ey up all, just a quick and very polite reminder that were trying to keep the sighting,s side of this for sightings of birds and nesting.and general comments here.cos i started this i,ll summerise were i think were up to but will invite judith to straigten it out,up to now we need a couple of things to get the falconers removed,some deffinate breeding
activity lapwings will suffice,sightings of little ringed plovers would up the stakes,can some please get the reg of the
the 4X4,s,.we won,t save the sight but might get breeding this year.i took some pictures that clearly i.d the site and the falconers on it, but did,nt get the reg (doh) on sat afternoon.on another note all the rabbit,s seem to have been eradicated(don,t know how)

and yes i know my spullings poor but you know what i mean

cheers geoff

I have found out exactly what this falconer is up to and I will be phoning RSPB Investigations Dept tomorrow for advice as to the legality.

cheers nick,can yo post each time you see him or aweekly summary might be better
cheers geoff

checked on them tonight at 19.00 cos i couldn,t get home trough the traffic problem untill later, 3 ringed plovers seem content the skylarks still active i think the falconer just disturbs them like the dog walkers ect,but please keep a look out for him and report it.
 
cheers geoff

Geoff

He was there around lunch time late last week but he was not on site today when I viewed the area from the Lowry side at about 12.30. If you read the company literature on their website it states daily flying for a period and then weekly visits thereafter. They may have decided the daily presence has gone on long enough.

I'd be surprised if anything has settled on the land with all the attention its got over the last 6 weeks or so. I did also observe contractors spraying the land from back-pack sprays last week - what they were spraying - no idea - would guess something to contol invasive weeds - poss Japanese Knotweed.

Saying all that, that male Skylark was singing his lungs out again at lunch time !

keeps popping up this one,has anybody seen the falconer on site recently ??

cheers geoff 

Falconer on site again (1300hrs) with 2 Harris Hawks. 7 day coverage !!!!!!!!, somebody desperately wants to make sure nothing settles on that land  !!!!!!!

hi all, falconer present again 12.45 with dog,harris hawk and flying a kite just at the spot I watched the ringed plovers this morning.

cheers geoff

I have informed the County WLO of everything, and had an acknowledgement. Unfortunately this PC works in Wigan and the post in Salford Division is vacant. Frankly, since Inspector McGowan, who was based at the HQ and worked office hours so you could always reach her, retired, the situation w.r.t. police WLOs in GM has been far from satisfactory, not least because the current postholder is only a PC and does not have any control over his time. Letters to the Chief Constable over the years, pleading for a full time officer as in Merseyside (all the WLOs do it in addition to their other jobs) have met with no satisfactory response - they don't apparetly realise the favourable publicity they could get from it, as they did in Merseyside!
The best idea, if you see this falconer present and Little Ringed Plovers are present, or you see the falcon take any protected bird (ie anything likely to be there other than Magpie) is to ring 999 or the police HQ number and quote the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and say they are breaking the law. Ask for the officer's tab number so you have a record, as wildlife is low in the scale of things, and an Incident Number.

steve ,i can,t check every day but when the lrp arrive i think juidth will ring the PWLO ,will have a look tommorow.

cheers geoff

Thanks for the detective work Nick. Having looked at the website, it seems clear that he is being employed to keep birds from nesting on the site.

I don't know what others think, but personally I think that the local Police Wildlife Liaison Officer should be informed about this activity. 

Falconer back on site this lunch-time (with Harris Hawk). He works for a company with the following website www.birdsolutions.co.uk .

Falconer not on site either yesterday or today (in my lunch hour anyway!)

Not necessarily Geoff but it is a good sign of possible breeding to come.

hi all, i,ll be having another longer look and try for complete list of birds using the site.Does the fact that the skylarks are displaying demonstrate breeding?

cheers geoff 

Judith,

I cannot be sure if he is flying the birds at anything in particular. I've been wandering across in my lunch hour so only spend about 10mins viewing. I think he is just occupying the land each day and flying the birds (he had a small falcon on Saturday, it was too far without bins to get an ID), he has his lure and other equipment. He appeared to loose the Saker today. When I first arrived he was stood in the middle of the site looking around, occasionally swinging the lure. He did this for approx 10mins. The Saker suddenly shot in, I didnt see where it came from (but I didn't see it on any of the posts he has put up). I will get a car reg tomorrow, he's prob too distant for a photo.

I think this is just a very smart developer (I think its Peel Holdings) that has obviously employed this individual to turn up each day and fly his birds. Its private property and if we cannot prove there were breeding birds there before or he's harassing birds now then I'm not sure as to what can be done ???

I'll drop the Reg to your email address tomorrow.

cheers

Is this falconer flying this Saker at anything, Nick, because that is against the law. Basically, the law is that a bird of prey used by a falconer is treated as a gun, ie you cannot use it to fly it at protected birds, which is more or less all those except gulls and corvids, and those only with the landowners' permission. Once the LRPs arrive, I will get the Police WLO to shift him permanently as he will be committing an offence of even more magnitute. Meanwhile, any chance of a car reg. no? Or a photo?

and again at 1230hrs today (with Saker Falcon)

Falconer present again on the site today at 1230hrs

Judith and nick,thanks for your comments and advice on the subject,maybe the falcon is doing the birds a favour by encouraging them to nest elswere.I,ll visit the site and report sightings as and when time and traffic allow.

cheers geoff 

These brownfield sites are ususally self-limiting for LR Plovers and Ringed Plovers, as the bare soil they prefer soon becomes vegetated (eg as at Audenshaw, Bickershaw Rucks South and other sites). Lapwings can stick the vegetation a little longer but once scrub starts to develop (willow, birch etc) then they go as well.

Geoff,

As I understand it the BBC development will definately go ahead. There is, I believe, some debate as to whether they will be joined by Granada and other major publishing houses to form (in their own words) a "media city".

My own personal opinion is this is a major coup for the city of Manchester (actually Salford), an important development that will bring in needed infrastructure and investment. The site is a "brownfield" site which is also of importance. I appreciate others may have a different view.

I am not aware if LRP have nested on this site before, I understand they have at another site close by. I would suggest those of us that can keep viewing the site and report any birds present and any behaviour patterns to the County Bird Recorder.

It would be my hope that any LRP or other potential breeding birds in the area move to another more suitable site so, as I've said on the forum, I'm going to have a look around - there must be other sites in the locality that meet their requirements ! From previous experience with LRP, unless the site is safe and managed (eg Pennington), they do tend to pick brownfield sites that are ripe for redevelopment.

cheers, Nick

I understand it is going ahead.

ok shakey start but but does anyone know the big picture on the noth wharf plans and what we can do about it.last i heard on the news that the bbc,s move to salford had suffered a major set back because they will not increase the licence fee to pay for the move

cheers geoff