Sunday 28 June 2009

1 Buzzard over Horrocks Flash and another on pylon at Bryn Marsh.
Loads of ducks flew over Rainfords Tip (approx. 100 Tufted Duck and about 30 Pochard, almost all drakes) looked as though they had come off Scotman's Flash.
A rather unseasonal Siskin was flying around over Ince Moss Landfill.
A Kingfisher was at Bryn Marsh.
There were plenty young warblers about today including Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Willow Warblers.

At least 31 Mute Swans on Scotman's Flash this evening, and 2 cygnets.

2 new broods of Gadwall, each of 10, at the Wigan Flashes today.

Meanwhile the pair of swans on the canal, and the pair on Bryn Marsh (ex-Ochre Flash) are still swopping cygnets about. 14 cygnets from 4 broods - each pair has their own cygnets, plus ones from 2 other broods, whose parents have disappeared (one was shot dead). Two transferred from one brood to another overnight.

Horrocks flash till dusk and beyond,as i,ve said all is not well,but life goes on in the colony,the usual up,s and down,s lots of activity gulls, terns buzzing all around,it,s the first time i,ve seen the terns fishing on the front pool for ages,right in front of me and giving a cracking view as they come out of the water and 'shake' the water off,some sad facts and figures to follow

geoff

A brood of Shoveler today - first for some years I think in the flashes. A 4th brood of Pochard is doing well.

A Garden Warbler seen and heard singing in the area of poplars by the Liverpool line railway bridge today. A brood of 6 Gadwall near the towpath on Scotman's - perhaps the ones from the canal - right age and they can get out of the canal there. A new brood of Greylag goslings and 22 adults on Scotman's.

Whilst most of the terns have hatched chicks, none has survived any length of time and I have emailed the LWT Wigan Flashes team about this. Predator control is needed.

Geoff Hargreaves wrote:

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Horrocks Flash 9.00 till past dusk,strange sometimes it,s the things you don,t see that you notice,tonight no geese , something is amiss in the colony, numbers are down and i can only see gull chicks,

cheersgeoff

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they are probably all on penny as there are hundreds of canadas come in in the last few weeks and quite a few greylags as well

Horrocks Flash 9.00 till past dusk,strange sometimes it,s the things you don,t see that you notice,tonight no geese , something is amiss in the colony, numbers are down and i can only see gull chicks,

cheersgeoff

A very pleasant stroll with Henry Cook, only walked along the canal to Horrocks from Scotsmans.

Eyes were not really on the look out for birds but did see lots of Swifts, a few Common Terns, Bullfinch and a few Cormorants flying over - just nice to be out and about after a very busy few weeks.

Loads of plant sightings on the Wildlfie Forum.

Dave

There was a juv Black-Headed Gull on the jetty at Scotman's on Monday evening and still in the same spot on Wed

600 Swifts feeding over Scotman's ahead of rain Wed late afternoon

Wednesday 17 June 2009
Evening
Horrock's Flash

The only things of note were a Cuckoo and a juv Black-headed Gull flying around.

Tuesday 16 June 2009
Evening
Horrock's Flash

4 Redshank
2 Mistle Thrush (over)

Also 2 Foxes.

First brood of Tufted Duck today (7y)

Monday 15 June 2009
Evening
Horrock's Flash

2 Curlews over, heading south.
2 Redshank.
1 Ringed Plover.

Also of note, there was a Shoveler with 2 young on the canal behind the houses at Platt Bridge.

A brood of 7 Gadwall chicks with female on the canal at Horrocks Flash. First time I've seen them on the canal.

Saturday 13 June 2009
noon
Horrock's Flash

a Ringed Plover,
an Oystercatcher
and a Cuckoo were the only highlights.

Quite a few Willow Tits around the flashes today, I counted at least 7.
Also, 2 Water Rails at Turner's Flash and 25 Mute Swans still on Scotmans Flash.

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Saturday 13th of June 2009 02:18:02 PM

Friday 12 June 2009
evening
Horrock's Flash

2 Ringed Plover
1 Redshank
1 Herring Gull (adult)
1 Buzzard
and Keith Pilling and I witnessed a male Sparrowhawk plucking a Starling from the roost.

Thursday 11 June 2009 (just noticed I put yesterday's post on as Thursday )
evening
Horrock's Flash

an adult Mediterranean Gull with Black-headed Gulls on the North Pool.
2 Ringed Plover.
1 Oystercatcher.
loads of Swifts and House Martins, and an impressive Starling roost.

Thursday 10 June 2009
afternoon
Horrock's Flash

2 Ringed Plover.
27 Lapwing flew out of the middle.
1 Kingfisher sat on a post in the North Pool.
23 Greylag Geese on canal, 19 of which were young birds.

Also there was at least 25 Mute Swans on Scotman's Flash.

Horrocks flash,20.00 till 22.00
All gulls etc kicking off when i got there,chicks and adults all over the place,the fuss was caused by two swans having a barney right in the middle of the colony,they eventually settled down,and i think eveyone got back to their nest,s,after the fracar i saw 2 dead bh gulls and 2 bh gulls with just one chick.

in to roost, 6 pochard,20 canada,ringed plover and turnstone still present.

cheers geoff

Tuesday 09 June 2009
Horrock's Flash
Afternoon

1 Turnstone still present.
2 Ringed Plover.
3 Oystercatcher.

Monday 08 June 2009
Horrock's Flash
evening

1 Turnstone present for it's 4th day.
1 Ringed Plover ditto.
1 Redshank
1 Oystercatcher

When I arrived at Horrock's this evening, all the Gulls and Terns went up in the air, so I was frantically looking around for a raptor of some sort. I couldn't see any raptors, then I realised it was me they were upset about. A group of Gulls and Terns then proceeded to noisily follow me along the canal towpath. This has never happened to me here before...

I saw it fly E over the canal at Crankwood, I suppose about 2.30-ish so expect that was the sighting subsequently seen at Pennington Flash. I then spent some time at Horrocks Flash but didn't see it all there, till 5pm-ish. (but saw it in the morning there).

John I was not aware you were on site this morning, I was in touch with Judith Smith who was at Turners flash.

Osprey showed briefly near the pylon at the bottom on Bryn flash seen hovering then dived and lost too view.

Best vantage point is from the railway line gives clear views across Horrocks and surrounding area, looks like it made a visit to Pennington this afternoon.... or are there two...
thanks for the info Brian and Judith

Keep birding

hi john, first saw the osprey this morning just before 8am over the pylons to the left of horrocks flash, it then flew over the back of horrocks and south down the canal. andy makin saw it shortly after at dover basin and watched it fly back towards wigan flashes. dont know who reported the late morning sighting but paul heaton saw it hovering over bryn around 11am.hope it sticks around long enough for you to get it, seen this afternoon at 230 by john lyon at pennington so still around.

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Osprey still present, over Horrocks Flash at 8am this morning

Info thanks to Brian Fielding

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It was reported on bird news websites as back again at Horrock's at 11.05. Unfortunately I was watching Pearsons/Scotmans at the time (approx from 09.55 till 11.20). So close

Osprey still present, over Horrocks Flash at 8am this morning

Info thanks to Brian Fielding

Sunday 07 June 2009
Early afternoon
Horrock's Flash

1 Turnstone and a Ringed Plover still present.
a Cuckoo heard.
a Peregrine flew quickly NW over the North Pool.
a Buzzard with central tail feather(s) missing drifted SE quite high.

This Morning
Horrocks
1 Hobby,
3 Buzzards
2 Ring Plover
Scotmans
Pr Mute Swans 2 Cygnets
Canada Goose creche of 33 Goslings
14 Greylag geese dropped in
50+ Swifts
12 Pochard
Garden Warbler singing 50yds from Moss Bridge

Sadly no sign of Osprey

Cheers Jimmy

Osprey still present in the area and seen at approx. 2:35pm possibly heading towards Pearsons Flash, but obviously highly mobile.

Info thanks to Jake Moot/Judith Smith

Rob - after you left last evening Andy and I found 17 LBB Gulls, mostly adult, roosting there at2140hrs. I'm sure it can't be long until these birds nest on rooftops in Wigan centre, though a scan from the multi-storey revealed nothing a couple of weeks ago.

Saturday 06 June 2009
07:00-09:15

Turnstone still present on Horrock's Flash along with it's pal the Ringed Plover and lots of litter left by the vandals that call themselves fishermen.
Also at Horrock's there was 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a flock of 9 drake Pochard.

Friday 05 June 2009
Evening
Horrock's Flash

1 Turnstone along with a Ringed Plover on the Front Pool (Canal Pool).
1 Cuckoo around the North Pool.
1 Buzzard over.
3 Stock Dove, one on the mud on the Front Pool and 2 over.
And the Starling roost is becoming rather impressive...

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Friday 5th of June 2009 11:53:41 PM

Thursday 04 June 2009
Evening
Horrock's Flash
Cuckoo still present, along with countless Swifts and the ever increasing Starling roost.

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Thursday 4th of June 2009 11:48:23 PM

Also yesterday (03/06/2009) a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling near Moss Bridge at 22:40.

Horrocks flash7.30 till 9.08 this evening

All as expected the swifts and house martins all over and of note 25 male tufted 2 female tufted on the mudflats,cuckoo calling and then seen by me and mr thorpe flying towards the railway,I just missed the ospreyif anyone see,s it fishing over pennington or scotmans don,t phone me

cheers geoff

Rob Thorpe had an Osprey flying low along the fields opposite Horrocks Flash, moving SE, at 9:15pm tonight. Not likely to go much further; must roost locally? Pennington Flash early morning??

Today Wednesday 3rd June at around 3-25pm.

Bryn Marsh Reedbeds.

Bittern flew across the ditch that runs at right angles to the canal. Also 4 greylag geese with a creche of around 18 young.

Horrocks front pool till dusk

very quiet and mostly undisturbed lets hope for some inclement weather

amongst a cast of thousands,

50 swift then 20 swallows
5 oystercatchers flew in to roost
5 billion midges

cheers geoff

10 Greylag Geese flew NW over Scotman's this morning

Horrocks front pool till dusk,

a general disturbance in the nesting area in the shape of one little boat and one big idiot who was called in by his mates after a polite request from me to phone him,job done
only damage I could see was one chick not finding it,s nest and I doubt it will survive.

otherwise
20+ blacktailed godwit flew in (rob their behind you)
50 swallows over
2 cuckoo 1 in the center 1 from bamfurlong
hundreds of starling flocking
all with a super sunset to boost

cheers geoff(makes up a bit cos i couldn,t get to elton)

Sunday 31 May 2009
18:00ish
Horrock's Flash

99% certain i had a Hobby distantly towards Platt Bridge, watched for a few seconds through bins, but lost it behind some trees before i could scope it. It couldn't really have been anything else though, just wish i'd had a better view of it.
Not much else around, apart from lots of youths swimming and drinking.

I,ve been out and about all over the flashes today and had a cracking days birding,best and strangest site of the day was a gathering of canada geese,mallard and greylag adults and chicks on the canal by horrocks, 50 birds in 10 yards of water.

cheers geoff

3rd brood of Pochard today

From Birdguides:

Species Area Site Present
17:43 24/05/09 Black Kite Cheshire Middlewich 16:30
a possible over west

Just to keep us all on out toes.....

Unfortunately John, they're all in active wing moult this time of year, including Black Kite!

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 28th of May 2009 09:10:51 PM

Judith Smith wrote:

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I had a raptor this afternoon at Horrocks Flash which I thought was an adult Marsh Harrier in tatty plumage. However, it had a noticeably forked tail and I think on reflection it may have been a Kite sp. It was fairly high and silhoutted and I couldn't get a lot on it except that the upper parts were very contrasty, when it banked round. It was mobbed by Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns and didn't stay around more than about 3-4 mins. John Lyon (Bolton) also saw it from further up the canal and thought it was a Marsh Harrier too, but they don't show the deeply forked tail this bird had (unless of course it had lost some tail feathers - there was at least one missing! It also appeared to me to be on the small side for a Marsh Harrier - Red Kite would be larger. One of life's mysteries!

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Judith,

A birder I know had a Red Kite high over his house in Disley on 25th May. He noted that its plumage was bedraggled with a few primaries and secondaries missing. Do these missing feathers fit in with your sighting?

Cheers, John

I had a raptor this afternoon at Horrocks Flash which I thought was an adult Marsh Harrier in tatty plumage. However, it had a noticeably forked tail and I think on reflection it may have been a Kite sp. It was fairly high and silhoutted and I couldn't get a lot on it except that the upper parts were very contrasty, when it banked round. It was mobbed by Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns and didn't stay around more than about 3-4 mins. John Lyon (Bolton) also saw it from further up the canal and thought it was a Marsh Harrier too, but they don't show the deeply forked tail this bird had (unless of course it had lost some tail feathers - there was at least one missing! It also appeared to me to be on the small side for a Marsh Harrier - Red Kite would be larger. One of life's mysteries!

Wednesday 27 May 2009
evening
Horrock's Flash

5 Ringed Plover
3 Dunlin
2 Redshank
13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (plus more flying over)
Swarms of Swifts.