1. Astley Moss East peat pools
I met the site manager for Marshall's Aggregates on site today with the county police WLO and Marion Raines from Salford Planning, w.r. t. the road which has been built across the W end of the site. They have agreed to build a 2m bund along the west edge to shield the LR Plovers etc from vehicles, and a 4m bund on the south edge. The road will turn and will run 500m E, but some of this work on this stretch will be delayed till after the breeding season. There won't be much human presence, just vehicles, and we hope that the birds will become habituated to them. The pools will stay permanently, but sand and gravel hoppers etc will be erected on the sandy tongue of land just to the S of the pools. I hope we can see over the bunds from the old mineral line.
2. Peregrines
Matthew Capper, the RSPB guy i/c of the Peregrine event in the city centre, tells me that there WILL be a link on the BBC webpage so that people can view the Peregrine nest at all times (the nest tray has my phone number on it which I hope has washed off during the winter!!!) As soon as I know what this is, I will post it.
3. Black Redstarts (or lack of them)
No reports yet in the north quarter of the city centre. The major fire was not near last year's nest.