

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 13:37, 2007-12-20

they used to definately breed near to the old plank lane pit area in the late 70s-early 80s,saw them roding many times,frank horrocks used to tell me of nests he found in that area-last years birds could be the decendants of those birds from a long time ago

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 21:15, 2007-12-18