I couldn't find any redpolls of any variety this morning around the Ochre Flash and canal areas. The flock must be fairly mobile. Sightings included:

6 Willow Tits (mostly around Carr Lane entrance and Ochre Flash)
2 Water Rails (calling from Bryn Marsh)
3 Wigeons (Horrocks)
2 Teal (calling from a hidden location between the canal and Ochre Flash)
3 Goldeneyes (Scotsman's)
1 Kingfisher
1 Common Snipe
2 Siskins
1 Skylark (over)

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Wednesday 9th of December 2009 02:38:11 PM

25+ Lesser Redpolls in the trees lining the other side of the canal at Horrocks Flash, near the canal basin. Couldn't find any Mealies though.

Also this morning a pair of Ravens in the sheep field closest to Killigton Close, the on to a pylon by Park House Farm, where a Peregrine was also perched, before it flew off over Three Sisters

3 Common Redpolls with a single Lesser Redpoll at the south-east corner of Ochre Flash this morning.

Info thanks to Dave Broome

Female Mandarin this morning, with Mallards on open water in Hawkley Reedbed, next to the feeding station. Feeding station quiet otherwise (1 Willow Tit, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 House Sparrow)

A immature male Peregrine gave a excellent show over Scotman's Flash. Pursued by Lesser Black-Backed Gulls for 7 or 8 minutes, it flew low around the flash, seemingly trying out all it's manouvres. Other than a brief chase of a passing Mallard and a short stoop at a Black-Headed Gull it didn't seem to make any real attempt to catch anything, possibly due to the harassing gulls.

Large gulls moving south, some dropping in to Scotman's. Largest number on water at any one time 37 Herrings, 26 Lesser Black-Backed, with 2 different Great Black-Backed, also 30 Common Gulls.

A total of 19 Bullfinch and 5 Willow Tit counted. 1 Snipe at SE corner of Scotman's

19 Pochard Scotman's then on to Pearson's

Treecreeper in woodland by Ochre Flash

1 Goosander off Bryn Marsh

Monday 30 November 2009

2 Treecreeper in woodland near the Killington Close entrance to the Flashes at 14:00ish. Also Great Spotted Woodpecker and Sparrowhawk here.

Horrocks Flash midday full circiut but the low bright sunshine made detailed observation
very difficult.

rear pool ,coot, moorhen, teal, shoveler,gadwall,all as usual
railway pool,same again but a kingfisher brightening up the day
front pool, grey heron ,teal,b h gulls attending the 102 coots
canal,1 very confiding kingfisher perched up long enough for 3 adults and 2 toddlers to share the view through my scope
cheers geoff

Good views of a "normal" Chiffchaff, also calling normally, with Bluetits in the brambles at the Rosley Rd entrance this morning. Also in that area, 4 Bullfinches.

Its called spectrogram. I've managed a Lesser Whitethroat once and lots of gulls on Worthington Lakes shortly after I purchased it. Unfortuntely I usually forget I have it when I could have used it.

Ian McKerchar wrote:

---

surely you could have got the call on your sonogram app on your iPhone Rob?

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I'm searching the App Store right now...

Not sure how you get from a high pitched Blue Tit like call to the plaintive and near near-monosyllabic 'peep' (or in actual terms 'iiihp') of a tristis Chiffchaff which to my ear always sounds similar to that of a higher pitched Bullfinch. The trouble is that, in itself and for various reasons which are too long winded to go into here or perhaps now anyway (I finished nights this morning and am knackered!), that call of tristis is not necessarily diagnostic, to the human ear at the very least!

After discussing this bird with Rob whilst it was in front of him, I had no hesitation it was not a tristis and also discussed the vocalisations of other races such as abietinus and collybita (whilst attempting to imitate them down the phone to Rob ). Collybita can have various odd calls especially from first year birds and it was possibly one of these. I've no doubt it must have been very odd though in order to have Rob scratching his head, surely you could have got the call on your sonogram app on your iPhone Rob?

Yes Henry, quite high pitched, and very short. It sounded like a constant pitch, but was so short and sharp that any variation in pitch probably wouldn't have been noticeable. I got a couple of half decent views of it, looked rather yellow below and the supercilium also looked yellowish, so that should rule out tristis... I'll have to see if it's still there at the weekend (I'm stuck in Manchester on a training course tomorrow and Friday) and try to get better views, maybe even a sound recording (just been looking at spectogram/sonogram thing HERE (Wikipedia))

Sounds to me like a decent description of the call of Sibe Chiff Rob. A single 'peep' noise with no change of pitch?

Wednesday 25 November 2009

1 Chiffchaff in the SW corner of Scotman's Flash, on the corner of Rosley Road, at 14:15. It had a really strange contact call (strange for a Chiffchaff anyway), it sounded almost Blue Tit like.

Horrocks flash early doors

The water level has returned to almost 'full'
rear pool,coot,moorhen,teal,gadwall,shoveler,pochard,grey heron,goldeneye
railway pool,added kingfisher
front pool , coot,mallard,b h gull
canal, cracking views of a kingfisher perched up

cheers geoff

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00:
15 Lesser Black-backed Gull
16 Common Gull
129 Black-headed Gull
106 Tufted Duck
5 Goldeneye
1 Pochard
5 Great Crested Grebe
6 Little Grebe

Monday 16 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
2 Herring Gull
29 Lesser Black-backed Gull
14 Common Gull
202 Black-headed Gull
1 Goldeneye (f)

Saturday 14 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 10:00ish:
very quiet
14 Lesser Black-backed Gull
30 Common Gull
134+ Black-headed Gull

Thursday 12 November 2009

A walk round all flashes, late morning to early afternoon produced, well not much really... Lots of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls heading south along with 1 Great Black-backed Gull. The only other thing of interest was at least 31 Blackbirds in the hedges at Park House Farm.

eddie king wrote:

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Hi Rob, about your counts on the Wigan Flashes thought I would let you know that I am interested in them, so keep up the good work, its very useful Eddie.

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and me

eddie king wrote:

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Hi Rob, about your counts on the Wigan Flashes thought I would let you know that I am interested in them, so keep up the good work, its very useful Eddie.

---

Cheers Eddie, I'm glad someone finds them of interest. It gets me out of the office in my lunch hour at least, and it's pretty much the only weekday birding I can do now the nights are drawing in...

Hi Rob, about your counts on the Wigan Flashes thought I would let you know that I am interested in them, so keep up the good work, its very useful Eddie.

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00:
30 Herring Gull
33 Lesser Black-backed Gull
13+ Common Gull
203+ Black-headed Gull

12 canoes ruined my counting of the latter 2 species... Although I doubt anyone is even the slightest bit interested in these counts anyway!

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Wednesday 11th of November 2009 02:41:16 PM

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
6 Herring Gull
32 Lesser Black-blacked Gull
23 Common Gull
199 Black-headed Gull
12 Wigeon
1 Mandarin (female)

Also today, Bittern at Pearson's Flash (twice), several excellent views of Kingfisher.

Monday 09 November 2009

Scotman's Flash @ 14:00ish:
4 Herring Gull
27 Lesser Black-backed Gull
25 Common Gull
404 Black-headed Gull

Also, 2 Red-legged Partridge were seen along the embankment, and then the towpath, at the north end of Scotman's Flash at 11:00 on 02/11/2009. Nice to meet you Jack.

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Monday 9th of November 2009 06:51:58 PM

Saturday 07 November 2009

afternoon:
1 Snipe on Ince Moss Landfill
2 Sparrowhawk over Scotman's Flash
c30 Fieldfare flew south
19+ Blackbird at Park House Farm
Pink-footed Gooses as follows:
c50 east at 13:15
c1000 east at 14:00 (south of Wigan Flashes)
c800 east at 14:45

Friday 06 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
14 Herring Gull
37 Lesser Black-backed Gull
16 Common Gull
130 Black-headed Gull
8 Little Grebe
5 Shoveler
more rain...

Thursday 05 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
2 Herring Gull
28 Lesser Black-backed Gull
8 Common Gull
135 Black-headed Gull
lots of rain...

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Thursday 5th of November 2009 04:13:09 PM

Judith Smith wrote:

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Date a bit awry, Rob?

---

Thanks for pointing out, have now corrected... Must have been wishful thinking

For the benefit of any Wiganers reading this, awry means wrong.

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Tuesday 3rd of November 2009 06:38:34 PM

Date a bit awry, Rob?

Tuesday 03 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
3 Herring Gull
41 Lesser Black-backed Gull
18+ Common Gull
155+ Black-headed Gull
5+ Little Grebe

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Tuesday 3rd of November 2009 06:30:42 PM

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Tuesday 3rd of November 2009 06:40:36 PM

Monday 02 November 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
1 Herring Gull
33 Lesser Black-backed Gull
29 Common Gull
169 Black-headed Gull
2 Lapwing over heading north

Saturday 31 October 2009

Park House Farm around midday:
1 Blackcap (female)
a brief glimpse of a rather plain looking Phylloscopus, presumably a Chiffchaff
Goldcrest heard
22 Blackbird
2 Song Thrush
27 Fieldfare over heading south
2 Skylark
1 Grey Wagtail
1 Pied Wagtail
a few Mipit
14 Lapwing over
2 Sparrowhawk
1 Buzzard



-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Sunday 1st of November 2009 05:23:02 PM

Friday 30 October 2009

Scotman's Flash 11:00-11:30:
1 Great Black-backed Gull
45 Lesser Black-backed Gull
21 Herring Gull
23 Common Gull
149 Black-headed Gull

Thursday 29 October 2009

Flying south over Scotmans/Pearsons between 07:30 and 08:30:
449 Fieldfare
28+ Redwing
398 Woodpigeon
3+ Stock Dove (with Woodpigeon)
6 Goosander

also, a skein of c60 Pink-footed Goose flew west @ 09:35.

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
11 Herring Gull
14 Lesser Black-backed Gull
22 Common Gull
157 Black-headed Gull
28 Tufted Duck
3 Little Grebe
3 Great Crested Grebe
1 Kingfisher
3 Redwing over NW

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Wednesday 28th of October 2009 03:04:17 PM

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
18 Common Gull
10 Lesser Black-backed Gull
148+ Black-headed Gull
and no Herring Gull today
1 Pied Wagtail
1 Grey Wagtail
3 Little Grebe
3 Sailing boats
2 Motor boats - one of them going full-throttle at a juv Mute Swan, forcing it to take flight. The boat then turned around and went back to the middle of the flash, so seemed pretty intentional

Monday 26 October 2009

Scotman's Flash at 14:00ish:
36 Herring Gull
32 Lesser Black-backed Gull
7 Common Gull
76 Black-headed Gull

No birds of note today, but there's free WiFi if you're in the vicinity of Park House Farm. Think they forgot to password it

Saturday 24 October 2009

To say it was quiet at the flashes this morning would be an understatement. If I'm talking about birds that is, the dogwalkers were still out in force despite the murky weather! In fact I think I probably saw more dog walkers than birds! The only things worth a
mention were:
c15 Siskin near Bryn Marsh
1 Wigeon on Pearson's and another on Horrock's
1 Kingfisher at Moss Bridge

Wednesday 21/10/09 Kingfisher on Westwood Flash and in the woodland there 20 Siskin and 6 Bullfinch

Horrocks Flash,rear pool only 13.00 15.00ish



2 buzzard
1 kestrel
10 snipe over
4 snipe grounded
30 jackdaw
10 crows
2 grey heron,plus usual water fowl
1 party of long tailed and blue tits at close quarters


the water level is still very low leaving a large expanse of mud/rubble

cheers geoff,

Saturday 17 October 2009
08:00-10:30
Scotman's & Pearson's flashes:

2 Whooper Swan on Scotman's until 08:30, when flew NW. Then at 09:45 what was probably the same 2 landed briefly on Scotman's before flying SE. Mr Woosey then picked these up over the Abram Flashes, they appear to have continued on to Pennington Flash.
some Pink-footed Geese heading SE, these were all subsequently seen by Mr Woosey at Abram, so see his post for numbers.
4 Goldeneye on Pearson's (1m 3f)
1 Wigeon on Pearson's
1 Mandarin still on canal
lots of Woodpigeon heading south, but didn't manage to count them as I was too busy counting the following:
718 Redwing W or NW
29 Fieldfare NW
1 Song Thrush NW
28 Skylark N
3 Meadow Pipit S, and 1 N
1 Brambling N (with Chaffinch)
20 Chaffinch N, and 5 S
7 Greenfinch N
2 Siskin NW
1 Lesser Redpoll S
18 Jackdaw SE
1 Snipe N
1 Kingfisher
Water Rail (heard)


-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Saturday 17th of October 2009 02:33:00 PM

There were 17 Wigeon on Horrocks Flash this afternoon, mostly on Rainford's

Later in the morning, the Wigeon increased to 15 on Scotmans making a total of 29. The first 2 Goldeneye were at the back of Pearson's. Several Water Rail calling, at least 2 Kingfishers. A Range Rover careering about on top of the bund flushed some Shoveler, bringing the total to 49, with about 15 Teal.

Wednesday 14 October 2009
08:00-09:30
Scotman's Flash:

A damp and murky morning on the towpath, visibility was very poor, but dogwalker numbers were much reduced . "highlights" consisted of:
1 Dunlin (heard)
25 Wigeon (11 Scotman's, 14 Pearson's)
1 Fieldfare south (my first of the autumn)
plenty Redwing mooching around, including one flock of c150
3 Pied Wagtail on towpath
1 Meadow Pipit north
1 Chaffinch south
1 Siskin south
8 Lesser Redpoll
c15 Goldfinch
2 Kingfisher
3 Water Rail (heard)
1 Kestrel

Sunday 11 October 2009
10:45-12:45

6 Whooper Swan flew in from the south at 11:00 and landed on Scotman's Flash, where they remained until 11:40 when they started calling and bowing to each other before taking flight. They headed west, struggling into the wind and gaining height, then let the wind carry them south and out of view.
13 Greylag Geese flew NW over Scotman's.
c300(!) Canada Geese flew in from the west. Most seemed to land on Scotman's, but some continued towards Horrock's.
The female Mandarin was still on the canal.
Quite a few Redwing were in the hedges at Park House Farm, where there was also a Kestrel, 2 Sparrowhawk, a family of Pheasant and a rather pristine looking Red Admiral butterfly.

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Sunday 11th of October 2009 09:59:50 PM

Breaking news,ex mr thorpe 6 whooper swans (ex dover basin)in sw corner of scotmans
11.00 untill 11.40 departed sw(1 minute after i got there)

cheers geoff

-- Edited by Geoff Hargreaves on Sunday 11th of October 2009 01:11:00 PM

Geoff, no need to be angry spent 2 hours his afternoon watching the trees and willows at Bryn marsh no sign of the harrier 2-5.

keep birding