I happened to be speaking to Ian Woosey tonight and mentioned that the male ouzel I saw today had a very large white breast cresent, nothing too unusual but large by ouzel standards. Ian had heard several county birders mention this feature of one of the recent Burnt Edge males so it seems atleast one of them is still around. Anyone else notice this particular feature on this bird?

Single male Ring Ouzel (atleast) still present at 3:00pm at the northern most end of the dry stone wall that runs up Burnt Edge valley. The bird was in small trees and on the ground around the small tree with coloured ribbands in it but was amazingly elusive at times.

saturday 04-04-09

8.00-11.00am
no signs of any rings or wheatears but 100+ meadow pipits and skylarks singing
also nice to see a total of 4 curlew and 3 pheasant.
a flock of 6 rook also worth a mention.

both birds cracking views at 5.15 - 5.25 flew into the scrubby grass over the wall...

Walk round Burnt Edge today with Tom Morton 1.00 till 3.00

2 Ring Ousels
2 Wheatear
1 Buzzard
2 Peregrine

And a Bitterly Cold Wind

Cheers Jimmy





-- Edited by j meadows on Saturday 4th of April 2009 06:57:57 PM

D--n & B---t !!! Quick visit from 11am to 12am today with no sign of the Ring Ouzels. Good views though of two Wheatear, a pair of Stonechats collecting nesting material and a half dozen Meadow Pipits.

2 male Ring Ouzels still present Burnt Edge 1pm.

Info thanks to Simon Johnson.

myself and paul wilson nipped up there last night for an hour or so until 7.30, no sign of them then.

both ouzels still at burnt edge 1300. more or less between the telephone wires and the single tree.

Both Ouzels still present at approx 10am on Burnt Edge, by the trig point.

Info thanks to Ian Woosey

2 male Ring Ousels still present at 0800 this morning feeding on the track in the bottom of the valley near to the isolated tree.

2 male Ring Ouzels still present 6.30pm Burnt Edge in valley, busy feeding in the area the large flock were a couple of years ago, couldnt find any near the mast road though.

This morning:

Pair of Ring Ouzel near Montcliffe Quarry just east of the Mast Rd car park

Two males also present at Burnt Edge and showing well.

Info thanks to Andy Makin

3 red grouse on smithills
2 ravens
meadow pipits everywhere
1 wheatear
curlew calling across the valley
but no ring ouzells

-- Edited by fred fouracre on Monday 30th of March 2009 07:04:35 PM

29/3/09 pm

4 Wheatear (3 males) along the walls and near the trig point at Burnt Edge,

2 Red Grouse on Smithills Moor. Also 18 Meadow Pipits heading N.

Raven over Makinson Moor.

Sparrowhawk displaying,
Kestrel,
2 Lapwing,
3 Pied Wagtail.

quick 30 minute mooch up the mast road this morning not much about and very cold but 3 red grouse.

Late I know, but two Raven's over Rivington Pike on the 12th. They were ranging far and wide over the pike/mast/moors and almost certainly passed into GM.

A wing-tagged Red Kite flew over Rivington and the terraced gardens at 1620 hrs today and then almost certainly into Gtr Manchester heading towards Wilderswood. The left wingtag was white, indicating Rutland Water. The colour of the right wigtag couldn't be obtained. This bird may be a wanderer rather than a migrant so could still be in the area.(Thanks to Chris and Tony Johnson)
Also on the slopes of Winter Hill this morning, 16 Wheatears (per Andy Makin).

Late Morning with Warfy and Andy Makin.

Had a few hours looking for raptors, to be told by Andy that it was the worse morning of the Autmun so far - never mind as I got a long over due county tick!

Buzzard 4
Kestrel 7
Peregrine heard
Raven 3 - one attacking a carrion crow and pulling half its tail out - also county tick for me!
Wheatear 3
Mpipit 100+ on moor
Skylark 10+ over
Linnet 7

Yesterday, Andy Makin had 6 Whinchats - 5 near the pools at Holden's Farm on a fence, and 1 on Coal PIt Lane, also 120 Meadow Pipits flying W. Today, 5 Golden Plover flying W.
Andy had an Osprey over Hindley Green today being mobbed by gulls, about 1045.
NB Hindley Green is due S of Rivington Resrs which run N-S and must be a big attraction for migrating Ospreys?

A lovely afternoon spent on the moors today. No sign of the Hen Harrier. Loads of Meadow Pipits, 6 Wheatear, 2 Stonechat, 1 Peregrine circling the mast, up to 4 Kestrels, Red Grouse heard but not seen.
Spent a very pleasant couple of hours on Two Lads chatting with Paul Cliff, nice to see you again Paul

Cheers Dean.

Andy Makin had 2 Whinchats, 5 Wheatears, 3 Chiffchaffs, 4 Willow Warblers and a Spotted Flycatcher near the masts this morning. If you think that's a bit of a funny place for some of these species, you are right. But apparently the cables of the masts are anchored in small, fenced off areas, and within those areas, which the sheep can't get at, there is long vegetation and even little bushes. Worth a look for those who walk right up the hill. Andy assures me these areas are in GM (you have to watch the boundary with Lancs up there!)

The two lads on the moors tonight were me and warfy, no sign of the harrier

1 grouse
24 pipits
1 kestrel
3 magpies.

and the world put to rights.

Keep birding

Male Hen Harrier (same as last weeks bird?) again on Two Lads Hill at 1pm, being mobbed by a female Peregrine.

At Holdens Clough up to 2:45pm,

4 Whinchat
7 Wheatear
6 Stonechat

All info thanks to Phil Rhodes

Burnt edge at dawn,
6 magpie 2 mistle thrush
1 cormorant 1 robin
2 raven 1 kestrel
6 swallows 7 crows
1 pheasant 4 wheatears
meadow pipits all over ,and frustratingly red grouse calling but not seen(despite an extended effort) then the mist came down,heard a banjo and headed back to the flashes.

cheers geoff

Friday 12 September

13:00 - 16:00

Spotted Flycatcher - 1 off Georges Lane near Wilderswood
Wheatear - 6 along Matchmoor Lane
Green Woodpecker - 1 near Holden's Farm
Stonechat - 2 (pair) off Mast Road, 4 at Holden's Farm

11.09.08 1pm-3pm
First visit to this sight and thanks to previous posts I managed to get my target bird, red grouse, 3 infact.lifer for me
3 wheatears,20+ meadow pipits,1 kestrel


-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 16:44, 2008-09-11

Along Mast Road this morning:80-100 Meadow Pipits 'down' in the area, though very few actually moving overhead
30+ Swallow
7 Red Grouse in area on RHS near to the first 2 cattle grids
2 Raven
Kestrel
Sparrowhawk
1 Siskin over
13 Goldfinch flew south
2 Nuthatch - 1 in small roadside trees opposite horse pasture above houses and at the same time 1 calling in gardens of houses at bottom of Mast Road
just 2 Wheatears

I would say you were in the right place I tried yesterday morning but no luck, the bird has been in the area before, Mr Woosey has had it over the moors some time ago so perhaps different areas to be searched over the next few weeks.

ITS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE!

Keep Birding.

had a look last night but didn't see anything although wasn't entirely sure where mast road was. Had a look on an OS map and went first to the minor road (edge lane) below a small mast, then tried the lane leading up to the huge mast which has a no entry sign after about 200 metres or so.

Been one of the small gathering tonight i will never forget what a wonderful thing birding is

In the dark thunder clouds as flashes of lighting lit up the heavens A lone birder braved all the elements to find the Harrier, and how we laughed as we all got very very wet,
excellent way to spend an evening.

Keep up the fieldcraft buddy and as always

keep birding.

Monday 1st September, 7:00pm

Knackered knee or not, got up to Mast Road tonight (chauffeur driven by the missus of course) for a bit of 'from the car' birding, with the following (rather marvellous results):

Wheatear- 1 1st winter in the short grass fields off the bottom half of mast road
Peregrine- atleast one calling loudly
Raven- atleast one which was the cause of the noisy Peregrine
HEN HARRIER- a male seen flying lazily down 2 lads hill at 7:07-7-15pm, not 150 yards off Mast Road, first seen by my son who exclaimed "what's that white bird Dad?" (but he thought it was a gull, so of course I had to put him right ), it continued down the moor and we watched it drop into the juncus and longer grass off Mast Road roughly in between the cattle grid up Mast Road and the very bottom of the hill and approximately half way in between the road and path in the middle of the moor. The bird never appeared from the moor again despite a small gathering of observers remaining on site (one of the very small group also supplying some wonderful entertainment in the diabolical weather that closed in, which at one point included near zero visability ) and had obviously gone to roost, hopefully it may hang around and perhaps even use the same spot for roosting again?

Incidently, although I only used my bins at the time I felt sure that the bird may have been tagged on both wings (there seemed to be a single dark patch on the secondaries on each wing), either that or it was missing a few secondaries on each wing

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 21:55, 2008-09-01

yesterday 12 - 3

1 pheasant
2 kestrel
a dozen or so wheatear
the scraggiest stonechat i've ever seen, poor sod didn't even have a tail.
90% certain there was a whinchat moving with the wheatear - only had my bins with me and it was just too far to clearly id it. might be worth checking again if anyone is up there.

they were one the wall off the mast road opposite a piece of armco on the left as the mast is behind you. the kissing gate has a no 44 next to it.

just short of a couple of hours off the mast road with david winnard this afternoon...

at least 9 wheatear
good close but brief views of a grasshopper warbler
2 kestrel
1 peregrine
7 meadow pipit
wren
red grouse heard.

Late afternoon off Mast Road in the short grass fields there.

Wheatear- 1
Grey Partrdge- 1
Raven- 2

All in all, pretty quiet...

A trip up there this afternoon for 3 hours or so in the vague hope that Ian's Whinchats may have decided not to continue their migration! Not to be.

Linnets 10+ along Burnt Edge
Grey Partridge 3 about 500 yards S of the mast flying N and probably still in the county
Ravens pair Burnt Edge
Kestrel
Stonechat pair Mast Rd. - giving brief pause in moult
Buzzard heard
Red Grouse 2 heard

Not a lot else. Not one single Meadow Pipit

Great views to Liverpool and the sea and across Manchester, Bolton and Oldham

Autumn migration is alive and well in Greater Manchester

At approx. 5:30pm tonight I headed through the almighty downpour towards Smithills Moor and found the roads looking like fully flowing rivers! As a neared Mast Road the skies to the west were beauifully clear and the rain was now subsiding, I pulled the car over on a small layby along Mast Road to view the the two small short grass fields along the road's northern edge, often a productive spot and I was not disappointed!

The fields were alive with birds and as the last of the rain cleared, I could clearly hear some very distinctive calls (from the car window initially!) coming from the wire fence 30 feet away, Twite and no less than 3 of them were along the fence, stone wall and flying into the field hopping along the grass noisily, giving great views. Pipits were seemigly all over the place, with at the very least 60 Meadow Pipits in the fields alone and then a Tree Pipit over and into the same field, although once down it was nigh on impossible to re-find but another, or perhaps the same was seen and heard in flight a little later on. Wheatears in the fields alone numbered atleast 8 and possibly as many as 11, 3 Whinchats were conspicuous along the edges of the taller grassy fields bordering the short grass ones, using the dry-stone walls to fly back and forth from. All this from 15 minutes of birding in just 2 small fields!

Obviously the rain had forced them all down (it really was one hell of a downpour), as the Twite moved off south-east after 10 minutes or so, all but 2 Wheatears were left in the fields after 15 minutes and nearly all the pipits had moved on, with many heading up along Mast Road, sat around on the road infront of the car as we headed further up to turn around. Only the Whinchats remained, roughly moving to the field opposite the car park at Wilderswood.

But what a 15 minutes, some of my most exiting county birding for ages with a real feeling of migration

a walk around the small reservoir at belmont(wards i think) produced a peregrine sitting on a fence post high above the waterfall.two grey wagtails around the stream and flitting in the heather on the road side of the reservoir two pairs of stonechats with juveniles.on a fence post near lyons den a merlin and at the centre feeding station a nuthatch made repeated trips to and fro.returning every couple of minutes its young must have been well fed.i took the hint and got myself and my wife well fed also at the black dog!

Female/immature Redstart this early afternoon, at the very northern edge of Wilderswood. Follow the footpath off the road to the left, just before the road breaks out into the fields, the bird was roughly around where the telegraph wires cross this path but was very elusive though vocal. Nothing else of note other than 2 Ravens and a family of noisy Sparrowhawks in Wilderswood itself.

4+ Crossbills in Wilderswood this afternoon, brief and poor views though unfortunately.

No signs of any in Walker Fold Woods despite a good search.

I saw a possible family group of 4 Peregrines flying over the A6 near Portofinos restaurant between Adlington where I had been visiting and the motorway at the Reebok junction Horwich at 5.15pm
Also a Buzzard was soaring very high up over Adlington for over 30 minutes until the rain came down.

At least 12 Crossbill walkerfold wood possibly more this afternoon.

Had 6 at the edge of the wood at the burnt edge end, walked back down to the main track to try get better views when a flock of 9 flew out of the wood and off over the main road towards conifers on which i think is a golf course, then when got back to the end again there were still 3 there.

Also in area

Siskin 2
Coal tit 7
Kestrel 7
Spahawk
Meadow Pipit 60+
Stonechat 9
Curlew
Linnet 12

Atleast 6 Crossbills in Walker Fold Woods this early pm.

Info thanks to Simon Johnson

A female Marsh Harrier flew lazily north over Smithills Moor at 12:45 today but never looked like stopping. Single Cuckoo gave my best views ever of this species and was approachable to within 30 feet for some time too!

This am:

a very late Fieldfare between Holden's farm and plantation (one for the Mayhem list ), flew towards Burnt Edge with 2 Mistle Thrushes
also in the area: 2 pairs and a male Stonechat. 1 male Wheatear. 3 Curlews. 1 Raven. 2 Gropplers. GS Woodpecker. 2 Cuckoo. 2 Kestrel.

A nice walk this evening.

Loads of Meadow Pipits
1 Raven
Song Thrush singing
Swallows
Herring Gull
Cuckoo calling in the distance.

Dean.

So did I on an expedition with Tony Darby No Red Grouse or Raven either.

Wheatear pair
Stonechat pair
Mipits 40+ seen many many more present
Curlew 2 over
Peregrine over
Kestrel


-- Edited by Tim Wilcox at 17:20, 2008-04-13

Really thought I would find a ouzel today but weather very much against me,
raven
grouse
curlew
snow wind and hail

4 Male Wheatears this am plus Buzzard mobbed by 2 Ravens; also Stonechat, Green Wodpwecker calling loudly and repeatedly, and at least 5 Curlews

17:00 - 19:00

Burnt Edgs/Holden's Plantation/2Lads area

Wheatear - 2m
Swallow - 1 over W
Stonechat - 1m
Curlew - 4
Red Grouse - 1
LBB Gull - 3 over W
BH Gull - 4
Carrion Crow - 2
Raven - 1
Kestrel - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Pheasant - 1
plenty Skylarks and Mipits