A small flock of about 12 redwing on my neighbour's berry tree. As the tree overhangs my garden, I'm claiming them.

3 Redwing feeding on what remains of the Rowan berries in my Chadderton front garden this morning. Also c90 Pink-footed Geese flew over heading south-east at 9.20 am.

A Blackbird was singing quite forcefully in the vicinity of the garden at 6.00 am on 3/12. I thought this quite unusual for this time of year, for this species - maybe the very mild weather has something to do with it? There was also a Song Thrush singing loudly alongside the nearby Rochdale Canal in Chadderton on 28th November.

Cheers,

Bill.

Much more activity at my bird feeders now from the regular visitors.However,I was particularly pleased to see 6 Long-tailed Tits on the feeders today

So there I was sat watching the tits, chaffinches & dunnocks in my garden in Rhodes, Middleton this morning when I started to read a newspaper. I looked up from the paper to see a Great Spotted Woodpecker on one of the feeders! I don't know how long it had been there but about three or four seconds after I first saw it, the woodpecker flew up into a sycamore tree & has not been seen again today. Another garden tick, made all the more surprising because the nearest 'proper' woodland is about 1/2 mile away from my house.

There was a tawny owl on the lamppost in my front garden last night. I spotted it again swooping past the windows. Earlier in the day a male sparrowhawk was eating a pigeon at the bottom of my back garden.

Tawny Owl calling in the trees next to the garden on Saturday evening.

10 Long Tailed Tits arrived on Monday morning. An amazing site.

Yesterday the first pair of Greenfinches in the garden for about 10 years.

A disappointing day today on my day off. Blue,Great and Coal Tits plus a fleeting glimpse of a Nuthatch and a couple of Goldfinches.

49 Fieldfares flying over my Bromley Cross garden at 9.25am.

Final piece of my winter bird jigsaw arrived today with Moorhen feeding under the bird table
also Grey Wagtail back again, becoming a regular visitor
as well as the usual mix of tits and thrushes:
3 Willow Tits
2 Jays
Great Spotted Woodpecker

6 Squirrels

Return of nuthatch today. Hopefully it will be more regular than last winter. Also today, 4-5 long-tailed tits, and a goldcrest heard (close by) but not seen. A mistle thrush was down in next doors garden.

Dukinfield

Couple of new birds for the season this last week.
A Redwing was eating holly berries the other day, there were 3 in the same tree today keeping well hidden but giving themselves away when a branch would suddenly shake for no apparent reason.
Also 1 Goldcrest made a brief appearance.
Plenty of Goldfinch, up to 20 are regular with slightly lower numbers of Greenfinch.
Particularly unusual was a flock of c30 Starlings grubbing on the lawn. Fabulous to watch at close quarters and the plumages quite diverse with some appearing very pale and some quite dark, all due to the amount and size of the spotting.
Also 2 Nuthatch have been regular since July and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker is coming in daily at the moment.

Always nice to be able to see my garden as it's in darkness when I leave for work, and similar when I get home. Today was notable for a couple of redwings visiting next doors garden to raid the cotoneaster, the nearest any migrant has got to my garden this year. As well as a couple of blackbirds, there were also two song thrushes which had been absent so far this winter (as far as I know, of course). I was also surprised to see two wrens in my garden, the first 'multiple' sighting I can remember for here. Watching your garden has to be the best bet during winter, as unless you have a nature reserve nearby, it is where you see most birds for least effort. And it's warmer.

This morning:
1 m Sparrowhawk
pair Coal tits
several Blue & Great tits
3 Blackbirds
2 Robins
c 20 House Sparrow
1 Wren

Ooops..!! I'll blame that on the predictive text.

keith mills wrote:

---

Mark Burgess wrote:

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Seen on the mixed seed and Sunflower heart feeders today.

Bullfinch 1m, 1f....

Numerous
Blue, Great and Cold Tits.

---

A Patio heater might be worth a try Mark

---

Mark Burgess wrote:

---

Seen on the mixed seed and Sunflower heart feeders today.

Bullfinch 1m, 1f....

Numerous
Blue, Great and Cold Tits.

---

A Patio heater might be worth a try Mark

Seen on the mixed seed and Sunflower heart feeders today.

Bullfinch 1m, 1f
Willows Tit 2
1 male Pheasant feeding under the feeders

Numerous
Blue, Great and Cold Tits.

This morning

10 Fieldfare south from the front garden
2 Cormorant flew towards the river/canal
Great Spotted Woodpecker on tree opposite house

After a couple of months absence we have Bullfinch pair back in our Hale garden

Still good numbers of 5 Tit species coming to the feeders ( Long Tailed, Blue, Coal, Great, Willow)
numbers of Chaffinches on the increase with a maximum of 7 seen today
Magpies and Jays digging up the nuts that the squirrels are burying
1st Bullfinch of the winter seen today
1st ever Treecreeper in the trees at the back of the garden
3 Blackbirds
2 Robins
Dunnock
Wren
Grey Heron

Things picking up in Wigan now as well.

The last few mornings have seen the following at one time or another.

At least

6 Goldfinches

5 Blue Tits

3/4 Great Tits

A flock of Long Tailed Tits - between 6 and 8 usually.

Pair Coal Tits

Pair Nuthatches

Hen Bullfinch

Hen Chaffinch

First Greenfinch for many years last week - a hen also.

Robin

Dunnock

Song Thrush in trees by the garden Again the first one I've seen for months.

Wrens also in the brambles - what do they eat in Winter as I've never seen one on any of the feeders?

Blackbirds seem to have disappeared here as well,

Busy breakfast time at the feeders this morning:
2 Coal Tits, 6+ Goldfinch , 3 Chaffinch, 2 Robins,1 Blackbird, a Collared Dove passed through and a Jay
round the corner feeding by the walkway

2 jays in my old Trafford garden this morning, one of them enjoying the mealworms.
100+ redwings over heading south at 9.15 am

First Willow Tit of the winter seen today, 2 on the sunflower hearts most of the day.

Saturday 23rd November 2013, pm, Stalybridge

Mainly on the seed and fat ball feeders

c10 goldfinch
c6 chaffinch - a couple had a go at the medlars, but not bletted yet, so no luck
c 6 greenfinch
4 great tits
4 blue tits
2 coal tits
4 long-tailed tits
2 blackbirds
8 house sparrows
2 robins
2 dunnocks
1 wren
2 collared doves
jackdaws
magpies

A bit ironic that I saw more birds in ten minutes looking out of my back window than I sometimes see in a couple of hours traipsing around the hills

My Bromley Cross garden getting much livelier now.

5 Collared Doves
1 Woodpigeon
1 Robin
3 Dunnocks
1 Blackbird
2 Goldcrests (Only ever had one sighting before this morning's visitors )
2 Coal Tits
3 Blue Tits
1 Great Tit
1 Magpie
Pair of House Sparrows
1 Goldfinch. A few others flying over using neighbouring gardens

Also passing over was a Mistle Thrush with the usual Carrion Crows, Jackdaws (30+), Starlings (30+), and Black-headed Gulls.

Two song thrushes in my garden this morning.

An influx of five Robins in my garden this afternoon also the Goldfinches are numbering 60+ either around the feeders or in the surrounding trees. The Greenfinches arrive in ones and twos with a max count of 9 birds. Coal tits have increased to 4 in the past week. No Blackbirds or any thrushes seen in the last 2 weeks.

New record count for my Flixton garden, with 14 Collared Doves.

My bird seed isn't going to last long here in Flixton.
Up to 10 Collared Doves now visiting. Also, new for us, was a Goldfinch on the fat balls.

A bust couple of days on the feeders with good numbers of Coal / Blue / Great Tits
First Long-Tailed Tits of the winter with 2 yesterday and
First Great Spotted Woodpecker of the winter
3 Willow Tits
Wren
Dunnock
2 Robin
Jay
4 Chaffinch
Grey Wagtail (not on the feeders obviously)
plus Sparrowhawk buzzing about the area

-- Edited by Jon Bowen on Sunday 3rd of November 2013 02:34:56 PM

adult female peregrine falcon over my old Trafford garden at 2.40pm heading south west

Grey Wagtail first for my garden today

Female Blackcap

17 Long-tailed tits

2 Goldcrest.

11 Mistle Thrush

Sale Ashton on Mersey.

Keep birding.

Male blackcap in garden this morning- Prestwich area

Hopwood october summary

C dove up to 6
H sparrow up to 14
Dunnocks pair
Robin 1
B tit pair
G tit pair
C tit pair
L tld tit flock of 8 largest occaisionally
Goldcrest 1+
Chaffinch f
Goldfinch 2some times 4
Blackbird pair

Redwood inks singles over day and night
Meadow pipits regularly heard over earlier in month

-- Edited by Mike Cooper on Friday 1st of November 2013 07:33:39 AM

There appears to be good numbers of Jays around our area this autumn but unusually we had one on the feeders in our Hale garden today.

Grey Wagtail in my Davyhulme garden again today.

This afternoon on and around the feeders

12 Greenfinch
2 Dunnock
2 Coal Tit
2 Great Tit
3 Collared Dove
1 Woodpigeon
1 Feral Pigeon
2 Jackdaw demolishing the fat balls

Good action on the feeders this afternoon with 3 Willow Tits present at the same time (garden record) also

2 Coal Tits
4 Great Tits
2 Blue Tits
2 Robin
1 Wren
3 Magpies
1 Grey Heron looking for frogs

-- Edited by Jon Bowen on Sunday 27th of October 2013 04:57:10 PM

This lunchtime.....
1 Goldcrest, 6 Goldfinch, 2 Coal Tits, 2 Blue Tits ...all feeding on the garden Silver Birch tree; until a Sparrowhawk
flushed them.


-- Edited by keith mills on Saturday 26th of October 2013 07:23:05 PM

Not quite a sighting due to complete darkness but sounds like a large movement of Redwings going on over my Irlam back garden at the moment (7.50pm). I was outside for about 15 mins and during that time I could hear Redwings calling overhead every few seconds throughout.

A female Sparrowhawk flew into my Bromley Cross garden this afternoon, perching in a tree for a few minutes. Probably wondering where all the garden birds have gone as there were no other birds in the garden at the time.

Only other birds seen today :-
3 Collared Doves, 1 Woodpigeon, 1 Robin, 2 Dunnocks, 1 Blackbird, 2 Blue Tits, 2 House Sparrows, 1 Magpie.

A pair of Greenfinches were on the feeders yesterday.

At about 1pm a Sparrowhawk killed and ate one of the feral pigeons that regularly visit my garden feeders.It spent a long time on its prey,on the lawn just below the feeders,and it was fantastic to watch,[although I couldn't help but feel sorry for the pigeon,which took some time to die,whilst the hawk was plucking feathers and flesh from its back.]
I had to go out in the afternon,but when I returned later,the hawk had returned and had obviously ate considerable amounts of the pigeon,which it eventually carried off before dusk.

We have been getting regular visits from two Grey Wagtails to our Hale garden pond for the past few days. I have the water level down a bit at the moment and the birds are tucking into the plentiful supply of Water Boatmen which are in easier reach than normal !!

marvin lewis wrote:

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A fantastic garden bird.Red-legged or Grey Neil?

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A Grey Partridge Marvin.

It was in the back garden one morning last week before I went to work.Forgot to mention it before !!

It was on the front drive tonight and didn't fly off until I got out of the car.

To be honest I thought it was a hen Pheasant last week but I was so close to it tonight and I realised it was a lot smaller than a Pheasant and was actually a Partridge.

We live next to Winstanley Estate and there are loads of Pheasants in the woods as there is a shoot over there.

This is a first for me though.I hope it stays around.

A fantastic garden bird.Red-legged or Grey Neil?

I've had a flock of Goldfinches for most of the summer, 20+. But this week they have dwindled, although I have had niger seed feeders, they have preferred the sunflower seed and even some peanuts.
This time last year I had Siskins but no sign since spring.
I had Starlings taking Mealworms today, the first time I have seen Starlings on my feeders.
3 miles from Manchester city centre.

Just got home from work and what is strutting up and down the drive - A Partridge !!!!

That's a first for me in Wigan !!!

Loads of Tits here this Autumn so far.

Lots of Great,Blue,Coal and the occasional Long Tailed Tit.

Also a pair of Nuthatches yesterday.

No Finches at all so far here in Highfield Wigan.

I have also noticed much less acitivity at the feeders at present.A few Greenfinches and Goldfinches, single Blue,Great and Coal Tits,a Robin and Dunnock,a few Collared Doves,Pigeons and Blackbirds and a single Woodpigeon and Magpie.Usually,by now much higher numbers of the above,along with other species not yet seen,including other finches.Cats do visit my garden but this doesn't usually put the birds off for long.
I have also noticed plenty of the above in the vicinity,and presume there is plenty of natural food around.I think the mild conditions may also be playing a part.

My garden seems to be on a par with yours Andy. There are plenty of the regular local birds feeding not far away from my local gardens so I am presuming they have plenty of food and do not need the garden food as much.

I don't know what anyone else thinks, but things seem a bit 'funny' this year. Perhaps it's the glut of food available in the wild, the mild conditions or what? Haven't even heard a siskin yet this side of summer when I usually have them over the estate during September. Coal tit is usually an early season visitor, but no sign yet. Numbers of some things seem pathetically small: if I only get 5 house sparrows during the 'real' feeding season, I'm going to have quite a bit of food over. I thought that they had had a good breeding season, with three broods evident for some pairs, but where have the young all gone? Down cats' throat's, I'd wager. I'm hoping that everything is still running to a later clock this year after the cold spring (autumn moths have barely shown their faces yet), and that things will liven up in November. Let's hope so.