My heart skipped a beat as I noticed a flock of what looked like Bee-eaters hawking around our City Centre office. However it was approx 30 Starlings - presumably catching flying ants.

They are now all perched up on Bloom St chimney but no sign of any Peregrines yet.

In fields at Red Rock Lane Haigh
up 300 mixed flock of Rooks + Jackdaws majority of them was Jackdaws

loads of swift moving south this evening over our house in warrington

Great view of a juv Sparrowhawk on next door's roof earlier this evening.

3 Buzzards circling over my garden in Astley at 5pm-ish

juv/fem tawny owl calling 04.30 back of the house this morning

Tawny Owl calling in Atherton at 11:30pm last night.

Dead Grey Partridge on Beefold Lane in Atherton this am.

Kane

A Kingfisher flew underneath Barton Swing bridge at 4.20pm this afternoon as I drove over.

cockatiel flying round top end of gidlow lane beech hill calling and then landed in a tree bordering the play area there was still calling and seemed to be getting a reply off another which might be in a avairy at the back of the houses there
jimmy

Hobby over Leigh RUFC 1st team pitch at Pennington this evening at approx. 7:40pm (yes, I know I should really have been concentrating on the ball), it came in from the west (or south-west) and headed low directly towards Hope Carr NR which is only 300 yards from the pitches, being followed by a flock of 30 or so noisy Swallows.

Breeding Dunnocks in a Chadderton garden.

A pair of Dunnocks have nested in next doors conifer hedge this summer - they have produced two broods of fledged young - 3 begging juveniles were seen on 21st May and a single begging juvenile from their second attempt was in my garden with parents on 8th August.

Poor old Dunnocks - nobody loves them! - their final indignity is being "relegated" to the "bits & bobs, Odds and Sods" section of the forum!!

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough at 10:00, 2008-08-10

A group of 7 Buzzards over the Cleworth Hall area of Tyldesley, late a.m. , vocal and interacting, drifted SE

A cockateil circling and calling over springfield rd 12.30 today

20+ swifts over mesnes st wigan town centre 07.30 this morning

1 grey wagtail at adams bridge newtown this afternoon

a peregrine took a pigeon above ring 2 at the the bolton/bury show ground this afternoon at 3.10 - made it's way off back towards the town hall mobbed by goldfinches.

Just been watching a juv. Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding on my nuts! which I carelesly left out in the garden
Childish I know.
Cheers Ian

Warfys got pied flys at Elton, the rochdale lads have 100,s of scoters at Ashworth,
Rob and Sonia picking up yellow legged gulls at audi, i can feel the Silent meals club having some members this weekend.

This weather front has to move something over the next few days.

its out there somewhere

Keep birding.

25/7/08

Common Buzzard over M61, J6 Horwich @ 09:45 heading towards Red Moss.

Grasshoper Warbler Reeling in fieds adjacent to Lodge Lane Sports fields next to Leigh Cemetry(think thats right). SJ 684 999

oystercatcher over the house heading north 6.50
return flight south 8;46 south heard and seen while on computer ouch just tupped window looking at it

just witnessed a frantic female kestrel at the salton factory, failsworth calling and dive-bombing a cat that was making off with one of her recently fledged young. i know we say nature can be cruel, but this was a well fed, domestic killing machine and it disappeared into nearby gardens before i could do anything. i hope it chokes on its talons

-- Edited by Mark Evans at 12:45, 2008-07-05

3/7/08

Common Buzzard seen from the Crown Inn at Standish, Wigan, @ 18:30 whilst eating me black pudding starter................nice !

at least 2 siskins flew over the garden tonight unusual round here this time of year

A pair of Great Tits are feeding young in one of our nest boxes, Ashton-in-Makerfield. It seems rather late - I hadn't realised they were even in there. the box in question had Blue Tits building in it in April, but they gave up.

3 Common Terns over Harper Fold Road, Radcliffe this morning (10am). Was visiting neice on birthday and had a nice views as they flew over the garden, quite unexpected though!?!?

Kane
I had a very vocal Oystercatcher flying above my garden in Swinton last night for about 10 minutes around 10.35pm.

Oystercatcher flying over Atherton today, calling loudly.

Geoff, statistically speaking, I reckon I have at least another 35 years left of birding in me, so at 2 new species a year it should bring the Wigan Flashes 200 up. That is, if the council has not built a bloody road through the middle of `em, or made it into a fairground like Pennington ! I`ll call for you in my wheelchair and we can count the Starlings on the Wind-turbines

Fair point with the GM200. Getting to the 175 marker is very enjoyable and rewarding, because it involves going and finding the common and scarce County species for yourself. After that, it is more about twitching the rarities I`m afraid, and all that does is prematurely age you........ Just take a look at Mr Heaton ! ! !

ian,sorry i beg to differ the current gold marker of 200 within gm is not 'easy' it may be achievable in two or three years at the least but once your over the 175 mark a lot of effort and luck is required to get the last 25 ,i,ll be happy if i get to silver 175 as i sit here and rue the gems i missed last year,and a few of this years 'tarts ticks' cos i was sulking with broken optics. as for the wigan flashes 200 club
you,d better make sure that wheelchair access is improved cos the warranty on your scope will have run out before you get the next 75

cheers geoff(statiscallly analyise that)

hobby,glaucous gull there on my flashes list

(am assuming young) peregrine hounded by two goldfich over the northern quarter this lunchtime.

Hobby over Cutacre (Private site) this evening & seen last week chasing insects on the wing.

Kane

GM 200 is easily reached with a bit of tear-arsing around .........Wigan Flashes 200 is the ultimate !

Buzzard over garden yesterday and oystercatcher this morning all in Ashton on Mersey Sale not bad and would have been 2 garden ticks if I was a Woosey.

Well done that man on the Ton at the flashes, nice figure to reach for one patch lets see more of the same on your other lists. Will not be long now till you claim your membership for the 200 club.

Keep Birding.

A Lesser Whitethroat is still singing (and has been for some time now) at Pickley Green, Westleigh.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

Paul,

your HIGHWAY CODE must have a page missing. Im sure mine has a disclaimer at the rear which states,and I quote " please ignore the following 112 pages if the driver is in persuit of a Mega or County tick/rarity- or said Driver is returning from a Mega or County tick/rarity so as not to incur wrath of Mrs"

Have a close look-its there, Honest!(its in the smallprint)

Now Now Mr Rigby Phyllis Pearsall will be turning in her grave at your sat nav comments, see i have books on other subjects, suggest you read her autobiography Mrs P,s Journey by Sarah Hartley.

As for your speed camera problems there is an excellent little book called the HIGHWAY CODE and i am sure all modern cars are fitted with a speedometer.

keep birding.

Maps and stuff dont tell you where all the nasty speed camera's are located-get in the modern age

You can save all the usual locations in the sat-nav memory and at the press of a button it takes you from Wigan Fashes to Audenshaw in the blink of an eye(if you keep your eyes shut for 20 minutes) Do you remeber that trip Ian?

Further to Mr Heaton`s dissertation on the subject of finding sites within Greater Manchester, besides the `Sites` section of this web-site, the two essential tools for birding in this county are the County Reports and the Greater Manchester A-Z. For more detail once you arrive at a new site, the following OS Explorer Maps are handy : OL1, OL21, 287, 276, 285, 268, & 277. These cover all of the county boundary. It is the A-Z that will prove invaluable though, and you need never get lost, nor need to ask for directions again.......

Birders keep getting lost sat navs do not take you to where you want to go,
wheres binn green, how do I get to Horrocks flash,
The answers are simple use this website

The sites and guide section will get you to most places, in the middle of the legend above you now is a SEARCH SECTION try it out it works.

Binn green like Blackredstart has been made short we did not like BX so Binn Greens full title is YEOMAN HEY RES/ BINN GREEN SE023053 which is to be found in the back of the county report.

maybe in this dark period of little birding and bad weather you could look though all the old reports and map reference so when the biggy turns up you will be there double quick.

have fun

KEEP BIRDING

a relative sent me some pics of an albino starling seen in his garden in rainford. its a couple of miles out of county but thought it might be of interest. he hasnt seen it for a couple of weeks now, so may no longer be with us.

[

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 16:46, 2008-06-15

14/6/08

2 Buzzards soaring over J2, M61 @ 16.00

You know I was working from home yesterday (Cambridge St, around the corner from Crab Tree Lane) and I swore I heard one on a number of occasions, flying around the Atherton Park area.

ring n parrakeet over crabtree ln atherton this afternoon

Lesser Whitethroat singing y/day at the Tree Bank arboretum, Green Lane, Higher Folds, Leigh (former GM Council tree nursery)

today coppull lane wigan
1 garden warbler
2 grey wagtails on the douglas

mort lane tyldersley
1 lesser whitethroat
4 whitethroat
2 reed bunting
also on right hand side of road before bridge bit of flooded area
looks good for the waders

lesser whitethroat at kiwi nurseries arbour lane standish this morning

Male Bullfinch in the whitebeam outside the office for the second day running. Brings a touch of colour to a fairly scruffy bit of Newton Heath. I hope mrs. b. is now incubating in the little copse of willow nearby where they were courtship-feeding the other week. With Greenfinch breeding in the shrubs by the embankment ( male seen with faecal sac recently) and Goldfinch nearby as well just need Chaffinch for a full house

atlantic st industrial area altrincham,2 oystercatchers flew over very noisely which i remarked on, he replied well whats this then,from an upstairs window in the factory i was treated to crackin views of a roosting tawny 6ft away(lifer) 'its there most days,and its name is robbie???.hours of searching and then one falls in your lap

cheers geoff

21/5/08

The regular summering drake Goldeneye (presuming it`s the same individual) was present this afternoon on High Rid Reservoir. Going off records in past County Reports this will be its 9th year in residence !

One for the "May-hem" listers