29 Goosander roosted 2 Woodcock flew over at dusk 15 Great Black-backed Gulls amongst loads of large gulls, all flew off in the direction of Rivington as is often the case here. Tawny Owl showing well. 1 Willow Tit
Simon Johnson said
Sat Feb 7 12:53 PM, 2015
other bits and bobs from this morning -
Willow tit - singing along the river bank at Bennies, Kingfisher several Goldcrest and Grey Wagtail in same area
on the res an impressive 638 Canada Geese with 2 Pink-footed geese in amongst them, 5 Gadwall, 45 Lapwing on the ice, 8 Mute Swans, 2 Grest-crested and 1 Little grebe, 2 Goldeneye, and 20 Goosander.
Withins - 14 Goosander and 6 Teal, another 2 Teal on Capsticks
Woodcock flew east over the canal at the stud at dawn
30+ Feildfare at Crow Tree Farm and 9 Mistle Thrush
5 Bullfinch in the dip plus 1 at the feeding station plus 16 Meadow pipit flew over
Sparrowhawk and 2 Kestrel also seen
Ian Campbell said
Sat Feb 7 11:28 AM, 2015
This a.m. with Paul W and Simon J, Simon heard(all 3 of us did, but he was quickest to recognise) a Lesser Redpoll fly over us by the river, which we then all saw, I remained as Simon and Paul went off to look for Little Owl and 15 Mins later 2 more Redpolls flew past down river. Simon will probably post later with numbers of all other birds seen e.g. Canada Geese. Elton year list now 78. Cheers Ian
Ian Campbell said
Fri Feb 6 10:58 AM, 2015
This a.m. with Ian P, 1 Water Rail seen well near Benny's; on res, which was almost totally frozen, 7 Gadwall, 2 Goldeneye and 33 Lapwing of note. At feeding station, 1 Willow Tit seen with all the usual Finches and other tits. Cheers Ian Not bird related but there was the remains of a cannabis farm in Benny's car park, so people need to be aware of potentially dodgy characters if they visit.
Ian Campbell said
Thu Feb 5 12:07 PM, 2015
2 vists this a.m. 7.30-9.00, 16 Goosander, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Goldeneye and the Gadwall had increased to 7. At feeding area (all the feeders have now been stolen/vandalised repeatedly, so food now put on ground) Willow Tit heard but not seen. 11.00-11.30 lots of all the common gulls (except Great Black-backed) on a large piece of floating ice giving close views, best as I was leaving my 1st 100% certain Rook of the year flying over in direction of Holcombe. Elton year list now 77. Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Thursday 5th of February 2015 05:12:43 PM
Steven Higginbottom said
Wed Feb 4 11:03 AM, 2015
07:00-1030 With Ian C of note 33 Goosander 6 Gadwall 1 Shelduck 1 Wigeon 2 Bullfinch 1 Willow Tit
Cheers Steven
Steven Higginbottom said
Tue Feb 3 11:00 AM, 2015
08:00-10:30 With Ian C & Ian P very Quite on Elton Res . Withins of note 400+ Canada Geese 1 Pink Footed Goose flew towards bury at 09:30am with 12 Canada Geese 1 Little Grebe 1 Kingfisher
Feeding area 1 Willow Tit 1 Goldcrest 2 Long tailed Tit. 1 Bullfinch
Arrived this morning to find all the Feeders had been removed.
Cheers Steven
Ian Campbell said
Mon Feb 2 11:28 AM, 2015
This a.m. with Ian P, Single Oystercatcher still present as is the Pink-foot amongst the Canadas. Water Rail heard below Bennys and 2 Stock Dove over. Cheers Ian
Simon Warford said
Sat Jan 31 4:45 PM, 2015
This morning with the Elton regulars;
1 Woodcock 1 Nuthatch still around car park / approach road to sailing club. 1 Buzzard 30 Goosander 1 Pink-footed Goose amongst the many Canada Geese 7 Teal 1 Goldeneye 2 Little Grebe
The highlight by far was a Peregrine chasing an Oystercatcher over the reservoir forcing it to land on the water in the middle of the reservoir for safety or so it thought but then the Peregrine repeatedly tried to pluck the Oystercatcher off the water forcing it to dive under on several occaisions, this went on for about five minutes before the Peregrine flew off and eventually the Oystercatcher hauled itself out on Wader Point looking rather exhausted.
Ian Campbell said
Fri Jan 30 11:41 AM, 2015
7.45-10.00 a.m. with Steve and Ian, Oystercatcher still present, Woodcock seen flying possibly from Capsticks in direction of Old Hall marsh, also possible Dunlin flying off. On res. 2 Little Grebe and 5 Goldeneye. Feeding station very busy with all the usual Finches etc. Cheers Ian
Steven Higginbottom said
Thu Jan 29 10:18 AM, 2015
07:00-09-45am with Ian C Ian has now a year total of 76 with the addition of 1 Oystercatcher Other sightings include 1 Peregrine 5 Goldeye 21 Goosander at first light 2 Little Grebe.
Feeding area busy despite being vandalised with 1 of the wire nut feeders attached to the tree trunk being cut the from top to bottom and 1 of Brians and Richards feeder disapering with 3 fat feeders, 3 Seed feeder 2 of which where made from bottles the other repaired with twigs for perches. Still attracting they birds with Longtailed tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit & Great tit. Bullfinch Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Wren House Sparrow, Reed Bunting,Wood pigeon Magpie and Carrion Crow all seen using feeding station this morning.
Cheers Steven
Ian Campbell said
Wed Jan 28 11:10 AM, 2015
7.30-10.00 a.m. in rain and wind nearly made bearable by 5 Dunlin flying low over the water then off NW, also 23 Goosander. Elton year list now 75. Cheers Ian
Ian Campbell said
Tue Jan 27 11:53 AM, 2015
Back on topic !, with Paul and Steve from 7.30-10.00 (they were here even earlier !!), 1 Shelduck, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Goldeneye and 14 Goosander of note on res. Elton year list now 74. Cheers Ian
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Jan 26 7:34 PM, 2015
Paul Wilson wrote:
This thread is going off topic guys :)
Agreed Paul, but such a public question requires a public answer me thinks
Paul Wilson said
Mon Jan 26 6:56 PM, 2015
This thread is going off topic guys :)
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Jan 26 6:47 PM, 2015
Other feral birds?
Shouldn't really be counting any other 'feral birds' to be fair Ian. Categories A, B and C are 'officially' acceptable but most occurring Barnacle Geese in GM are considered to be category E (not acceptable on the BOU British List) and do not come under category A or C2. Mandarin, Egyptian Goose and Ring-necked Parakeet are currently acceptable under category C1 though certainly individuals of each of the first two species could come under category E and some personal discretion usually applies with them (frankly those species are all as bad as each other in 'escapee' terms). Other potentially 'dodgy' species are treated on their own merits (Red-crested Pochard etc).
Ian Campbell said
Mon Jan 26 5:37 PM, 2015
Ian McKerchar wrote:
Ian Campbell wrote:
had a Barnacle Goose (still don't understand why we can't count these Geese) Cheers Ian
No one can stop you counting what you want on your personal lists and quite right too, but for 'competitive listing' purposes on Manchester Birding alone see here
Not wishing to be argumentative (), but still don't understand when we can "officially" count so many other feral birds. Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Monday 26th of January 2015 05:40:17 PM
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Monday 26th of January 2015 05:40:45 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Jan 26 11:47 AM, 2015
Ian Campbell wrote:
had a Barnacle Goose (still don't understand why we can't count these Geese) Cheers Ian
No one can stop you counting what you want on your personal lists and quite right too, but for 'competitive listing' purposes on Manchester Birding alone see here
Ian Campbell said
Mon Jan 26 11:17 AM, 2015
7.20-10.00 a.m. with Ian, quite a good morning, very early a Woodcock flew over my head at Old Hall Farm, as the light improved had a Barnacle (still don't understand why we can't count these Geese) and Greylag Goose near wader point amongst the Canadas. Little Owl near usual spot. 2 Skylark in field past Capsticks farm and the 3 Little Grebe still present on res. Elton year list now 73 Cheers Ian
Simon Johnson said
Sun Jan 25 6:13 PM, 2015
few duck on withins this afternoon whilst the boats were out
2 Gadwall, 51 Tufted Duck, 2 Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, 12 Cormorant, 2 Teal and a single snipe. Little owl usual spot 100+ Redwing and 50 Fieldfare withins/captsick area Water Rail heard in a small marsh by bridge 19 over the canal. in the dip 4 Bullfinch and Willow tit heard plus two guys in the bushes digging away after some verbal abuse and police intervention turned out they were burying the remains of a canabis farm!! (unfortunately they got away)
Paul Wilson said
Sun Jan 25 2:23 PM, 2015
Nuthatch again seen this morning, making it's way from the opposite end of the hedgerow from feeders, up towards the car park, contact calling all the way. Also about 20 Redwing and 4 Mistle Thrush seen in various fields at car park end.
Steven Higginbottom said
Sun Jan 25 1:10 PM, 2015
Feeding station this morning busy with Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Reed Bunting, House Sparrows , Blackbird, Robin, Jay, Magpie & Starling . Thanks to Brian and Richard for their help with feeders and good advice. We have also started to have regular visits of Bullfinch. Cheers Steven
Ian Campbell said
Sun Jan 25 11:52 AM, 2015
Couple of hours this a.m. with Steve, Paul and Ian, 13 Goosander flew off at 1st light, then 5 more flew by later and at least 7 Goldeneye present also. Steven's feeding station now has a new feeder thanks to a donation from Richard Thew. Cheers Ian
Simon Johnson said
Sat Jan 24 6:59 PM, 2015
Woodcock flew into old hall Marsh at dusk 41 Goosander - 30 of which flew off after 5 off road bikes decided to tear around the whole res 400 Jackdaw over too roost
Ian Campbell said
Sat Jan 24 10:25 AM, 2015
This a.m. with Paul W and Ian P, on canal as I arrived a brief view of Water Rail, as I was seeing this Paul had a Shelduck flying off ( missed this ), on res 3 Little Grebe and 1 Goldeneye. Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 24th of January 2015 12:58:05 PM
George Warburton said
Fri Jan 23 3:41 PM, 2015
1.30 to 3.00 pm
Song Thrush - 1 Grey Wagtail - 1 Lapwing - 16 Bullfinch - 5 Goosander - 7 Pochard - 1 Little Grebe - 3 Goldeneye - 1F Greenfinch and Goldfinch - many on feeders Many of usual gulls including one Black-headed Gull with almost complete 'black' head. Still white round base of bill.
Ian Campbell said
Fri Jan 23 11:51 AM, 2015
8.00-10.00 a.m. 5 Wigeon(flew off West at 8.40), 1 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and 3 Little Grebe on res. 2 Goosander on river. Cheers Ian
Richard Thew said
Thu Jan 22 2:58 PM, 2015
Elton update: Several gulls have now unfortunately dispersed, I arrived just in time to scan around them. It was mostly thanks to a few dog walkers seeing who can throw stones the furthest with their kids. Still a very good number but most are black headed gulls. a Few goosanders are there too, mostly drakes. Nothing much else seen of interest.
Richard Thew said
Thu Jan 22 2:27 PM, 2015
Packed full of gulls. Not seen anything unusual yet. Just herring, lesser black backed, black headed and common gulls.
Ian Campbell said
Thu Jan 22 11:32 AM, 2015
Good stomp around fields to North of res. this a.m. with Steve H but little to report other than heard Great Spotted Woodpecker, on res for last 2 days now are 3 Little Grebe. Cheers Ian
Ian Campbell said
Wed Jan 21 4:47 PM, 2015
7.30-9.30 this a.m. joined by Steve H and his amazing variety of homemade feeders, apparently more in production(he will not be beat by the local pondlife), huge numbers of Finches/Tits enjoying the Michellin style quisine. More than can be said for us in the constant sleet, nothing of note on the res apart from the 10 Goosander that went somewhere better at 1st light !. Cheers Ian
Ian Campbell said
Tue Jan 20 2:32 PM, 2015
2.25 p.m. 130 Pink footed Geese flying NW. As seen from front garden. Elton year list now 71. Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Tuesday 20th of January 2015 02:40:55 PM
Ian Campbell said
Tue Jan 20 11:35 AM, 2015
1st light 'till 10.30 a.m. in dip Great Spotted Woodpecker and Willow Tit, on a mostly frozen res 2 Little Grebe in creek area. Raven landed on top of pylon in front of boathouse for 10 mins and Ian P. had Nuthatch. Elton year list now 70. Cheers Ian
Ian Campbell said
Sun Jan 18 7:43 PM, 2015
This morning in the fog with Steve H, at least 1 Nuthatch gave great (yes I'm certain Simon ) views close to yesterdays sighting, there could have been 2 birds present, also 2 Treecreeper in same area. On res difficult to see anything, 3 Goldeneye and the Little Grebe were very vocal. The homemade feeders are still in place and are attracting lots of customers. Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Sunday 18th of January 2015 09:10:18 PM
Steven Higginbottom said
Sat Jan 17 4:52 PM, 2015
14:30-15:00 PM WHEN CHECKING FEEDERS Skein of around 90 Pink Footed Geese flew low west over Res at 14:40 pm Home made feeders starting to be used by Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit & Great Tit which is great to see. Also Reed Bunting, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird and 100+ House Sparrows feeding on the Ground.
3 Goldeneye 1 Meadow Pipit
Cheers Steven
-- Edited by Steven Higginbottom on Saturday 17th of January 2015 04:59:30 PM
This a.m. with Paul W and Ian P, 4 Wigeon at 1st light, along with 25 Goosander, 2 Little Grebe and 3 Goldeneye. On way home when Paul phoned to say that he and Ian had a Nuthatch near hospital, straight back and thanks to Ian for refinding it . Elton year list now 69. Cheers Ian
Ian Campbell said
Thu Jan 15 2:24 PM, 2015
This a.m. large numbers of Gulls, 500+ Black-headed with Great, Lesser-black Backed, Common and Herring also. 4 Goldeneye and the 2 Little Grebe on the res. Dipper flew from canal side across road down to the river as I was leaving. Elton year list now 67. Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Thursday 15th of January 2015 02:49:18 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Jan 14 9:22 PM, 2015
This sightings thread is going well off topic currently gents so please could we get back on track.
Please refer any further comments about text groups in particular via private message.
Paul Wilson said
Wed Jan 14 9:05 PM, 2015
They were definitely stolen. A handful went missing each day until no were left, except one damaged one and two home made ones. Expect to see some at your local car book sale in the next few weeks.
Paul Wilson said
Wed Jan 14 9:01 PM, 2015
Damian Young wrote:
In response to Paul Wilson. Have you considered setting up an Elton reservoir twitter account? It's really easy to do and then anyone with a interest could access and post sightings without you having to send individual messages or collect peoples info. It has worked really well with the @sthelensbirds account. Kind regards
Not everyone uses twitter and those that do don't always have it set to receive tweets automatically. Text messages, therefore meet the needs of the Elton regulars more effectively. Remember, it's just some to save money for those on pay-as-you-go, to to make sure people aren't accidently missed out.
phillipskelly said
Wed Jan 14 8:41 PM, 2015
Re: feeders .
I've had feeders going missing at at Sale wp and Burleigh rd 12 ft up , only to find them on the ground yards away.
When the're empty they can blow off small hooks and short "pegs". I always thought they were borrowed but people will just pick them up and take them home.
Hope this helps .
phillipskelly said
Wed Jan 14 8:38 PM, 2015
Re: feeders .
I've had feeders going missing at at Sale wp and Burleigh rd 12 ft up , only to find them on the ground yards away.
When the're empty they can blow off small hooks and short "pegs". I always thought they were borrowed.
Hope this of use.
Damian Young said
Wed Jan 14 8:24 PM, 2015
In response to Paul Wilson. Have you considered setting up an Elton reservoir twitter account? It's really easy to do and then anyone with a interest could access and post sightings without you having to send individual messages or collect peoples info. It has worked really well with the @sthelensbirds account.
Kind regards
Ian Campbell said
Wed Jan 14 1:48 PM, 2015
As the previous 2 posters have said, we are trying to move on and thanks to some ingenious design (or trial and error) from Steve we now have a collection of home made feeders satisfying the needs of large numbers of Finches etc. Lets see how long these last. On the bird front around lunch time today, Great, Lesser-blacked Gulls with Herring and Black-headed also present. A female Tufted with the biggest Scaup like white bill surround I've ever seen, 3 Goldeneye and 4 Goosander. Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Wednesday 14th of January 2015 04:04:51 PM
David Walsh said
Wed Jan 14 10:33 AM, 2015
Mike Passant wrote:
Cynic that I am (at least as far as humans are concerned), I had been wandering how long the feeding station would remain intact. What does exercise my mind is what might be the motive here?
Obvious choices are:
1. Mindless vandalism is an obvious motive; - to destroy that which affords pleasure to others? This gives to the perpetrator some feeling of "negative achievement" and a misguided sense of satisfaction/power. In such cases the culprit is generally of low intelligence and of limited "life experience"; sadly all too prevalent in society, and vandalizing the feeders makes a change from dropping litter or "keying" car bodies.
2. Plain theft, in order to enjoy feeding the birds in one's own garden without the expense of initial purchase. - This is probably even more disturbing than case "1" above as it's really selfish, implying that the thief is fully aware of the pain and frustration resulting from his/her action. Feeders aren't particularly cheap to buy these days.
We live in a world increasingly populated by good people as well as morons; -best to move on as we can only do our best.
I suppose a third option could be to sell them on - desperate, I know, but it happens!
At least I understand the reasoning behind the constant battle with squirrels with my Walkerwood feeders. At least the squirrels have a recognisable agenda. As you say, Mike, probably best not to try to understand, just move on.
Mike Passant said
Wed Jan 14 10:07 AM, 2015
Cynic that I am (at least as far as humans are concerned), I had been wandering how long the feeding station would remain intact. What does exercise my mind is what might be the motive here?
Obvious choices are:
1. Mindless vandalism is an obvious motive; - to destroy that which affords pleasure to others? This gives to the perpetrator some feeling of "negative achievement" and a misguided sense of satisfaction/power. In such cases the culprit is generally of low intelligence and of limited "life experience"; sadly all too prevalent in society, and vandalizing the feeders makes a change from dropping litter or "keying" car bodies.
2. Plain theft, in order to enjoy feeding the birds in one's own garden without the expense of initial purchase. - This is probably even more disturbing than case "1" above as it's really selfish, implying that the thief is fully aware of the pain and frustration resulting from his/her action. Feeders aren't particularly cheap to buy these days.
We live in a world increasingly populated by good people as well as morons; -best to move on as we can only do our best.
Ian Campbell said
Tue Jan 13 2:20 PM, 2015
Really sad that all the feeders have now been taken. Steven has made some more out of plastic bottles and also bought some cheep ones which have also been put up. So far lots of money has been spent on food and the feeders and Steve has spent a lot of his own time keeping them filled up (well done that man). This a.m. with Paul W and later Steve H, 22 Goosander roosted but left at 1st light, still the Little Grebe and 1 Goldeneye plus a Kingfisher. Elton year list now 66. Cheers Ian
Richard Thew said
Tue Jan 13 9:51 AM, 2015
I hate to use this forum without a bird list but I want to make a suggestion as a one off. Usually its possible to link the feeders with a chain and padlock, might be something worth trying as the harder it is for thiefs, the longer they have to try and get to them and the likely hood they will be seen. It Shows, though, how selfish people can't leave things alone.
Steven Higginbottom said
Mon Jan 12 9:30 PM, 2015
08:00-09:30 with Ian C very quite bird wise on res. 2 Little Grebe 3 Goldeneye
Sad news about feeding station down to 2 feeders after 4 stolen on Saturday. 5 Seed Feeders ,1 Niger Feeder & 2 Nut Feeders stolen Sunday. Have tried to make some out off pop bottles but not sure if the birds will use them. Not going to replace £20 feeders with more £20 feeder for them to be stolen again. Whoever took them went prepared as they were 15 ft up in a tree. If anyone has any spares that can be used to replace them we would be great full. Hopefully no more will be taken as this would mean the birds could suffer.
29 Goosander roosted
2 Woodcock flew over at dusk
15 Great Black-backed Gulls amongst loads of large gulls, all flew off in the direction of Rivington as is often the case here.
Tawny Owl showing well.
1 Willow Tit
Willow tit - singing along the river bank at Bennies, Kingfisher several Goldcrest and Grey Wagtail in same area
on the res an impressive 638 Canada Geese with 2 Pink-footed geese in amongst them, 5 Gadwall, 45 Lapwing on the ice, 8 Mute Swans, 2 Grest-crested and 1 Little grebe, 2 Goldeneye, and 20 Goosander.
Withins - 14 Goosander and 6 Teal, another 2 Teal on Capsticks
Woodcock flew east over the canal at the stud at dawn
30+ Feildfare at Crow Tree Farm and 9 Mistle Thrush
5 Bullfinch in the dip plus 1 at the feeding station plus 16 Meadow pipit flew over
Sparrowhawk and 2 Kestrel also seen
Elton year list now 78.
Cheers Ian
Cheers Ian
Not bird related but there was the remains of a cannabis farm in Benny's car park, so people need to be aware of potentially dodgy characters if they visit.
Elton year list now 77.
Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Thursday 5th of February 2015 05:12:43 PM
33 Goosander
6 Gadwall
1 Shelduck
1 Wigeon
2 Bullfinch
1 Willow Tit
Cheers Steven
very Quite on Elton Res .
Withins of note
400+ Canada Geese
1 Pink Footed Goose flew towards bury at 09:30am with 12 Canada Geese
1 Little Grebe
1 Kingfisher
Feeding area
1 Willow Tit
1 Goldcrest
2 Long tailed Tit.
1 Bullfinch
Arrived this morning to find all the Feeders had been removed.
Cheers Steven
Cheers Ian
1 Woodcock
1 Nuthatch still around car park / approach road to sailing club.
1 Buzzard
30 Goosander
1 Pink-footed Goose amongst the many Canada Geese
7 Teal
1 Goldeneye
2 Little Grebe
The highlight by far was a Peregrine chasing an Oystercatcher over the reservoir forcing it to land on the water in the middle of the reservoir for safety or so it thought but then the Peregrine repeatedly tried to pluck the Oystercatcher off the water forcing it to dive under on several occaisions, this went on for about five minutes before the Peregrine flew off and eventually the Oystercatcher hauled itself out on Wader Point looking rather exhausted.
Cheers Ian
Ian has now a year total of 76 with the addition of 1 Oystercatcher
Other sightings include
1 Peregrine
5 Goldeye
21 Goosander at first light
2 Little Grebe.
Feeding area busy despite being vandalised with 1 of the wire nut feeders attached to the tree trunk being cut the from top to bottom and 1 of Brians and Richards feeder disapering with 3 fat feeders, 3 Seed feeder 2 of which where made from bottles the other repaired with twigs for perches.
Still attracting they birds with
Longtailed tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit & Great tit.
Bullfinch Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch
Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Wren
House Sparrow, Reed Bunting,Wood pigeon
Magpie and Carrion Crow all seen using feeding station this morning.
Cheers Steven
Elton year list now 75.
Cheers Ian
Elton year list now 74.
Cheers Ian
Agreed Paul, but such a public question requires a public answer me thinks
Shouldn't really be counting any other 'feral birds' to be fair Ian. Categories A, B and C are 'officially' acceptable but most occurring Barnacle Geese in GM are considered to be category E (not acceptable on the BOU British List) and do not come under category A or C2. Mandarin, Egyptian Goose and Ring-necked Parakeet are currently acceptable under category C1 though certainly individuals of each of the first two species could come under category E and some personal discretion usually applies with them (frankly those species are all as bad as each other in 'escapee' terms). Other potentially 'dodgy' species are treated on their own merits (Red-crested Pochard etc).
Not wishing to be argumentative (), but still don't understand when we can "officially" count so many other feral birds.
Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Monday 26th of January 2015 05:40:17 PM
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Monday 26th of January 2015 05:40:45 PM
No one can stop you counting what you want on your personal lists and quite right too, but for 'competitive listing' purposes on Manchester Birding alone see here
Elton year list now 73
Cheers Ian
2 Gadwall, 51 Tufted Duck, 2 Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, 12 Cormorant, 2 Teal and a single snipe.
Little owl usual spot
100+ Redwing and 50 Fieldfare withins/captsick area
Water Rail heard in a small marsh by bridge 19 over the canal.
in the dip
4 Bullfinch and Willow tit heard plus two guys in the bushes digging away after some verbal abuse and police intervention turned out they were burying the remains of a canabis farm!! (unfortunately they got away)
Thanks to Brian and Richard for their help with feeders and good advice. We have also started to have regular visits of Bullfinch.
Cheers Steven
Cheers Ian
41 Goosander - 30 of which flew off after 5 off road bikes decided to tear around the whole res
400 Jackdaw over too roost
Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 24th of January 2015 12:58:05 PM
Song Thrush - 1
Grey Wagtail - 1
Lapwing - 16
Bullfinch - 5
Goosander - 7
Pochard - 1
Little Grebe - 3
Goldeneye - 1F
Greenfinch and Goldfinch - many on feeders
Many of usual gulls including one Black-headed Gull with almost complete 'black' head. Still white round base of bill.
Cheers Ian
Cheers Ian
Cheers Ian
Elton year list now 71.
Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Tuesday 20th of January 2015 02:40:55 PM
Elton year list now 70.
Cheers Ian
Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Sunday 18th of January 2015 09:10:18 PM
Skein of around 90 Pink Footed Geese flew low west over Res at 14:40 pm
Home made feeders starting to be used by Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit & Great Tit which is great to see.
Also Reed Bunting, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird and 100+ House Sparrows feeding on the Ground.
3 Goldeneye
1 Meadow Pipit
Cheers Steven
-- Edited by Steven Higginbottom on Saturday 17th of January 2015 04:59:30 PM
Redwing c50
Fieldfare 10+
Mistle Thrush 2
Meadow Pipit 10+
Lapwing 10
Coal Tit 2
Elton year list now 69.
Cheers Ian
Elton year list now 67.
Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Thursday 15th of January 2015 02:49:18 PM
Please refer any further comments about text groups in particular via private message.
Not everyone uses twitter and those that do don't always have it set to receive tweets automatically. Text messages, therefore meet the needs of the Elton regulars more effectively. Remember, it's just some to save money for those on pay-as-you-go, to to make sure people aren't accidently missed out.
Cheers Ian
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Wednesday 14th of January 2015 04:04:51 PM
----------------------------------------------------
I suppose a third option could be to sell them on - desperate, I know, but it happens!
At least I understand the reasoning behind the constant battle with squirrels with my Walkerwood feeders. At least the squirrels have a recognisable agenda. As you say, Mike, probably best not to try to understand, just move on.
Cynic that I am (at least as far as humans are concerned), I had been wandering how long the feeding station would remain intact. What does exercise my mind is what might be the motive here?
Obvious choices are:
1. Mindless vandalism is an obvious motive; - to destroy that which affords pleasure to others? This gives to the perpetrator some feeling of "negative achievement" and a misguided sense of satisfaction/power. In such cases the culprit is generally of low intelligence and of limited "life experience"; sadly all too prevalent in society, and vandalizing the feeders makes a change from dropping litter or "keying" car bodies.
2. Plain theft, in order to enjoy feeding the birds in one's own garden without the expense of initial purchase. - This is probably even more disturbing than case "1" above as it's really selfish, implying that the thief is fully aware of the pain and frustration resulting from his/her action. Feeders aren't particularly cheap to buy these days.
We live in a world increasingly populated by good people as well as morons; -best to move on as we can only do our best.
This a.m. with Paul W and later Steve H, 22 Goosander roosted but left at 1st light, still the Little Grebe and 1 Goldeneye plus a Kingfisher.
Elton year list now 66.
Cheers Ian
2 Little Grebe
3 Goldeneye
Sad news about feeding station down to 2 feeders after 4 stolen on Saturday.
5 Seed Feeders ,1 Niger Feeder & 2 Nut Feeders stolen Sunday.
Have tried to make some out off pop bottles but not sure if the birds will use them. Not going to replace £20 feeders with more £20 feeder for them to be stolen again.
Whoever took them went prepared as they were 15 ft up in a tree.
If anyone has any spares that can be used to replace them we would be great full. Hopefully no more will be taken as this would mean the birds could suffer.
Cheers Steven