Three Short-eared Owls this evening plus:

Tawny Owl
5 Woodcock
12 Snipe
4 Goldcrests
5 Yellowhammers
4 Reed Buntings

A single short-eared owl and eight woodcock tonight. The owls are showing in the extreme SE corner of the moss, and only at last light. If they start hunting before the light has almost gone they get mobbed relentlessly by some of the scores of corvids using the moss as a roost.

Two short-eared owls, a merlin, a peregrine, sparrowhawk, buzzard and six woodcock this evening.

Big movement of pinkfeet this afternoon 2-3.00pm - probably 1500-2000 birds heading south east.

Highlight this afternoon was a Hobby as well as all the usual suspects on a sunny but windy day.

Rick.

Male whinchat in front of the watchpoint this afternoon, plus hobby over the moss.

A hobby has been showing well since 12.15pm today.

Earlier, a bar-tailed godwit passed through heading north - a Risley Moss first for me!

John O'Neill wrote:

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Yes...RM closed on Fridays

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Thanks John

Yes...RM closed on Fridays

Is Risley Moss still shut on Fridays?

First hobby of the year was seen on Saturday by several birders, initially heading NW around 12.30pm, then in the reverse direction an hour later. I think this is at least a week earlier than the previous earliest record.

Watched a male kestrel on a post eating a lizard this afternoon, apparently this is the fourth time it's been observed eating lizards in the last few days.

Thats really interesting Jonathon as I'd assumed it to be the bird touring Chat Moss for the past week or so. After today's bird had quartered the Astley Moss for a while it gained height with a Buzzard and soared around moving very slightly north. I lost it whilst trying to get closer at this stage but had an inkling the bird may had moved off north altogether but couldn't be sure. It will be interesting to see if the recent bird on Chat Moss had any primaries missing

Female marsh harrier rose from the moss around 1.30pm and appeared to head north. It was very distant when I saw it but it definately had primaries missing from left wing (confirmed by other birders present who'd had better views of the harrier earlier), so presumably the same bird Ian saw later at Astley? Several sparrowhawks and buzzards around, plus a stonking male lesser redpoll which came for a drink from the ditch in front of the watchpoint. Apparently several birders saw c30 whoopers on Sunday, presumably the same birds John had at HGF later.

No sign of the se owl last night but eleven woodcock seen, plus at least two water rails calling.

Short-eared Owl this evening - flew around for 20 minutes or so trying to avoid the corvids!

4 Woodcock
10 Snipe
1 Goldcrest
2 Water Rails
2 GSW's
6 Reed Buntings
1 Yellowhammer
plus roosting thrushes

A decent hour at Risley Moss yesterday afternoon during a window of reasonable weather. Sixteen buzzards up in the air at once, though several were distant, a couple of sparrowhawks and a peregrine lazily circling over the landfill. A pair of shovellors on the first pool, calling redpolls flew over, a yellowhammer below the viewing area, and a party of folk out on the moss flushed two snipe, a pair of teal and a woodcock. A hundred or so lapwing flushed off Rixton Moss at one point, with them were nine golden plover. As I walked back to the carpark two goldcrests were singing in the wood.

Stopped in for a couple of hours yesterday on our way back from Parkgate. Nothing much was showing on a walk around the reserve, but the Woodland Feeder Hide was a hive of activity-

2 GSW chasing each other around the clearing.
Blue, Great, Long-Tailed and Coal Tit.
Chaffinch
2 Bullfinch
4 Reed Bunting
2 Yellowhammer
Robin
Woodpigeon
Magpie

We then spent a very cold hour at the observation point in the hope of Woodcock. 10 birds flew straight over us between 18.00 and 18.10. The light had just about gone , but they still gave fantastic views and two even chased one another back out of the wood and whirred around above us, before flying off .

Post for yesterday afternoon , ( 20/02/11 ) 14:00 -15:30 hrs .
Only one buzzard seen from tower , mind you ,we didn't stay long due to biting wind .
Woodland feeding station alive with birds :
Blue,great,coal, long-tailed and willow tits.
Dozens of chaffinch .
Five siskin dropped in for a drink from puddle .
Plenty of reed buntings and nuthatch.
3 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers at once , 2 squabbling males and one female .
2 pair of bullfinch .
Jay passed through.
Woodpigeons aplenty.
Two cracking yellowhammers.
Several blackbirds, and one song thrush.
Cheers Chris ...

10 Woodcock thhis evening. First appeared in daylight at 17:25, rest between 17:56 and 18:03.

60 Redwings and 18 Blackbirds plus 5 Reed Buntings, 5 Yellowhammers and 3 Redpolls all into roost. Quite a few unidentified LBJ's dropped into roost too.

5 Snipe, 2 Tawny Owls, 1 GSW, 15 Canada Geese, 1 Water Rail

-- Edited by Mike Baron on Wednesday 16th of February 2011 06:58:46 PM

At least eleven Woodcock this evening between 17:25 and 17:40 plus some other probable birds flying out into the moss too far to be sure. A flock of twelve or so Canada Geese flew in to roost along with lots of duck but fewer Redwing than lately but it was very windy. Hello To Brian and Helen and Brian, all lurkers on here who enjoyed the flypasts this evening.

6 Woodcock this evening between 17:20 and 17:40.

Thanks for pointing out the first few Mike whilst I got my eye in! Some stunning views as the Woodcock banked round the tower - more than made up for the fact that it was too dark for a record shot. Cheers, Peter

Cracking evening with Pete Welch

16 Woodcock - could have been more but first few were sneaking through low and we were slow to pick up on this plus most birds appeared late in difficult viewing conditions

5 Snipe
1 Water Rail squealing
134 Redwings and 44 Blackbirds into roost
9 Lesser Redpolls
2 Yellowhammers
1 Bullfinch

30/1/11

Late afternoon with Jonathan P, Mike B, and Ste:

4 Woodcock
2 Snipe
1 Yellowhammer
2 Siskin
12+ Lesser Redpoll dropping in below the Tower
3 Great Spotted Woodpecker
2 Goldcrest
50+ Redwings, 2 Song Thrushes and 10+ Blackbirds going to roost
4+ Reed Bunting
5 Bullfinch
2 showy Nuthatches and several Coal Tits at the feeders

Great company made the dropping temperature slightly more bearable

4.30 - 5.45 pm

An interesting hour or so on the Moss with Mr Platt - we had Sparrowhawk and Buzzard, calling Tawny Owl and Yellowhammer and too many roosting Redwing to count. The first Woodcock went by at 5.20, I missed the next one but there were 13 birds in total in a 15 minute period. I have seen flushed Woodcock previously but these flight views were great - thanks for the guidance and company Jonathan.

3:30 arrival after visiting Moore NR. Good view of two well displaying Goldcrests infront of the viewing tower. Also a couple of lesser redpoll fliting about.
The feeding table had Yellowhammers, M and F Bullfinch and Two pairs of Reedbuntings. M&F blackbird, Robin and Dunnocks.

Quiet over the Moss itself, but there was a distant Buzzard perched on a crane, a large flock of Starlings was gathering and passing Circa 120 Pinkfeets flying over was observed.

A Falconers Peregrine at a distant was noted, and the jessies hanging beneath confirmed this.

J&J

4.40-5.20pm

I'd only just arrived at the watchpoint when a merlin flew across the moss, straight into a flock of fifty plus roost-bound jackdaws! I lost it for a few moments until it freed itself from the melee and headed west. It stooped at something in the gathering gloom and disappeared into the black mossland.

At least one yellowhammer was roosting in the rhododendrons to the left of the hide - I heard it call when I first arrived but couldn't see it. 40+ redwing came in to roost in the same area, along with a host of blackbirds. A tawny owl called. I managed to see six snipe leave the moss, others called but I couldn't see them.

Just after 5.00pm the first woodcock flew past. I couldn't be sure how many I saw tonight as I'm sure at least one flew round in a complete circle, giving me several views, but I think at least four flew by.

Lunchtime today saw two pairs of Bullfinch at the Tower Hide plus reed bunts and yellowhammer. At the woodland hide:

10+ Chaffinch
Bluetit, Great Tit numerous
2+ Coal tit
1 Jay
2 Yellowhammer
1 GSW
2+ Nuthatch
Robins, Dunnocks etc

and best of all... a fleeting view of a Brambling - flushed from a Rhododendron when a woodie crashed into it and then quickly exited the back of the clearing

Really enjoyable lunch time visit today - Coal, Long Tailed, Great and Blue Tit's in amazing numbers plus Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Yellowhammer, Bullfinch, Chaffinch and Jay at the feeding station and Reed Buntings and more Bullfinch near the tower hide. Distant buzzard making a starling flock wheel as if it was a roost.

Three GSWs seen together with the two males having some territorial disputes.

The Nuthatch are calling a lot at the moment and not being good on calls it really threw me until I saw and heard one!

-- Edited by Pete Welch on Tuesday 11th of January 2011 07:19:13 PM

Very cold hour as it went dark to try and see Woodcock but none this evening - however good to see Yellowhammers, Bullfinch, Reed Bunts [one with a very yellow head which got me going for a minute], hundreds of mixed Corvids flying across going to roost in the trees to the back of the moss. As John said lots of Redwing and Blackbird swooping past the base of the tower to roost in front of it and making a right racket.

Also good numbers of other birds coming out of the moss or the woods to settle in the banking. Best of all was a Tawny Owl - heard but not seen as the light went.

At least 2 Woodcock from Tower Hide approx 4.30pm.

Redwings flocking with Blackbirds coming in to roost.

More waxwings this morning along Moss Gate (about 200m from the entrance to Risley Moss). In trees opposite, and just to the north of, the entrance to Birchwood Forest Park. No idea how many as I couldn't stop, but I could see 8-10.

Not quite Risley Moss, but the housing estate that adjoins it to the north. A flock of 15-20 waxwings in a large birch tree on Freshfield Drive, almost at the junction with Gorse Covert Road. They flew off SE as I watched but there are plenty of berry-bearing trees on the estate to hold them hopefully.

Four whooper swans flew west then north this afternoon (2.30pm-ish), two yellowhammers landed in front of the watchpoint, two goldcrests in with a flock of long-tailed tits, and a treecreeper was calling by the car park

At least six brambling visiting the feeding station at Woodland Hide this afternoon.

Gorgeous day at Risley Moss today, nothing exciting but plenty of the usual tits and finches around, couple of nuthatches anda cracking jay at the Woodland Hide feeding station.

Plus a squirrel making the stangest noise I've ever heard, thought it was a bird in distress at first until I tracked it down.

Dennis atherton wrote:

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You always find the good stuff Jonathan, i might just follow you around with my camera, good find, well done, never seen a hen harrier at risley, ps i saw Jeff at leighton moss this weekend

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Unfortunately it wasn't me that found the harrier Dennis, I was simply lucky that it was there when I made my usual dinner hour visit - I think it was Pete Hilton that originally spotted it. Forgot to mention, it flushed many snipe as it quartered the moss - at one point there was a whisp of 28 racing around the skies.

You always find the good stuff Jonathan, i might just follow you around with my camera, good find, well done, never seen a hen harrier at risley, ps i saw Jeff at leighton moss this weekend

Jonathan Platt wrote:

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Gorgeous male hen harrier on the moss between 1.45-2.45pm at least.

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Gorgeous male hen harrier on the moss between 1.45-2.45pm at least.

3 hobbys today flying together, 2 sparrowhwk, 3 buzzard, 1 treecreeper and lots of jays collecting acorns, 1 call from Jt to go looking for wryneck at penny, cheers JT, worth a try but no luck myself wit wryneck

this afternoon 3 hobbys showing, buzzards, kestrel, 4 appearances by a sparrowhawk, water rail calling from the pools and nuthatches in the woods

LATE PM
HOBBY-4
BUZZARD-5
HOUSE MARTINS AND SWALLOW THROUGH
COMMON SNIPE-3
KESTREL-1

2-3.30
4 hobby(5 had been seen up at once earlier by the regulars)
2 buzzard
2 kestrel
1 sparrowhawk

JOHN TYMON wrote:

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11.40am-1.45pm
beltin marsh harrier-not great at aging these, but pretty sure it was juv-but got some good shots,so send them to Ian later-12-1pm ended up being chased off NE.
hobby-1
buzzard-5




-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Saturday 28th of August 2010 03:08:45 PM

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it was a juv confirmed via the pics by Ian

11.40am-1.45pm
beltin marsh harrier-not great at aging these, but pretty sure it was juv-but got some good shots,so send them to Ian later-12-1pm ended up being chased off NE.
hobby-1
buzzard-5




-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Saturday 28th of August 2010 03:08:45 PM

This afternoon,


3 distant hobby doing nice aerobatics, one of them seeing off a sparrowhawk, also buzzard, 2 sparrowhawks flying together, green sandpiper calling, bulfinch and yellowhammers near the tower too

one hobby quite a brown coloured bird showing well in dead tree and hunting. It had caught and watched it eat a small bird . other birds included buzzard,kestrel,sparrowhawk,a flock of 12 snipe and two bullfinches.Great chatting with the regulars

Stopped off at Risley Moss after lunch and the locals said that they had seen 2 Hobby's, when I aked how long it was since they had seen them, the reply was there is one sitting on the dead silver birch right now! The dead tree was not that easy to pick up, a single tall thin stem in a mass of green. But once found a Hobby was perched on the top. It was distant but filled the scope giving me my best ever views of a Hobby at rest.We stayed about an hour and it flew off a few times to be joined by a second Hobby giving great arial display. One kept returning to its favoured perch.

I was even able to lower my scope to allow a very small girl to have a look through as she wanted to know what bird I could see. She did not have much luck with my bins but she was very exited to see it through my scope! Not a bad end to the day following really close views of the Little Gull at Penny Flash, it was close in by the car park.

Tower hide today

Two hobbies chasing dragonflys, also a sparrowhawk carrying a large dead bird of unidentifiable description, also two green sandpipers, 1 whmbrel, 2 buzzards, 4 kestrel, around the hide were bulfinches, wren, blackcap, goldfinch,

Two hobbies today, plus sparrowhawk, kestrel and buzzards - at least one hobby has been present almost every day for several weeks now. Five hobbies were seen on Tuesday, though three of them dashed through together without pausing apparently, just after I went back to work! Did manage to find a distant peregrine however before I left.