1 Coal Tit & 2 Great Tit in Timperley garden

Dukinfield. 07.00hrs.

2 Fieldfare over, very high up ...... heading SE,

Roger.

After an absence of a month or so a Bullfinch pair is back in our Hale garden

7.15 this am, 15 Jackdaw ( NE) over my garden.

2 Dunnock
1 Robin
4 Collard Dove
3 Wood pigeon
3 Mistle Thrush over my Hindley Garden Today

Heywood yesterday Sun 7/10

I saw 3 separate Jays in the town & suburbs - anybody else noticing Jays? I understand there was a large movement into Eat Anglai over the weekend

Late post for yesterday,

2 Siskin

Very pleased as this is a garden first for me.

Funny how the nice weather takes us humans out into the garden - and it surprises us with bird sightings!

In about 1 hour around lunchtime today:

Pair of Sparrowhawk over, circling and rising on the thermals for a full 5 minutes.

Usual coal, great and blue tits, augmented by a very persistent Nuthatch caming back and forth for the sunflower seeds the whole time we were out.

Pair of Greater Black Backed Gulls, circling and rising on the thermals as if in mimicry of the earlier Sparrowhawks.

I spent a quiet hour after finishing work early this afternoon just watching the birds in my garden after I topped up the feeders and put some scraps out. Two Grey wagtails were surprise visitors as they spent 5 minutes around my two small ponds. A Greater spotted woodpecker enjoyed a peanut/fat slab and two Jays removed over 20 Grapes that I had put out on the path. Also seen in the garden;

2 Jackdaws
7 Greenfinch
18+ Goldfinch
4 Dunnocks
3 Great tits
Coal tit
Blue tit
2 Robins
14 House sparrows
7 Starlings
Woodpigeon
Blackbird
2 Feral pigeons

I wonder what I miss when I am in work

A Zephyr of between 8 to 10 Long-tailed Tits on my Silver Birch tree , this morning.

Jay feeding from scraps on our back lawn in Leigh this afternoon - it's a good few years since one visited us!

Grey Wagtail returned to the garden on Monday and again today it only appears during Autumn/Winter .

Also one of our many greenfinches decided to fly into the window and gave itself a real headache, we picked it up and kept it warm for a while then as it recovered it was happy to sit in a bush before flying off half an our later. It's amazing how little they weigh but even so was significantly heavier than the goldfinch that did the same thing a couple of years ago, with the same happy result !

Pete Hines wrote:

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I bought the feeder from Parkers Garden Centre in Flixton about 10 years ago for c£13. I think its a Quebecan make designed for woodpeckers. It's strong enough to stop squirrels wrecking it but dosn't stop them trying to get at nuts. Myself and a neighbour have been stuffing it with a fatball / seed mix lately, the squirrels don't bother now and its always busy with birds.

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Thanks pete , I might check parkers out , it looks a really good feeder,
the fatball /seed mix is a good idea , thanks again Mark...

I bought the feeder from Parkers Garden Centre in Flixton about 10 years ago for c£13. I think its a Quebecan make designed for woodpeckers. It's strong enough to stop squirrels wrecking it but dosn't stop them trying to get at nuts. Myself and a neighbour have been stuffing it with a fatball / seed mix lately, the squirrels don't bother now and its always busy with birds.

It seems there are a lot of nuthatch visiting gardens I had one
in my garden last week it went right inside my Nuttery globe feeder
the squirrel proof type and took a couple of sunflower seeds
I must say that feeder you show in the footage looks squirrel proof and good quality where
did you get it

also I had a good view of a male sparrowhawk hunting at the back
of my house flushing blackbirds out of the sorbus trees it went hungry,
the magpies followed it about though nice to observe.

Adrian Drummond-Hill wrote:

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Pete Hines wrote:

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male Blackcap in my Chorlton garden
& 2 Nuthatch here

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Nice video. How did you manage to get your feeder hang at that angle?

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I had a hangover !

Pete Hines wrote:

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male Blackcap in my Chorlton garden
& 2 Nuthatch here

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Nice video. How did you manage to get your feeder hang at that angle?

Absolutely over the moon, there's a nuthatch on my feeder! First time i've ever had one in 7 years of feeding, stunning bird (think its a female but will need better views to confirm). In the process of cutting a hole in my shed to use as a hide.

male Blackcap in my Chorlton garden
& 2 Nuthatch here

vis mig session in the garden in Timperley

1 Redwing
c10 Meadow Pipit
1 Pied Wagtail
2 Swallow
1 Jay



-- Edited by James Walsh on Saturday 29th of September 2012 09:18:39 AM

A record 16 Siskin accompanied by a couple of Goldfinch in our Bolton garden today with a surprising first ever visit from a Goldcrest.

John

I have been getting good flocks of goldfinches in the garden for several weeks now. Not as many as Daves 43 but in the 30's on several occasions. As an additional bonus they have been accompanied by decent flocks of greenfinches (up to 12 on some days). Last year I was bemoaning the fact that I wasn't seeing many greenfinches in the garden or on my walks, so it seems as they have made a strong comeback in the area (Irlam). Another big suprise this morning was 2 siskins on the niger feeder with the goldfinches. I have never seen them in the garden at this time of year. All the usual visitors are lookig good except the blackbirds which are in moult. The only other thing of note is I have not seen any dunnocks for 4 weeks or so. All this extra activity is costing me but its great and lets hope it continues.

Mike

At least 43 Goldfinch arrived at my Swinton garden at 17.45 today in the pouring rain. Over half of the birds fed on the ground under the occupied feeders. Two of the birds were wearing metal rings. Thats probably the most Goldfinches at one sitting I've ever had in my garden.

Jay, Brook Way, Timperley

A siskin on our feeders today, holding its own against the bullying goldfinches. First timer for autumn: we tend to get a few towards the end of the winter but not at other times. Early dispersion due the cold in Scotland, perhaps? Four juvenile bullfinches have become regulars since late August, again unusual.

A Wren on my feeders this morning...I have not seen it up there before.

-- Edited by keith mills on Thursday 20th of September 2012 11:14:33 AM

still no luck 2 months on
i think my 2nd floor balcony is too far from the trees (30ft!)

First nuthatch for me on my feeders in Harwood this morning.

2 Nuthatch in garden today
Also first Chaffinch I've seen for a while

Chiffchaff singing in neighbours garden this morning ( first this year). Heard at least 5 prior to this walking dogs with my wife round Pennington Flash Rucks .

78 Meadow Pipits flew over a Tyldesley garden in only 30 minutes prior to 9am this morning.

Info thanks to Andy Isherwood

Seen over the house today

1 Buzzard
1 Swallow

Hopwood 07:50

Siskin flew over calling

Coal tit on my window feeder this morning (swinton)

Dunnock in Timperley garden

Very vocal pair of Tawny Owls in our Hale garden at 05.30 this morning.

For the first time ever, a Nuthatch was in my garden this morning on the sunflower feeder. I presume it has come across from Pennington Park. Of interest, Barry Hulme has just seen one at the Flash Bunting Hide - wonder if it is the same one!

If you aren't seeing new birds, seeing something unusual is a good second best. Looking out from my bedroom window just before 8.00 p.m. tonight, I saw a shape pass by about fifteen feet away at eye level: the usual pipistrelle, I thought, but not seeming right for that. On its second pass, I saw a much lighter patch on it and enough of a silhouette against a lighter background to i.d. it as a house martin. It did about four passes about five meters above the garden, and that was it. Not too unusual you think, but I don't know where the nearest house martins are nesting to my home these days, and I haven't seen more than one previously overhead the whole summer. Most interesting was that it was at least 80% dark, and I am not aware that house martins have night vision!! Certainly, I've never seen one hunting so late (all other birds had knocked off). I wonder if it had had trouble feeding in the poor weather today and had decided to catch a few moths to make up for it. Well I'm intrigued anyway!

Common Buzzard over Brook Way, Timperley at 3:30pm

a first for my garden today, a flyover Jay, i always like this time of year when Jays are very visible flying around collecting food, first time ive seen one at home,

5.45 this evening:
As I sat in the back garden watching Jackdaws streaming over the trees across the Middlebrook Valley, a Green Woodpecker bounced up the hill towards me. Clearing the tall garden hedges and passing a couple of yards beyond my rear boundary, and heading in a direction for Rumworth
The first one I have seen this year and the first ever in this area.

Tawny Owl flying around the garden woke me at 3.40 this morning.

A neighbour had his first Nuthatch on his bird table yesterday. I am still waiting for my first.

Goldcrest at least 5 poss 7 in my garden today flitting around , 3 coal tits.

A new garden tick for me today as a Raven flew over my house in Cheadle Hulme rather loudly.
A great bird to see at any time.

My first look out of the window early morning showed 5 Collared Doves on my garden archway. The last couple of weeks three have been regular. They were soon replaced by a couple of Woodpigeons. No wonder my peanut bill is ever increasing !

Other regular birds up to 8am were :-
2 Dunnocks
1 Robin
2 Blackbirds
2 Coal Tits
1 Blue Tit
1 Magpie

Lesser Black-backed Gulls as usual flew over at dawn, as well as Jackdaws, and as I returned from the paper shop a Pied Wagtail flew over.
Other daily visitors are a Goldfinch and a Greenfinch.

1.30pm - 1 Raven 'cronking' and heading east over my back garden in Irlam

Nick Isherwood wrote:

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Just had a Goldcrest in the garden with a roving flock of titmice.

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A Nuthatch in the flock now too. A good bird for my garden. Only two previous records.

Just had a Goldcrest in the garden with a roving flock of titmice.

Just been watching a peregrine mobbing a common buzzard,for the last ten minutes or so, high above our Stockport garden
Good numbers of juvenile goldfinch at the moment,with up to ten individuals at once on the nyjer and sunflower kernels.
The bullfinches seem to have disappeared over the last few weeks...never did see any juveniles though
On a brighter note, the coal tits have made a welcome return,over the last few days.

Cheers Chris

Hearing a pair of Tawny Owls tonight and the last 2 nights here near Lilford Park in Leigh. Great to hear them again - it's been a while.