Two flocks of Twite flew into Light Hazzles this morning, totalling 40+ birds. They circled overhead and one flock of c.10 flew off, the other 30 birds landed on the iron railings along the Pennine Way by Warland Resr. A fantastic sight in the morning sunshine.
As far as I'm aware this is the highest Twite count here since 72 on 7th Oct 2007. Only last week I'd said to Ian that I thought it unlikley we would see any large flocks here again. So, I'm really pleased to be proved wrong!
It seems as though Twite might be heading for extinction as a breeding bird in Rochdale and therefore probably in GM. The county's largest breeding colony of 25-30 pairs was reduced to a mere 3 pairs this year, probably as the result of a fire in the 3rd week of April, rumoured to have been deliberately set by a farmer.
Although it's great to see such a sizeable flock for the first time in two years, these may well be birds that have bred in Calderdale and are using the area as a staging post, before heading to the east coast.
Research by Andre Raine has shown that Twite in the South Pennines do move about, up to 20km from their breeding sites, once breeding is completed.

Supplementary feeding as a conservation initiative for Twite

-- Edited by Steve Atkins on Sunday 4th of October 2009 02:25:57 PM

As I heard it, the Light Hazzles site was unsuitable for ringing because of the concrete base - some were killed when they first netted it. So they moved to White Holme.

Yes I have seen the species study on the website Ian, but my query was the decline of the species recently since then. The article relates to numbers at Light Hazzles which is in GM whereas current trapping and ringing is at Whiteholme which is in Yorkshire.
I was wondering if feeding and ringing was being carried at Whiteholme for whatever reason whilst Light Hazzles may have been abandoned. Perhaps boundaries and authority may have been hindering the science associated with ringing. Surely both sites should be maintained for annual comparison.
I'm grateful Steve and Alan have continued feeding at Light Hazzles. I'm not sure if they have to walk there but the ringers at Whiteholme are able to drive there. I suppose time will tell.
Steve

sorry Ian i forgot all about that on the website

j meadows wrote:

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More info on John Dempseys Bird Blog on Twite ringing and the like

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Or you could also read the similar article (admittedly only recent up to 2006) on the 'species study' page of the articles, identification issues and reviews page of the Manchester Birding website...

More info on John Dempseys Bird Blog on Twite ringing and the like

Thanks for the info Steve and well done to you and Alan with the feeding. I didn't go on to the concreted area but couldn't see much through my bins.
The info on the timing seems very logical and ties in with the expectations that Sid pointed out. Perhaps they've been traditionally up there in the winter only because of the feeding sites. I look forward to their return
Steve

Alan Nuttall and I have been putting Nyger seed down at Light Hazzles and Whiteholme since mid October. Seed has been put down 2 to 3 times a week by Alan at Whiteholme and I've put seed down at Light Hazzles twice in October and three times in November. Unfortunately I can't get up there more often. Jim Taylor has also kindly contributed 2 kilos of Nyger seed.
Twite have been very few and far between this autumn / winter with only 2 birds at Light Hazzles on 19th Oct and 1 on 16th Nov. This compares with a count of 72 on on 7th Oct last year. Alan has had a maximum count of 15 at Whiteholme on 28th Oct. It may be that most of the Twite had already left the area and headed for the coast ,before we started putting seed down.
The RSPB carried out a Twite survey in the South Pennines during 2008 with the help of a number of volunteers and have just appointed a Twite Recovery Project officer who will be starting work in January. The steering group of the Twite Recovery project has issued recommendations regarding supplemetary feeding of Twite. If anyone is interested in seeing this please let me know and I'll be happy to send you a copy. Basically it recommends feeding during two key periods when food is in short supply. These periods are early April to mid May and early July to mid -August. The RSPB will make seed available during these periods next year for volunteers to put down. There is a view that feeding during the winter could actually be detrimental to Twite by encouraging them to stay in upland areas over winter instead of heading for the coast. The sudden onset of harsh weather could result in birds being killed off if they remain on the moors.
Let's hope the Recovery Project will result in the Twite being saved as a breeding bird in Greater Manchester.

-- Edited by Steve Atkins at 11:47, 2008-12-07

-- Edited by Steve Atkins at 11:48, 2008-12-07

i would only rescue you if you had found the snow buntings!!!

Certainly byron edge in the 1st/2nd week of December has had good records of snow bunts in recent years. If you really get desperate you could try near Top o'th Leach (Rooley Moor) - though technically the trig point is out of GM the habitat around there (on the GM bit) is good for them.

imagine finding a flock of snow bunts at white holme or top o'th leach - i can already see Mr Heaton encouraging them back into county!

I will be looking for em on Ashworth Moor and round Greenbooth next week.

Glad to see you back in Rochdale for once Steve too

Dave

Hi Dave,
I stuck to the path as there was still a fair bit of snow and ice around and didn't want to have to call you to come and rescue me
Steve

numbers only a few years back were up into 100+ up there in mid winter with 40-60 being more probable in the last few years in winter - though on the few visits i have made up there this year i haven't seen as many - though perhaps i haven't been looking.

see em while you can!

Dave

p.s Steve did you go over Byron Edge? thats where i have picked them up in the past.

Hi Sid,
You are quite right about the movement of twite to the coast and seen them myself down at Morfa Madryn but I think you will find plenty of winter records of twite at the feeding station in years gone by and even on this forum if you do a search.
They used to be seen by people looking for Snow Bunting this time of year
My point is that there is a danger of loosing them in the future and then the rest of the year. I was just wondering if anybody else has had many sightings this year or is there no problem.
Steve



-- Edited by Steve Collins at 23:42, 2008-12-06

Steve

As I understand things being a relative beginer myself - is that Twite tend to head for the coast/marsh areas at this time of the year - I did see a flock at Birkdale a couple of weeks ago and there is a good number around Flint castle- so perhaps it's not surprising that you didn't find any up in "them thar hills" - I'm sure that if I'm wrong someone will put us right.

Cheers

Sid A

-- Edited by sid ashton at 22:16, 2008-12-06

I thought I would take advantage of the sunny day, (after dipping on the red breasted merganser and waxwings at Elton res), and have a look for Snow Bunting along the Pennine Way. Obviously I didn't find any Snow Bunting or you would have all heard about it sooner
What was more disappointing was not seeing any birds at all!
It's a while since I didn't find any Twite at either of the feeding stations.
Altho' the feeding area at Whiteholme was under snow and ice, the concrete feeding area at Light Hazzles wasn't and it looked as though there hasn't been any seed there for some time.
It would also seem that the seed is only put at Whiteholme so birds can be trapped and ringed, or I would like to think seed would be put in other local spots.
It's just a thought that if there isn't a nearby area where they can safely feed without being netted, then I would think it won't be long before numbers dramatically reduce up there or lost for good
It looks like they are going to be lost from GM sadly.
Steve

In response to some enquiries about 2 weeks ago, I've been trying to find out what's going on at Light Hazzles. The situation as I understood it, up to Anne Symonds, the UU ranger at Piethorne, going on long-term sick leave about a year ago, was that she put seed down on Wednesdays and alternate weekends, and that Brian Leecy, a volunteer living in Todmorden who comes up from the Walsden side, and who started the feeding idea years ago, continued to feed them on the alternate weekend. I rang Brian, and he told me that that there had been problems with seed supply from UU. He had been up in mid December and seen Twite up there then. I emailed a couple of other people, and got a reply from Dave Sowter, who is i/c of the ringing programme up there, on 25th Jan. He said there had been very few Twite up there for some weeks now. He and Sean Gray had been putting seed down, but mainly at the White Holme catching site (NB this is not in GMC). He had not been for a couple of weeks due to the appalling weather (he is not a young man) and also the round trip for him is 120 miles. Most of the Twite are being seen at Cant Clough in Lancashire, where there is another UU ranger feeding regularly. Some Light Hazzles-ringed birds have been seen there. He asked me if I knew of anyone who would be willing to do some feeding and I gave him Brian's details, in case UU can sort out the supply problem there. Another point is that Les Steele, who used to go up there very regularly, has moved over to Platt Bridge, Wigan to join us at the Wigan Flashes. Although he intends to keep his BBS squares up there, it's obviously a much longer journey to go there from Wigan, and also he has had all the usual hassle asociated with moving. This has meant that there has no-one (as far as I know) monitoring the GMC birds regularly. And the weather has been really foul. W.r.t. feeding them by volunteers, I understand that they were being fed some special mixture and the rangers were asking that people didn't put seed down.