Late Record am 280721

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

125 Swift moving west in small flocks

1 Peregrine

1 Marsh Harrier...Male

7 Sand Martin

16 Willow Warbler...including Juveniles

3 Kestrel

Late Record for 260721 am

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

2 Hobby

3 Kestrel

21 Swift

Chat Moss

13 Grey Partridge

10 Yellow Wagtail....including Juveniles

215 Lapwing

18 Skylark

Irlam Moss

2 Grey Partridge

2 Yellowhammer

Late record am 250721

Irlam Moss

25 House Sparrow

56 Swallow....gave the 'Hobby Alarm' and bunched but no raptor seen...but this is where the Hobby was hunting a couple of days ago

8 House Martin

1 Yellow Wagtail

Chat Moss

95 Swallow

45 House Martin

35 Goldfinch

1 Yellowhammer in song

Little Woolden Moss Nature Reserve East

14 Willow Warbler with a few still offering a taste of their song

21 Linnet

4 Swift.

Little Woolden Moss L.W.T. (West Pool) brief visit

Male Marsh Harrier flew west to east over Holcroft Lane towards L.W.M. at 12-40hrs.

1 male Yellow Wagtail (West Pool)

1 Kestrel 

1 Yellowhammer in song

11 Swift over east to west 12-45-14-00hrs.

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

21 Stock Dove

18 Starling

260 Swift

2 Sand Martin

1 Water Rail

1 Sedge Warbler

4 Yellow Wagtail

2 Stonechat...Juveniles

Late Record Afternoon 230721

Irlam Moss

80 Swallow

1 Hobby hunting the Swallow

1 Sand Martin

5 Yellow Wagtail

1 Song Thrush using the road as an anvil to break up a Snail

Chat Moss

1 Quail Calling

3 Green Sandpiper

4 Yellow Wagtail

180 Lapwing

1 Snipe

1 Lesser Redpoll in Display Flight

2 Raven flying east

16 Swallow

4 House Martin

2 Yellowhammer in song.

Little Woolden moss LWT Nature Reserve...far too hot!

11 willow warbler...several Juveniles included

1 Grasshopper Warbler in Song

7 Chiffchaff within a mixed Titmice flock.

Irlam Moss

18 Swift.

Chat Moss am

7 Yellow Wagtail

1 Hobby with Prey

1 Quail Calling loudly

6 Teal

5 Yellowhammer in song

15 Swallow

12 House Martin

1 Marsh Harrier...Male.

Croxden During a Carbon Landscape Dragonfly Survey

4 Green Sandpiper

1 Little Egret Flying West approx. 1030

1 Lesser Redpoll in Display

1 Teal...female in alarm

9 Willow Warbler...2 in Brief Song the rest in alarm

1 Siskin

1 Reed Warbler

116 Lapwing in two flocks

1 Hen Harrier...Male..in from South and soared High to a Dot @ 1105...Assume this is the one young Pete Berry noted on Sunday whilst he was Harvesting peas in his Astley Garden! 

Little Woolden Moss including a Carbon Landscape Dragonfly Survey along the Glaze...which in my opinion that 'thanks' to the efforts of one of our Custodians of the countryside in destroying a vast swathe of habitat including a long standing sweep of Meadowsweet along the Glaze (it seems the 'footpath' now has to be a four lane highway) there were few Dragonflies to count...

42 Swift

170 Swallow

1 Grey Wagtail (juvenile)

7 Buzzard.

Chat Moss During a Carbon Landscape Dragonfly Survey am...

7 Meadow Pipit

3 Reed Bunting in Song

3 Willow Warbler...1 in song

1 Snipe

1 Lesser Redpoll in Display

52 Lapwing

4 Yellowhammer in song

Irlam Moss

24 Pied Wagtail

31 Swallow.

Little Woolden Moss

10 Tree Sparrow  (pair now on 2nd brood in the terraced nest box)

c50 House Sparrow mostly juvenile

23 Swift feeding above White Gate Farm.

Little Woolden Moss L.W.T. N.R

1 Redshank

Male Marsh Harrier

110 Swallow mostly juvenile perched on the telegraph wires above The R. Glaze.

1 Yellowhammer

3 Reed Bunting in song

14 Pied Wagtail

2 Yellow Wagtail

Chat Moss During a Carbon Landscape Dragonfly Survey am...

7 Meadow Pipit

3 Reed Bunting in Song

3 Willow Warbler...1 in song

1 Snipe

1 Lesser Redpoll in Display

52 Lapwing

4 Yellowhammer in song

Irlam Moss

24 Pied Wagtail

31 Swallow.

A male harrier flew due south over my Astley Green house towards Astley Moss late morning ,it was either a HEN or PALLID Harrier, it looked really pale in the strong sunlight .

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

4 Tufted Duck

2 Hobby

9 Swift

1 Yellowhammer in song

2 Ringed Plover.

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve am...Noted during a couple of Dragonfly Surveys for the Carbon Landscape..

2 Grasshopper Warbler reeling

4 Teal

2 Hobby

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve am

1 Dunlin

1 Redshank

1 Peregrine

1 Hobby

1 Sedge Warbler in song

1 Marsh Harrier...Female

1 Yellow Wagtail

1 Oystercatcher.

Astley Moss area this afternoon:

1 Siskin over south

Family party of Willow Tit

Nuthatch and Chaffinch young in Rindle Wood

3 singing Yellowhammer

Good numbers of Swift over, many moving through west

Late Record for am Chat Moss 140721

1 Chiffchaff in Song

3 Bullfinch

8 Whitethroat

2 Green Sandpiper

1 Lesser Redpoll

17 Collared Dove

4 Yellowhammer

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve East

1 Reed Warbler in song

1 Lesser Redpoll

1 Sedge Warbler in song

1 Redshank

2 Oystercatcher

1 Lapwing 'paddling' its foot to draw out prey from the marsh...

Late Record for am 130721

Little Woolden Moss

4 Yellowhammer

2 Skylark

7 Yellow Wagtail

21 Swallow

19 House Sparrow

27 Swift

2 Tree Sparrow

1 Marsh Harrier...female @ 1212

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

2 Hobby

1 Sparrowhawk...Male

11 Meadow Pipit

57 Swift

2 Little Ringed Plover

2 Siskin

1 Sedge Warbler in song

1 Reed Warbler in Song

1 Marsh Harrier...Female...assume bird noted earlier on LWM.

attached distant views of the Marsh Harrier.

Chat Moss 2:20pm - 3:45pm Highlights: 1 buzzard, 2 kestrels, 2 tree sparrows on Twelve Yards Road, flocks of 40+ goldfinches and 50+ swallows by Four Lanes End. Little Woolden Moss 3:45pm - 4:35pm very quiet, one hobby, two kestrels. 

Barton Moss in the Rain

15 Yellow Wagtail...6 Pairs in the midst of their breeding season...rain or no rain...and 3 Juvenile

23 Swallow...most were Young

1 Raven flying west

8 Yellowhammer

17 Tree Sparrow...several young

....am....Chat Moss 

5 Yellow Wagtail

19 Lapwing

14 Stock Dove

5 Grey Partridge...2 Adult...3 Young

14 Skylark

1 Mediterranean Gull

3 Yellowhammer

1 Teal...female in Alarm

2 Green Sandpiper

1 Reed Warbler in song

34 Sand Martin

12 Swallow

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature reserve East

3 Hobby

5 Little Ringed Plover

6 Swift

Images include Distant view of the 2 Green Sandpiper noted today and a belated couple of images of the Wood Sandpiper noted in same area on the 7th.

Early morning highlights of Little Woolden Moss LWT reserve:

3 Black-tailed Godwits, eventually flew off NW

1 Little Ringed Plover

1 1st summer Hobby, sat in a small tree out on the moss for two hours

1 Siskin over high south calling

6 Yellowhammer

2 singing Sedge Warbler

4 Yellow Wagtail

47+ Linnet in a flock around Little Woolden Hall

Little Woolden Moss West After Woolston

3 Oystercatcher

1 Peregrine

1 Sedge Warbler in Song

1 Little Ringed Plover

2 Yellow Wagtail

3 Hobby

Croxdens Peat Pools (West)

1 Green Sandpiper (still showing intermittently)

1 Reed Warbler in song

54 Lapwing (post breeding flock juveniles & adults)

1 1st summer Hobby

15 Goldfinch (post breeding flock juveniles & adults)

2 male Yellowhammer (1 in song)

42 Black Headed Gull (post breeding flock juveniles & adults)

5 Swallow 

12 Collared Dove

A Check of Barton Moss...once more to garner Records...for GMBRG/GMEU .... that prove the Worth of this section of the Greenbelt before it is most assuredly handed over to the 'Profitable' Concrete Dreams of overflowing Warehouses....lest we forget dear Birdwatchers that sending records in to these august organisations should be second nature if we are to have at least and perhaps at least the merest the chance to save the areas we love to birdwatch within or at least we can say that we tried to the generations that follow)

14 Yellow Wagtail...7 pair in the flurry of their breeding season..

4 Yellow Wagtail...Fully Fledged Young...a testament for the history books in which even more of our mankind caused precipitous decline in wildlife for those Humans who 'may' survive in a future without nature (yeah right) can read about that which their ancestors destroyed in the name of 'progress and cheap' 

26 Skylark

19 House Martin

21 Swallow

51 House Sparrow

...and whilst the bulldozers worked away on the eastern edge of Barton Airport I retreated....

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

9 Buzzard

3 Hobby

1 Curlew

1 Oystercatcher

1 Peregrine

1 Raven

3 Little Ringed Plover

42 Swift

6 Kestrel

1 Marsh Harrier...Male.

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

1 Hobby

1 Reed Warbler in song

1 Grasshopper Warbler in Song

1 Little Ringed Plover.

Little Woolden Moss

1 Channel Wagtail

2 Yellow Wagtail...Juveniles

1 Corn Bunting in Song

5 Tree Sparrow

20 Yellow Wagtail.

Chat Moss

11 Lapwing

73 Black-Headed Gull

74 Starling

12 Stock Dove

2 Teal...Male

2 Tufted Duck...Pair

1 Wood Sandpiper

2 Lesser Redpoll in Display

1 Oystercatcher

1 Reed Warbler in Song

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

1 Little Ringed Plover

1 Marsh Harrier...Male ...flew East West @ 1155

1 Hobby Taking Dragonfly....first noted @ 1202

1 Sedge Warbler in Song

1 Quail (Eastern Pool Area @ approx. 1320) Calling.

First summer Hobby showing well this early afternoon around the western end of Little Woolden Moss and also a single Little Ringed Plover.

Chat Moss

1 Corn Bunting in Song

3 Yellowhammer

4 Tree Sparrow

1 Sparrowhawk...Female

2 Oystercatcher

9 Skylark

10 Yellow Wagtail

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve

1 Peregrine

1 Hobby

2 Sedge Warbler

1 Reed Warbler

22 Willow Warbler

26 Swift

2 Oystercatcher

4 Buzzard

1 Water Rail

2 Yellow Wagtail.

Little Woolden Moss - bit of a late report (re-activating account) from last Friday 02/07/2021

Hobby flying West to East above south side at approx 7:30am - far too early for dragonflies

Marsh Harrier (male) spotted twice, second time at approx 8:30am flew towards W side and ended up soaring quite high and out of sight

Buzzards x2

Swifts - lots

Oystercatcher x2

Garden Warbler x2

Curlew heard but not seen

Nothing else notable

The previous Friday 25/06/2021 late afternoon, adult Hobby on ground for 20+ minutes visible from footpath corner on the W side - far too windy for dragonflies, several Yellow Wagtails near bench on footpath on W side, 1 showing well in tree, others in field opposite

Tempted out by this thread's reports of hobbies and yellow wagtails, I made my first visit to the area today. I allowed too little time for a walk up to Little Woolden Moss from Cadishead Moss, but it was really lovely in the afternoon warmth and both species put in an appearance before I had to leave. The hobby I was surprised to find initially high in the sky well out to the West, but it did come down and zip by very close in the end, only to disappear somewhere off to the opposite (North) side soon after.

39 species was probably substantially fewer than might have been possible, but it was great to discover - I shall return and explore further!

First summer Hobby still hunting out on Little Woolden Moss this early afternoon, often perching in trees in the middle of the moss.

Barton Moss am

1 Tawny Owl

6 Yellowhammer

5 Yellow Wagtail

1 Cuckoo

2 Tree Sparrow

Little Woolden Moss LWT Nature Reserve brief visit east

1 Curlew

115 Swift

4 House Martin

5 Swallow

A very brief visit to Little Woolden Moss this early afternoon produced the first summer Hobby feeding well and also perching in trees out on the moss for long periods, five Yellow Wagtails, a Curlew and two Oystercatchers.

Agreed, Dave. I guess the most important factor is the reduced insect food.

With Respect to Steve's observation...

...now there is a debate we ALL perhaps need to involve ourselves in...Raptors survive so I am led to believe in a world of 'balance' whereby prey and predators exist in nature because nature cleverly creates levels of BOTH in which BOTH survive...in my experience the HOBBY is a relatively recent Mosslands addition whilst the 'swarms' of Swallow I have encountered on the Mosslands over my 60 plus years of observation...as with Snipe/Reed Bunting/Corn Bunting/Whinchat/House Martin/Curlew/Lapwing/Redshank...and SO MANY MORE species have been in cataclysmic decline LONG before we were blessed with the arrival of the Hobby...the declines of the birds aforementioned being in my opinion Directly connected to the nations obsession for CHEAP FOOD...nothing is CHEAP...nature pays and in my opinion it is DIRECTLY due to the industrialisation of FARMING and much more insidious practices by mankind in his modern world in which HE believes HE is above NATURE...

to close I am so sorry again just my opinion to see comments which seemingly suggest that the 'raptor' is the problem and not rapacious man.

No personal attack meant to the previous commentator...its just how I see our world of wildlife decline being solely based on mans activities during my lifetime of  always having to accept such loss with painful resignation...

Dave.

'1 Swallow...how can such a relatively bird friendly farming area support but ONE PAIR of Swallow...what have we done to this world???????????????????'

Maybe something to do with the hobbys. One of our farmers complained that they had taken most of his.