8 Dec (09.55 - 11.15)

89 Coot (high count)
19 Moorhens
1 male Tufted Duck (new)
1 male Wigeon
1 female Gadwall
3 juv Mute Swans
1 vocal Green Woodpecker
1 Treecreeper

Cheers John

7th December: Main Lake 75% iced over.

The female Gadwall is back, closely associating itself to the one male Wigeon that remains.
Male Goosander over.
Common species numbers as on 4th Dec.

Cheers, John

2nd December: Main Lake - 95% iced over

Clear out of unusual species with only female Gadwall remaining + the usual common species


4th December: Main Lake - ice-free

No Gadwall
3 Wigeon (2m, 1f) (new in)
42 Mallard
3 juv Mute Swans
80 Coot
8 Moorhens
6 BH Gulls
1 Cormorant
1 Grey Heron

Cheers, John

30th Nov:

Some waterfowl on the move:

North Lake:

1 drake Goosander
1 Grey Heron

Main Lake (1/3 iced over):

1 female Goldeneye (new in)
1 female Gadwall (new in)
1 drake Wigeon
1 Little Grebe
3 juv Mute Swans
70 Coot
19 Moorhens

Cheers, John

Drake Wigeon now joined by 2 Little Grebes. Otherwise as yesterday.

Cheers, John

On Main Lake:

1 Drake Wigeon (new in)
64 Mallard
68 Coots (all Eurasian)
9 Moorhens
3 Mute Swans
28 BH Gulls


Cheers, JOhn

Same as yesterday but the Little Grebe is now on North Lake

Cheers, John

22 Nov:

Little change (no Gadwall) but managed to read all 3 Darvics on the Mute Swans

Blue 7HPV
Blue 7HNZ
Blue 7HJH

I'm told these are not Cheshire or Lancashire codes.

Cheers, John

-- Edited by John Rayner on Thursday 22nd of November 2012 10:36:41 AM

18 Nov:

A very brief stop at 08.15 to see if anything was new in:

1 female Gadwall

Cheers, John

15th Nov

Little Grebe 1
Juvenile Mute Swans 3 (One preening bird revealed a Blue Darvic: 7HPV )
Pink-footed Geese c300 (2 skeins: c140, west at 11.05 and c160 west at 11.25)

Cheers John

6th Nov (07.45 - 8.00)

Main Lake:
1 Little Grebe
3 Mute Swan (juvs)
!0 Cormorants (roosting)

North Lake:
1 Goosander (f)

Cheers, John

3rd November AM

North Lake:
1 Cormorant
2 Mallard

Main Lake:
1 Little Grebe
46 Mallard
21 Canada Geese
3 Mute Swans (juvs)
57 Coot
9 Moorhens
15 BH Gulls
4 Goosander (flying upstream, R. Goyt)

Bottoms Hall:
12 Redwings
34 Fieldfares
1 Sparrowhawk

Linnet Clough Res:
2 Little Grebes
23 Mallard
12 Canada Geese (on res)
128 Canada Geese (surrounding fields)
3 Moorhens
6 Bullfinches

Cheers, John

30th Oct (08.30 - 09.45)


A large flock of Siskins (c70)
3 juvenile Mute Swans, 3 Wigeon and 1 Little Grebe still

Cheers, John

Main Lake (07.45 - 08.45)

1 Great-crested Grebe (new in)
1 Little Grebe still
3 Wigeon still
3 Juvenile Mute Swans still
1 Siskin
4 Cormorants
Only 7 Canada Geese
+ Usual Coots, Moorhens, Mallards

Cheers, John

Main Lake (08.15 - 08.30)

3 Wigeon still
3 Juvenile Mute Swans (new in)
15 Siskin
345 Woodpigeons (south)

Cheers, John

Main Lake:

Brief visit at 08.20.

3 Wigeon
1 Siskin
3 Cormorants
11 BH Gulls

Usual Canada Geese, Mallard, Coot and Moorhens

Cheers, John

Main Lake:

One Wigeon (new in) and a Little Grebe were the best today, with usual numbers of Coot, Moorhen, Mallard and Canadas.

Cormorant 3
Siskin 9
LT Tit 31 (2 flocks of 12 and 19)
Blue Tit c10
Great Tit c10
Kestrel 1

Cheers, John

Main lake:

Much the same as usual but now pair of Teal (drake new in)

Cheers, John

North Lake:

Cormorant 1
Grey Heron 1

Main Lake:

Teal 7 (new in)
A huge influx of Canada Geese. With the flock departing in small groups in all directions it was difficult to get a count - but minimum 179
Mallard 48
Moorhen 11
Coot 65

Cheers, John

Saturday 29th 10.30 - 12.00

Walk through to Strines station, water levels on the river were the highest i've seen for a while.

5 Jay
1 Buzzard
32 Canada Geese
11 House Martin
34 Coot
7 Moorhen including one on the grass verge struggling to walk on its right foot - hope its not as a result of disguarded fishing line.
Tawny Owl in tree close to railway tunnel being mobbed by Jackdaw & a flock of 7 Goldfinch
Female Sparrowhawk over Windybottom Farm
Plenty of Corvids, Woodpigeon & mixed Tit flock.

28th Sep:

1 Little Grebe
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Buzzard
14 House Martins south

Cheers, John

L.N.Y. 26th September.

Main Lake to Windybottom Farm

Coot 42
Mallard 38
Little Grebe 1 (new in)
Jay 11

Cheers, John

16th Sep (11.00 - 12 20)

Main Lake:

Coot 47 (including 2 broods of 2 Young)
Mallard 48
Moorhen 12
Canada Goose 19
Barnacle Goose 1 feral
Black-headed Gull 3


Windybottom Farm area:

Chiffchaff 2
Jay 2
Blackcap 1
House Martin 14 (over river)

Cheers, John

Roman Lakes - Mellor Golf Club (09.15 - 12.45)

A 3 mile linear walk - with a noteable lack of small passerines (eg no finches at all)

Main Lake:

Coot 46
Moorhen 16
Mallard 67
Heron 1
Cormorant 1
Kingfisher 1
Canada Goose 11
(No Great-crested Grebes)

Rest of walk (noting everything that moved except Corvids and Pigeons):

HOBBY 1 (Windybottom Farm)
Goldcrest 2
Robin 11
Blue Tit 4
Great Tit 12
Coal Tit 2
Blackbird 3
Jay 1
Buzzard 1
Wren 6
Nuthatch 3
Blackcap 5
Willow Warbler 4
Swallow 2

Cheers, John

North Lake:

Full of canoeists possibly training for gold in Rio.

Main Lake:

Mallard 103 moulting adults + 2 only young
Coot 40 + 7 young (3 broods)
Great crested Grebe only 1 adult seen (unless the others were lurking under the foliage)
Moorhen 8 adults + 10 young
Grey Heron 1
Swift 1
Stock Dove (song)

Very few other passerines

Cheers, John

Mallard 107 (A large flock in moult plus 4 ducklings)
Great crested Grebe (All 3 chicks continue to survive)
Canada Goose 12 (All adults, didn't see any young)
Grey Wagtail 1
Blackcap 1 (male singing)
Kestrel 1 harrassing ...
Buzzard 1

Cheers, John

-- Edited by John Rayner on Wednesday 11th of July 2012 04:53:39 PM

Main Lake - Kingfisher & Grey Heron

Main Lake (9.30 - 10.30)

Canada Goose (28 Ads. plus creche of 16 half grown young guarded by 3 pairs of adults and 2 small goslings with another pair)
Great-crested Grebe (2 Ads. still have all 3 youngsters)
Coot young down to 12
Mallard c35 (no young seen)
Pied Wagtail (1 Ad. + 2 young)
Grey Heron 1
Grey Wagtail 1

Loads of Common Blue Damselflies and a 4-Spotted Chaser

Cheers, John

Main Lake (6th June):

A day of yougsters

Coot - 5 pairs with 18 young (broods of 5,5,4,2,2)

Canada Goose - 5 pairs with 18 young (6,5,5,2 and 1 still sitting). Plus a non-breeding party of 23

Great-crested Grebe 1 pair with 3 growing young

Mallard - c20 but only 1 pair with 5 young

Moorhen 1 pair with 2 young

Pied Wagtail 1 pair with 2 young

Over the water
12 House Martins, 6 Swifts, 1 Swallow, 1 Grey Heron

In the woods
1 Nuthatch
1 Treecreeper
2 Buzzards mobbed by pair of Carrion Crows

Cheers, John

Main Lake (31st May)

The Great-crested Grebe pair have 3 young

Cheers, John

Loads of hirundines:
c40 House Martins
c20 Swallows
c6 Sand Martins
5 Swifts
2 Buzzards
1 Kestrel

48 Canada Geese but only 1 pair with 3 goslings
3 Coot broods (5,5 and 2) with 2 birds still sitting
2 Great-crested Grebes with well hidden young on the female's back, so couldn't count them

Cheers, John

Main Lake:

Pair Great-crested Grebes still sitting
c30 House Martins
4 Swifts
2 Swallows

Linnet Clough Reservoir:

2 Garden Warblers
10 Swallows

Cheers, John

-- Edited by John Rayner on Thursday 3rd of May 2012 08:36:22 PM

Nice afternoon walk despite a couple of showers

Plenty of Nuthatches, actually got into double figures,
Dipper seen 3 times on different parts of the river, twice watched it collecting moss & on one occasion followed its flight to an opening in the riverbank.
Couple of Grey Wags
1 Kingfisher
Pair of Mandarin
2 Buzzards riding the thermals in between the showers.
Female Blackcap
3 Chiffchaff & 2 Willow Warbler noted
3 Jay
1 Grey Heron
& Mallard with chicks
& 3 Swallows - the first Hirundines of the year for me.

-- Edited by Phil Panton on Tuesday 24th of April 2012 06:53:44 AM

Main Lake:

No Teal
No Swans

Tufted Duck (pair)
Great-crested Grebes (nesting)
Mandarin 3 (overflying)
Nuthatch 3
Chiffchaff 8
Blackcap 3
Green Woodpecker (calling distantly)
Great-spotted Woodpecker (female)

Cheers, John

Main Lake:

13 Teal plus usuals

I've not seen the pair of Mute Swans for some time now.

Cheers, John

North Lake
1 Moorhen
2 Mallard

Main lake:
Blackcap singing
c15 Coot
8 Moorhen
44 Canada Geese
2 Tufted Duck (both males)
c10 Mallard
2 Great-crested Grebe
2 Great-spotted Woodpecker
1 Cormorant
Chiffchaff 2

River Goyt
1 Dipper

Cheers, John

Main Lake:
Almost identical species and numbers as on 21st


Mellor Golf Course:
Male Green Woodpecker
5 Jays
4 Chiffchaff
1 Buzzard
2 Grey Heron

Cheers, John

Main Lake:

Mallard 25
Canada Goose 55
Coot 18 (5 sitting)
Mute Swan 2
Great-crested Grebe 2
Little Grebe 1
Buzzard 1
GS Woodpecker 1
Nuthatch 2
Coal Tit 4
Chiffchaff 1

And the new Cafe is now open

Cheers, John

Main Lake

Coot/Moorhen/Mallard - low numbers
Great-crested Grebe 2
Mute Swan 2

Cheers, John

North lake:

Cormorant 1
Mallard 2

Main Lake:

Coot, Moorhens and Mallard - usual numbers
Tufted Duck 2m, 1f
Great-crested Grebe 1 (the second could have been hiding - didn't look too closely)
Mute Swan 2
Cormorant 1

Cheers, John

A quick look over the lakes.

North Lake:
Moorhen 1

Main Lake:
Coot c32
Moorhen c6
Mallard c15
Canada Goose 21
Mute Swan 2
Great-crested Grebe 2
Siskin 1
Treecreeper 1
Great-spotted Woodpecker 1m

Cheers, John

North Lake:
Cormorant 1

Main Lake:
GC Grebe 2
Pochard 1 f
Mute Swan 2
Fewer Coot, but not counted

Cheers, John

24th Feb: 3rd visit this week and some changes in numbers.

Great-crested Grebe 2 (The male now joined by a female. Head shaking display)
Tufted Duck 1m (Down from max of 8)
Pochard 1f (Had left but now returned)
Coot 44 (Down from max of 65 in December)
Moorhen 8 (Down from max of 26 when iced over)
Mute Swan 2 (Aggressively defending territory)
Goosander (1m over)
Buzzard 1
Usual numbers of Mallard, Canadas and ferals

Feb 14th

Tufted Duck 6 (all males)
Pochard 1f
GC Grebe 1
Coot 51
Moorhen 11
BH Gull 8
Mute Swan 2
GS Woodpecker (drumming)
Song Thrush (singing)
Siskin 2

and Cormorant 'Orange CIF' is coming into breeding plumage.

Cheers, John





-- Edited by John Rayner on Tuesday 14th of February 2012 11:49:37 AM

Feb 12th

Now 2 male Tufted Duck.

Female Pochard
GC Grebe
Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming persistently. Little else of note.

Cheers, John

Feb 10th

Main Lake: As Feb 3rd - with the addition of 1 male Tufted Duck and 1 female Pochard.

Bottoms Bridge: On Feb 7th forgot to mention the pair of Dippers with the male singing with bill sky-pointing Both were colour ringed. Both had lime green above metal (right leg).

One had red above white (left leg) - this is the male from New Mills, see last year's post.

The other was, I think, white above red but it moved away before I could be sure.

Cheers, John

Phil Panton wrote:

---

Where was the Woodcock John ?
was down there on sunday in the hope of maybe bumping into one

---

Hi Phil,

I've sent you a PM.

Where was the Woodcock John ?
was down there on sunday in the hope of maybe bumping into one

Much the same on Main Lake but less ice

3 Goosander
1f Kestrel
1 Woodcock

Cheers, John

Main Lake (99% frozen)

Cormorant 1 (not orange CIF)
Coot 59
Moorhen 26
GC Grebe 1
Mute Swan 2
BH Gull 25
Buzzard 1
Nuthatch 2
Treecreeper 1

Cheers, John