A Grey Wagtail seen ,Altrincham Road near to junction with Brownley Road,Sharston,about 9.30am. Thee must be some water nearby,I suppose.The nearest river is the Mersey,and thats not exactly round the corner.There is a park not too far away with a small lake.Perhaps it came from there.
Marvin,
I live fairly closeby to Altrincham Road and there is a stream around that area, perfect habitat for Grey Wagtails.
The stream runs into Gatley Carrs, a site which is well worth a visit.
Dave Thacker said
Sun Dec 5 7:31 PM, 2010
8 Bullfinch [5f+3m] in trees along Lumns lane in Swinton this afternoon and a cracking male GS Woodpecker on my feeders in my garden.
Marvin Lewis said
Fri Dec 3 6:43 PM, 2010
A Grey Wagtail seen ,Altrincham Road near to junction with Brownley Road,Sharston,about 9.30am. Thee must be some water nearby,I suppose.The nearest river is the Mersey,and thats not exactly round the corner.There is a park not too far away with a small lake.Perhaps it came from there.
Sean Sweeney said
Tue Nov 30 6:51 PM, 2010
8 Siskin in trees at Heaton Park tram stop this morning along with a Grey Wagtail on the tracks.
A Grey Heron through St Peter's Square midday and 100+ Pied Wagtails moving through to their roosts early evening...........
Paul Heaton said
Mon Nov 29 5:51 PM, 2010
85 Canada Geese 29 Lapwing
15 chaffinch 12 Greenfinch,
1 little grebe on mersey
In fields just off Flixton road this morning, about 9.30.
Keep Birding
Sarfraz Hayat said
Sun Nov 28 11:29 PM, 2010
2 Cormorants settling on a tower in Stockport 24 Nov, 8 am
Bill Myerscough said
Sun Nov 28 3:55 PM, 2010
28th November.
8.00 - 11.30 am.
Parked near Agecroft Cemetery and walked for a short distance down river of the Irwell from Agecroft Bridge alongside the cemetery, before turning back and heading up river as far as the Clifton aqueduct before heading "inland" to Philips Park, Prestwich and then back via a slightly different route. An excellent walk and some top birds. It was minus 8 degrees C on the thermometer in the car at 8.00 am as I got booted up. Whilst getting ready a large flock of trilling Waxwings flew over my head and landed in a tall tree in Agecroft Cemetery - managed a rough count of c65 before they all flew off down river towards the Kersal/Broughton area.
A quick wander down river of the Agecroft Bridge to look again for the Green Sandpiper drew a blank. But there was a flotilla of c25 Goldeneye. Also 4 Teal were there and 3 Snipe were feeding in a very exposed location on the bank of the Irwell......no doubt a sign of the harsh weather conditions. A Kingfisher flew downstream.
Upstream of the Irwell between Agecroft Bridge and the Clifton Aqueduct - a further 17 Goldeneye, 5 Little Grebe, 1 Goosander, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail and a Kingfisher heading up river.
In Philips Park at Prestwich - 1 Nuthatch, at least 2 Mistle Thrush trying to defend several berried trees. c10 Redwings were picking off a few berries and whilst watching a flock of c16 Waxwings flew in and fed briefly before departing when one of the Mistle Thrushes landed in their tree. At least 6 Song Thrush were in the general area and they seemed to be more numerous than Blackbird. 3 Lesser Redpoll fed on silver birch nearby. Also seen in general area - 1 Reed Bunting, 3 Bullfinch and small numbers of Goldfinch and Siskin heard.
Cheers,
Bill.
Ian McKerchar said
Sun Nov 28 12:15 PM, 2010
Yesterday, at least 300 Skylark were in stubble fields by Park Road and Winstanley Road, Orrell. Also 50+ Chaffinch and a few Yellowhammer feeding in the edge of the same field.
Info thanks to Peter Alker
Phil Owen said
Sun Nov 21 10:39 AM, 2010
Flock of c20 Siskins over Newall Green at 9.30am this morning.
William Binns said
Fri Nov 19 6:56 PM, 2010
Gosh! i remember those piccadily starlings, i was a kid and used to visit my gran with my dad in cheetam hill getting the bus in piccadily, the noise, the smell, the poo, watching the birds whirling about the sky. that plus the sparrows in my childhood garden , were the turning points which made me a birder.
Iain Johnson said
Fri Nov 19 6:13 PM, 2010
probable goshawk over the M60 between junctions 3 and 4 this afternoon whilst on my way home.
tom willis said
Fri Nov 19 9:13 AM, 2010
They must have been there until tthe mid-late 80s at least, as I remember seeing them when we were Christmas shopping when I was a nipper. I'd never realised that scarers had been put up to displace them. I used to work for Debenhams as well - should have done some sabotage!
Tim Wilcox said
Fri Nov 19 7:17 AM, 2010
I remember the huge starling flocks in Piccadilly and I didn't arrive in Manchester until '79 so they were present in vast numbers in the early 1980s. I can't remember when they left though but then I wasn't birding in those days. I guess we don't appreciate what we've lost until it's gone. Interestingly the starling scarers were still present on the ledges on Debenhams until very recently.
PS last week after the P-B Grebe twitch I went to Leighton Moss and waited for the starling roost there - I was told c.90,000. Unfortunately they stayed low on the reedbeds and didn't give those spectacular aerial displays even though the sky was perfect for it last Wed. But I'm told they are normally reliable. They did form an amazing donut structure for a while and it was wonderful to hear the wingbeats of several hundred at a time flying in low over one's head.
Roger Baker 3 said
Fri Nov 19 3:50 AM, 2010
If we're going for a bit of nostalgia Bakers having his tuppenorth worth........ in the 50's ( no laughing at the back ) it was Pauldens, Bill ........ on the opposite corner was the highlight of any childs trip to Manchester........ "Wiles' Toy Shop". Magical. Took for dinner in the U.C.P. if your luck was in. Whoohoo ! I can smell it now !
In serious vein, those starling masses....there must have been hundreds on each window-sill and there were hundreds of window-sills !
Another two massive Starling roosts I can remember, 1) The big trees in St Michaels Square in Ashton-U-Lyne......everybody in the bus queues got white-washed. 2) Hyde Park. Got fabulous winter aerial displays...... thousands of birds. I used to watch them from my grandfathers house which was easily a mile away in Dukinfield.
Roger.
Bill Myerscough wrote:
Paul Heaton wrote:
130 FERAL PIGEONS Not counted these for years, does anyone remember the big flocks in Piccadilly Gardens years ago, along with huge Starling roosts.
Anyway this lot of pigeons took me by surprise all sat roosting around a small roundabout in Rusholme -Park crescent just before it turns into Denison Rd.
Keep Birding
Hi Paul,
I too can recall those days when thousands of Starlings used to roost on the buildings around Piccadilly Square. You often wonder if your memory can play tricks on you but I'm sure I can still recall the vivid sights and smells of the area! I can still remember walking past what is now Debenhams (didn't it used to be called Pauldens then?) and as you walked along all you could hear was splat, splat, splat, splat and more splattering on the pavement as the Starlings came in to roost on the buildings horizontal ledges and "lightened their load" before settling down for the night! If you managed to get through the area without the odd white spot appearing on your clothing or in your hair you were lucky! It used to be in many ways like having our own mini version of Bempton Cliffs!
I wonder if the county reports from (was it the '60s or '70s maybe?) recorded the sizes of the Starling roosts in those days - it would be interesting to know the approximate numbers present then.
Cheers,
Bill.
-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Thursday 18th of November 2010 07:32:18 AM
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Friday 19th of November 2010 03:56:40 AM
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Friday 19th of November 2010 03:58:50 AM
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Friday 19th of November 2010 04:00:10 AM
Paul Heaton said
Thu Nov 18 8:19 AM, 2010
Sadly the reports do not mention the spectacular show of Starlings in the town centre, if it were to happen today, I am sure we would have Autumn watch filming it. As a kid I remember paying 2p to catch the 101 bus into town just to see it.
I often wonder what the true numbers were, and if we missed any sturnus roseus!
A very poetic entry in the back of my I-SPY book says thousands of starling blocked out the sky, I was very young.
Keep Birding
According to main website 100,000 Milnrow 1940 was the largest flock, now that would have been a sight. but I am sure we had 100, 001 in Manchester
-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Thursday 18th of November 2010 08:30:20 AM
Bill Myerscough said
Thu Nov 18 7:30 AM, 2010
Paul Heaton wrote:
130 FERAL PIGEONS Not counted these for years, does anyone remember the big flocks in Piccadilly Gardens years ago, along with huge Starling roosts.
Anyway this lot of pigeons took me by surprise all sat roosting around a small roundabout in Rusholme -Park crescent just before it turns into Denison Rd.
Keep Birding
Hi Paul,
I too can recall those days when thousands of Starlings used to roost on the buildings around Piccadilly Square. You often wonder if your memory can play tricks on you but I'm sure I can still recall the vivid sights and smells of the area! I can still remember walking past what is now Debenhams (didn't it used to be called Pauldens then?) and as you walked along all you could hear was splat, splat, splat, splat and more splattering on the pavement as the Starlings came in to roost on the buildings horizontal ledges and "lightened their load" before settling down for the night! If you managed to get through the area without the odd white spot appearing on your clothing or in your hair you were lucky! It used to be in many ways like having our own mini version of Bempton Cliffs!
I wonder if the county reports from (was it the '60s or '70s maybe?) recorded the sizes of the Starling roosts in those days - it would be interesting to know the approximate numbers present then.
Cheers,
Bill.
-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Thursday 18th of November 2010 07:32:18 AM
Debs Wallace said
Wed Nov 17 9:55 PM, 2010
Yes Paul, I remember the Pigeons and the Starling roosts in Piccadilly Gardens (nearly 30 years ago!). I used to really love to see them when I was waiting for the bus home from college. Then someone seemed to think they were a pest and put those horrid ultrasonic bird scarers all over the place. Bring back the Starlings (and the pigeons).
Oh no - I've edited the post and changed the 20 to 30. Yesterday was obviously not a good maths day and I'm 10 years older than I admitted to aaagh!
-- Edited by Debs Wallace on Thursday 18th of November 2010 11:22:32 AM
Ian Keith said
Wed Nov 17 9:26 PM, 2010
Pair of Buzzards at 1.30pm over M/cr ship canal approx 1/2 mile east of Centenary Bridge - mobbed by gulls. Headed off east towards media city and the quays.
Paul Heaton said
Wed Nov 17 6:16 PM, 2010
130 FERAL PIGEONS Not counted these for years, does anyone remember the big flocks in Piccadilly Gardens years ago, along with huge Starling roosts.
Anyway this lot of pigeons took me by surprise all sat roosting around a small roundabout in Rusholme -Park crescent just before it turns into Denison Rd.
Keep Birding
Joey Eccles said
Wed Nov 17 6:14 PM, 2010
At horwich leisure centre 1.30pm - 4.00pm I was playing a hockey match so didn't have my bins c.35 waxwing (see the waxwing thread) a female kestrel hovering into the wind and then doing an excellent impression of a peregrine as it tried to dive into a nearby garden, only to be halted abruptly by the (thankfully) fabric netting that surrounded the astro-turf pitch. If it had been a meter lower and hit the wire section it may well have been a goner!
On Belle Vue leisure centre playing field at 12.30 today.
Keep Birding
Jimmy Meadows said
Wed Nov 10 7:34 PM, 2010
approx 300 Starlings heading S/E over Beech Hill 16:40 looked to be going to roost
Cheers Jimmy
Paul Heaton said
Wed Nov 10 4:24 PM, 2010
2 woodcock found this week 1 stockport, 1 levenshulme both dead.
keep birding
Sarfraz Hayat said
Tue Nov 9 10:58 AM, 2010
aprox 3 herrign gulls, common gulls, and b h gulls seen over royton at around 4pm 8-11-2010
Roger Baker 3 said
Sat Nov 6 8:54 AM, 2010
Sat Oct 6th
Walk round Hyde Park this morning 06.50 - 08.00.
Very quiet except for disturbing a Dipper on the stream.........never seen one here before.......but thinking about it, probably a little retreat away from the River Tame when it is raging through like it is at present.
Roger.
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Saturday 6th of November 2010 08:55:48 AM
stuartherring said
Thu Nov 4 6:11 PM, 2010
raptor fest in oldham this morning at 7.50 a female peregrine flew low and at speed from the bottom of st marys way towards tesco chadderton (lookout lapwings) and at 8.30 a female sparrowhawk attacked a bunch of starlings at the top of ashton road hathershaw all veiwed while sat in traffic
-- Edited by stuartherring on Thursday 4th of November 2010 06:12:34 PM
Judith Smith said
Thu Nov 4 4:59 PM, 2010
There used to be a licensed keeper of a Peregrine in te Fir Tree Flash area.
dave broome said
Wed Nov 3 8:13 PM, 2010
At Dunham Grove, Leigh yesterday, (at the north end of Low Common) a chap told me that a raptor with jesses has been sitting on his aviary roof every day for a while now. He said it was a Peregrine.
-- Edited by dave broome on Wednesday 3rd of November 2010 08:14:15 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Nov 2 11:07 PM, 2010
I had my first and very unexpected Nuthatch sighting in my garden this autumn as did Pete Berry who lives only a mile away from me, though he managed two birds!
Marvin Lewis said
Tue Nov 2 10:55 PM, 2010
Nuthatches,[usually 1 or 2]regularly coming to my garden feeders now.They are quite keen on black sunflower seeds,and are often amongst the Blue and Great Tits.I have rarely [to my knowledge] had the pleasure of Nuthatches visiting my garden feeders in previous years. The garden is quite well stocked with trees and is in suburban North Manchester.Has anyone else noticed more Nuthatches visiting their gardens than in previous years?
Phil Owen said
Tue Nov 2 9:23 AM, 2010
Huge Tit Flock just through the garden containing at least 70 birds!!
Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits seen but there must have been something else in there amongst them, I just couldn't grab my bins in time
Judith Smith said
Sat Oct 30 4:51 PM, 2010
Bill, Simon - I thought it would probably be "your" flock of previous winters, relocated, Bill.
Bill Myerscough said
Sat Oct 30 2:20 PM, 2010
simon ghilks wrote:
Thought this should be posted.
Flock of golden plover 60+ on recentley landscaped ground at rear of new factory on grimshaw lane nr city of manchester stadium.
First noted on Tuesday at first light and then again in exactly the same location on Thursday morning. Present untill around 1030am both days but did not see them leave so unable to say which direction they went or how far they moved.
The area seems to be bounded by private land so may not be possible to observe.
Hi Simon,
Firstly a warm welcome to the forum and secondly thanks for taking the time to post details of your sighting. I read your first post on the forum with interest. For the last couple of years a good sized ground roosting flock of Golden Plover have been reported not far away from the location of your most recent record. A couple of winters ago they roosted on land that has now been built on and is part of the Central Business Park on Northampton Road, just across the other side of Oldham Road from Grimshaw Lane. Last winter there were records of them roosting on short grassland on the site of the old Monsall Hospital in roughly the same area. I visited this latter site this morning to see if they might still be there but they were not and it seems unlikely they will roost there again, as the grassland is now much more overgrown. So it looks like your excellent recent find of this species might be the new roosting site for this flock this winter? If you have any further sightings records, then I'm sure Judith Smith the County Recorder (e-mail address is in the "Who's Who in Greater Manchester" section on the home page of Ian's website) would be pleased to hear of them for possible inclusion in the annual county bird report, as records of sizeable ground roosting flocks of Golden Plover in GM are sadly now much thinner on the ground than they used to be.
Best wishes,
Bill.
simon ghilks said
Fri Oct 29 5:35 PM, 2010
Thought this should be posted.
Flock of golden plover 60+ on recentley landscaped ground at rear of new factory on grimshaw lane nr city of manchester stadium.
First noted on Tuesday at first light and then again in exactly the same location on Thursday morning. Present untill around 1030am both days but did not see them leave so unable to say which direction they went or how far they moved.
The area seems to be bounded by private land so may not be possible to observe.
Mike Bisson said
Tue Oct 26 1:42 PM, 2010
Grey Heron flyng really low along Spotland Road Rochdale this morning
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Oct 26 5:28 AM, 2010
Red Kite heading due north over Heaton Moor, Stockport yesterday.
Info thanks to Stewart Rigby
Nick Isherwood said
Wed Oct 20 4:31 PM, 2010
20 Fieldfare over Winwick Lane, Lowton at 11.30am today and also 25 Fieldfare over Heath Lane, Lowton at 12.15pm.
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Oct 20 2:58 PM, 2010
Huge movement of Fieldfare through the county today. Check the Horwich Moors thread later for it's superb day total.
sid ashton said
Wed Oct 20 12:26 PM, 2010
Similarly Paul, just had a large flock going over my house in Hale - also heading west and my bins were nowhere to hand either
Paul Dewey said
Wed Oct 20 12:03 PM, 2010
Three separate flocks of thrush over my house in heaton moor in last hour, heading roughly west. First two at least 40 - 50 birds, third 20+
Sadly can't be more specific as only saw for a few seconds and then were out of my sight behind flats opposite. Not even enough time to get bins on them.
-- Edited by Paul Dewey on Wednesday 20th of October 2010 12:04:20 PM
John Rayner said
Fri Oct 15 7:27 PM, 2010
In misty conditions with low cloud this morning - Wheatear on the railings next to the gas holder adjacent to Dunhelm Mill, nr. Peel Centre, Stockport
Info per John Turner
Colin Ramsden said
Wed Oct 13 9:52 PM, 2010
Buzzard over A627M near Tandle Hill at lunchtime.
Iain Johnson said
Wed Oct 13 12:40 PM, 2010
Birdguides is reporting a snow bunting in rochdale this lunchtime - no further details tho!
Nick Hilton said
Tue Oct 12 9:01 PM, 2010
Peregrine and Herring Gull have a proper dogfight high up over West Point in Eccles around 2.30pm today.
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Oct 12 8:40 PM, 2010
Another early morning session from the garden, much colder than yesterday and much quieter too:
Redwing- 39 Meadow Pipit- 16 Swallow- 3 Song Thrush- 8
all heading south.
Thanks to my Pennington Flash early warning system (Barry Hulme), I also caught the 250 Pink-feet (that passed there at 08:50ish) heading SE at 08:58.
Mike Chorley said
Mon Oct 11 9:58 PM, 2010
Ian McKerchar wrote:
And finally, this late afternoon/early evening, whilst attempting to cut my now eight inch long grass with a hover mower, much smaller numbers of Skylark and Song Thrush all headed south.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 11th of October 2010 09:38:36 PM
The ones that got away?
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Oct 11 9:34 PM, 2010
Proving that visible migration can be observed practically anywhere at the right time/conditions, if you needed anymore proof that is, though reading Simon Johnson's 'The Atrium- Whitefield (bird observatory !)' thread should have prooved sufficient. Two Astley birders (Andy Isherwood and myself) observed their own little bit of vis-mig from the comfort of their own gardens (toast and brew for one and Weetabix and brew for the other) this morning for around 2 hours, 8 (ish- Andy was up a little earlier than me) to 10am. Our gardens are around half a mile apart and birds overhead were most certainly different individuals:
768 Redwing flew south, split between 482 over Andy's and 286 over mine, my largest flock consisting of 65 birds.
150 Pink-feet east over Andy's at 08:40, his garden being NE of mine, they flew north of me (my vista looks south) and I didn't see them!
3 Swallow over Andy's plus smaller numbers of Skylark, Song Thrush, Meadow Pipits and finches heading south.
Around 4-500 Woodpigeons between the two gardens, all south/south-east.
Other sightings all from my garden:
29 Song Thrush, all calling high south
75 Meadow Pipit mainly south
22 Skylark south/south east, some really quite low
3 Grey Wagtail, 2 south-east and 1 west
1 Bullfinch west
Best of all two magical garden ticks:
Nuthatch heard calling for ages from a row of mature Oaks near the bottom of my garden, eventually actually flew into the Sycamore in the garden before heading off NE. Apparently (and unbeknown to me), they are breeding in the ground of the old Astley Hospital and have been seen not very far from my house this year.
Tree Sparrow! My bogey garden bird finally falls. Despite them being seen in flocks of 20 or so only a couple of hundred yards from my garden I have failed to nail this species despite a couple of previous 'almost certain' fly-overs. Well today, fly-over or not, this one didn't get away as it flew very low right over the house heading SE, towards the tip road and their usual haunt.
Also today:
Andy Isherwood counted 17 Skylarks over Eccles in only 20 minutes pre-midday whilst attending a funeral. He has assured me he didn't have his bins with him but felt it would have been rude not to look and count them!
And finally, this late afternoon/early evening, whilst attempting to cut my now eight inch long grass with a hover mower, much smaller numbers of Skylark and Song Thrush all headed south.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 11th of October 2010 09:38:36 PM
Dennis atherton said
Mon Oct 11 7:14 PM, 2010
tonight quick hour behind coggra farm at the pools in bradley fold produced, 1 heron, 1 mistle thrush, 11 snipe and my first local fieldfare this autumn, two flocks of canada geese, 6 in one and 15 the second, 3 jay still collecting acorns
Mike hirst said
Sun Oct 10 1:57 PM, 2010
Mid-day,
Harris hawk over Irlam (complete with jesses) for about 20 minutes giving a superb flying display on the strong breeze. Drifted off towards Cadishead but could end up anywhere.
Mike
Phil Owen said
Fri Oct 8 7:41 PM, 2010
2 calling Skylarks flew over my house in Wythenshawe this morning whilst migrating SE.
Marvin,
I live fairly closeby to Altrincham Road and there is a stream around that area, perfect habitat for Grey Wagtails.
The stream runs into Gatley Carrs, a site which is well worth a visit.
Thee must be some water nearby,I suppose.The nearest river is the Mersey,and thats not exactly round the corner.There is a park not too far away with a small lake.Perhaps it came from there.
A Grey Heron through St Peter's Square midday and 100+ Pied Wagtails moving through to their roosts early evening...........
29 Lapwing
15 chaffinch
12 Greenfinch,
1 little grebe on mersey
In fields just off Flixton road this morning, about 9.30.
Keep Birding
2 Cormorants settling on a tower in Stockport 24 Nov, 8 am
8.00 - 11.30 am.
Parked near Agecroft Cemetery and walked for a short distance down river of the Irwell from Agecroft Bridge alongside the cemetery, before turning back and heading up river as far as the Clifton aqueduct before heading "inland" to Philips Park, Prestwich and then back via a slightly different route. An excellent walk and some top birds. It was minus 8 degrees C on the thermometer in the car at 8.00 am as I got booted up. Whilst getting ready a large flock of trilling Waxwings flew over my head and landed in a tall tree in Agecroft Cemetery - managed a rough count of c65 before they all flew off down river towards the Kersal/Broughton area.
A quick wander down river of the Agecroft Bridge to look again for the Green Sandpiper drew a blank. But there was a flotilla of c25 Goldeneye. Also 4 Teal were there and 3 Snipe were feeding in a very exposed location on the bank of the Irwell......no doubt a sign of the harsh weather conditions. A Kingfisher flew downstream.
Upstream of the Irwell between Agecroft Bridge and the Clifton Aqueduct - a further 17 Goldeneye, 5 Little Grebe, 1 Goosander, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail and a Kingfisher heading up river.
In Philips Park at Prestwich - 1 Nuthatch, at least 2 Mistle Thrush trying to defend several berried trees. c10 Redwings were picking off a few berries and whilst watching a flock of c16 Waxwings flew in and fed briefly before departing when one of the Mistle Thrushes landed in their tree. At least 6 Song Thrush were in the general area and they seemed to be more numerous than Blackbird. 3 Lesser Redpoll fed on silver birch nearby. Also seen in general area - 1 Reed Bunting, 3 Bullfinch and small numbers of Goldfinch and Siskin heard.
Cheers,
Bill.
Info thanks to Peter Alker
PS last week after the P-B Grebe twitch I went to Leighton Moss and waited for the starling roost there - I was told c.90,000. Unfortunately they stayed low on the reedbeds and didn't give those spectacular aerial displays even though the sky was perfect for it last Wed. But I'm told they are normally reliable. They did form an amazing donut structure for a while and it was wonderful to hear the wingbeats of several hundred at a time flying in low over one's head.
Took for dinner in the U.C.P. if your luck was in. Whoohoo ! I can smell it now !
In serious vein, those starling masses....there must have been hundreds on each window-sill and there were hundreds of window-sills !
Another two massive Starling roosts I can remember,
1) The big trees in St Michaels Square in Ashton-U-Lyne......everybody in the bus queues got white-washed.
2) Hyde Park. Got fabulous winter aerial displays...... thousands of birds. I used to watch them from my grandfathers house which was easily a mile away in Dukinfield.
Roger.
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Friday 19th of November 2010 03:56:40 AM
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Friday 19th of November 2010 03:58:50 AM
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Friday 19th of November 2010 04:00:10 AM
I often wonder what the true numbers were, and if we missed any sturnus roseus!
A very poetic entry in the back of my I-SPY book says thousands of starling blocked out the sky, I was very young.
Keep Birding
According to main website 100,000 Milnrow 1940 was the largest flock, now that would have been a sight. but I am sure we had 100, 001 in Manchester
-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Thursday 18th of November 2010 08:30:20 AM
Hi Paul,
I too can recall those days when thousands of Starlings used to roost on the buildings around Piccadilly Square. You often wonder if your memory can play tricks on you but I'm sure I can still recall the vivid sights and smells of the area! I can still remember walking past what is now Debenhams (didn't it used to be called Pauldens then?) and as you walked along all you could hear was splat, splat, splat, splat and more splattering on the pavement as the Starlings came in to roost on the buildings horizontal ledges and "lightened their load" before settling down for the night! If you managed to get through the area without the odd white spot appearing on your clothing or in your hair you were lucky! It used to be in many ways like having our own mini version of Bempton Cliffs!
I wonder if the county reports from (was it the '60s or '70s maybe?) recorded the sizes of the Starling roosts in those days - it would be interesting to know the approximate numbers present then.
Cheers,
Bill.
-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Thursday 18th of November 2010 07:32:18 AM
Oh no - I've edited the post and changed the 20 to 30.
Yesterday was obviously not a good maths day and I'm 10 years older than I admitted to aaagh!
-- Edited by Debs Wallace on Thursday 18th of November 2010 11:22:32 AM
Anyway this lot of pigeons took me by surprise all sat roosting around a small roundabout in Rusholme -Park crescent just before it turns into Denison Rd.
Keep Birding
I was playing a hockey match so didn't have my bins
c.35 waxwing (see the waxwing thread)
a female kestrel hovering into the wind and then doing an excellent impression of a peregrine as it tried to dive into a nearby garden, only to be halted abruptly by the (thankfully) fabric netting that surrounded the astro-turf pitch. If it had been a meter lower and hit the wire section it may well have been a goner!
15 Herring Gulls
30 Common Gulls
25 BH Gulls
On Belle Vue leisure centre playing field at 12.30 today.
Keep Birding
Cheers Jimmy
keep birding
aprox 3 herrign gulls, common gulls, and b h gulls seen over royton at around 4pm 8-11-2010
Walk round Hyde Park this morning 06.50 - 08.00.
Very quiet except for disturbing a Dipper on the stream.........never seen one here before.......but thinking about it, probably a little retreat away from the River Tame when it is raging through like it is at present.
Roger.
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Saturday 6th of November 2010 08:55:48 AM
-- Edited by stuartherring on Thursday 4th of November 2010 06:12:34 PM
-- Edited by dave broome on Wednesday 3rd of November 2010 08:14:15 PM
The garden is quite well stocked with trees and is in suburban North Manchester.Has anyone else noticed more Nuthatches visiting their gardens than in previous years?
Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits seen but there must have been something else in there amongst them, I just couldn't grab my bins in time
Hi Simon,
Firstly a warm welcome to the forum and secondly thanks for taking the time to post details of your sighting. I read your first post on the forum with interest. For the last couple of years a good sized ground roosting flock of Golden Plover have been reported not far away from the location of your most recent record. A couple of winters ago they roosted on land that has now been built on and is part of the Central Business Park on Northampton Road, just across the other side of Oldham Road from Grimshaw Lane. Last winter there were records of them roosting on short grassland on the site of the old Monsall Hospital in roughly the same area. I visited this latter site this morning to see if they might still be there but they were not and it seems unlikely they will roost there again, as the grassland is now much more overgrown. So it looks like your excellent recent find of this species might be the new roosting site for this flock this winter? If you have any further sightings records, then I'm sure Judith Smith the County Recorder (e-mail address is in the "Who's Who in Greater Manchester" section on the home page of Ian's website) would be pleased to hear of them for possible inclusion in the annual county bird report, as records of sizeable ground roosting flocks of Golden Plover in GM are sadly now much thinner on the ground than they used to be.
Best wishes,
Bill.
Flock of golden plover 60+ on recentley landscaped ground at rear of new factory on grimshaw lane nr city of manchester stadium.
First noted on Tuesday at first light and then again in exactly the same location on Thursday morning. Present untill around 1030am both days but did not see them leave so unable to say which direction they went or how far they moved.
The area seems to be bounded by private land so may not be possible to observe.
Info thanks to Stewart Rigby
Sadly can't be more specific as only saw for a few seconds and then were out of my sight behind flats opposite. Not even enough time to get bins on them.
-- Edited by Paul Dewey on Wednesday 20th of October 2010 12:04:20 PM
Info per John Turner
Redwing- 39
Meadow Pipit- 16
Swallow- 3
Song Thrush- 8
all heading south.
Thanks to my Pennington Flash early warning system (Barry Hulme), I also caught the 250 Pink-feet (that passed there at 08:50ish) heading SE at 08:58.
The ones that got away?
768 Redwing flew south, split between 482 over Andy's and 286 over mine, my largest flock consisting of 65 birds.
150 Pink-feet east over Andy's at 08:40, his garden being NE of mine, they flew north of me (my vista looks south) and I didn't see them!
3 Swallow over Andy's plus smaller numbers of Skylark, Song Thrush, Meadow Pipits and finches heading south.
Around 4-500 Woodpigeons between the two gardens, all south/south-east.
Other sightings all from my garden:
29 Song Thrush, all calling high south
75 Meadow Pipit mainly south
22 Skylark south/south east, some really quite low
3 Grey Wagtail, 2 south-east and 1 west
1 Bullfinch west
Best of all two magical garden ticks:
Nuthatch heard calling for ages from a row of mature Oaks near the bottom of my garden, eventually actually flew into the Sycamore in the garden before heading off NE. Apparently (and unbeknown to me), they are breeding in the ground of the old Astley Hospital and have been seen not very far from my house this year.
Tree Sparrow! My bogey garden bird finally falls. Despite them being seen in flocks of 20 or so only a couple of hundred yards from my garden I have failed to nail this species despite a couple of previous 'almost certain' fly-overs. Well today, fly-over or not, this one didn't get away as it flew very low right over the house heading SE, towards the tip road and their usual haunt.
Also today:
Andy Isherwood counted 17 Skylarks over Eccles in only 20 minutes pre-midday whilst attending a funeral. He has assured me he didn't have his bins with him but felt it would have been rude not to look and count them!
And finally, this late afternoon/early evening, whilst attempting to cut my now eight inch long grass with a hover mower, much smaller numbers of Skylark and Song Thrush all headed south.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 11th of October 2010 09:38:36 PM
Harris hawk over Irlam (complete with jesses) for about 20 minutes giving a superb flying display on the strong breeze. Drifted off towards Cadishead but could end up anywhere.
Mike