Very enjoyable and quite productive hour and a half or so spent in the park this evening:

Goldcrest singing, probably another about, going on the calls.
2 chiffchaff
2 blackcap
Coal tit, goldfinch, chaffinch
2 very busy nuthatch parents
2 song thrush
4 mistle thrush, including two fledglings
1 jay
2 swift
1 ring-necked parakeet over

Pair of stock dove in the park this evening; flew off east.

Also two ring-necked parakeet, a jay, a singing mistle thrush and a blackcap heard briefly.

At least one singing blackcap in here this evening, as well as a willow warbler.

A pair of very busy nuthatch, two goldcrest (one singing) and a pair of bullfinch were the highlights of an hour or so in the park late this morning. A few starlings and jackdaw feeding on the playing fields, too.

A flock of 60 odd redwings on the football pitches. Also of note, 2 mistle thrushes, 3 blackbirds and 7 starlings.

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 15th of March 2016 09:41:12 PM

An hour and a half or so in the park this morning; highlights were:

1 goldcrest
4 long-tailed tit, two of whom were collecting spiders' webs.
3 coal tit
1 treecreeper
4 dunnock (two in song)
5+ house sparrow
c10 siskin
5+ goldfinch
1 greenfinch
1 chaffinch
1 nuthatch
10+ starling
10+ redwing
1 mistle thrush
3 ring-necked parakeet (two over)
44 black-headed gull
1 common gull
1 grey heron
All the usuals.

Couple of hours plus in the park, late morning to early afternoon:

3 goldcrest
1 wren
2 chiffchaff
1 coal tit
Blue tit, great tit and long-tailed tit all in good numbers
1 treecreeper
3 (maybe 5) nuthatch
2 dunnock
2 robin
4 goldfinch
3 chaffinch
2 pied wagtail
1 grey wagtail
20+ starling over
5 blackbird
3 mistle thrush
1 jay
21 jackdaw
c20 black-headed gull
2 common gull
Magpie, carrion crow, woodpigeon, feral pigeon

Tawny owl heard in (or around) the park at roughly 11.30 last night.

Another quick visit on the thursday to see if any other migrants were around. Unfortunately, despite the area looking promising after the migrants seen on the tuesday, it held nothing apart from a pair of sparrowhawks calling in the distant ( which I also heard on the Tuesday but what it has slipped my mind)

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 6th of September 2015 12:05:04 AM

I had a quick visit hoping to find a whinchat which didn't disappoint.
After spending a hour there without a sign of one I decided to walk back. On the way back I decided to scan through the gulls. After seeing nothing of any interest. I turned around to walk back, only to see a bird fly into the brambles at the back of the wildflowers area and then sit at the top of the bramble bush. It was a female whinchat. It then flew into the allotments. While waiting for it to fly back over the bush. A male whinchat flew on to a stalk not far from me. He then flew to a sunflower where he was attacked by a third/first whinchat which flew from the long grass and was straight back out of view. Other birds in the hedge were: 3 blackcaps and 5 whitethroats

Whinchat at Southern Cemetery at midday today; at the northern end and on the adjacent allotments.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

From 9.50 to roughly 11 o'clock this morning:

20+ redwing
3 mistle thrush
1 song thrush (singing)
10 blackbird
3 robin
3 house sparrows
4 chaffinch
6 greenfinch
20+ goldfinch
1 wren
2 dunnock (1 singing)
2 long-tailed tit
10+ blue tit
3 great tit
1 nuthatch (very briefly)
1 treecreeper
2 great spotted woodpecker (with drumming heard later on)
15+ woodpigeon
c10 magpie
2 jay
2 carrion crow
1 grey heron flying over the playing fields towards the allotments

ETA: this was the park, not the cemetery.




-- Edited by Shannon Llewellyn on Saturday 7th of February 2015 11:34:23 AM

Seeing as our 'garden' is rubbish for attracting birds, I did the garden birdwatch by the brook in Chorlton Park today; in the allotted hour it yielded:

6 woodpigeon
2 robin
5 blue tit
3 great tit
1 carrion crow
4 magpie
4 blackbird
4 house sparrow
1 dunnock
2 jay
1 song thrush
2 long-tailed tit
2 goldfinch
13 redwing

Obviously the numbers of the more common species would have been higher, but they ask for the number of individuals you see together, and those numbers were the most. Don't know where all the chaffinch were hiding.

Found time for an hour in Chorlton Park late this morning:

2 bullfinch
1 song thrush
c40 starling feeding on the ground near the football pitches
At least 30 or 40 goldfinch feeding amongst the treetops
5 house sparrows
3 chaffinch
1 jay (making a sound a bit like a camera)
1 dunnock
100 or so black-headed gulls all over the football pitches
At least 10 common gulls amongst them
c20 jackdaws also feeding on the pitches
1 juvenile lesser-black-backed gull flying over
What looked like a glaucous gull flying over, though its plumage looked darker than you'd (or I'd, anyway) expect; right pattern, though
Loads of the usuals, too; blue tits and great tits seem to fly at you from all angles in parts of this park; it's great.

A Buzzard has been roosting in woodland next to the parkway for the past 3 weeks. Appears to be a larger and paler individual then the normal pair seen around the area. Even has a few odd habits eg. scavenging from the edge of the river something the regulars never bother with. Resident female Tawny Owl going ape sh-t at 7am again just a bit unusual. A couple of years ago I did find a predated wasp nest in Kenworthy Wood. At the time I assumed it must have been carried out by a mammal but there was no evidence of any paw marks and there's been no scat seen since

Wheatear at southern cemetery today; on soil heaps at the north end.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

Ian is right - my bird was not a kite. I do have a lot of experience of Honey Buzzard both in UK and Europe, and migrating buzzards in Eilat where Steppe and Honey move through in large numbers. It was a buteo or Pernis!

Firstly, the Red Kite wasn't suffering feather damage, it merely had symmetrical inner primary moult. It's not exactly the same size or shape as a Honey Buzzard either and knowing Rob felt his bird was a buteo species at the very least, I feel absolutely certain that the two sightings are not linked.

Rob,

Please refer to "


ASTLEY, CHAT AND ASSOCIATED MOSSES

A rather worn looking Red Kite was very low over Rindle, Astley Moss (only at the same height as the trees in Rindle Wood at one point) at 1:35 this afternoon. Missing its inner primaries it drifted over the SSSI where it circled for a while before being mobbed by every Lapwing, Crow and Kestrel in the area. It then drifted lazily back across Rindle Road, remaining very low and headed over towards Astley Moss East, putting every Black-headed Gull and Lapwing up there too. Even a Rindle Cottages resident saw it and was over the moon, pointing it out in this RSPB bird book!

Could this have been your Buteo species perhaps? it would be of the right size and has feather damage to the wings?

Regards,

Len

As I was driving in to work a buteo sp was flying roughly towards me left to right, crossing the Parkway approximately where the Snow & Rock shop is, heading toweards the Mersey Valley.

The bird was in silhouette, and seen without optics, but I regularly see Common Buzzard on this part of the journey and it immediately stood out as looking large (my first thought was Osprey), long tailed, protruding head and flat winged, however I am not happy to claim it as more than a possible Honey Buzzard.

It did have some wing damage, probably to the secondaries.

Lesser whitethroat singing from bushes at the north end of Southern Cemetery near the soil heaps late morning today.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

Single Fieldfare over at 8am

Spotted Flycatcher in trees by the green hut on north side of Nell Lane

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

Male Redstart at Southern Cemetery today, at the north end in hawthorns by the allotments.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

Two male Stonechat in Southern Cemetary at the north end by the allotments this morning.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

20 Waxwing in Chorlton Park n poplars in the NW corner but mobile. Also Woodcock nearby.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 12:30:24 PM