8/12/08 a.m.

Back in my `usual habitat` Mike, and glad too

7 Goldeneye, 83 Tufted Duck, 5 Little Grebe, 9 Pochard, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker (Scotmans). 3 Willow Tit (Ochre). Sparrowhawk, Snipe (Park House Farm).

07/12/08 Horrocks front pool 90% frozen so made for very easy counting

117 coot 4 moorhen
63 bH gull 4 herring gull
21 canada 64 mallard
1 cormorant 11 teal
34 tufted 1 heron

rainfords and rear pool mostly frozen with small pockets of waterfowl,interestingly
the railway crossing at rainfords is the farthest point from transport when you hear about a glossy ibis in gm

cheers geoff

6/12/08 a.m.

redhead Goosander (Scotmans) + 2 drks over SE. c11 Goldeneye (Pearsons), Snipe & Willow Tit (Bryn Marsh), 44 Teal (Horrocks).

Mid afternoon at Horrocks Flash - ideal conditions as 50% ice brings out all the duck that are normally hiding...
68 Teal, 8 Shoveler, 39 Gadwall, 26 Mute Swans, 5 Wigeon, 6 Little Grebe, 2+ Goldeneye. Didn't do the back pool but expect it would have been frozen.
No sign of last winter's Green-winged Teal so far.

Good chances for Bittern sightings if this weather keeps up, I would think - along the Reed Brook from Bryn Marsh to Scotmans, or the back of Pearson's would be my bet. They will walk out onto the ice at the edge of the reedbeds, too.

Scotman's Flash today at dusk:
6 Goosander
13 Goldeneye
7 Shoveler
10 Little Grebe
88 Herring Gulls, 20 Lesser B-B Gulls and 5 adult Great Black-Backed (nearly all the gulls flew off SW before dark)

Horrocks flash rear pool am

118 coot 5 shovler
9 gadwall 30 mallard
20 tufted 1 reed bunting
1 grey heron 2 g s peckers

rainfords and front pool as normal but to cold to count them,not sure on these 1 male pintail over 12 whooper swans over but didn,t id them properly poo.

cheers geoff

Probably the same Pinkfeet I had over Ashton, Rob!

Saturday 29th November 2008

08:00-13:00

Fog, fog and more fog...

a Sparrowhawk took off from the steps at Moss Bridge, was probably on a kill, but due to the fog i couldn't be sure.
At least 16 Goldeneye on Pearson's with about 10 Pochard, but too much fog to get any proper counts.
3 Snipe and a noisy Siskin on Ince Moss Landfill, along with some fog.
7 Goldcrest along canal between Moss Bridge and H-Flash, also one (or possibly 2) Kingfisher (and some fog) there.
I could hear a lot of Redpoll activity around H-Flash and heard some Pinkfeet over Ochre Flash at 12:30ish, sounded like they were heading South, but didn't see any of them due to the aforementioned fog.

28/11/08 a.m.

Snipe over Hawkley Reedbed,
18 Goldeneye, 12 Gadwall, 15 Pochard, & 9 Teal on Pearsons,
10 Little Grebe & 8 Common Gulls on Scotman`s,
m & f Sparrowhawk perched up at Horrocks,
2 Kestrel,
Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Sunday 23/11/2008 - am

Same as Ian, apart from at about 09:00, during one of the heavier downpours, a small wader was flying around low and fast over scotmans, then flew NW gaining height into the wind. Couldn't get much on it, mainly due to all the rain on my bins, but it was most likely a dunlin.

Not much else about, a snipe over bryn marsh and 5+ goldcrests along the canal there being about the best of it.

23/11/08 a.m.

Unspectacular morning made worse by the weather.

Buzzard being mobbed by Crows over Pearsons Flash,
17+ Goldeneye,
16 Pochard,
15 Teal,
4 Shoveler.

Mr Thorpe preceded me, don`t know if he saw anything different ?

ince moss landfill area 10 while 1

1 jay 4 magpie 6 blackbirds
10 goldfinch 6 siskin 4 redpoll
not much about but nice views of the siskins

cheers geoff

Thursday 20 November 2008

07:00-08:00

Pearson's Flash

19 Goldeneye
12 Gadwall
8+ Teal
5 Pochard
4 Little Grebe
1 GC Grebe
1 rather cold wind

Also, at least 13 Blackbird along the path from Hawkley to Moss Bridge.

Sunday 16th November

09:30-13:30

juv Scaup on Scotman's, along with 42+ Tufted Ducks, then flew NW @ 09:55.
113 PFGs over heading NNW @ 10:45.
Pearson's had 30+ Tufteds, 13 Goldeneye, 4 Pochard, 6 Gadwall, 5 Shoveler and at least 3 Teal.
1 Snipe over Pearson's heading N, 1 Snipe on mud at the back of Pearson's and another Snipe on the top of the old landfill site, also 2 Siskin here.
Kingfisher along canal between Bryn Marsh and Moss Bridge.

Horrocks flash a full circuit early am,

250 b h gull 1 herring gull
6 gadwall 4 shoveler
10 teal 2 snipe
1 heron all other water fowl as usual

cheers geoff

10/11/08 a.m.

3 Wigeon (2drk), Great Black-backed Gull, 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and 10 Common Gulls on Scotman`s Flash.
9 Goldeneye (4drk) on Pearson`s Flash,
7 Gadwall on Westwood Flash,
m. Sparrowhawk & Kestrel.

(News from a couple of locals who saw a drake Mandarin on Scotman`s last Monday [Nov 3] consorting with the lone drake Pochard).

A cold, wet and windy stroll along the canal @ Scotman's this afternoon. Not much about, a pair of Wigeon and 11+ Goldeneye on Pearson's being about the best of it.

Nice walk past horrocks up to moss bridge and over the tip on fruitless hunt for anything out the ordinary but no joy ,met up with mr woosey who had covered scotmans and
pearsons ,all as expected??only ray of sunshine,10 gadwall 1 shoveler on the rear pool of horrocks and a tree creeper with a long tailed tit flock.32 speices noted and quite a few regulars missing

cheers geoff

go on the ordnance survey site look at the get a map part put wigan in the search-and you will see the names of all the flashes!!scotmans is what it says on that

Sorry guys didn't mean to start a battle!!

I think I know where we are so in the words of that famoose Liddypoole byrder John Dempsey - lets keep birding and Eyes to The Skys boys, Eyes to the Skys.

"Unconfused" (honest) Hale, Altrincham,Cheshire

Tim, i,m surprised i followed your link and wasted ten minutes reading some utter c@@p,
so don,t bother with it all you out there.Having been born with a speech defect(wiganeese) i,m a bit defensive of our dialect and stuff so roll up your cuff,s you bounder
and prepare to to be 'biffed' at the next twitch.

cheers geoff

I found this by way of explanation!!!

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Wigan

Apologies to all from Wigan

Ian

Um - thanks for that, very informative - could the name of the flash come from a Scotsman called Scotman?

P.S. Where's Wiggin as referred to in the Hope Carr thread July 08 - found during my search for " The Flash With Two Names" ?

"More Confused" - Hale, Altrincham

Sid,

The quick reply is Scotman`s

If you`ve the time and the inclination dig out "The Flash With 2 Names" on the General Discussion page.

Is it SCOTSMANS or SCOTMANS?

Confused Altrincham!!!

-- Edited by sid ashton at 18:58, 2008-11-08

Scotsman's:- Dabchick 6, GC Grebe3, Cormorant 6, Tufted 12, Pochard
Pearsons:- Tufted 100+, Goldeneye 6, Pochard, Gadwall 3, Dabchick 2, GC Grebe, Grey Heron 2, GS Pecker
Westwood:- Tufted 12, Gadwall 3, Kingfisher, Reed Bunting
Canal:- Long-tailed Tit 16, Goldfinch ca 20, Redwing 3
Horrocks:- Cormorant 4, Tufted 12, Pochard 3, Shoveler 2, Lapwing, Common Gull 4, LBB Gull, Redpoll 3, Bullfinch 5, Treecreeper, Willow Tit

Plus overhead a skein of ca 1000 Pink-feet heading East at 12.15

8/11/08 a.m.

Quiet this morning, with little of note really ;

3 Snipe & 4 Shovelers on Horrocks Flash,
2 Goldeneye & 6 Gadwall on Pearsons,
17 Fieldfare SW,
Kestrel

from about 12 until 2pm, 7th November

Scotman's/Westwood/Pearson's Area

Lots of tit flock activity today, a few Willow Tits among them also counted at least 10 Goldcrests (including 3 together near Hawkley, but no matter how many times i checked them they were still just Goldcrests ). Along the track between Pearson's and the cemetery was an overdue addition to my flashes yearlist in the form of a Treecreeper.
Not much else about but there were at least 4 drake Goldeneye on Pearson's.

around lunchtime, 6th November

1 Shelduck, 1 Wigeon (m) and 1 Goldeneye (f) along with all the usual stuff on Scotman's.

Also 3 Wigeon (1pr and 1m (although this may have been the one off Scotman's)) and at least 8 Goldeneye (inc 3m) on Pearson's.

1.50 - 3.15

Scotmans:
Tufted 53
Coot 74
Little grebe 6
Un-named duck 1 female
Gadwall 5
Goldeneye 3f, 1m
Great Crested Grebe 2, with 1 half-grown stripey chick.

Bryn:
Tufted 6
Coot 21
GC Grebe 1
Mute Swan 2 ad, 4 imm.

No time to do Pearsons as off to Rindle Road.

Goldeneye on pearson's had increased to 9 (2 drakes) by lunchtime yesterday (2nd Nov)

02/11/08 horrocks front pool ,saw a bit less than ian but i left earlier,but I did witness mr
woosey take to phonescoping like a duck to water.

cheers geoff

2/11/08 a.m.

Roughly 400 Pink-footed Geese over in four different skeins (details on Pink-foot thread)

5 Goldeneye (1 drk) on Pearson`s,
2 Willow Tits at the feeding station,
2 Sparrowhawks,
3 Kestrels.

01 November 2008

Merlin (m) - West over Bryn Marsh at about 1pm

1 Goldeneye (f) and 2 Wigeon (pr) on Pearson's, Not much else of note other than a few Siskin around Turner's and a lot of motor-cross bikes.

1/11/08

2 Wigeon (pr), fem Goldeneye, 15 Common Gulls, and 18 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Scotman`s early this morning.

Usual activity at the Hawkley Reedbed feeding station this morning, including at least 2 Willow Tits, Pheasant, several House Sparrow, 20 Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll and 2 Siskin

2 Pintail flew in to Scotman's from the south

-- Edited by dave broome at 10:45, 2008-10-31

Welcome on board Dean.

27th October 2008

Visited Wigan Flashes and had following sightings:-

Bittern (flying low and south over Scotsman's Flashes) 11am
Kestral
Black Headed Gull
Coot
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Wigeon
Pochard
Shoveller
Mallard
Tufted Duck
Mute Swan
Blackbird
Magpie
House Sparrows
*No sign of Red Throated Diver

-- Edited by Dean Powell at 13:43, 2008-10-28