ASTLEY, CHAT, LITTLE WOOLDEN AND ASSOCIATED MOSSES
Dave Steel said
Tue May 5 4:41 PM, 2020
Little Woolden Moss am
2 Curlew
2 Grey Partridge
1 Lesser Whitethroat in song on the reserve...never had one on here...it seems the habitat in this particular section of the reserve is right for them as it was still singing when I left...GOOD!
33 Willow Warbler
6 Oystercatcher
6 Tufted Duck
2 Shoveler...male...hopeful sign of the females being on eggs...
Very early around the mosses by bike this morning, produced highlights of:
Little Woolden Moss:
Greenshank early morning and possibly not thereafter
4 Dunlin
Singing Lesser Whitethroat
3 Wheatear
14 Yellow Wagtail (12 of which were males) in one admittedly very popular field alone
2 singing Sedge Warbler
Drake Teal
2 drake Shoveler
1 White Wagtail
Chat Moss:
3 Wheatear
2 male Yellow Wagtail, one of which was a 'Channel Wagtail'
28 Stock Dove in one flock
156 Crow in a single field alone!
Dave Steel said
Mon May 4 7:30 PM, 2020
Barton Moss
42 Starling...finding food within a Spring Sown Cereal crop
38 Lapwing
6 Yellow Wagtail
7 Stock Dove
15 Swallow
16 Whitethroat
14 House Martin
7 Blackcap
29 House Sparrow including 2 young
2 Wheatear
2 Sedge Warbler
1 Reed Bunting Nest with 5 eggs...no nest records required by the BTO this season but at least this record will go into the archives of the GMBRG and the GMEU...a record is a record is a...
1 Long-Tailed Tit nest 30 feet up in the fork of a slim Alder...I personally have never seen one so high up...yes you have guessed it this will be passed to GMBRG/GMEU records.
1 Hobby...scored its way through the Reserve almost connecting with one of the panicking Meadow Pipit...missed and simply accelerated north for it's breakfast...
2 Curlew...pair having their morning preen before flying off west of the reserve...display calls noted later
2 Hobbies arrived together from the SW and stayed circling for 10 mins before heading off. 2 Sedge Warbler singing 4 Rook 1 Oystercatcher 1 Yellow Wagtail 1 brood of 4 Mallard ducklings with mum. 1 Bullfinch 1 Jay 1 Kestrel 3 Buzzard 2 Yellowhammer 1 Greenfinch singing
Steven Nelson said
Sat May 2 8:31 PM, 2020
Little Woolden Moss - late am
70+ Swift 1 Shoveler- male 1 Curlew 2 Herring Gull
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 2nd of May 2020 09:59:45 PM
Dave Steel said
Sat May 2 7:37 PM, 2020
Chat Moss am
6 Wheatear
8 Whitethroat...2 still hanging on along roadside vegetation that is 'trying' to give them their traditional breeding jumble of vegetation in spite of the Farmers...oh lets make this field edge 'NEAT' what a wonderful innovation by the farmer...the roadside looks 'so very tidy'...
53 Lapwing...plus 2 young which seemed to escape late ploughing...5 nests noted with sitting birds...well here we go attempt number two...and we 'wonder' why wildlife is in precipitous decline...
1 Goldcrest in song
7 Oystercatcher...(PS the colour ringed bird of the other day was ringed in the River Exe...Dawlish Devon last year...)
35 Willow Warbler...there IS hope in this world..
12 Yellow Wagtail...I feel this year they have nowhere to nest at present as the crops are so short...but there is hope..
7 Swift
4 Yellowhammer
4 Tree Sparrow
20 Stock Dove
1 Curlew
1 Garden Warbler...at last where it sang last year...
1 Raven low over heading south and mobbed by Lapwings 3 Yellow Wagtail 2 Oystercatcher 1 Curlew 2 Snipe 2 Gadwall- pair 2 Kestrel 2 Buzzard 4 baby Lapwing chicks (3+1) with parents 2 broods of Mallard (3+6) with mums 2 Bullfinch- pair 2 Greenfinch 4 Lesser Black-backed Gull 6 Sand Martin 5 Swallow 1 Wheatear- female 22 Stock Dove
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Thursday 30th of April 2020 03:39:08 PM
Dave Steel said
Wed Apr 29 8:14 PM, 2020
am..it were cold...
Chat Moss
1 Curlew...male trying to fend off at least 30 Carrion Crow...sadly it seems that this one of three pairs on the WHOLE of the mosses has chosen cowboy country to nest they will NEVER survive...Off Road Bikers... Roamers....and so on...and so on...
4 Oystercather
6 Tufted Duck
2 Swallow
17 Wheatear
4 Fieldfare...yes this late
9 Yellow Wagtail
3 Stock Dove
5 Tree Sparrow
1 Whinchat...female...now these are the times to be lost in nature...
Little Woolden Moss
10 Yellow Wagtail
2 Wheatear
2 Tree Sparrow
2 Whimbrel...I feel these are the same pair from days ago...still a joy to see..
-- Edited by Dave Steel on Wednesday 29th of April 2020 10:10:49 PM
1 Mediterranean Gull - adult low over heading east 1 Yellow Wagtail- female 9 Oystercatcher 2 Gadwall - pair 2 Tufted Duck- pair 2 Mallard females with broods
Dave Steel said
Mon Apr 27 11:01 PM, 2020
Chat Moss am
1 Tawny Owl being mobbed by Blackbirds/Song Thrushes and Jays
7 Wheatear
11 Whitethroat
12 Oystercatcher
2 Gadwall
8 Swallow
9 Stock Dove
6 Yellow Wagtail
6 Yellowhammer...1 with nesting material
2 Curlew
6 Tufted Duck
1 Redshank
1 Dunlin
10 Reed Bunting
28 Willow Warbler
1 Swift
1 Hobby @ 1217.
Steven Nelson said
Mon Apr 27 10:21 PM, 2020
Evening exercise to Barton Moss:
1 Wheatear - male 1 Yellow Wagtail 2 Tree Sparrow 6 Grey Partridge 1 Grey Heron 1 Buzzard 1 Kestrel
Dave Steel said
Sun Apr 26 6:00 PM, 2020
Little Woolden Moss Area am
17 Willow Warbler...some now in 'nest alarm' mode...the wildlife season creeps onward...and doesn't wait for man...
16 Meadow Pipit
4 Oystercatcher
1 Snipe in good song perched upon a dead birch...always seems odd to see a wader on a tree...
35 Lapwing...some with young some in display
2 Redshank
23 Linnet
51 Lesser Black-Backed Gull
2 Herring Gull
2 Grey Partridge
6 Wheatear
10 Yellow Wagtail
31 Skylark
1 Curlew
5 Yellowhammer
1 Grasshopper Warbler...Reeling
8 Tree Sparrow
14 House Sparrow
2 Whimbrel
and sadly one dead Barn Owl...Ring Recovered and Judith Smith was back in a flash with all its details...ringed last year as part of a brood of 5...the bird was badly de-composed and I assume it succumbed in all that awful rain before this run of sunshine...I passed the info onto EURING...
Chat & Irlam Moss: 1 Dunlin 11 Oystercatcher 2 Redshank 1 Little Ringed Plover 1 Rook 3 Wheatear- including a male in a tree 7 Yellow Wagtail 3 Swallow 2 newly fledged Song Thrushes 1 Lesser Redpoll 2 Bullfinch- pair 2 Tufted Duck- pair 2 Mandarin Duck - male and a very unusual white female! Heavily cropped phone picture attached!
Little Woolden Moss: 1 Curlew 2 Little Ringed Plover 2 Oystercatcher 1 White Wagtail 2 Pied Wagtail 1 Teal - male 2 Kestrel 1 Buzzard 2 Swallow
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Sunday 26th of April 2020 04:07:45 PM
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Sunday 26th of April 2020 04:11:20 PM
1 Cuckoo...but possibly 2 as had sightings east and west sections of the reserve
2 Shoveler...male
4 Tufted Duck...2 pair
26 Willow Warbler
7 Oystercatcher...with the pair on eggs still desperatly defending their clutch from the Carrion Crows
23 Lapwing
1 Chiffchaff
2 Blackcap
1 Water Rail
3 Whitethroat
1 Sand Martin
8 Skylark
1 Swallow
18 Lesser Black-Backed Gull
1 Herring Gull
1 Yellow Wagtail
1 Wood Sandpiper noted @ 0900 but later disappeared.
Any images taken were not stake out birds but as I recorded birds on the site for my GMBRG/GMEU records...records submitted mean (we hope) conservation.
Had a wander round Rindle and the SSSI to get away from the crowds. Plenty of Lapwing about,2 Mistle Thrush, a few singing Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers ,but no Chiffchaff! Several Buzzard inc 3 together, and a couple of Kestrel were the only raptors seen.4 Meadow Pipits on the SSSI itself were the only birds there apart from flyover corvids. A single Swallow was the only hirundine seen. There were 2 birds feeding together in one of the fields the bigger of which was obviously a Curlew,I thought the smaller one (About half it's size) was going to be a Godwit ,but when I got closer I realised that they were both Curlew,never seen such a vast size difference before !!!
Steven Nelson said
Sat Apr 25 12:58 PM, 2020
Little Woolden, Irlam & Chat Mosses this morning
Chat Moss & Irlam Moss: 1 Wood Sandpiper 12 Oystercatcher 2 Little Ringed Plover 2 Redshank 4 Tufted Duck 2 Shoveler- pair 5 female Mallard each with broods of young 110 Black-headed Gull 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 Grey Heron 1 Buzzard 3 Yellowhammer
Little Woolden Moss: 1 Cuckoo calling distantly 4 Little Ringed Plover 2 White Wagtail 3 Pied Wagtail 2 Shoveler- both male 1 Teal - male 1 Kestrel
Dave Steel said
Fri Apr 24 7:05 PM, 2020
Chat Moss am
4 Whitethroat
2 Teal...pair
2 Swallow
2 Stock Dove
6 Yellow Wagtail
10 Wheatear
2 Shoveler...pair
1 Redshank
2 Tufted Duck...pair
2 Gadwall...pair
3 Mallard...females all with broods of young birds
2 Blackcap
31 Willow Warbler
1 Dunlin
2 Curlew
1 Raven
1 Whimbrel....with an unusual travelling companion both birds sticking together and only flushed away when a flock of 150 Black-Headed Gull appeared...
LWM: 1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling 1 Snipe displaying 3 Shoveler (2m,1f) - both males displaying to their female. One more dominant bird kept chasing the other away. 13 Tufted Duck 2 Teal- pair 2 Little Ringed Plover 2 Curlew 1 Oystercatcher 2 White Wagtail 1 Peregrine 1 Raven
Steven Nelson said
Thu Apr 23 10:15 PM, 2020
Ive had another report of a Cuckoo calling in Cadishead again early this morning on / near the edge of Cadishead Moss.
Dave Steel said
Thu Apr 23 7:12 PM, 2020
am...
Irlam Moss
2 Curlew...pair
4 Lapwing...in display...NO DOUBT after failing due to late ploughing on field nearby...I always marvel that Lapwing are still in our area after I first watched them...a 'few' decades ago...
Little Woolden Moss...after the depressing 'Brownfield Site' visit yesterday and listening to the Swan Song of Sedge Warbler which WILL be Bulldozed away for Warehouse Nirvana...because humans it seems rule Nature...oh yeah!
2 Lapwing in alarm their very small young in a deep ditch which they had moved down...now to reach the reserve they then had to climb the north face of the eiger...as I imagine it would appear to them...
4 Shoveler...2 pair
4 Oystercatcher...2 pair with the pair incubating 'forever' fending off the large contingent of roaming Carrion Crows that reside in this area
2 Tufted Duck...pair
31 Willow Warbler in song...now herein lies the positives..
12 Linnet
1 Snipe in Display...hello memories of '58...
1 Grasshopper Warbler...the 'ears' still have it!
2 Yellow Wagtail
7 Jackdaw
2 Whitethroat
1 Wheatear...male
1 House Martin...doth not my heart a positive make...where are those birds of yore...
4 White Wagtail
1 Redshank in display
1 Dunlin
1 Wood Sandpiper...thanks LWT for making this reserve a pit-stop for these elegant birds.
Ive had a report of a Cuckoo calling early this morning in Cadishead just in the edge of Cadishead Moss.
Steven Nelson said
Wed Apr 22 12:37 PM, 2020
Little Woolden Moss this morning:
1 (possibly 2?) Redstart - a cracking male showed well. Then a very brief distant view of what looked like a female but it disappeared into trees before I could be 100% certain. 1 Wheatear 5 White Wagtail 1 Pied Wagtail 3 Oystercatcher- including 1 of a pair repeatedly chasing away a Carrion Crow 1 Redshank 1 Curlew 2 Little Ringed Plover 3 Buzzard 1 Sparrowhawk- male being mobbed by 3 Meadow Pipits 1 Kestrel 1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling briefly 4 Whitethroat - including 3 having a mid air skirmish 14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls loafing amongst 30+Black headed Gulls 4 Swallow 1 Sand Martin 1 House Martin 1 Teal - heard only
Irlam Moss: 10 Oystercatcher- including 9 feeding in the same field 1 Yellow Wagtail- male 2 Yellowhammer 4 Herring Gull 8 Lesser Black-backed Gull 80+ Black-headed Gull 2 Gadwall- pair 1 Curlew 5 Blackcap
Steven Nelson said
Tue Apr 21 8:39 PM, 2020
River Glaze near Little Woolden Moss - afternoon
2 Goosander (1m, 1f) but not together 3 House Martin 2 Sand Martin 2 Swallow 2 Redshank 1 Oystercatcher 3 Blackcap singing 1 Buzzard
Dave Steel said
Tue Apr 21 7:54 PM, 2020
Little Woolden Moss am
2 Marsh Harrier...dodging the attention of the posse of Carrion Crow that rule the site....
11 White Wagtail
4 Redshank
2 Curlew
4 Oystercatcher
31 Willow Warbler
1 Snipe
2 Blackcap
1 Water Rail
3 Teal
1 Sparrowhawk...with 9 Meadow Pipit camp followers tracking its every move...
Finally hauled the bike out of the shed last night and pumped the tyres up ahead of a very early trip around the mosses this morning.
Selected highlights were as follows:
110 Fieldfare feeding in field 67 off Moss Lane, Astley Moss and a flock of 34 Stock Dove on the corner of Rindle Road too.
5 Yellow Wagtail and 7 White Wagtail on Little Woolden Moss. Lovely to listen to 'bubbling' Curlews once again!
16 Yellow Wagtail (pretty much all males too!) on Chat Moss with 10 in field 52 alone, along with 2 White Wagtail and a Wheatear; 5 in field 62, along with 4 Wheatear; and a single male in field 59
2 Lapwing in 'Young Present' Alarm...their season moves on
1 Whitethroat in Song
15 House Sparrow
Cadishead Moss
2 Goldcrest
18 Linnet...several in a loose colony building nests in a Hawthorn Hedge...first noted their tendency for 'colony' nesting whilst staying at a Caravan Park in Heysham in 1964...ahh the sweet passage of time...
2 Grey Partridge
Little Woolden Moss Nature Reserve
13 Willow Warbler in song
2 Teal...a loafing pair
2 Oystercatcher at nest jousting with two determined Carrion Crow...
1 Redshank in display
1 Common Gull
9 White Wagtail
14 Black Headed Gull...the birdwatchers friend for their nuanced/different alarm call which to me is the Birdwatchers Wake up from your reverie and check the sky...this led me to look behind me and there flying with the Sun to protect it from my camera (save for the WORST EVER) record shot flew/soared/then flew gracefully off east was a
Red Kite....
It was time to walk home...
-- Edited by Dave Steel on Wednesday 15th of April 2020 07:49:53 PM
6 Lapwing in Display having lost their nests to recent ploughing...gone are the days when I used to see Farmers on Chat Moss pause...move the nest and then continue to plough....The Lapwing being resilient will re-try but it still hurts after all these years to see such loss...a none birdwatching friend asked why don't they nest on the nearby and quite suitable Croxden old peat extraction site...these birds and Curlew did try but as the site wasn't turned over to a nature reserve it has now become a free roaming site for all and sundry...thus the birds fled...
Little Woolden Moss: 2 Whitethroat 2 Wheatear 12 White Wagtail 2 Swallow 2 Sand Martin 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker- heard drumming 2 Grey Partridge- pair 4 Little Ringed Plover 2 Redshank 1 Curlew 1 Snipe 1 Oystercatcher 2 Shoveler - pair 3 Grey Heron 1 Kestrel 3 Buzzard
Irlam Moss: 3 Whitethroat 1 Yellow Wagtail- male 2 White Wagtail 1 Wheatear 4 Blackcap - including a male chasing a female through the trees 1 Little Ringed Plover 1 Little Grebe - heard 1 Buzzard
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Tuesday 14th of April 2020 01:07:51 PM
Steven Nelson said
Mon Apr 13 6:42 PM, 2020
Irlam Moss briefly this morning. All in or over the same field:
Irlam Moss: 2 Sparrowhawk- pair soaring with 2 Buzzard 2 Kestrel- one with a vole 1 Swallow
Dave Steel said
Sat Apr 11 8:39 PM, 2020
Irlam Moss
4 Grey Partridge
21 House Sparrow
1 Sparrowhawk...female
1 Swallow
Cadishead Moss
1 Oystercatcher
12 Skylark
6 Linnet...1 with nesting Material
1 Swallow
Little Woolden Moss
16 Willow Warbler in song
2 Shoveler...pair
5 Teal
2 Curlew...1 in Display
5 Redshank
3 Little Ringed Plover
7 White Wagtail
1 Wheatear...male
1 Black-Tailed Godwit
1 Osprey flying high heading north @ 1047...with many thanks to the seven Black-Headed Gull which alerted me to the sky and high above them this Raptor almost slipped by unnoticed as they do!
Plus a reminder of my early days when I noted 4 Lapwing sat on nests in close proximity to one another (on the western edge fields)...that is how I remember them on the 'Cow Fields' at Worsley where the filter bed is now situated....
1 Black-tailed Godwit - flew in, circled round and then landed- in almost full summer plumage. 2 Ringed Plover 4 Little Ringed Plover 2 Oystercatcher- pair 2 Curlew 5 Redshank 5 Wheatear 1 Grasshopper Warbler - reeled very briefly distantly 2 Yellow Wagtail - both male 7 White Wagtail 1 Swallow 1 House Martin 2 Sparrowhawk- pair displaying briefly 10 Buzzard- including 7 kettling together 4 Shoveler- 2 pairs
Little Woolden Moss am
2 Curlew
2 Grey Partridge
1 Lesser Whitethroat in song on the reserve...never had one on here...it seems the habitat in this particular section of the reserve is right for them as it was still singing when I left...GOOD!
33 Willow Warbler
6 Oystercatcher
6 Tufted Duck
2 Shoveler...male...hopeful sign of the females being on eggs...
1 White Wagtail
4 Dunlin...1 east pool 3 west pool
66 Swift
6 Swallow
2 Buzzard being attacked by a lone Carrion Crow
1 Yellow Wagtail
1 Wheatear
4 Ringed Plover
1 Sedge Warbler in song.
Very early around the mosses by bike this morning, produced highlights of:
Little Woolden Moss:
Greenshank early morning and possibly not thereafter
4 Dunlin
Singing Lesser Whitethroat
3 Wheatear
14 Yellow Wagtail (12 of which were males) in one admittedly very popular field alone
2 singing Sedge Warbler
Drake Teal
2 drake Shoveler
1 White Wagtail
Chat Moss:
3 Wheatear
2 male Yellow Wagtail, one of which was a 'Channel Wagtail'
28 Stock Dove in one flock
156 Crow in a single field alone!
Barton Moss
42 Starling...finding food within a Spring Sown Cereal crop
38 Lapwing
6 Yellow Wagtail
7 Stock Dove
15 Swallow
16 Whitethroat
14 House Martin
7 Blackcap
29 House Sparrow including 2 young
2 Wheatear
2 Sedge Warbler
1 Reed Bunting Nest with 5 eggs...no nest records required by the BTO this season but at least this record will go into the archives of the GMBRG and the GMEU...a record is a record is a...
1 Long-Tailed Tit nest 30 feet up in the fork of a slim Alder...I personally have never seen one so high up...yes you have guessed it this will be passed to GMBRG/GMEU records.
Little Woolden Moss early am...
1 Snipe...in song
1 Hobby...scored its way through the Reserve almost connecting with one of the panicking Meadow Pipit...missed and simply accelerated north for it's breakfast...
2 Curlew...pair having their morning preen before flying off west of the reserve...display calls noted later
5 white Wagtail
2 Yellow Wagtail...pair
31 Willow Warbler
2 Grasshopper Warbler...reeling
1 Dunlin
6 Swallow
2 Swift
2 Sedge Warbler in song
2 Tufted Duck...pair
7 Oystercatcher.
2 Hobbies arrived together from the SW and stayed circling for 10 mins before heading off.
2 Sedge Warbler singing
4 Rook
1 Oystercatcher
1 Yellow Wagtail
1 brood of 4 Mallard ducklings with mum.
1 Bullfinch
1 Jay
1 Kestrel
3 Buzzard
2 Yellowhammer
1 Greenfinch singing
Little Woolden Moss - late am
70+ Swift
1 Shoveler- male
1 Curlew
2 Herring Gull
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 2nd of May 2020 09:59:45 PM
Chat Moss am
6 Wheatear
8 Whitethroat...2 still hanging on along roadside vegetation that is 'trying' to give them their traditional breeding jumble of vegetation in spite of the Farmers...oh lets make this field edge 'NEAT' what a wonderful innovation by the farmer...the roadside looks 'so very tidy'...
53 Lapwing...plus 2 young which seemed to escape late ploughing...5 nests noted with sitting birds...well here we go attempt number two...and we 'wonder' why wildlife is in precipitous decline...
1 Goldcrest in song
7 Oystercatcher...(PS the colour ringed bird of the other day was ringed in the River Exe...Dawlish Devon last year...)
35 Willow Warbler...there IS hope in this world..
12 Yellow Wagtail...I feel this year they have nowhere to nest at present as the crops are so short...but there is hope..
7 Swift
4 Yellowhammer
4 Tree Sparrow
20 Stock Dove
1 Curlew
1 Garden Warbler...at last where it sang last year...
6 Swallow
1 Raven
1 Common Gull.
Little Woolden Moss am..
2 Swallow
33 Willow Warbler
8 Oystercatcher
13 Lapwing
16 Meadow Pipit
2 Teal...both male
1 Gadwall...male
5 Yellow Wagtail
4 Tufted Duck...2 pair
2 Shoveler...both male
1 Wheatear
5 Ringed Plover
2 Shelduck...pair
2 Redshank
3 Sedge Warbler
1 Grasshopper Warbler
4 Snipe
120 Swift
7 House Martin.
Chat Moss am
7 Oystercatcher...one of which was Colour Ringed
6 Grey Partridge...3 Pair
3 Rook
4 Tree Sparrow
25 Stock Dove
3 Fieldfare
7 Wheatear
3 Swallow
1 Sand Martin
1 Raven
1 Peregrine
1 Willow Tit in song
5 Yellow Wagtail
6 Blackcap.
28 Lapwing.
-- Edited by Dave Steel on Thursday 30th of April 2020 11:12:55 PM
1 Raven low over heading south and mobbed by Lapwings
3 Yellow Wagtail
2 Oystercatcher
1 Curlew
2 Snipe
2 Gadwall- pair
2 Kestrel
2 Buzzard
4 baby Lapwing chicks (3+1) with parents
2 broods of Mallard (3+6) with mums
2 Bullfinch- pair
2 Greenfinch
4 Lesser Black-backed Gull
6 Sand Martin
5 Swallow
1 Wheatear- female
22 Stock Dove
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Thursday 30th of April 2020 03:39:08 PM
am..it were cold...
Chat Moss
1 Curlew...male trying to fend off at least 30 Carrion Crow...sadly it seems that this one of three pairs on the WHOLE of the mosses has chosen cowboy country to nest they will NEVER survive...Off Road Bikers... Roamers....and so on...and so on...
4 Oystercather
6 Tufted Duck
2 Swallow
17 Wheatear
4 Fieldfare...yes this late
9 Yellow Wagtail
3 Stock Dove
5 Tree Sparrow
1 Whinchat...female...now these are the times to be lost in nature...
Little Woolden Moss
10 Yellow Wagtail
2 Wheatear
2 Tree Sparrow
2 Whimbrel...I feel these are the same pair from days ago...still a joy to see..
-- Edited by Dave Steel on Wednesday 29th of April 2020 10:10:49 PM
2 Whimbrel
1 Curlew
2 Oystercatcher- pair
4 Little Ringed Plover
2 Redshank
2 Wheatear - 1m,1f
3 Swallow
3 Yellow Wagtail
1 Corn Bunting singing
1 Teal
2 Tufted Duck- pair
6 Grey Heron
1 Cormorant over
1 Kestrel
3 Buzzard
2 Blackcap
Irlam Moss
1 Wheatear- male
5 Oystercatcher
2 Herring Gull
6 Lesser Black-backed Gull
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Wednesday 29th of April 2020 01:46:00 PM
Only additions this afternoon, before the heavier rain set in, were 6 Wheatear, 7 Yellow Wagtail and a Corn Bunting.
Little Woolden Moss am
31 Willow Warbler
1 Lesser Redpoll
42 Lesser Black-Backed Gull
4 Tufted Duck
1 Shoveler...Male
3 Curlew
3 Redshank
1 White Wagtail
1 Ringed Plover
1 Sparrowhawk...male
2 Sedge Warbler in full voice
1 Grasshopper Warbler
7 Stock Dove
4 Oystercatcher
5 Tree Sparrow
2 Whimbrel
2 Wheatear
4 Yellow Wagtail.
1 Mediterranean Gull - adult low over heading east
1 Yellow Wagtail- female
9 Oystercatcher
2 Gadwall - pair
2 Tufted Duck- pair
2 Mallard females with broods
Chat Moss am
1 Tawny Owl being mobbed by Blackbirds/Song Thrushes and Jays
7 Wheatear
11 Whitethroat
12 Oystercatcher
2 Gadwall
8 Swallow
9 Stock Dove
6 Yellow Wagtail
6 Yellowhammer...1 with nesting material
2 Curlew
6 Tufted Duck
1 Redshank
1 Dunlin
10 Reed Bunting
28 Willow Warbler
1 Swift
1 Hobby @ 1217.
1 Wheatear - male
1 Yellow Wagtail
2 Tree Sparrow
6 Grey Partridge
1 Grey Heron
1 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
Little Woolden Moss Area am
17 Willow Warbler...some now in 'nest alarm' mode...the wildlife season creeps onward...and doesn't wait for man...
16 Meadow Pipit
4 Oystercatcher
1 Snipe in good song perched upon a dead birch...always seems odd to see a wader on a tree...
35 Lapwing...some with young some in display
2 Redshank
23 Linnet
51 Lesser Black-Backed Gull
2 Herring Gull
2 Grey Partridge
6 Wheatear
10 Yellow Wagtail
31 Skylark
1 Curlew
5 Yellowhammer
1 Grasshopper Warbler...Reeling
8 Tree Sparrow
14 House Sparrow
2 Whimbrel
and sadly one dead Barn Owl...Ring Recovered and Judith Smith was back in a flash with all its details...ringed last year as part of a brood of 5...the bird was badly de-composed and I assume it succumbed in all that awful rain before this run of sunshine...I passed the info onto EURING...
Chat & Irlam Moss:
1 Dunlin
11 Oystercatcher
2 Redshank
1 Little Ringed Plover
1 Rook
3 Wheatear- including a male in a tree
7 Yellow Wagtail
3 Swallow
2 newly fledged Song Thrushes
1 Lesser Redpoll
2 Bullfinch- pair
2 Tufted Duck- pair
2 Mandarin Duck - male and a very unusual white female! Heavily cropped phone picture attached!
Little Woolden Moss:
1 Curlew
2 Little Ringed Plover
2 Oystercatcher
1 White Wagtail
2 Pied Wagtail
1 Teal - male
2 Kestrel
1 Buzzard
2 Swallow
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Sunday 26th of April 2020 04:07:45 PM
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Sunday 26th of April 2020 04:11:20 PM
Little Woolden Moss am
1 Cuckoo...but possibly 2 as had sightings east and west sections of the reserve
2 Shoveler...male
4 Tufted Duck...2 pair
26 Willow Warbler
7 Oystercatcher...with the pair on eggs still desperatly defending their clutch from the Carrion Crows
23 Lapwing
1 Chiffchaff
2 Blackcap
1 Water Rail
3 Whitethroat
1 Sand Martin
8 Skylark
1 Swallow
18 Lesser Black-Backed Gull
1 Herring Gull
1 Yellow Wagtail
1 Wood Sandpiper noted @ 0900 but later disappeared.
Any images taken were not stake out birds but as I recorded birds on the site for my GMBRG/GMEU records...records submitted mean (we hope) conservation.
Plenty of Lapwing about,2 Mistle Thrush, a few singing Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers ,but no Chiffchaff!
Several Buzzard inc 3 together, and a couple of Kestrel were the only raptors seen.4 Meadow Pipits on the SSSI itself were the only birds there apart from flyover corvids.
A single Swallow was the only hirundine seen. There were 2 birds feeding together in one of the fields the bigger of which was obviously a Curlew,I thought the smaller one (About half it's size) was going to be a Godwit ,but when I got closer I realised that they were both Curlew,never seen such a vast size difference before !!!
Chat Moss & Irlam Moss:
1 Wood Sandpiper
12 Oystercatcher
2 Little Ringed Plover
2 Redshank
4 Tufted Duck
2 Shoveler- pair
5 female Mallard each with broods of young
110 Black-headed Gull
3 Lesser Black-backed Gull
1 Grey Heron
1 Buzzard
3 Yellowhammer
Little Woolden Moss:
1 Cuckoo calling distantly
4 Little Ringed Plover
2 White Wagtail
3 Pied Wagtail
2 Shoveler- both male
1 Teal - male
1 Kestrel
Chat Moss am
4 Whitethroat
2 Teal...pair
2 Swallow
2 Stock Dove
6 Yellow Wagtail
10 Wheatear
2 Shoveler...pair
1 Redshank
2 Tufted Duck...pair
2 Gadwall...pair
3 Mallard...females all with broods of young birds
2 Blackcap
31 Willow Warbler
1 Dunlin
2 Curlew
1 Raven
1 Whimbrel....with an unusual travelling companion both birds sticking together and only flushed away when a flock of 150 Black-Headed Gull appeared...
1 Bar-Tailed Godwit.
LWM:
1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling
1 Snipe displaying
3 Shoveler (2m,1f) - both males displaying to their female. One more dominant bird kept chasing the other away.
13 Tufted Duck
2 Teal- pair
2 Little Ringed Plover
2 Curlew
1 Oystercatcher
2 White Wagtail
1 Peregrine
1 Raven
am...
Irlam Moss
2 Curlew...pair
4 Lapwing...in display...NO DOUBT after failing due to late ploughing on field nearby...I always marvel that Lapwing are still in our area after I first watched them...a 'few' decades ago...
Little Woolden Moss...after the depressing 'Brownfield Site' visit yesterday and listening to the Swan Song of Sedge Warbler which WILL be Bulldozed away for Warehouse Nirvana...because humans it seems rule Nature...oh yeah!
2 Lapwing in alarm their very small young in a deep ditch which they had moved down...now to reach the reserve they then had to climb the north face of the eiger...as I imagine it would appear to them...
4 Shoveler...2 pair
4 Oystercatcher...2 pair with the pair incubating 'forever' fending off the large contingent of roaming Carrion Crows that reside in this area
2 Tufted Duck...pair
31 Willow Warbler in song...now herein lies the positives..
12 Linnet
1 Snipe in Display...hello memories of '58...
1 Grasshopper Warbler...the 'ears' still have it!
2 Yellow Wagtail
7 Jackdaw
2 Whitethroat
1 Wheatear...male
1 House Martin...doth not my heart a positive make...where are those birds of yore...
4 White Wagtail
1 Redshank in display
1 Dunlin
1 Wood Sandpiper...thanks LWT for making this reserve a pit-stop for these elegant birds.
1 (possibly 2?) Redstart - a cracking male showed well. Then a very brief distant view of what looked like a female but it disappeared into trees before I could be 100% certain.
1 Wheatear
5 White Wagtail
1 Pied Wagtail
3 Oystercatcher- including 1 of a pair repeatedly chasing away a Carrion Crow
1 Redshank
1 Curlew
2 Little Ringed Plover
3 Buzzard
1 Sparrowhawk- male being mobbed by 3 Meadow Pipits
1 Kestrel
1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling briefly
4 Whitethroat - including 3 having a mid air skirmish
14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls loafing amongst 30+Black headed Gulls
4 Swallow
1 Sand Martin
1 House Martin
1 Teal - heard only
Irlam Moss:
10 Oystercatcher- including 9 feeding in the same field
1 Yellow Wagtail- male
2 Yellowhammer
4 Herring Gull
8 Lesser Black-backed Gull
80+ Black-headed Gull
2 Gadwall- pair
1 Curlew
5 Blackcap
2 Goosander (1m, 1f) but not together
3 House Martin
2 Sand Martin
2 Swallow
2 Redshank
1 Oystercatcher
3 Blackcap singing
1 Buzzard
Little Woolden Moss am
2 Marsh Harrier...dodging the attention of the posse of Carrion Crow that rule the site....
11 White Wagtail
4 Redshank
2 Curlew
4 Oystercatcher
31 Willow Warbler
1 Snipe
2 Blackcap
1 Water Rail
3 Teal
1 Sparrowhawk...with 9 Meadow Pipit camp followers tracking its every move...
2 Swallow
7 Yellow Wagtail
1 Dunlin
1 Whitethroat.
Little Woolden Moss am
26 Willow Warbler in song
2 Curlew
3 Redshank
4 Oystercatcher
2 Teal
2 Shoveler
2 Shelduck
14 White Wagtail
1 Sand Martin
1 Whitethroat
2 Blackcap
36 Lapwing
1 Dunlin
5 Swallow
7 Wheatear
8 Yellow Wagtail
1 Marsh Harrier...female/immature...hunted a few times before being driven off by the Carrion Crows.
1 Grasshopper Warbler reeling
3 Shelduck flew in
3 Teal (2m,1f)
2 Shoveler- pair
14+ White Wagtail
1 Yellow Wagtail
6 Swallow
3 Sand Martin
1 Little Ringed Plover
2 Redshank
2 Oystercatcher
2 Curlew
4 Snipe
2 Grey Partridge- pair
1 Buzzard
Little Woolden Moss am
3 Grasshopper Warbler...reeling
1 Merlin
5 Snipe...1 Displaying
2 Oystercatcher...at nest
2 Redshank
2 Shelduck
2 Shoveler
9 Yellow Wagtail
8 White Wagtail
4 Swallow
1 Lapwing with 3 recently hatched young
2 Curlew in display.
4 Wheatear.
Finally hauled the bike out of the shed last night and pumped the tyres up ahead of a very early trip around the mosses this morning.
Selected highlights were as follows:
110 Fieldfare feeding in field 67 off Moss Lane, Astley Moss and a flock of 34 Stock Dove on the corner of Rindle Road too.
5 Yellow Wagtail and 7 White Wagtail on Little Woolden Moss. Lovely to listen to 'bubbling' Curlews once again!
16 Yellow Wagtail (pretty much all males too!) on Chat Moss with 10 in field 52 alone, along with 2 White Wagtail and a Wheatear; 5 in field 62, along with 4 Wheatear; and a single male in field 59
am...
Irlam Moss
Lapwing Calling to Young
1 Willow Tit
1 Whitethroat in song
2 Tree Sparrow
1 Yellow Wagtail
1 Blackcap in song
Chat Moss
24 Lapwing
4 Yellow Wagtail
4 Swallow
8 Skylark in song
1 Little Ringed Plover
2 Whitethroat in song
3 Oystercatcher
4 Teal
2 Tufted Duck
4 Tree Sparrow
4 Wheatear.
Barton Moss:
20+ Fieldfare
2 Mistle Thrush
3 Blackcap singing
1 Swallow
6 Herring Gull
100+ Jackdaw
70+ Carrion Crow
1 Grey Heron
2 Kestrel
1 Buzzard
1 Greenfinch
Irlam Moss:
1 Tree Sparrow
1 Whitethroat singing
2 Stock Dove
Little Woolden Moss:
12+ White Wagtail
3 Yellow Wagtail (1m,2f)
3 Little Ringed Plover
1 Redshank
1 Oystercatcher
2 Shoveler- pair
1 Kestrel
2 Buzzard
5 Grey Partridge
1 Yellow Wagtail
2 Tree Sparrow
1 Kestrel
1 Grey Heron
8 Lapwing
am..
Irlam Moss
2 Grey Partridge
2 Lapwing in 'Young Present' Alarm...their season moves on
1 Whitethroat in Song
15 House Sparrow
Cadishead Moss
2 Goldcrest
18 Linnet...several in a loose colony building nests in a Hawthorn Hedge...first noted their tendency for 'colony' nesting whilst staying at a Caravan Park in Heysham in 1964...ahh the sweet passage of time...
2 Grey Partridge
Little Woolden Moss Nature Reserve
13 Willow Warbler in song
2 Teal...a loafing pair
2 Oystercatcher at nest jousting with two determined Carrion Crow...
1 Redshank in display
1 Common Gull
9 White Wagtail
14 Black Headed Gull...the birdwatchers friend for their nuanced/different alarm call which to me is the Birdwatchers Wake up from your reverie and check the sky...this led me to look behind me and there flying with the Sun to protect it from my camera (save for the WORST EVER) record shot flew/soared/then flew gracefully off east was a
Red Kite....
It was time to walk home...
-- Edited by Dave Steel on Wednesday 15th of April 2020 07:49:53 PM
am... Irlam Moss
1 Whitethroat in song and showing well
6 Willow Warbler in song
Chat Moss
3 White Wagtail
2 Yellow Wagtail..males
1 Wheatear
6 Swallow
2 Whitethroat
2 Blackcap in song
2 Oystercatcher...mating
4 Tufted Duck...2 Pair
16 Willow Warbler in song
4 Teal...2 Pair
3 Sand Martin
2 Gadwall
6 Lapwing in Display having lost their nests to recent ploughing...gone are the days when I used to see Farmers on Chat Moss pause...move the nest and then continue to plough....The Lapwing being resilient will re-try but it still hurts after all these years to see such loss...a none birdwatching friend asked why don't they nest on the nearby and quite suitable Croxden old peat extraction site...these birds and Curlew did try but as the site wasn't turned over to a nature reserve it has now become a free roaming site for all and sundry...thus the birds fled...
2 Whitethroat
2 Wheatear
12 White Wagtail
2 Swallow
2 Sand Martin
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker- heard drumming
2 Grey Partridge- pair
4 Little Ringed Plover
2 Redshank
1 Curlew
1 Snipe
1 Oystercatcher
2 Shoveler - pair
3 Grey Heron
1 Kestrel
3 Buzzard
Irlam Moss:
3 Whitethroat
1 Yellow Wagtail- male
2 White Wagtail
1 Wheatear
4 Blackcap - including a male chasing a female through the trees
1 Little Ringed Plover
1 Little Grebe - heard
1 Buzzard
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Tuesday 14th of April 2020 01:07:51 PM
5 Yellow Wagtail
1 White Wagtail
1 Swallow
4 Yellowhammer
2 Buzzard
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Monday 13th of April 2020 09:48:14 PM
am...Irlam Moss
2 Whitethroat
3 Swallow
2 Grey Partridge.
Cadishead Moss
12 Lapwing
1 Oystercatcher
2 Grey Partridge
Little Woolden Moss
7 Little Ringed Plover
11 White Wagtail
3 Redshank
1 Common Sandpiper
2 Sand Martin
1 Curlew
4 Oystercatcher...2 pair
5 Yellow Wagtail
2 Grey Partridge
1 Black-Tailed Godwit
1 Snipe...brief 'song'
1 Peregrine a female in hunting mode..
Irlam Moss
1 Blackcap in song
4 Willow Warbler in song
1 Yellow Wagtail...male
Chat Moss
27 Lapwing
1 Whitethroat...skulking as they do on first arrival...
1 Green Sandpiper
28 Willow Warbler in song
1 Whitethroat in Song
4 Tufted Duck...2 pair
1 Oystercatcher
1 Redshank
5 Young Mallard...recently hatched.
1 Dunlin
3 Ringed Plover
6 Little Ringed Plover
5 Redshank
3 Curlew
5 Oystercatcher
3 Yellow Wagtail
14 White Wagtail
2 Swallow
6 Sand Martin
1 Corn Bunting - singing
1 Shoveler - male
2 Teal- pair
1 Sparrowhawk
2 Kestrel
8 Buzzard
3 Lesser Black-backed Gull
3 Grey Heron
2 Bullfinch
3 Stock Dove
Irlam Moss:
2 Sparrowhawk- pair soaring with 2 Buzzard
2 Kestrel- one with a vole
1 Swallow
Irlam Moss
4 Grey Partridge
21 House Sparrow
1 Sparrowhawk...female
1 Swallow
Cadishead Moss
1 Oystercatcher
12 Skylark
6 Linnet...1 with nesting Material
1 Swallow
Little Woolden Moss
16 Willow Warbler in song
2 Shoveler...pair
5 Teal
2 Curlew...1 in Display
5 Redshank
3 Little Ringed Plover
7 White Wagtail
1 Wheatear...male
1 Black-Tailed Godwit
1 Osprey flying high heading north @ 1047...with many thanks to the seven Black-Headed Gull which alerted me to the sky and high above them this Raptor almost slipped by unnoticed as they do!
Plus a reminder of my early days when I noted 4 Lapwing sat on nests in close proximity to one another (on the western edge fields)...that is how I remember them on the 'Cow Fields' at Worsley where the filter bed is now situated....
1 Black-tailed Godwit - flew in, circled round and then landed- in almost full summer plumage.
2 Ringed Plover
4 Little Ringed Plover
2 Oystercatcher- pair
2 Curlew
5 Redshank
5 Wheatear
1 Grasshopper Warbler - reeled very briefly distantly
2 Yellow Wagtail - both male
7 White Wagtail
1 Swallow
1 House Martin
2 Sparrowhawk- pair displaying briefly
10 Buzzard- including 7 kettling together
4 Shoveler- 2 pairs
Irlam Moss:
1 Wheatear
1 White Wagtail
Chat Moss
3 Oystercatcher
2 Redshank
21 Willow Warbler
2 Blackcap
4 Gadwall
13 Teal
1 Corn Bunting singing again
2 Redshank
2 Oystercatcher
1 Curlew
1 Little Ringed Plover
1 Blackcap singing
Irlam Moss
1 Blackcap in Song
4 Willow Warbler in song
10 Stock Dove
1 Redshank...in display over a field that is rapidly losing all its marshy rain filled hollows
17 Lapwing...one nest found for my BTO nest Records...its in stubble...I hope the plough doesn't ruin this attempt...where is that rain...
2 Gadwall.
Chat Moss
25 Willow Warbler in song
19 Teal
2 Redshank
1 Oystercather
2 Gadwall
1 Sand Martin
12 Meadow Pipit
1 Raven.
Hi David...whatever I offer in public please feel free to share...Thanks for asking...Hope all is well with you...Dave
-- Edited by Dave Steel on Thursday 9th of April 2020 08:49:30 PM