Glossy Ibis off Longsight Lane, from text alert (09.04) to ticking (09.46) 42 minutes, not bad if you are local, certainly my quickest twitch. I suspect others on site were there quicker than me.
A brilliant bird, happily walking around grubbing away.
Steve Collins said
Thu Jan 13 8:56 AM, 2022
Longsight Lane about 25 yards from the main road! Been here a couple of weeks apparently!
Steve Collins said
Thu Jan 13 8:51 AM, 2022
Glossy Ibis still present this morning
Paul Heaton said
Thu Jan 13 7:44 AM, 2022
** Glossy Ibis ***
A Glossy Ibis was seen and photgraphed in the cheadle area yesterday found by Sam Harris GM Birder Long sight lane Cheadle Hulme
(53.3571776, -2.1956912) are the coordinates given if that helps anyone ..
Worth having a look around if your local or off work .
Keep Birding
sorry thats all i have
-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Thursday 13th of January 2022 08:05:13 AM
Pete Hines said
Wed Jan 12 2:58 PM, 2022
Dipper 1 Cheadle Bridge / Waterside Leisure
John Rayner said
Sun Jan 9 4:03 PM, 2022
15 Ring-necked Parakeets in a tight flock NW over St Marys Way at 15.45.
Cheers, John
Tony Koziol said
Tue Nov 30 5:53 PM, 2021
A quick walk down to Green Lane allotments and we found around fifty starlings feeding on the sports field along with one jackdaw, one carrion crow, two magpie and very little else.
Nothing was feeding on the orange pyracantha berries
Rob Creek said
Thu Sep 9 12:05 AM, 2021
Peregrine circling fairly low over A6 and Stockport College late afternoon on my way back to depot, didnt look a particularly large individual so possibly a male ??
Pete Hines said
Wed Sep 1 4:24 PM, 2021
Dipper 1 from Cheadle Bridge
Steve Smith said
Tue Jul 27 7:09 PM, 2021
2 Dippers (1x Juv) in shallows just downstream of Woolpack bridge. Little Egret on river by horse field.
Steve Smith said
Sun Jun 6 3:09 PM, 2021
King St Bridge to Green bridge via Mersey Vale this morning. Dipper, kingfisher, usual warblers including a Lesser Whitethroat singing from the bank behind Mersey Vale orchard.
Steve Smith said
Sun Jun 6 2:47 PM, 2021
King St Bridge to Green bridge via Mersey Vale this morning. Dipper, kingfisher, usual warblers including a Lesser Whitethroat singing from the bank behind Mersey Vale orchard.
Simon Gough said
Sat May 8 4:59 PM, 2021
A walk out this afternoon was almost over immediately, as I saw a Hobby zoom over my head on Burnage Lane no more than 500m from my place. I nearly went home again, it wasn't going to top that.
After I'd calmed down a bit, there were some bits and bobs on the river, notably my first local swifts of the year and a couple of swallows at Vale Farm which normally has a pair for the summer.
The river was very high but none of the Sand Martin burrows looked affected but some agitated Grey Wagtails made me think they probably need to nest again. Mother Nature...
Tony Darby said
Thu May 6 5:47 PM, 2021
This particular Sand Martin colony has been prone to predation for many years now. I took these photos in July 2012 and you can see the claw marks below the enlarged nest holes. The following summer the birds moved to the bank opposite the Waterside car park, which they used, I think, up until the bank was reshaped a couple of years ago. The artificial nest structure which was supposed to mitigate the destruction of the natural nest site has failed miserably so far..
I've seen Sand Martins perched on it, but never used in anger as far as I know.
alanhill said
Mon May 3 2:58 PM, 2021
That's a good point. I've also felt that it's a poor nest site as the river can flood to the height of the nest holes even in summer. I had a look at the artificial nest site opposite the Waterside car park this morning. As you know it was put there some years ago when they were working on the gas pipeline and destroyed the large sandbank (well used by sand martins) on the south side of the river. There was no sign of any activity, as was the case when I have checked it several times this spring. Has anyone any record of it being used in previous years? I once tried to find out who was monitoring it.
Simon Gough said
Mon May 3 12:27 PM, 2021
Sad absolutely, but you have to imagine that in the big picture there is some kind of balance to all this, because surely the burrows are also vulnerable to things like polecats, stoats and weasels, even rats. Colony breeding is a strategy in its own right, and Martins use inaccessible sites as a further strategy, so perhaps this one is just too easy for predators in general?
We shall see what pans out over the summer
Rob Creek said
Mon May 3 7:59 AM, 2021
Cheers for that Si, makes sense now, what a devastating thing to happen. Cheers Chris and Roger too, very interesting that it could be multiple predatory attacks.
Chris Harper said
Mon May 3 7:37 AM, 2021
For years this was my route to work. I would cycle past every morning and afternoon.
On at least 2 occasions I witnessed a Mink at the nest site. Could well be Badger also though.
Real shame. The last time wss 4 years ago
Simon Gough said
Mon May 3 12:40 AM, 2021
Hi Roger,
Thanks, that's a really interesting suggestion, there is a badger sett really near to the river that I'm aware of, and probably more elsewhere. It could explain the fact that this colony decimation seems to be quite a recent thing if it could be attributed to a combination of weather and predator rather than just the predator being there.
I didn't have any evidence of mink in any case, it was just what people were suggesting.
Cheers
Simon
Roger Baker 3 said
Mon May 3 12:17 AM, 2021
Hi Simon,
This sounds more like the work of badger than mink .... they'll make make short work of sand tunnels to get at brooding birds, eggs and nestlings .. easy digging.
Also this year (as last year) we have had a long dry spell which means a shortage of their main food source, earth worms.
Water shortage has a major impact on wildlife .. if you remember all the reports last year of rats everywhere it wasn't that they were bold, only that they were desperate for water and searching in daylight.
You'd better get doing a rain-dance !
Roger.
Simon Gough said
Sun May 2 11:21 PM, 2021
Hi Rob,
Apologies if the post was cryptic, I hadn't thought about what I was writing properly at all.
Last year, obviously in the height of the first lockdown, I was making near daily visits to the Sand Martin colony from the beginning of April onwards. It was very enjoyable watching the birds digging holes and ultimately feeding chicks. Sadly by early May the neat small holes began to be destroyed on a systematic basis. Overnight instead of a functioning burrow you would have a massive hole 6-9 inches across with big gouge marks akin to where front paws would have been digging. At one point up to five pairs were feeding chicks at the nest mouth, which is a precursor to fledging I believe, but these holes were dug out as with every other. On a few occasions the remains of chicks were visible at the base of the river bank, along with the nest linings. The view of most people I've spoken to is that the likely cause is mink.
In some cases the birds persevered with these ruined burrows, in most cases they dug a new one. I even saw a couple that appeared to have managed a second brood. However, I don't think any chicks fledged in the end and the colony was abandoned by the end of July. I keep thinking that Sand Martins must have such predators as a normal challenge to their breeding, but the attacks were so relentless it was a bit gut-wrenching to be honest.
So today there were around 20 burrows being attended but 2 had already been dug out substantially as per last year, hence my gloomy comment.
Rob Creek said
Sun May 2 10:00 PM, 2021
Hi Simon, when you say a couple of the Sand Martin holes have already been dug out, and sadly youre not expecting any different from last year... what happened last year, and did you mean dug out themselves? Im looking back on the thread but the only reference to holes being dug out is your post relating to the article stating that the holes should be blocked up in winter so the birds can dig them out again themselves.
Just thought Id ask as I dont know, cheers mate.
alanhill said
Sun May 2 1:40 PM, 2021
Saw the goosander ducklings last week and very interested to know how they will survive. Is it mink that dig out the sand martin's nests?
I'm told that the 'motorway' is intended to replace the path along the river which will eventually be closed off due to erosion. That meadow is/was a significant cowslip meadow - the University of Latvia have it on their database.
Simon Gough said
Sun May 2 12:07 PM, 2021
Mixed bag of sightings this morning on a circuit of Mersey Vale and the river to Parrs Wood and home, 730-1000
No Whitethroat, never mind Lesser Whitethroat on the railway embankment, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Willow Warbler singing. This time last year lots more birds, but I thought the trees looked like they hadn't budded and bloomed as much and it was a bit chilly, plus I haven't covered the area half as much.
1 Whitethroat singing by the Garlic Bend pond, but the habitat damage from the racetrack has impacted the other end of the meadow in my opinion. But at least the cyclists can save about 2 minutes on their time along the path, so it's fine...
On the river a female Goosander with 5 ducklings, a good number of Sand Martins in the usual colony, and more surprising, what sounded like a Reed Warbler singing from hawthorns on the opposite bank. I gave it about 30 mins waiting for the thing to surface, but it stayed resolutely in cover. Will be very interesting to see if it sticks around, or in fact if I imagined it...
A couple of the Sand Martin holes had already been dug out so sadly I'm not expecting much different from last year
Rob Creek said
Wed Apr 14 11:02 PM, 2021
A Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and a Greenfinch all singing in the vicinity of the car park at Matalan (Stockport) early afternoon as we were walking towards the doors.
Simon Gough said
Sun Mar 28 4:23 PM, 2021
Peregrine over Parrs Wood this afternoon, apparently heading back towards Stockport. My first ever local sighting. Looked like a male on size. Also 2 Chiffchaff singing in the wood, both on territories that were held last year
Simon Gough said
Sat Mar 20 11:58 AM, 2021
37 species seen this morning between around 730 and 930. Amazing how busy the path is by mid-morning, where did these people go before?
My yearlist screamed past 60 species with Stock Dove and a pair of Mandarin at Cheadle Bridge. Some Fieldfare on the farm field were nice and a pair of Treecreepers showed well in the trees by the school playing fields
Hardly any gulls about, presume they have set off for breeding grounds somewhere. Nice to hear a couple of Mike's Chiffchaffs singing too
Mike Crawley said
Thu Mar 18 11:48 PM, 2021
Sorry, I thought I had posted this earlier.
This afternoon
Singing Chiffchaff near the wildflower meadow area.
Male Reed Bunting on the opposite side of the river near the solar farm
Buzzard circling fairly low over weir.
6 Goosander (2 males) between the weir and the Manchester Road bridge.
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Mar 15 9:13 AM, 2021
Originally posted by Nicholas Turner:
Apologies for the late posting but my approval to post has only just come through. Last Monday 15th March saw a Dipper at Cheadle Bridge, the first one I have seen here for a couple of years at least. Plus the usual ca. 10 Goosanders, Sparrowhawk, several Grey and Pied Wagtails, Stock Dove and male Blackcap.
Simon Gough said
Sun Feb 7 11:59 AM, 2021
A nice walk along the river at Burnage Rugby Club this morning. A couple of Greenfinch were singing quite lustily which was nice. Also great were a flock of thrushes on the field on the opposite bank, with a nice few Fieldfare in with Redwings and Mistles. Also present in good numbers were Common Gulls on the flooded golf course, doubles figures, which is pretty unusual, normally only 2 or 3. They were focussing on the muddy edges of the flood pools.
The footpath work has revealed itself to be a wide tarmac path right through the middle of the meadow at the 'Garlic Bend'. This is now a flat and straight section which I imagine will please cyclists but is hard to like as a birder. What is irritating is that if they had just done that when they tarmacced the original path, they could have left the old path on the bank to be a bit wilder.
Tony Koziol said
Sun Jan 31 4:02 PM, 2021
Fabulous flock of 40 plus Redpoll late this morning whilst working on a garden on Cleveland Road. They only settled twice in the Silver Birch but it was only for thirty seconds maximum each time before they took off and headed towards the Golf course.
Tried as best as possible but could "only" get Lesser Redpoll within the flock however we are more than happy with this sighting literally on our doorstep. It also gives us GM bird number 58.
Tony Koziol said
Thu Jan 28 3:48 PM, 2021
Walked along Green Lane towards the sports club and half a dozen Mistle Thrush were feeding on the sports field, this makes species number 55 for GM this year. Ten Redwing were also flitting between the allotments and sports field.
Tony Koziol said
Sat Jan 23 4:06 PM, 2021
We watched six Redwing early this afternoon feeding on the Pyracantha berries at Green Lane Allotments. Their numbers locally appear to be far less than last autumn/winter. Just wondered if this was a trend?
Tony Koziol said
Sun Jan 17 3:09 PM, 2021
A good walk this morning produced a nice flock of 15 Siskin in a Silver Birch near Lancashire Hill flats, they were disturbed by a male Sparrowhawk flying through. Several Jackdaw near Tesco.
Two Peregrine in the usual place brings the GM numbers up to 52 for the year.
Mike Crawley said
Sun Jan 17 2:51 PM, 2021
I walked the stretch between the Manchester Road bridge and the rugby club on the way home from the supermarket. Absolutely overrun with people taking some exercise and the river still in spate.
However, 6 Goosander (2 males)
2 Little Grebe (pair ?) were a pleasant surprise.
10/12 Mallard
1 Song Thrush (at the junction of the riverside path and the path up to Green Pastures
3 Grey Wagtail
1 Pied Wagtail
A possible Reed Bunting about 20 yards beyond the fence towards the weir, but it was heading upstream into the area which is now completely quiet.
Various other bits n bobs
Simon Gough said
Tue Jan 12 2:32 PM, 2021
Hi Mike,
I did wonder about that possibility, but I must have read 'improvement' more literally, not sure a repair counts as an improvement! But as you say, at least they are doing something about it.
Thanks for the update
Simon
Mike Crawley said
Mon Jan 11 5:19 PM, 2021
Simon Gough wrote:
Footpath closure is apparently for unspecified "footpath improvements", according to signage, for 8 weeks (!)
Simon,
the local 4 Heatons Facebook page has a message from a local saying that she approached the guys setting up the barriers. Apparently part of the footpath has started to subside (I think I know where) due to ero caused by the very high wate levels seen during the heavy rains.
It's a shme that part of the river is inaccessible but kudos to the council for being proactive
Simon Gough said
Sun Jan 10 11:14 AM, 2021
Dipper this morning at Cheadle Bridge. Also picked up Common Gull and Nuthatch for the year, will be doing well to get past 40 by the end of the month but hey...
Footpath closure is apparently for unspecified "footpath improvements", according to signage, for 8 weeks (!)
Possibilities that struck me would be tarmaccing the bit down to vale farm or possibly the path across the meadow. Of course considering how fond the cyclists are of doing the thing at high speed maybe the council are putting in a pit lane and an electronic scoreboard.
As much as I grumble, it is important that everyone has access to this kind of outdoors space; when it was mud years ago it wasn't accessible to wheelchairs for instance whereas now it is.
alanhill said
Sat Jan 9 5:00 PM, 2021
Usual collection this morning: woodpecker, wagtails, goosanders, cormorant, etc. Must get down to Cheadle Bridge to look for the dipper.
But why have they closed off the section of the river path from Burnage Rugby Club to the Weir? And for how long?
Tony Coatsworth said
Sat Jan 9 3:34 PM, 2021
A single Dipper at Cheadle Bridge but the water level was very high
Tony Koziol said
Sat Jan 9 2:57 PM, 2021
Two Grey Wagtail this morning on the banks of the Mersey by the rugby club, very busy.
Rob Creek said
Sun Dec 20 7:57 AM, 2020
Hi Alan, I found this info relating to Avian Flu that may be of use to you.
Finding a dead bird Do I need to report single dead birds? If you find one or more gulls, waders, ducks, geese and swans (webbed feet, long legs or long neck), you should contact the DAERA helpline. You will be asked for details of the finding and the location.
DAERA helpline: 0300 200 7840
alanhill said
Sat Dec 19 4:46 PM, 2020
The usual goosanders along the river this morning (7 female, 1 male). Woodpecker, long-tailed tits.
Bur a friend mailed me with the upsetting news that she had seen a male goodsander guarding a dead female near Simon's Bridge, Didsbury this morning. Does something like this need to be reported?
Advice would be welcome. Thankyou
Simon Gough said
Mon Dec 14 12:36 PM, 2020
A flock of 16-17 Ring-necked Parakeets flew through south towards Abney Hall Park from Parrs Wood playing fields this morning at around 830. Normally see the odd one or two but this is the biggest flock I've seen in this locality by some margin.
alanhill said
Mon Dec 7 7:39 PM, 2020
On the river this morning, near horse field, group of seven female goosanders and one male (lucky guy!)
Large number of gulls along the river, unusually large I thought.
Near the pylon pond - flock of chaffinches, flock of long-tailed tits. Couple of jays.
Steve Smith said
Sun Nov 29 8:21 PM, 2020
Water Rail between Woolpack and green bridge, just downstream of the caves. 8 equally spaced Cormorant on pylon by weir and 10+ Goosander between city centre and Mersey Vale.
Glossy Ibis showing very nicely in bright sunshine. And, as a bonus, it was in Stockport Borough
Cheers John.
Glossy Ibis off Longsight Lane, from text alert (09.04) to ticking (09.46) 42 minutes, not bad if you are local, certainly my quickest twitch. I suspect others on site were there quicker than me.
A brilliant bird, happily walking around grubbing away.
** Glossy Ibis ***
A Glossy Ibis was seen and photgraphed in the cheadle area yesterday found by Sam Harris GM Birder Long sight lane Cheadle Hulme
(53.3571776, -2.1956912) are the coordinates given if that helps anyone ..
Worth having a look around if your local or off work .
Keep Birding
sorry thats all i have
-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Thursday 13th of January 2022 08:05:13 AM
Cheers, John
A quick walk down to Green Lane allotments and we found around fifty starlings feeding on the sports field along with one jackdaw, one carrion crow, two magpie and very little else.
Nothing was feeding on the orange pyracantha berries
A walk out this afternoon was almost over immediately, as I saw a Hobby zoom over my head on Burnage Lane no more than 500m from my place. I nearly went home again, it wasn't going to top that.
After I'd calmed down a bit, there were some bits and bobs on the river, notably my first local swifts of the year and a couple of swallows at Vale Farm which normally has a pair for the summer.
The river was very high but none of the Sand Martin burrows looked affected but some agitated Grey Wagtails made me think they probably need to nest again. Mother Nature...
in July 2012 and you can see the claw marks below the enlarged nest holes. The following summer the birds
moved to the bank opposite the Waterside car park, which they used, I think, up until the bank was reshaped
a couple of years ago. The artificial nest structure which was supposed to mitigate the destruction of the
natural nest site has failed miserably so far..
I've seen Sand Martins perched on it, but never used in anger as far as I know.
That's a good point. I've also felt that it's a poor nest site as the river can flood to the height of the nest holes even in summer. I had a look at the artificial nest site opposite the Waterside car park this morning. As you know it was put there some years ago when they were working on the gas pipeline and destroyed the large sandbank (well used by sand martins) on the south side of the river. There was no sign of any activity, as was the case when I have checked it several times this spring. Has anyone any record of it being used in previous years? I once tried to find out who was monitoring it.
We shall see what pans out over the summer
Cheers Chris and Roger too, very interesting that it could be multiple predatory attacks.
For years this was my route to work. I would cycle past every morning and afternoon.
On at least 2 occasions I witnessed a Mink at the nest site. Could well be Badger also though.
Real shame. The last time wss 4 years ago
Thanks, that's a really interesting suggestion, there is a badger sett really near to the river that I'm aware of, and probably more elsewhere. It could explain the fact that this colony decimation seems to be quite a recent thing if it could be attributed to a combination of weather and predator rather than just the predator being there.
I didn't have any evidence of mink in any case, it was just what people were suggesting.
Cheers
Simon
This sounds more like the work of badger than mink .... they'll make make short work of sand tunnels to get at brooding birds, eggs and nestlings .. easy digging.
Also this year (as last year) we have had a long dry spell which means a shortage of their main food source, earth worms.
Water shortage has a major impact on wildlife .. if you remember all the reports last year of rats everywhere it wasn't that they were bold, only that they were desperate for water and searching in daylight.
You'd better get doing a rain-dance !
Roger.
Apologies if the post was cryptic, I hadn't thought about what I was writing properly at all.
Last year, obviously in the height of the first lockdown, I was making near daily visits to the Sand Martin colony from the beginning of April onwards. It was very enjoyable watching the birds digging holes and ultimately feeding chicks. Sadly by early May the neat small holes began to be destroyed on a systematic basis. Overnight instead of a functioning burrow you would have a massive hole 6-9 inches across with big gouge marks akin to where front paws would have been digging. At one point up to five pairs were feeding chicks at the nest mouth, which is a precursor to fledging I believe, but these holes were dug out as with every other. On a few occasions the remains of chicks were visible at the base of the river bank, along with the nest linings. The view of most people I've spoken to is that the likely cause is mink.
In some cases the birds persevered with these ruined burrows, in most cases they dug a new one. I even saw a couple that appeared to have managed a second brood. However, I don't think any chicks fledged in the end and the colony was abandoned by the end of July. I keep thinking that Sand Martins must have such predators as a normal challenge to their breeding, but the attacks were so relentless it was a bit gut-wrenching to be honest.
So today there were around 20 burrows being attended but 2 had already been dug out substantially as per last year, hence my gloomy comment.
when you say a couple of the Sand Martin holes have already been dug out, and sadly youre not expecting any different from last year... what happened last year, and did you mean dug out themselves?
Im looking back on the thread but the only reference to holes being dug out is your post relating to the article stating that the holes should be blocked up in winter so the birds can dig them out again themselves.
Just thought Id ask as I dont know, cheers mate.
Saw the goosander ducklings last week and very interested to know how they will survive. Is it mink that dig out the sand martin's nests?
I'm told that the 'motorway' is intended to replace the path along the river which will eventually be closed off due to erosion. That meadow is/was a significant cowslip meadow - the University of Latvia have it on their database.
No Whitethroat, never mind Lesser Whitethroat on the railway embankment, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Willow Warbler singing. This time last year lots more birds, but I thought the trees looked like they hadn't budded and bloomed as much and it was a bit chilly, plus I haven't covered the area half as much.
1 Whitethroat singing by the Garlic Bend pond, but the habitat damage from the racetrack has impacted the other end of the meadow in my opinion. But at least the cyclists can save about 2 minutes on their time along the path, so it's fine...
On the river a female Goosander with 5 ducklings, a good number of Sand Martins in the usual colony, and more surprising, what sounded like a Reed Warbler singing from hawthorns on the opposite bank. I gave it about 30 mins waiting for the thing to surface, but it stayed resolutely in cover. Will be very interesting to see if it sticks around, or in fact if I imagined it...
A couple of the Sand Martin holes had already been dug out so sadly I'm not expecting much different from last year
My yearlist screamed past 60 species with Stock Dove and a pair of Mandarin at Cheadle Bridge. Some Fieldfare on the farm field were nice and a pair of Treecreepers showed well in the trees by the school playing fields
Hardly any gulls about, presume they have set off for breeding grounds somewhere. Nice to hear a couple of Mike's Chiffchaffs singing too
This afternoon
Singing Chiffchaff near the wildflower meadow area.
Male Reed Bunting on the opposite side of the river near the solar farm
Buzzard circling fairly low over weir.
6 Goosander (2 males) between the weir and the Manchester Road bridge.
Originally posted by Nicholas Turner:
Apologies for the late posting but my approval to post has only just come through. Last Monday 15th March saw a Dipper at Cheadle Bridge, the first one I have seen here for a couple of years at least. Plus the usual ca. 10 Goosanders, Sparrowhawk, several Grey and Pied Wagtails, Stock Dove and male Blackcap.
The footpath work has revealed itself to be a wide tarmac path right through the middle of the meadow at the 'Garlic Bend'. This is now a flat and straight section which I imagine will please cyclists but is hard to like as a birder. What is irritating is that if they had just done that when they tarmacced the original path, they could have left the old path on the bank to be a bit wilder.
Fabulous flock of 40 plus Redpoll late this morning whilst working on a garden on Cleveland Road. They only settled twice in the Silver Birch but it was only for thirty seconds maximum each time before they took off and headed towards the Golf course.
Tried as best as possible but could "only" get Lesser Redpoll within the flock however we are more than happy with this sighting literally on our doorstep. It also gives us GM bird number 58.
Walked along Green Lane towards the sports club and half a dozen Mistle Thrush were feeding on the sports field, this makes species number 55 for GM this year. Ten Redwing were also flitting between the allotments and sports field.
We watched six Redwing early this afternoon feeding on the Pyracantha berries at Green Lane Allotments. Their numbers locally appear to be far less than last autumn/winter. Just wondered if this was a trend?
A good walk this morning produced a nice flock of 15 Siskin in a Silver Birch near Lancashire Hill flats, they were disturbed by a male Sparrowhawk flying through. Several Jackdaw near Tesco.
Two Peregrine in the usual place brings the GM numbers up to 52 for the year.
However, 6 Goosander (2 males)
2 Little Grebe (pair ?) were a pleasant surprise.
10/12 Mallard
1 Song Thrush (at the junction of the riverside path and the path up to Green Pastures
3 Grey Wagtail
1 Pied Wagtail
A possible Reed Bunting about 20 yards beyond the fence towards the weir, but it was heading upstream into the area which is now completely quiet.
Various other bits n bobs
I did wonder about that possibility, but I must have read 'improvement' more literally, not sure a repair counts as an improvement! But as you say, at least they are doing something about it.
Thanks for the update
Simon
Simon,
the local 4 Heatons Facebook page has a message from a local saying that she approached the guys setting up the barriers. Apparently part of the footpath has started to subside (I think I know where) due to ero caused by the very high wate levels seen during the heavy rains.
It's a shme that part of the river is inaccessible but kudos to the council for being proactive
Footpath closure is apparently for unspecified "footpath improvements", according to signage, for 8 weeks (!)
Possibilities that struck me would be tarmaccing the bit down to vale farm or possibly the path across the meadow. Of course considering how fond the cyclists are of doing the thing at high speed maybe the council are putting in a pit lane and an electronic scoreboard.
As much as I grumble, it is important that everyone has access to this kind of outdoors space; when it was mud years ago it wasn't accessible to wheelchairs for instance whereas now it is.
Usual collection this morning: woodpecker, wagtails, goosanders, cormorant, etc. Must get down to Cheadle Bridge to look for the dipper.
But why have they closed off the section of the river path from Burnage Rugby Club to the Weir? And for how long?
A single Dipper at Cheadle Bridge but the water level was very high
Two Grey Wagtail this morning on the banks of the Mersey by the rugby club, very busy.
I found this info relating to Avian Flu that may be of use to you.
Finding a dead bird
Do I need to report single dead birds? If you find one or more gulls, waders, ducks, geese and swans (webbed feet, long legs or long neck), you should contact the DAERA helpline. You will be asked for details of the finding and the location.
DAERA helpline: 0300 200 7840
The usual goosanders along the river this morning (7 female, 1 male). Woodpecker, long-tailed tits.
Bur a friend mailed me with the upsetting news that she had seen a male goodsander guarding a dead female near Simon's Bridge, Didsbury this morning. Does something like this need to be reported?
Advice would be welcome. Thankyou
On the river this morning, near horse field, group of seven female goosanders and one male (lucky guy!)
Large number of gulls along the river, unusually large I thought.
Near the pylon pond - flock of chaffinches, flock of long-tailed tits. Couple of jays.