Been very quiet on here over the last fortnight, the grass is now 4ft almost everywhere off path.
Whitethroat and reed bunting are the most abundant bird, several song thrushes singing, hse sparrow, wren, goldcrest and greenfinch still show well, wood and town pidgeon are plentiful but the goldfinches and linnet are nowhere to be seen or heard as for the skylark other than a brief burst of song I've not had much of a sight of them for over a week as I said though the grass is very long so lets hope their still active.

There have been two kestrel hunting as a team most days from their behaviour I would guess one is a juvenile learning the skills of it's parent as today i watched it catch something then play with it for a few seconds then drop it without devouring it all so I wandered over to where it dropped it which luckily for me was right by a path there i found a shrew with it's insides missing!

There seem to be more grasshoppers this year than any other and there are not so many crickets about.

Thought i may as well update the thread as I've not posted in a while, I've been on almost every day in the last month and almost every species in my previous list has full fledged young except for the skylarks who i am sure are close to doing so, in addition to the list are goldcrest and wren both with several young the goldcrest seem to be having a very good year as today i counted 6 individual juvenile birds within the family group these all seem to be the same age so i assume the same brood, very obliging for their portrait today too!

The most sucessful broods so far seem to be goldfinch and the linnets, the goldfinch flock has almost tripled to approx 18 birds in the last few weeks whereas both pairs of linnet has 4 young in tow and all seem now very capable fliers.

Whitethroat have also done not too bad with several young in and around the area, Only seen 1 lesser whitethroat youngster (never saw the adult though) near the cricket club, song thrush and mistle have young in tow as do the chiff chaff and willow warbler, i hear sedge warbler near the horse paddock at the end of the lesley rd no idea how it's been doing!
No blackcap since early april! and reed bunting appear to have had poor success maybe due to the kestrel as they were very visible early on.

This evenings walk was notable by the absence of any whitethroat of either variety!
I went with the specific goal of seeing the lesser whitethroat that i observed for a good 10 minutes yesterday, sadly not today.
Plenty to see though....

goldfinch were the most active bird today (counted 9 all in 1 flock)
willow warbler (3)
house sparrow (7)
reed bunting (3 including a single fluffy ball that resembled a male!)
linnet (5, looked like a family group to me as the adults sat in watch as the young flew between two bushes learning their new found flying skills!)
skylark (4, 1 very active carrying caterpillars)
mistle thrush (2)
starlings (10, in a flock)
stock dove (2)
woodpidgeon (8)
rook (2)
crow (3)
blackbird (4, 2+2)
plenty of swift (30+)
swallow(12 - 15)
cormorant (5, over)
heron (1,over)

no signs of the kestrel

I have to admit to not watching the starlings that live here with any enthusiasm until i saw Mr Atkins breeding survey section and am ashamed to say have never counted them until today.

long patient walk round this late afternoon/early evening reveal most notably
single lesser whitethroat (visible for quite some time near the cricket club)
skylark (6 individual birds)
reed bunting ( 6 only1 female spotted)
whitethroat (3 inc 1 juvenile)
linnet (1)
mistle thrush (1)
also male kestrel again active i watched it take something from beside one of the bushes, probably a bird as it definetly was not a frog or a vole!

The kesrel returned after about 40 mins this time it left over the motorway empty handed.

single almost fully fledged reed bunting was the first thing this evening, plenty of adults about also,
4 skylark
whitethroat
linnet
rook
and the kestrel active as we left.

plenty of activity tonight after the rain including lots of insects and the first signs of tiny frogs, birds i saw...
kestrel
3 cormorant (over)
12 canada (over)
lbb gull (over)
heron (over)
15 swift (over)
11 swallow (over)
3 linnet
3 whitethroat
1 whinchat
4 skylark
wren
2 blackcap
robin
6 reed bunting
mistle thrush
dunnock
3 blue tit
2 great tit
5 sparrow
chiff chaff
2 willow warbler (heard a sedge warbler but not seen )
4 crows
13 magpie (all in a group) plenty of wood and feral pidgeon.
still no coot or moorhen on the stream although mallard have returned.

Skylarks still present tonight, not as active as yesterday but not surprising really as i counted 12 magpies and 9 crows all at the same time and most on the ground

Excellent photos of one of the linnet, sadly the skylarks were too quick for me although 1 blurred shot of one in flight!

2 heron several reed bunting and whitethroat plus the usuals but still nothing on the stream?

Fantastic views of two skylarks this evening both in flight, hovering and also sitting quietly on the ground just their little heads sticking out of the grass, first sighted them by the cricket club and over the next hour or so they worked their way over toward the far end (near the refuse tip) where i lost sight of them. Only had the 8x21's with us but to be honest that's all we needed as they weren't shy of us.

As anyone who sees us on there knows we always have the camera....... doh! First time for absolutley ages i left it at home........yee gods.........

On an other note the mallard and coot/moorhen seem to have disapeared from the stream at the cricket club end? The stream is totally covered in dandelion seeds and looks like it's frozen!

mistle thrush, linnet, whitethroat, reed bunting, willow warbler and chiff chaff all seen today.

Quick hour on the tip this afternoon;
2 linnet
> 5 singing male Reed Bunting
> 6 singing male Whitethroat
2 Mistle Thrush
1 GS Woodpecker flying over
Crow, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Mallard and over a dozen Magpie.

Todays walk caught a buzzard taking a vole from the top of the hill near the tip end mediocre photos of it flying over the motorway for some peace and quiet

Great views of a male linnet

several whitethroat about today but no gropper, not even a sound!
Anoher photo of something i can't identify but thats nothing new is it Ian!?!

sundays walk round added
buzzard(x3)
song thrush
and a great view of the grasshopper warbler after i accidentally flushed it whilst avoiding of all a muddy area, though i wasn't quick enough to get a snap.

Also add whinchat to saturdays list after reviewing photo's and Ians confirmation.

-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Wednesday 19th of May 2010 08:08:02 AM

definetive attempt at a species count for me today from 4pm until 8.15( wanted to stay longer but the motor bike brigade spoilt the last 15 minutes!)

woodpidgeon
feral pidgeon
stock dove
collared dove
blackbird
house sparrow
dunnock
magpie
heron (low over)
blue tit
great tit
long tail tit
wren
robin
chaffinch
bullfinch
greenfinch
mistle thrush
reed bunting
whitethroat
linnet ( first for me at this site )
willow warbler
chiff chaff
coot
moorhen
mallard
swift
swallow
starling
jay
carrion crow
cormorant ( over )
jackdaw
rook ( first for me at this site )
kestrel
black headed gull
lesser black backed gull

36 species in all and add to that some notable absentees that i regularly see like song thrush, blackcap, greater blackback gull, buzzard, pied wagtail, grey wagtail and the gropper!
No attempt to count numbers of species as i covered most areas several times and would have counted the same birds several times over.
I took photos of almost everything i saw today including the worst ever overexposed photo of a rook in flight that some how has the bird in perfect focus!

I know it's not an exiting list but I wanted to do this for a while now an today it just happened i had the timeand tbh i feel i acomplished something interesting!




-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Saturday 15th of May 2010 09:19:45 PM

The resident tame wren made it's first appearance in a while for me today as well as the list from yesterday
4 greenfinch
2 bullfinch
1 song thrush
single willow warbler heard but not seen
no gropper today
while standing under a tree in the rain a chiff chaff landed no more the 2 feet away from me on a branch, weighed me up and down sang it's dainty chiff chaff song right at me then just as i had the camera out ready it flew off in search of higher perch!

Midevening wander over the last two evenings has seen a noticable increase in bird activity on this patch,

5 whitethroat at least 1 pair, other three males,
2 blackcap
1 grasshopper warbler ( reeling constantly at the tip end )
2 heron
kestrel
jay
3 swallow
2 swift
several reed bunting
plenty of chiff chaff, robin, long tail, great and blue tits.

Sadly still no sign of the tame wren or owl but we did see the fox again this time with it's single cub in tow no more than ten yards away on the open path!

Hi Brandon

I have seen a female Kestrel do something similar up on the moors above Strinesdale and got the same first impression. I was able to circle round into a better position to get good views to confirm the correct i.d. Depends how well you can pick out details in your pics.

fine late evening walk for us today, walked on via the Sandy lane path and were greeted by a fox in the undergrowth alongside the ends of the gardens of the houses.

Not much about on the landfill on our outward walk as we got to the tip end on the path by the stream two grey wagtails landed and stayed a while, to our shock we heard mr barny calling in the same area i first saw him in, (it's quite a scary sound tbh)
we waited patiently camera in hand for over 30 mins for a sight but alas other than another call we could not see him! It's very dense bushes here and hard to see anything move. We nearly got that elusive photo!

other highlights as well as a vole that ran accross our path were
single blackcap
4 chiff chaff
1 heron over
3 reed buntings

we often see near the cricket club buzzards, sparrowhawk and kestrel so are used to these birds here but today we thought we saw a kestrel some distance away perched in a small bush out in the open but it's hunting style was not that of a kestrel, it never hovered even though the wind was perfect for doing so and through our 10x20's it's back was almost totally brown, it's hunting style was low to the ground constantly flapping whilst dashing about left and right. The only bird we could think it may be was a female merlin i managed to get 2 or 3 photo's of it perched and flying, it was some distance away and i only had my 200mm lens with me, It may just be a kestrel, if it was do they hunt like this? While it was dashing about it was sending the reed buntings crazy so maybe it was tring to flush them out?

Keep up the Barny search Brandon. I hope it pays off for you eventually!

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Tuesday 16th of March 2010 10:12:16 PM

Finally saw the reed bunting tonight, singing merrily in the reeds on the top of the hill with the pool. Not special by any means but was the first i've seen here.

Evidence the buzzard has been about today near the tip end, lots of blood & feathers just off the path.

Still no barnie

22 cormorant over at 5.50

-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Tuesday 16th of March 2010 09:20:02 PM

It is the same part i saw it i think, i go at least 3 times a week to try to get a good photo of the barnie, mostly at dawn or dusk but alas have had no better sighting than that first sighting back in dec.

There is a very friendy wren near that muddy patch that i lay niger seed down for so look out for him/her.

Hi Brandon

The patch I flushed it from was a flooded patch of grass on the east side of the tip, not too far from the woodland surrounding the new tip.

It was my first time on, so its good to know that theres some potential there, and I actually spotted some field voles under, of all things, a deflated dingy!

Though it was pretty exposed, Im guessing the open areas must get pretty meadow-like come the summer? Im definitely going to head back, so maybe see you on there.

Julian Robinson wrote:

---

Some records from 14/03/10, 9:00-11:30.

A surprise was disturbing a single snipe from a marshy patch of the old tip.

---

Was the muddy patch near the path just after the bridge? If so i got a photo of it on friday but have not been able to identify it from my photo's all i got was a smattering of brown fuzz as i saw it briefly and it headed for the long grass where i lost it! There is a great pool of muddy water on the top of one of the hills but no wildlife seems to have found it yet!

Some records from 14/03/10, 9:00-11:30.

A walk to the top of Bradley Lane and along Kickety Brook, crossing footbridge over M60 to high, open ground by Streford tip (old tip?).

Highlight up to 10 lapwings in stubble fields along Bradley Lane. Other birds around the farmland included bull finches (2), kestrels (2), buzzard (1), sparrowhawk (1), meadow pipit (1).

As for the tip, redwings (15) in woodland. A surprise was disturbing a single snipe from a marshy patch of the old tip.

Two Buzzards sat on the fence close to the M60 today at 11.00

Keep birding

If memory serves me correctly,Stretford Tip was going to be made into a golf course some 20 years ago or so,after the tipping had settled.I seem to remember they were unable to do this because of the contaminents that were present which would have killed off the type of grass needed for a golf course.I think Jeff Clarke was the person who told me this,perhaps he could confirm it if he reads this posting.

excellent close up view of a female sparrowhawk @7.30 sat low on the bushes between the two hills not much else of note

3-4pm Buzzard sat right by the motorway on the landfill side in one of the small trees.
nothing else of note.


-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Saturday 6th of March 2010 07:20:16 PM

Pete - presume the large raptor the Greenkeeper was referring to was Buzzard, there was one frequenting waste land next to the cricket club late last week.

Brandon - as for the radioactive waste not too sure, the landfill was proposed for re-development 18 mths or so back but costs were prohibitive (cost of foundations within the landfill). Not sure the proposal would have got as far as it did if anything of that nature was buried there.

I need that Barn Owl for my Trafford list so keep posting !!!!!

Well you learn something new every day! for years i thought of the two areas as separate because of an article in the paper about radioactive waste, if i remember it right it said lesley rd was the site to store the stuff and stretford tip would be closed as a consequence, always assumed the two were separate because of that! ahh well i stand corrected, still not going to stop our evening wander.

Pete we didn't speak to you, we just saw you and kinda thought you looked like a birder!!! We were on the chester rd end.

It's the same site Judith. Other sightings for here have, I think, been posted on the 'Bits & Bobs' thread under Lesley Rd Tip, although as Brandon says it's a large area with several access points.

Oddly, being Stretford born and bred, this was my first visit since it was capped and I will deffinatley have a mooch again when visiting my mum. I entered from Newcroft Rd entrance and the only person I spoke to was the greenkeeper from the cricket club who approached me saying ''Have you seen the large raptor ?. That's the only time all these crows are around'', I assume he means a Harris Hawk, although he didn't know of any Barn Owls. I never disclosed my name but did say I work for Mersey Valley.

I'm not surprised about the Barn Owl sightings as it is only the otherside of the M60 opposite the Carrington Spur / Banky Meadow where they have been recorded in the past.

-- Edited by Pete Hines on Monday 1st of March 2010 08:38:23 PM

Judith, the lesley rd tip area is now a landfill site and although the two sites, Stretford tip aka chester rd tip and lesley rd are connected by a gravel/tarmac rd they are different sites in terms of names i think, I'm not sure if the chester rd facility was ever known as the collection site for lesley rd as i have only lived here for 22 years and the landfill pre dates me! The lanfill area is not the area i first saw the barn owl but it is an area i walk along frequently which accesses stretford tip alongside the motorway.

On the landfill site there is a gravel path that travels alongside the motorway from stretford cricket club which is sited on lesley rd, there is no access from the landfill onto the cricket club but there are two gates (one on either side of the cricket club) which have large holes in them that local residents (dog walkers) use to access the area.

There are two open entries to the site from the ne end the first and easiest entry is at the end of poplar rd just after the school, the second is between the last two houses on sandy lane (at the junction with urmston lane) there is a small driveway that takes you onto the landfill. There is an entry on newcroft rd at the nw end of the path that leads to the landfill and is a fair walk from the actual tip site although it has the easiest walk to the new carrington bridge.

There are several drainage ditches and minor ponds that run through the area mostly these go along or under the motorway.

If you continued walking fom newcroft rd on the path you eventually (past the canal)come on to the river mersey and that takes you past sale water park and onto chorlton etc.

If you ever want a tour of both sites we'll be happy to oblige, ironically yesterday (sunday) Brandon and I saw a chap unfamiliar to us at the tip end and he made a joking comment "theres Pete Hines" although we wouldn't know Pete if if fell out of tree onto us he may have been right as Pete posted the sightings below......
If anyone knows more about the site please feel free to correct me. Especially onthe history.

Forgot to add wear wellies if you are considering walking over the landfill area as some of the dirt paths are very sodden at this time of year.







-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Monday 1st of March 2010 09:47:16 AM

Pete - is this site also known as Lesley Road Tip? That's how it's been reported before so that's how it's on the database! Unless there are 2 tips close together.

6 Stock Dove
2 Fieldfare
2 Bullfinch
76+ Carrion Crow

Henry Cook wrote:

---

A bit quiet on the owl front today but a singing Reed Bunting and 2 Bullfinches were present. Some great looking habitat here though.

---

This is what i would call my local (walking distance) patch, the barn owl is by a long mile the only other thing of note i have seen here, there is a kestrel that patrols up and down the path and there are the bats which appear under the motorway most evenings. Oh and earlier last year have seen a single wheatear on the old landfill.
Never seen a reedbunting here unless it was further down toward the canal end, there is a resident wren toward the landfill end of the tip.

If you frequent the area toward dusk be very careful as the area adjacent to the tip (the little path that runs along side the tip) gets full of undesirables who climb the fence into the tip most nights. Their spoils can be see strewn alongside the path!
It pays to know what time the tips closes

A bit quiet on the owl front today but a singing Reed Bunting and 2 Bullfinches were present. Some great looking habitat here though.

Fantastic to know it's still around, i have had one other brief sighting of it but not clear enough to get a photo.
I have to admit i worry about it's close proximity to the motorway as i know they don't look left or right to cross when they are hunting!

Still present yesterday roosting in a hawthorn, seen at 11.30 and 2.30

info from Phil Davenport

After a very long Sunday tiling the mother in laws kitchen, imagine my absolute delight at 9.30pm to see in all it's glory a Barn owl fly gently from the tip across the slip road (next to the tip) and land in the trees next to the motorway! That was the one time in my life i was happy to be stopped by a red traffic light!

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 1st of May 2015 08:47:22 PM