time to move on i think, having spent aprox 60 hours trying to get a good view of this bird i will have to be satisfied with the brief views i have had. maybe when we get nearer to spring it will get easier to see. this is the most time i have ever put in for any bird and i dont like to admit defeat but i give up. so look forward to seeing you all in other places except pearsons for a while.

-- Edited by brian fielding at 13:03, 2008-01-21

Actually come to think of it when we visited for the Green-winged Teal I do vaguely remember a caravan parked up with an RSPB sticker in the window on Cemetery Road, and the thought crossed my mind.....

Are you actually living there now Brian

cettis still present today

Did a quick walk round the flashes at lunchtime - extremely moist underfoot...

18+ Siskin near the feeders + 2 Willow Tit

5 Redpoll in Alders by the Cemetery Road entrance

No sign of any Teal on Pearsons

17/1/08 (09.20 - 12.00) Pearson`s

No sign of the Green-winged Teal, despite a thorough search all around the flash, checking all the channels and pools. There were two drake Common Teals just discernable under the trees, but later on every bird swam out from cover after being disturbed by a dog-walker, and the G-w Teal didn`t appear amongst them.

Raven over N @ 11.30
18 Goldeneye.
2 m Bullfinch.

pearsons/horrocks 16/01/08

dull but calm staked out pearsons for 2 hours to get a photo of g w teal but it didn,t show,cetti,s still singing,

horrocks railway pool 1 goldeneye
back pool 20 coot,nothing else due to disturbance by railway workers( I hope)

nice to see steve again,and must have been paul on the canal

cheers geoff

Yes Paul, nice to meet you too, and the weather held out as well! Pity the Green-winged Teal gave us the slip. It was reported on birdguides as being there at 8.41am but i didn't meet anybody who saw it up to 2pm. Did anybody on the forum see it? I know Geoff was there before me, at first light I think, and he didn't see it.
Perhaps it was still around asleep under the bushes and will show up again tomorrow!
Cheers
Steve

did my first trip around pearsons this morning. met steve collins - a real pleasure spending time with you steve!

no g w teal, no bittern, but heard the cetti call 3 times, once within 15 feet of us, lovely, but sadly no view.

a few first time ducks for me, kingfisher on the canal, gsw in the poplar behind wellham road, a massive flock easily 150 siskin + goldfinch in the trees beside the canal, jay, a couple of heron in a tree where the teal had been and lots of hopeful, but slightly dejected birders.
:D
enjoyed it immensely. will go again for sure

Forget the Wigan Flashes! The place to see Green-winged Teal is on this website! Another excellent article Ian (with fine contributions from our local camera aces).

Armchair birding is the best bet in this awful weather.

Steve

appreciate that this probably is the correct place to post this but seemed most appropriate!

lost part of my scope case on tuesday somewhere on the path around pearsons flash, possibly on the back path. its green and fits over the eye piece.

if you happen to come across it then please let me know

ta

green woodpecker briefly at the top of a tree near ochre flash.
possible 4 brambling in tree by feeders didnt get a good enough look though.
barn owl on 3 sisters cow field/hill @ 5.15pm

and the usual stuff.

the following not seen by me...

male sparrowhawk in feeder tree
and bittern in flight @ 1.00pm

cettis still plus as below green-winged teal and bittern flying into pearsons, checked scotsmans for possible red-necked grebe but no sign.

lunchtime today

GW Teal still but flushed to canal side of pearsons plus bittern over

22 snipe over plus large flock of siskin and goldfinch - no sign of any redpoll but couldn't rule out

possible RN Grebe on Scotmans

raven calling

-- Edited by Iain Johnson at 15:36, 2008-01-15

Mon 14th:
minimum of 64 Magpies roosting at Bryn Marsh (This is a long-standing roost site, which did hold in excess of 200 in the early-mid 1990's)
3 Grey Partridge (2 male 1 female) displaying and very vocal, in field between Bryn Marsh and Park House Farm
1 Buzzard past Park House Farm towards Landgate at dusk

Green-winged Teal still present this am, pottering about the centre of the Pearsons early on (re. first light!) with a drake Teal in tow, then swam under the trees again and promptly went to sleep!

Cettis in full song this am too, including in the almost darkness of when I arrived...poor thing

13/1/08 Pearson`s Flash p.m.

Come on lads and lasses, lets get this thread in order (for when our grandkids look back on it) ;

GREEN-WINGED TEAL - (Judith smith et al)

CETTI`S WARBLER - (Brian Fielding)

BITTERN - (Warford`s & Rigby)

The county`s premier site ?

There is indeed, found by Judith Smith and still present 13:30 atleast, see specific thread regarding this sighting.

According to Birdguides there is a drake Green-wing Teal on Pearson's Flash

horrocks flash late afternoon 11/01/08

main pool usual suspects with 83 lapwing(missing NYD)
railway pool 1 very nice male goldeneye
back pool 1 female goldeneye 4 shovelers

cheers geoff

late afternoon, between Turner's Flash and the former landfill: a vocal and lively flock of approx 55 Goldfinch, feeding very actively on Alder catkins, with 1 Lesser Redpoll and 2 Mealy Redpoll (one strikingly white bird and one duller male bird, with pale streaked rump and whitish wing-bars and tramlines, showing a hint of pink on rump)

9/1/08 (09.15 - 12.30)

5 Grey Partridge & fem Bullfinch nr. Park House Farm.
mixed flock of c40 Lesser Redpolls & Siskin nr. Ochre Flash
12 Little Grebes & 4 Goldeneye on Scotman`s.
total of 5 Willow Tits.
2 Kestrels.

dover lock cow fields and viridor wood 11.00 till i filled my wellies up with very coldwater

all the usual tits etc 1 kestrel,2m/1fgoosander on the canal,4 cormorant over, 15 moorhens feeding in the fields,6 snipe flushed from the marsh

cheers geoff

6/1/08 (08.00 - 10.15)

6 Pink-footed Geese flew low over Scotman`s, heading towards Turners/Horrocks (SE) @ 08.35
mobile flock of c70 Lesser Redpoll near Moss Br.
18 Goldeneye (from Scotman`s, Pearson`s & Westwood)
Kingfisher along canal.
2 Willow Tit - feeding station.

But surely every reasonable living organism has a fear of Wiganers

If its juvenile its not developed its fear of humans and is probably just copying the other local wildfowl.

Brambling at the feeding station early afternoon with Water Rail underneath it. Whooper Still present with 2 Mute Swans also.

j meadows wrote:

---

juv whooper was coming to bread this afternoon

---

DON'T WORRY !WHEN ITS AT PENNY IT SITS BY THE BURGER VAN

juv whooper was coming to bread this afternoon

31/12/07 (08.15 - 11.15)

juv Whooper Swan - with 3 Mutes on Scotman`s Flash.
Raven - flying SE over Bryn Marsh @ 10.45
15 Snipe - 12 on Pearson`s & 3 on Horrocks.

2 Kingfisher.
2 Willow Tit.
mixed flock of 40+ Redpoll & Goldfinch.
12 Goldeneye.
2 Little Grebe.
10 Pochard.
10 Gadwall.
18 Teal.
25 Shoveler.
15 Cormorant.
2 Bullfinch.
Kestrel.

herring gulls
a large movement of herring gulls this morning at least 500 going north from 9.30 onwards only noticed them at that time so probably missed a lot more could have been coming from a roost but was not stopping off at the flashes

horrocks flash/ince landfill am 23/12/07

on route to canal 3 siskin 2 redpoll (almost a garden tick in stratton drive)

2 g s woodpecker 2 chaffinch
blue,great and long tailed

horrocks 40 teal 14 mute swans
30 tufted 80 mallard
50 b.h gull 4 herring gull
4 little grebe 60 coot
10 moorhen 6 crows
4 jackdaws
ince landfill 40 goldfinch 2 redpoll

nice and cold slippy underfoot and not worth the walk to ince,horrocks 90 percent frozen making the count a bit frantic but very nice view of the little grebes

cheers geoff

23/12/07

Treecreeper along the track parallel to the cemetery wall, at the rear of Pearson`s.
(Good bird for the Flashes).

while waiting for the Cettis this am a Raven flew over then landed on top of a pylon at Pearsons then flew off also a large flock of siskin, approx 100 flying around.

-- Edited by warfy at 11:58, 2007-12-16

A few Birds seen today around the area of Pearson's flash:

Female Brambling, 2 Bullfinch, c10 Goldeneye, Many Goldfinch, Great crested grebe, 30+ Lesser redpoll, Redwing, 2 Reed bunting, c30 Ruddy duck, 3+ Siskin, 5+ Teal, 10+ Shoveler, 3+ Grey heron, Lots of Tufted duck.

cettis still and seen briefly, also raven and aprox 50 pinkies over, redpoll and sparrowhawk but no sign of bittern at pearsons today 8am till 145pm.

Horrocks Flash 14/12/07 midday

1 kingfisher 1 bullfinch
1 dunnock 8 long tailed tit
2 grey heron 12 moorhen
51 coot 2 canada
6 great tit 28 mallard
20 teal 18 mute swan
32 tufted 1 herring gull
80 b/headed gull 13 gadwall
3 little grebe 4 blue tit
1 gs w/pecker 6 blackbirds

a bit damp and cold

cheers geoff

13/12/07

BITTERN seen twice today at the rear of Pearson`s Flash ;

10.50 (Jimmy Meadows)

14.55 (Ian Woosey)

(Just for posterity, on its rightful thread )

Ince landfill site pm 50+ goldfinch 20 lesser redpoll 4 reed bunting,small tit flock and some lovely
sunshine for a change.

cheers geoff

Horrocks Flash/Ince Landfill 9.00 12.00

all the usual on horrocks ,4 shoveler 1 f/goldeneye 2 teal 4 gadwall on rear pool
1 great black-backed on front pool(site tick)
goldfinch/redpoll flock still present ,feeding on path near the 'vent '

cheers geoff

long stake out on wednesday at " the weedies" no sign of bittern, warfy,s bench no good at keeping you dry
reeds reeds reeds all looking well couple of water rail a pheasent coming through the reeds doing an impression of a bittern
large flock of finches near the screen hide Redpoll siskin greenfinch goldfinch etc, couple of goldcrest
kingfisher on canal.
Cettis heard
round two this weekend

the redpolls were in the same area on saturday when i saw them. between bryn flash and ochre flash.

steve the redpoll/goldfinch flock is still present but ranging over quite a large area I tried to find them this morning started at moss bridge with a few goldfinch and lesser redpoll searched the land fill area finding a few tit flocks,the main flock was just behind the industrial est ,quite a bit of hiking and then they 'do one'

cheers geoff

Are the Redpolls still around? With the other stuff around seems like the area to be.

2 Firecrests again at Scotsman Flash this afternoon, in the sw corner off Rosley Road, near Hawkley Brook.

Info thanks to Dave Broome.

horrocks flash 02/12/07

all the usual stuff plus 1 shelduck and 5 bullfinch 1 jay, checked the fields around and about for cattle egretwithout any luck.

cheers geoff

At approx. 11am this morning Dave Broome heard what he is almost certain was a Cetti's Warbler singing, albeit breifly and faintly from the back of Pearsons Flash (Wigan Flashes) by the cemetary. Unfortunately, despite several birders turning up to assist in locating the bird (my thanks to you all for your efforts) it was not seen or heard again, although the ever increasing wind velocity helped none at all!

The bird will continue to be looked for starting again tomorrow morning, as if it was indeed a Cetti's (and Dave's not often wrong) it should stick around for atleast a bit.

This sighting also has it's own dedicated thread within the sightings section (Probable Cetti's Warbler, Pearson's Flash, 29/11)

29/11/07 A.M.

Snipe over Hawkley reedbed.

From Scotman`s & Pearsons ;
12 Goldeneye.
5 Little Grebes.
7 Cormorants.
Only small numbers of Shoveler, Teal & Gadwall. Hardly any Great Crested Grebes
Willow Tit nr Moss Bridge.

As an angler as well as a birder I can say that there are enough eels in the canal to make them a target for some specialist anglers. They grow to a good size (4lbs+) and are usually caught (but not very often1) after dark.

If the eel the cormorant was eating was as big as you say, then this is one of the reasons that anglers have no love for these birds!!!

A angler freind of mine once saw a cormorant battling with a very big eel on Southport Marine lake, which it eventually swallowed after a great struggle. My friend could not believe the bird could eat such a large eel.

Many Lesser Redpoll also show obvious pale mantle 'tramlines' and can be rather pale below. Fact is things aren't always as easy as they first might seem but a true Mealy does tend to stick out in a flock of lessers, just don't rely on one feature, go for the full suite and if in doubt, then it probably isn't one