White ash
1 goosander
33 mipits in long grass
75 redwing over westerly
1 wren

cold n wet

100+ fieldfare over in 2 groups.
11 redwing
17 magpie in one group
2 mipits
32 mallard
3 moorhen
1 coot
2 mistle thrush
5 blackbird
3 jay
1 goosander (redhead)

Single unringed barnacle goose amongst 60+ canadas grazing on White ash

So thats an OSPREY, ROSE-COLOURED STARLING, LITTLE EGRET and EIDER all recorded in this area in 2009. Not to mention Green Sandpiper and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that have also been noted here this year.

Best site in County?

Dave

osprey at 15.20 today over rochdale rd nr the bury/rochdale border, my first self found gm osprey.

whitethroat singing on white ash this last week.

2 willow warbler singing on white ash tonight, no osprey, yellow wagtail or common scoter. still it's open to all who want to look at it!

heron and 2 goosander over flying towards the roch.
nothing but mallard and canada geese on white ash.

3 meadow pipits, 12 goldfinch, 2 swallow and 1 pied wagtail over.

2 drake tufted ducks on whiteash this evening.

green woodpecker yaffling in the trees behind the cottages on the NW end of whiteash res before flying over the res towards jericho/fairfield.
2 swallow
1 kestrel
1 pied wagtail
1 heron
1 mistle thrush
3 mipits

not getting any quality birding time in at the minute, sadly.

on quick dog walk above white ash this evening there was a single swallow hawking above the res.

1 jay

singing chaf, green and goldfinches, wrens, robins and blackbirds.

1 kestrel perched.

no redtailled hawks, buzzards or sand martins, bill!

a flock of 50+ meadow pipits in the field above white ash.

Single male teal on White ash. Not had one on here before to my knowledge.

male and female stonechat on the fence of billy tricketts field off the b6222 this morning.

a cormorant on white ash flew west

80 or so canada geese and a single pinkfoot, plus usual mallard and moorhen.

little else of note.

smethurst hall

1 male GSW
1 woodcock
1 snipe
heron over
goosander over
large numbers of jackdaw moving west along the roch valley


white ash

5 goosander
30 mallard
82 canada geese
2 drake tufted ducks
1 coot
2 moorhen
1 fieldfare
2 mistle thrush

thanks Simon. We checked the roch and queens park to no avail. The lodge is the only unfrozen standing water locally (it has a large running inlet) it is behind the paper mill at the bottom of ashworth road (turn right off the b6222 heading towards bury) . No access and limited view from the road. But worth checking again tomoz.

-- Edited by Paul Cliff at 22:18, 2009-01-07

Great find Paul and Dave - any more news on this bird after 1410 - have you got any directions to the lodge it was on as I was thinking of going to have a look tomorrow?

Cheers, Simon

LITTLE EGRET seen by Paul Cliff at 12:45 flying due east along the B6222 near Fairfield Hospital, Rochdale today.

Refound at 14:10 by Paul and David Winnard on a small lodge by a nearby paper mill but then flew to the River Roch and is currently being looked for once again.

Info thanks to Paul Cliff and Dave Winnard.

hi colin - in tetrads it prolly is heywood, dunno for sure to be honest. in terms of borough boundary's birtle is bury, heywood is rochdale

my birtle tetrad very soon runs outside of GMC /runs for cover!

Excuse me being pedantic Paul, but being as we live in a world of fairly specfic tetrads etc, is Birtle not in fact within the Heywood boundary or I am mis-reading the OS map?

yeah paul where the bird was picked up on the river this morning was birtle before it moved upstream past smethurst hall and into rochdale/heywood.

had to have a piece of the bird for bury birders, can't let those rochdale birders have it all there own way!

-- Edited by Paul Cliff at 21:03, 2009-01-06

Now Mr Cliff, we do read your sightings, and did you scope the Eider from Birtle, or does that lovely valley come the recording area?

1 kestrel
2 sparrowhawk
1 eider, 12 teal, 2 goosander, dozen or so mallard, 1 moorhen on the roch heading upstream towards heywood
2 peregrine
6 snipe on smethurst hall
1 gsw
2 heron over
9 (1, 6, 2) cormorant heading west...



-- Edited by Paul Cliff at 18:54, 2009-01-06

today with new member fifi, really nice to meet you fiona and thanks for the chat and enthusiasm along the way.

stock dove
goldfinch
blackbird
magpie
robin
lt tit
starling
kestrel
wren
greenfinch
chaffinch
blue tit
collared dove
house sparrow
great tit
wood pigeon
great spotted woodpecker
carrion crow
peregrine
fieldfare
lapwing
jay
little owl
redwing
dunnock
coal tit
rook
jackdaw
buzzard
goldcrest
mallard
moorhen
mistle thrush
bullfinch
heron

concerted effort today to pick up a new year woodpecker drew a visual blank, where have all the great spots gone at the minute i wonder?

heard 2 separate greens calling one over the roch valley another later just before dusk at the back of grizlehurst moving towards the pack horse.

had interesting conversation with a friend who has "two woodpeckers regularly using her feeders both black and white; a big one with red underneath it and a little one without any red" will be taking a look for sure...

tawny owl and foxes also heard calling.

2 snipe again at smethurst.

27 meadow pipits in the field above white ash res this morning.

usual suspects at smethurst hall plus

1 snipe
1 sparrowhawk
1 nuthatch

no green woody, no woodcock today

smethurst hall today

green woodpecker
usual tits, wren, robin, dunnock, blackbird and finches
36 redwing
3 jay
heron
2 pied wagtails
1 kestrel
m gs woodpecker
1 woodcock

Paul Cliff
Date: Thu Dec 27 2:22 PM, 2007
have a tailless dunnock feeding on my birdtable...

too weird almost a year later a tailless dunnonck is again in my garden - surely not the same bird, forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't the tail have grown back?

Green and great spotted woodies today plus, nuthatch and all the usual tits finches and winter thrushes.
Kestrel over White ash res, 2 tufted ducks on it with 6 mallard and large numbers of Canada geese.
1 goosander over heading towards amr as I type.

-- Edited by Paul Cliff at 16:14, 2008-12-24

no woodcock this afternoon but did flush 2 snipe from the field next to Fairfield hospital.
Used the warford junior method! :D

spent an hour at the feeders at smethurst hall

usual tits and finches plus large flocks of redwing and fieldfare.
3 goosander over
200+ jackdaw over sw in one flock
and then bugger me if i didn't accidentally flush a woodcock from the undergrowth on the edge of the trees about 20 yards from where i'd been sitting.

2 kestrel
1 little owl
2 peregrine (m&f)
hundreds of starling, fieldfare and redwing
also a dozen or so mipits feeding in grass of a pony field
1 pied wagtail
30+ lapwing over

2 m 2 f goosander
30 mallard
60+ canada's grazing above white ash
lots of redwing, a few fieldfare
2 m kestrels hunting almost side by side
1 f sparrowhawk over
37 lapwing over heading north
4 goosander over same direction.

yesterday

early evening 200 jackdaw over heading south west

grizlehurst

60+ fieldfare
20+ redwing

billy trickets
1 stonechat

smethurst hall
blue, coal, great and lt tits
gold, green, chaf and bull finch
30+ redwing
1 gsw
carrion crow, jackdaw and magpie lots of
2 wren
2 dunnock
2 robin
6 cormorant over in a group
9 goosander over
4 blackbird
large unidentified raptor - hawk like shape disappeared behind trees across the valley over heywood
1 sparrowhawk

i nipped to the garage for a drink mid morning and as i walked back down the lane a mixed finch flock perched in a holly tree suddenly changed their calls as i walked by, it made me stop, turn and look back at them from less than 15 feet away. as i stood looking the whole flock lifted from the tree, for one bird to be taken a foot or so from where it took flight by a stunning male sparrowhawk. i actually heard the soft muted thud of the impact. i stood there my mouth gaping as a soft cloud of feathers drifted down towards me.
the speed and agility of the sparrowhawk was utterly mind blowing - the finch simply disappeared in mid air during the pause between 1st and 2nd wing beat bursts. incredible.

yesterday 12th nov - 7.20

53 fieldfare over in 2 groups heading west.

today

6 fieldfare feeding on berries off elbut lane
20 or so meadow pipits in horse field off elbut lane
1 male stonechat in billy tricket's field - same location as last winter.

she's no trouble out - but for other dogs!

managed to mop up most of what i'd expected to see on the ttv but missed, this morning - typical!

fieldfare 5
goosander 9 - including 1 ad male
heron 1
mallard 2
coot 1
reed bunting 1 female
grey wagtail 1
song thrush 1

edit to add

smethhurst hall this afternoon
started feeding in the dead tree again.

3 f bullfinch
2 gs woodpecker
blue, coal, great tit
1 nuthatch
5 chaffinch
robin
2 wren





-- Edited by Paul Cliff at 17:10, 2008-11-05

Hi Paul,
It's nice to know that I'm not the only birder that does TTV's accompanied by their dogs!
My Springer Spaniel flushed a Woodcock for me when I did the Watergrove tetrad last November.

Cheers

Steve

Encouraging to see you cracking on with the Atlas work so quickly, Paul.
Glad to hear that the LT recovered - you're not supposed to count dead birds for the Atlas!

Steve

did my TTV this morning. cracking surprise when the dog flushed a woodcock above ashworth valley.

sparrowhawk 2
magpie 21
carrion crow 29
blue tit 15
chaffinch 2
redwing 67
dunnock 1
kestrel 2
longtail tit 28 (including one poor mite that hit a window stunning itself for 10 mnutes, i assume it was ok to stop my clock whilst i waited to make sure it was safe)
blackbird 15
goldcrest 2
blackheaded gull 107
lesser blackbacked gull 5
pied wagtail 4
goldfinch 3
meadow pipit 7
greenfinch 3
mistle thrush 8
canada geese 47
tufted duck 1
moorhen 4
great tit 7
wren 9
robin 12
house sparrow 19
coal tit 4
great spotted woodpecker 3
jay 4
starling 17
woodpigeon 3
little owl 1
woodcock 1
feral pigeon 7
collared dove 3

disappointed not to pick up a few regulars - heron, green woopecker, mallard, goosander, stonechat, jackdaw, coot

phil jennison and i found a roosting tawny owl in an oak tree on the edge of grizlehurst wood, great views of the bird approx 20ft away, shame it spooked as phil quietly tried to get his camera out. :(

3 jays
1 gs woodpecker
goldfinches
1 f bullfinch
a few chaffinch
woodpigeons
carrion crows
magpies
no sign of any redwings.
great tit
greenfinch
blue tits
blackbird
heron

on whiteash res 2 male tufted ducks
3 mistle thrush
7 moorhen
2 kestrel
2 mipits
heard some redwing couldn't locate in the fading light and heavy rain.

Hi Paul

did I mention a photo of a hybrid? Have completely forgotten it ("CRAFT" moments are becoming increasingly regular!). Have got quite a few hybrid goose photos (non-digital) - will dig them out - if I can remember!!!

Steve

70 or so canada geese on the lodge at white ash this afternoon along with a single hybrid greylag, did a quick search and it seems there's been one knocking around for a while - steve s, have to still got the pic you mentioned in another thread a while back?
this one seems to have a more barnacle face than a canada throat.

6 mallard
1 female tufty first in ages
10 redwing
1 jay
3 blackbird
2 kestrel
1 sparrowhawk
1 pied wagtail
2 goldfinch
3 greenfinch
m-pipit over
1 coot
5 moorhen

60 or so redwings this evening at smethurst hall - first if the autumn for me, a smashing sight.

49 canada geese on white ash early evening
10 mallard
2 coot
7 moorhen
2 kestrel
1 gs woodpecker
2 heron

cracking view of a short eared owl approx 6pm tonight. circled overhead then headed west towards holcombe.
total of 10 swallows over.
9 housemartins later.
1 heron
1 kestrel

not a bad evenings dog walking!

single arctic tern fishing on white ash this evening.

6 linnets
4 sand martins
1 house martin
swallows
flock of starlings - easy 60+

adult pied wagtail feeding a single youngster last night.

common tern on white ash this afternoon.

1 grey partridge
1 kestrel
1 willow warbler

a rare treat on white ash res tonight a common sandpiper amongst the rocks at the water's edge.

1 grey wag
1 pied wag
a few swallows

white ash res

2 grey partridge
1 male kestrel
1 willow warbler
7 swift
swallow
house martin
mallard
moorhen
GC geese

2 grey partridge in the fields above the B6222 this afternoon.

house martins now present with the swallows on white ash res, no swifts as yet.

last year we had half a dozen coots and a dozen or so tufted ducks on the res, this year none at the minute...