I had a greenfinch fly into a window today, knocking itself out. I went out and found it on the path on it's back but still breathing. My next problem was where to put it where it would be safe from magpies, squirrels or cats. I have a ground feeder with a cage over it so placed it on the feeding tray. When I returned after an hour, it was sat with its head tucked against it's body and seemed to be sleeping. As it had managed to tuck its head up I discounted it having broken its neck so left it. After a two hour trip into town, I went back to see how it was and it had gone from the feeder tray. Looking on the bright side I assume it came round and was fit enough to fly off.

closely followed by a 1st ever Goldcrest ( heart skipped a beat as 1st view looked warbler like)

Jon Bowen wrote:

---

Couple of autumn 'first' this morning in my garden in Horwich
12 Redwing over heading West
1 Jay on the bird table

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Couple of autumn 'first' this morning in my garden in Horwich
12 Redwing over heading West
1 Jay on the bird table

Grey Wagtail by pond in my Davyhulme Garden. First ever!

Just got back from post office to find a dead greenfinch under the feeder :(
Wren just been in
Sparrowhawk a constant visitor recently

over 40 house sparrows dominating my feeders this morning, also...
1 dunnock
1 robin
1 greenfinch
2 great tits
redwings over 43 north west, 10 north east, 28 north & 2 east with 1 fieldfare.

additional birds this afternoon...

1 sparrowhawk
4 great tits
1 blue tit
1 woodpigeon
12 goldfinches
1 grey heron being pursued by 6 magpies.
redwings over 4 east, 6 south.
old Trafford garden.

-- Edited by steven burke on Sunday 13th of October 2013 07:07:53 PM

-- Edited by steven burke on Sunday 13th of October 2013 07:09:28 PM

Coal tit in my parent's back garden. Sydney Avenue, Leigh

Redwing over my garden also this morning, heard first before I noted 7 fly over while I walked to the car. The first I've seen.

Hopwood

Redwing over this morning at 09;00 first of winter for me (late?)

c15 Redwings over my back garden in Woodsmoor, Stockport at 07:45 this morning - first of the year, 10 days earlier than last year.

half a day of work today & as I was getting home (old Trafford) at around 12.05pm 80+ redwings over heading north west, looked like there was a few larger birds in there also, pretty sure I heard fieldfares in there. after I put my bike away I went straight into my back garden & within the next ten minutes there was another 3 flocks, 60+, 40+ & 4 redwings all again heading north west.

Barn Owl in my Woodford Garden just now before the light completely went :)

Female sparrowhawk perched on branch right infront of conservatory this afternoon, very still. After about ten minutes a pigeon from the roof came down and perched right next to it. Both looked at each other in stunned fashion and pigeon made rapid exit, was so funny. Sparrowhawk just been in and took a pigeon but was disturbed. Dogs went to investigate pigeon but it has managed to fly off, but looked injured.
Were 3 Buzzards overhead yesterday pm.
(Heaton Mersey)

Two Buzzards together over my Bromley Cross garden this afternoon

In my Swinton garden this afternoon as the rain came down were 47+ Goldfinches around my sunflower heart feeders with more birds in the nearby trees. Plenty of juvenile birds and also 8 Greenfinches.

Thursday 3rd October 2013, 2.00pm

Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge

mixed flock of 20+ feeding on birch, sycamore, and berries, consisting of
chaffinch
goldfinch
blue tit
great tit
long-tailed tit
coal tit

also robin
collared doves
jackdaws
blackbirds

-- Edited by David Walsh on Thursday 3rd of October 2013 08:35:05 PM

Monday 30th September 2013, 6.15pm

Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge

1 female and 4 juv blackbirds together, one feeding on greengages still on tree
1 robin
1 great tit
2 collared doves
3 jackdaws dive-bombing seed feeders
2 woodpigeons

8 Blue tits
1 Chiffchaff
3 Dunnock
2 Robin
upwards of 30 House sparrows
Buzzard over
2 Coal tits

Sunday 29th September 2013, 7.30am

Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge

3 juv blackbirds feeding on windfall greengages
5 juv goldfinch in birch tree
2 collared doves stealing hen food
1 robin
4 starlings on roof

A Nuthatch making frequent visits to the garden feeders over the last hour

Flock of 15+ goldfinches hanging around my swinton garden the last couple of days
Cheers Jay
Don't twitch and drive

Had a Grey Wagtail on the rocks/plants in our Hale garden pond this afternoon.

No less than NINE magpies in my Leigh garden this morning - one has learned to use the fat ball feeder, and the others were catching the crumbs. Not sure this is a very helpful development!

Sparrowhawk high over in the early afternoon. Maybe it fancies a bit of Magpie?

Good views of a Willow warbler in my Wythenshawe garden

Charming mixed flock taking advantage of a break in the weather and marauding through the hedgerow just beyond our Denton garden's boundary: a dozen goldfinches, a dozen house sparrows, a similar sized family of long-tailed tits plus blue tits, great tits and a willow warbler making up the numbers.

A Grey Wagtail flew over the front garden this morning.

Thursday 12th September 2013, 10.00am

Huddersfield Road Stalybridge

Lot of juveniles in the garden this morning, feeding on beech, birch, hawthorn, and elder

flock of approx 20 mixed finches, all juvenile. Roughly equal numbers of chaffinch, goldfinch, and greenfinch.
2 great tit
3 juv house sparrows
male blackbird
2 collared doves
2 juv dunnock
robins calling
plus starlings, jackdaws, magpies, and woodpigeon

Friday 6th September, mid-morning, Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge.

Mixed flock of predominantly juvenile finches and tits feeding on various berries and birch seeds for well over an hour in the rain. Counted well over 20 birds, with numbers roughly as follows:

3 juv chaffinch
2 juv greenfinch
6 juv goldfinch
3 juv coal tits
the remainder a mix of blue and great tit, with the odd adult of each thrown in
resident robins making a right old din all the while
also 2 dunnock
3 blackbirds
4 collared doves trying to poach poultry food

Second visit this week from Nuthatch. 2 birds today.
Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Collared Dove and house sparrows regulars throughout year.



Ashton under Lyne.

Weds 4th Sept. 16.00 hrs.

My Dukinfield back garden.

30+ House Sparrows .... pleased to see ... usually only the odd one or two.
17 Starling.

Also at 07.00 hrs this morning (all passing over) in about 10 minutes.

5 Swallow.
2 Meadow Pipit.
1 Pied Wagtail.
100+ Starling in 5 flocks.

Roger.

1 Curlew heading NW over my Irlam garden at 8.15am this morning. Alerted to it by it's call.

Male Sparrowhawk in garden this morning ( Stalybridge) , 1st we have seen for a while , nice to see .

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 29th of August 2013 05:01:56 PM

Returning home this evening : a female Sparrowhawk atop my Larch tree.

This pm: 2 Coal Tits back on my feeders for the second time this week. Always regulars in the past
but absent since late last winter. Good to see them here again

3 curlews calling high over my old Trafford garden this morning at 9.20 am heading in a north westerly direction.
Also a great spotted woodpecker was heard whilst I was in the back garden, I went into my front garden to investigate and it was in a tree opposite my next door but one neighbours house, it then flew low down towards the end of my street

Since coming back from Cyprus 3 weeks ago the feeders which had been emptied whilst we were away have been very quiet.

I refilled them when we got back but nothing special has visited apart from Blue and Great Tits and a few Sparrows.

However looked out 20 minutes ago and was delighted to spot a pair of Bullfinches in the black sunflower tray.

A Nuthatch visited the garden today - first sighting in the garden since last winter
Also female Bullfinch present

Stalybridge

Juvenile collared dove somehow made it's way into one of the poultry arks this afternoon and had to be escorted from the premises. Thank goodness it avoided the beehives.

Greenfinch, blackbirds, robin, goldfinch, house sparrow, great and blue tit, and dunnock seem to have had a good season in the gardens this year.

Probably feeding on my bees

Dukinfield

2 pristine young Willow Warblers made a brief visit to our garden this morning, chasing each other and gleaning insects from an apple tree.
Noted another about 3 weeks ago, a very scruffy individual, probably a post breeding adult.
Along with the one seen in spring makes this an exceptional year for seeing these special birds passing through the garden.

A first for my old Trafford garden this morning around 8.50am a female ( or possibly juvenile ) blackcap it did not stick around for too long as I was cleaning out my feeders, now my feeders are clean and topped up let's hope it returns. I put an extra feeder of fatballs out to tempt it back

Just been watching two Tawny Owls perched on our TV aerial! I was sitting listening to them in the trees behind our garden, and they flew out pretty much directly over me, to perch for a good few minutes on the aerial. Very impressive sight!

29th July.

First visit to my Chadderton garden for a while from a Mistle Thrush. It was visiting the Rowan tree in the front garden and taking the berries which have only just ripened. There is a very poor crop of berries this year - so they won't last long once the Starlings attack them! Have been feeding quite large flocks of Starlings and House Sparrows throughout the summer with c25 House Sparrows and c40 Starlings regularly visiting. Many in the flocks are juveniles so they appear to have had a decent breeding season locally anyway.

This is not really the place for such a reminder but here goes!

For many species the core months of the breeding season are now drawing to a close and maybe now is the time for those not already sending their records in to Ian to give it some further serious thought? All records received will be of value but breeding season records are perhaps the most important ones that we need, to try and help protect our local birds and the sites that they use. There is now a nice choice of recording methods available to suit all needs. When sending your records in please, please do not forget to code your breeding season records with the appropriate breeding codes. To add a breeding code to a record is simple and takes just a few seconds but adds many times value to the worth of that sighting. Information on the choice of methods now available to record and submit your sightings and details of the aforementioned breeding codes are readily available elsewhere on Ian's website/forums. If birders need pointing in the right direction on either of these topics, then please remember help and guidance is always at available. Just ask!

Many thanks,

Bill.


-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Monday 29th of July 2013 07:38:00 AM

As if it isn't hard enough to sleep during these hot stuffy nights I had a Tawny Owl screeching outside my bedroom window at 6am this morning.
When my resident pair of Blackbirds had finished with that they had a Jay to contend with. Things were a little noisy !

3 juvenile Coal Tits, 2 juvenile Blue Tits and 2 juvenile Long-tailed Tits in a mixed feeding party yesterday.

Cheers John

Epic sightings in our Leigh garden yesterday. Four Jays in the morning and an excellent if brief view of one of the Tawny Owls that have been chunnering away in the copse behind us for days now. Flew over us as we sat talking in the garden at ten pm. We think there's probably a family of tawnies as there are soft owl sounds coming from different locations in the trees. Wonderful to listen to!

7 Crossbills just flown SW over Church Road Astley

Dukinfield

Amazing amount of juvenile birds in our garden recently, can't remember anything like this in the last 10 years.
10+ each juvs of Blue and Great Tit.
3 Coal Tit Juvs,
House Sparrow population has exploded. I see hardly any during the winter and spring but now must be being visited by 20+ birds, lots of young feeding themselves and others still being attended by parents.
Multiple juvs of Goldfinch and Greenfinch accompanied by up to 8 adults each, young Chaffinch also.
2 young Nuthatch that have not quite managed to master the skill of landing on hanging feeders are having to make do with picking at spill on the ground at the moment.
2 young Robins are already showing signs of defending their own territory.
Juv Dunnock also appears from time to time.
Second lot of juv Starlings this summer, upwards of 12 this time.
Even had a juvenile Blackbird in, these have been as rare as hens teeth around here in recent years.
Other birds visiting:-
2 or 3 Jackdaw, Magpie, Wren, Collared Dove and Wood Pigeon.
Male and female Great Spotted Woodpecker
2 male and 1 female Bullfinch.
The other day a male Sparrowhawk flew in and landed on the grass with a male Sparrow in its talons that was still alive when it started plucking it, too distressing to watch so didn't. Probably the same hawk flew in a couple of days later and nabbed a Goldfinch off the feeder. Not entirely happy with this "easy pickings" but suppose that's the way of things in nature. Watch the skies for flocks eh? of Sparrowhawks in the autumn.

Hope this breeding season continues as successfully as it appears to be doing up to now.

Had a quiet couple of weeks in my Irlam garden with just Blackbird's,Blue tit's pigeon's but yesterday it came to life I have a tree which bare's fruit and they are now ready.

Bullfinch 1m 1f first this year

Greenfinch x 5

Blackbirds x 8

Starling x 6 not seen any for weeks

Goldfinch X5

Well done Michael on the Jay's still not seen 1 in Irlam.

-- Edited by Phil White on Monday 8th of July 2013 07:43:16 PM

Still getting 2-3 jays a day in my Irlam garden, the past 8 years we've lived in this house, they've usually just been winter and early spring visitors.

Tawny Owl heard again between 3.30 am and 4.0am. Ashton under Lyne.