But the star was an adult Greater Black-backed Gull, a scarce bird on my local patches and my first since 2013.
So scarce you forgot how to spell it
Welcome back to the forum Rob, even if it is to point out my errors . I will correct my post before Ian gets on my case.
Cheers John.
-- Edited by John Rayner on Friday 17th of January 2020 05:20:35 PM
Rob Thorpe said
Fri Jan 17 4:56 PM, 2020
John Rayner wrote:
But the star was an adult Greater Black-backed Gull, a scarce bird on my local patches and my first since 2013.
So scarce you forgot how to spell it
John Rayner said
Fri Jan 17 3:20 PM, 2020
Church Lane Flood: Plenty of water and plenty of gulls. Mostly Black-headed Gulls (560) with a few Lessr-black Backs (7) and Common Gulls (2). But the star was an adult Great Black-backed Gull, a scarce bird on my local patches and my first since 2013.
Old Hall Lane: Pair of Stonechats still opposite Golf clubhouse.
Cheers John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Friday 17th of January 2020 05:19:55 PM
Adam Jones said
Sun Jan 5 1:57 PM, 2020
Sunday 5th January 1pm
Old Hall Lane: Male and female Stonechat on the airfield side, opposite the Avro golf clubhouse. Could be the same that over-wintered last year. 46 linnets c100 Lapwings flew onto the airfield side 1 Skylark 2 Common Buzzard 152 Redwings 57 Fieldfares 1 Goldcrest by the church 26 Goldfinch 2 Mistle Thrush Lots of the usuals too
Lynne Webster said
Thu Dec 5 10:38 PM, 2019
Red kite flying over eastwards, quite high, surrounded by 9 jackdaws
Adam Jones said
Sun Oct 13 6:10 PM, 2019
Sunday 13th October 4pm Church Lane Flood
c350 Canada Geese, 1 Greylag/Canada hybrid c70 Black headed Gulls 1 dark juvenile Lesser black-backed Gull 35 Jackdaw
Phil Oddy said
Sat Oct 5 4:06 PM, 2019
369+ Canada Geese (probably closer to 400 as some birds were hidden from the road)
4 Cormorants (3 roosting by side of pool+ one over)
Ad Common Gull
8 Lapwings
20+ Rooks
c90 Black-headed Gulls
Church Lane flash
-- Edited by Phil Oddy on Saturday 5th of October 2019 04:07:43 PM
John Rayner said
Thu Oct 3 9:08 PM, 2019
Church Lane Flood:
Is full again. Lots of birds on and around the flood of predominantly 4 species.
Canada Goose a superflock of 317 Black-headed Gull 122 Jackdaw 92 Rook 7
Old Hall Lane:
Chiffchaff in full song Buzzard 1 Skylark 1 Lapwing 16
Cheers, John
Phil Oddy said
Sat Aug 31 3:49 PM, 2019
Church Lane pool - 2 Little Grebes, Moorhen family, 30+ Pied Wagtails, 15 Canada Geese this afternoon
-- Edited by Phil Oddy on Saturday 31st of August 2019 03:50:32 PM
Adam Jones said
Thu Aug 29 1:43 PM, 2019
Thursday 29th August 13:40 Church Lane flood: 3 Little Grebes at the cricket club end C40 Pied Wagtails around the perimeter of the flood. 37 Black headed gulls
Adam Jones said
Sat Aug 17 10:22 AM, 2019
Harassed by a pair of Robins, the Redstarts move along to the hawthorns in the field with the big crater (opposite airfield evacuation gate) at 10:15am There were 3 all together. 1 Male, 1 female and 1 juvenile
One returned to its original position about half an hour later and stayed there until I left at 11.15.
Other birds of note off Old Hall Lane:
6 Lapwings (5 juveniles)
1 Reed Bunting
-- Edited by Adam Jones on Saturday 17th of August 2019 09:13:41 PM
Church Lane Flood: Not surprisingly it's flooded. But the only birds were 4 Greylags and 4 Mallards
Old Hall Lane: 1 Peregrine 2 Buzzards
The River Dean has burst its banks near Green Bridge
Cheers John
John Rayner said
Fri May 3 9:53 PM, 2019
Church Lane:
Now empty of water but a female Yellow Wagtail was feeding on the residual mud.
Cheers John
John Rayner said
Sun Apr 14 12:48 PM, 2019
Little Ringed Plover 2 Curlew 2
Cheers, John
Adam Jones said
Sat Apr 13 3:44 PM, 2019
Saturday 13th April
1 Little Ringed Plover 1 Grey Heron 1 Mandarin (Male) on the river Dean Curlews heard 2 Skylark C45 Wood pigeon feeding in field 3 Linnets
John Rayner said
Fri Apr 12 3:14 PM, 2019
12 April:
Little Ringed Plover 1 Rooftop gulls consisted of a minimum 13 Herring Gulls and c90 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Many nesting. Skylark and Curlew heard
Cheers, John
Adam Jones said
Sat Mar 30 9:03 AM, 2019
Saturday 30th March 8am
Further sightings Church Lane: 3 Curlew 2 Mistle Thrush
Old Hall Lane: A very large and vocal flock of Fieldfare, I'd estimate 75-100 birds. 2 Chiffchaff gave a nice contrast between the winter and summer birds 3 Lapwing on the golf course 4 Linnets Curlews heard on the airfield 2 Mandarin flushed by the golf course Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming
-- Edited by Adam Jones on Saturday 30th of March 2019 10:43:33 AM
Saturday 30th March 06:30 Church Lane 2 Oystercatchers 2 Mandarin 2 Teal 1 Sand Martin 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming
Phil Hampson said
Wed Mar 27 11:02 AM, 2019
Wed 25 March
2 Mute Swan, 4 Wigeon, 6 Teal (5m, 1f), 6 Mallard, 5 Lesser=black backed, 4 Black-headed and 1 Herring Gulls, 2 Little Owls. No Gadwall or waders.
Phil
John Rayner said
Sat Mar 23 1:19 PM, 2019
23rd March: Church Lane Flood.
Changing every day at the moment. Today the Gadwall seem to have left but a Little Grebe and a second Coot have appeared. The 2 Wigeon and 2 Oystercatchers remain.
This is small beer perhaps but Church Lane Flood, when full of water, has held plenty of local rarities/scarcities in the past few years (notably: Shelduck, Pintail, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Greenshank, Ruff and Little Ringed Plover with Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Red Kite and Common Tern as flyovers).
Church Lane: 5 Oystercatchers 95 Black-headed Gulls 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls 1 Common Gull
Old Hall Lane: 2 Stonechats (m, f) c90 Linnets in one flock 2 Skylarks (singing from the ground) 52 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (on BA roofs) 1 Herring Gull (on roof)
Cheers John
John Rayner said
Mon Feb 18 7:33 PM, 2019
Church Lane
2 Oystercatchers on the flood (2 days later than last year).
Cheers John
John Rayner said
Sun Feb 10 1:36 PM, 2019
Old Hall Lane
Large Starling feeding flock c700 Wintering Stonechat still Lapwings 21 Redwing 20 Fieldfare 14
Cheers John
John Rayner said
Fri Feb 8 5:35 PM, 2019
Church Lane Flood
Is back in business. Quite a lot of standing water and loads of common species around. Worth a glance if anyone is passing by.
The overwintering Stonechat still Skylark 13 (single flock) Buzzard 1 Herring Gull 2 Starling 120 Fieldfare 70 Redwing 15
Cheers John
Adam Jones said
Sat Jan 5 6:48 PM, 2019
Saturday 5th January 2:30pm
Church Lane: 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 Nuthatch 4 Mistle Thrush c100+ Redwing in the field (with the white geese in) adjacent to Bramhall Cricket Club. The ground looked like it was alive with them. No Fieldfare though.
c70 Pink footed Geese over flying West
-- Edited by Adam Jones on Saturday 5th of January 2019 07:05:01 PM
Adam Jones said
Sun Dec 2 12:24 PM, 2018
Stonechat still in the same area ass described previously by John. c150 Pink Footed Geese from the airfield, over the Golf clubhouse. 2 Skylark 6 Lapwings holed up on one of the mud mounds .
Redwings moving over regularly and also in the hedgerow along the lane by the houses. Around the church, a couple of Goldcrests in the conifers. Large roving Tit flock consisting of Long tailed, Blue and Great Tits, working it's way along the lane. I was hoping for a Brambling in amongst them, but I didn't see any. Other birds seen: 1 Meadow Pipit 1 Jay 1 Common Buzzard 1 Grey Heron 12 Goldfinch Lots of activity on a cold afternoon.
dave broome said
Sun May 20 10:03 AM, 2018
Saturday 19th: a Hobby flew through the former Aerodrome site nr Avro Golf Course and continued in to Cheshire
John Rayner said
Fri May 4 9:53 AM, 2018
Church Lane : Lesser Whitethroat still singing
Od Hall Lane (AVRO G.C.) Probably Channel Wagtail still 7 Wheatears
Cheers John
John Rayner said
Tue May 1 8:41 PM, 2018
Tried AVRO Golf Course again this morning and the Blue-headed-type Wagtail was commuting between the airfield and the freshly mown fairways.
It appeared to have light-ish powder blue tones to the head (which was not a photographic artefact) and rather too much white in the face for pure Blue-headed. It is probably a 'Channel Wagtail' hybrid. I confess I had to resort to Ian's excellent article on the main website for additional information.
Also on the Golf Course and nearby Airfield:
Wheatear 4 Linnet 4 Curlew 2 Tree Sparrow 2 (mating) Sand Martin 4 (over river)
Cheers, John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Tuesday 1st of May 2018 10:57:20 PM
Old Hall Lane - Woodford Airfield - AVRO Golf Course.
Golf Course: Possible Blue-headed Wagtail (bluish-grey head, reasonably sharp, white supercilium, appeard to have all yellow throat) but couldn't clinch the ID at distance and it flew before I could get scope views. 3 Wheatears 1 Oystercatcher 1 Tree Sparrow
Airfield: 1 Little Ringed Plover 2-3 Skylarks Many Lesser-black Backed Gulls paired and roof nesting No Curlews heard
Cheers John
Adam Jones said
Sun Apr 29 10:13 AM, 2018
Sunday 29th April 08:30
Church Lane:
Lesser Whitethroat singing from roadside hedge near cricket club, then gave good views. Possibly a second heard nearby.
Adam Jones said
Sat Feb 24 3:28 PM, 2018
Late post for afternoon of Friday 23rd.
Old hall Lane: 9 Fieldfares 2 Redwings 3 Common Buzzards 1 Mistle Thrush
Church Lane: 5 Oystercatchers 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker (drumming)
Oystercatcher, pair Shoveler, c70 Canada Geese this morning
A bit of birding from the car to see what the storm might have blown in...
1 male Wigeon
2 Shoveler (pair)
1 Oystercatcher
2 ad. Cormorants
Usual numbers and mix of the commoner gulls
Cheers John
Wonder if they are from Adlington? I had a similar number of Shoveler there last week
3 Teal (2m, 1f)
1 Oystercatcher
c300 Black-headed Gulls
4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
All flushed when model aircraft flyers landed 2 model seaplanes in the middle of the flood. Oystercatcher and 2 Shovelers returned.
Cheers John
Don't think I've ever seen any there either. Pair still present this afternoon.
Church Lane flood:
An unusual sighting this afternoon in the shape of a pair of Shoveler. Think this may be a new bird for me on this bit of water.
Welcome back to the forum Rob, even if it is to point out my errors
Cheers John.
-- Edited by John Rayner on Friday 17th of January 2020 05:20:35 PM
So scarce you forgot how to spell it
Plenty of water and plenty of gulls. Mostly Black-headed Gulls (560) with a few Lessr-black Backs (7) and Common Gulls (2). But the star was an adult Great Black-backed Gull, a scarce bird on my local patches and my first since 2013.
Old Hall Lane:
Pair of Stonechats still opposite Golf clubhouse.
Cheers John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Friday 17th of January 2020 05:19:55 PM
Old Hall Lane:
Male and female Stonechat on the airfield side, opposite the Avro golf clubhouse. Could be the same that over-wintered last year.
46 linnets
c100 Lapwings flew onto the airfield side
1 Skylark
2 Common Buzzard
152 Redwings
57 Fieldfares
1 Goldcrest by the church
26 Goldfinch
2 Mistle Thrush
Lots of the usuals too
Church Lane Flood
c350 Canada Geese, 1 Greylag/Canada hybrid
c70 Black headed Gulls
1 dark juvenile Lesser black-backed Gull
35 Jackdaw
369+ Canada Geese (probably closer to 400 as some birds were hidden from the road)
4 Cormorants (3 roosting by side of pool+ one over)
Ad Common Gull
8 Lapwings
20+ Rooks
c90 Black-headed Gulls
Church Lane flash
-- Edited by Phil Oddy on Saturday 5th of October 2019 04:07:43 PM
Is full again. Lots of birds on and around the flood of predominantly 4 species.
Canada Goose a superflock of 317
Black-headed Gull 122
Jackdaw 92
Rook 7
Old Hall Lane:
Chiffchaff in full song
Buzzard 1
Skylark 1
Lapwing 16
Cheers, John
Church Lane pool - 2 Little Grebes, Moorhen family, 30+ Pied Wagtails, 15 Canada Geese this afternoon
-- Edited by Phil Oddy on Saturday 31st of August 2019 03:50:32 PM
Church Lane flood:
3 Little Grebes at the cricket club end
C40 Pied Wagtails around the perimeter of the flood.
37 Black headed gulls
There were 3 all together. 1 Male, 1 female and 1 juvenile One returned to its original position about half an hour later and stayed there until I left at 11.15. Other birds of note off Old Hall Lane: 6 Lapwings (5 juveniles) 1 Reed Bunting
-- Edited by Adam Jones on Saturday 17th of August 2019 09:13:41 PM
c360 Canada Geese on flood but no sign of Egret early afternoon
Went to photograph a Little Egret found this morning by Mark Walsh.
Also c210 Canada Geese.
Cheers John.
Church Lane Flood:
Not surprisingly it's flooded. But the only birds were 4 Greylags and 4 Mallards
Old Hall Lane:
1 Peregrine
2 Buzzards
The River Dean has burst its banks near Green Bridge
Cheers John
Now empty of water but a female Yellow Wagtail was feeding on the residual mud.
Cheers John
Curlew 2
Cheers, John
1 Little Ringed Plover
1 Grey Heron
1 Mandarin (Male) on the river Dean
Curlews heard
2 Skylark
C45 Wood pigeon feeding in field
3 Linnets
Little Ringed Plover 1
Rooftop gulls consisted of a minimum 13 Herring Gulls and c90 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Many nesting.
Skylark and Curlew heard
Cheers, John
Further sightings Church Lane:
3 Curlew
2 Mistle Thrush
Old Hall Lane:
A very large and vocal flock of Fieldfare, I'd estimate 75-100 birds.
2 Chiffchaff gave a nice contrast between the winter and summer birds
3 Lapwing on the golf course
4 Linnets
Curlews heard on the airfield
2 Mandarin flushed by the golf course
Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming
-- Edited by Adam Jones on Saturday 30th of March 2019 10:43:33 AM
Church Lane
2 Oystercatchers
2 Mandarin
2 Teal
1 Sand Martin
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming
Wed 25 March
2 Mute Swan, 4 Wigeon, 6 Teal (5m, 1f), 6 Mallard, 5 Lesser=black backed, 4 Black-headed and 1 Herring Gulls, 2 Little Owls. No Gadwall or waders.
Phil
Changing every day at the moment. Today the Gadwall seem to have left but a Little Grebe and a second Coot have appeared.
The 2 Wigeon and 2 Oystercatchers remain.
This is small beer perhaps but Church Lane Flood, when full of water, has held plenty of local rarities/scarcities in the past few years (notably: Shelduck, Pintail, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Greenshank, Ruff and Little Ringed Plover with Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Red Kite and Common Tern as flyovers).
Cheers John
Wigeon 2 (both drakes)
Gadwall 4 (2 pairs)
Mallard 5
Coot 1
Oystercatchers 2
Black-headed Gull 202
Common Gull 5
Herring Gull 3
Lesser Black-backed Gull 2
Buzzard 3
Raven 1 over calling
Rook 2 (3 nests)
Stock Dove 2
Cheers John
Redshank 1
Coot 1
Oystercatcher 4
Black-headed Gull 460
Common Gull 14
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Old Hall Lane:
Chiffchaff 1
Stock Dove 26
Curlew 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull 59
Cheers John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Wednesday 20th of March 2019 07:39:05 PM
5 Oystercatchers
95 Black-headed Gulls
3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Common Gull
Old Hall Lane:
2 Stonechats (m, f)
c90 Linnets in one flock
2 Skylarks (singing from the ground)
52 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (on BA roofs)
1 Herring Gull (on roof)
Cheers John
2 Oystercatchers on the flood (2 days later than last year).
Cheers John
Large Starling feeding flock c700
Wintering Stonechat still
Lapwings 21
Redwing 20
Fieldfare 14
Cheers John
Is back in business. Quite a lot of standing water and loads of common species around. Worth a glance if anyone is passing by.
Canada Goose 225
Greylag Goose 1
Hybrid Canada x Greylag (I think) 4
Black-headed Gull 67
Common Gull 4
Herring Gull 5
Lesser Black-backed Gull 4
Starling 130
Jackdaws c100 feeding
Redwing 8
Cheers John
Old Hall Lane:
c50 Fieldfares
3 Redwings
3 Treecreepers
7 Linnets
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Common Buzzard
6 Bullfinch
4 Skylark
1 Lapwing
The overwintering Stonechat still
Skylark 13 (single flock)
Buzzard 1
Herring Gull 2
Starling 120
Fieldfare 70
Redwing 15
Cheers John
Church Lane:
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Nuthatch
4 Mistle Thrush
c100+ Redwing in the field (with the white geese in) adjacent to Bramhall Cricket Club. The ground looked like it was alive with them. No Fieldfare though. c70 Pink footed Geese over flying West
-- Edited by Adam Jones on Saturday 5th of January 2019 07:05:01 PM
c150 Pink Footed Geese from the airfield, over the Golf clubhouse.
2 Skylark
6 Lapwings holed up on one of the mud mounds .
Not much else around in brief visit. 1 Fieldfare, 1 Skylark.
Cheers John.
Skylark 1
Raven 2
Fieldfare 25
Redwing 6
Buzzard 2-3
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Kingfisher 1 (R. Dean)
Goosander 2f (R. Dean)
Cheers John
Fieldfare c100
Redwings c20
Woodpigeon c130
Buzzards 2
Skylark 1
Cheers, John
Old Hall Lane:
Redwings moving over regularly and also in the hedgerow along the lane by the houses.
Around the church, a couple of Goldcrests in the conifers.
Large roving Tit flock consisting of Long tailed, Blue and Great Tits, working it's way along the lane. I was hoping for a Brambling in amongst them, but I didn't see any.
Other birds seen:
1 Meadow Pipit
1 Jay
1 Common Buzzard
1 Grey Heron
12 Goldfinch
Lots of activity on a cold afternoon.
Lesser Whitethroat still singing
Od Hall Lane (AVRO G.C.)
Probably Channel Wagtail still
7 Wheatears
Cheers John
It appeared to have light-ish powder blue tones to the head (which was not a photographic artefact) and rather too much white in the face for pure Blue-headed. It is probably a 'Channel Wagtail' hybrid. I confess I had to resort to Ian's excellent article on the main website for additional information.
Also on the Golf Course and nearby Airfield:
Wheatear 4
Linnet 4
Curlew 2
Tree Sparrow 2 (mating)
Sand Martin 4 (over river)
Cheers, John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Tuesday 1st of May 2018 10:57:20 PM
1 skylark
1 curlew on the airfield
Golf Course:
Possible Blue-headed Wagtail (bluish-grey head, reasonably sharp, white supercilium, appeard to have all yellow throat) but couldn't clinch the ID at distance and it flew before I could get scope views.
3 Wheatears
1 Oystercatcher
1 Tree Sparrow
Airfield:
1 Little Ringed Plover
2-3 Skylarks
Many Lesser-black Backed Gulls paired and roof nesting
No Curlews heard
Cheers John
Church Lane:
Lesser Whitethroat singing from roadside hedge near cricket club, then gave good views. Possibly a second heard nearby.
Old hall Lane:
9 Fieldfares
2 Redwings
3 Common Buzzards
1 Mistle Thrush
Church Lane:
5 Oystercatchers
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker (drumming)