A flock of close to 100 swifts & house martins were feeding over a field being cut for a car boot sale (that well known traditional farming practice) at Waterside farm. The cut was only just starting as I was setting off down the track towards the kennels, and just one swift was seen at that time. On my return, only about an hour later, the others had turned up. Amazing how the news gets around. Not so amazing was the total absence of swallows, which used to nest on the farm (and nearby Chadkirk) until about 5 years ago. What have we done? Whitethroat also heard, and a couple of female goosander were on the river.
Stephen Fuentes said
Thu Mar 9 9:53 AM, 2023
Female Stonechat yesterday in hedge along the path by the exit to Jim Fearnley bridge.
Cheers,
Steve.
Andy Bissitt said
Wed Nov 16 8:08 PM, 2022
A Dipper was in song, sat on rocks in the middle of the river this afternoon; enjoying another Spring-like afternoon. Also 4 goosander (fem types) were on the water, with a couple of cormorants flying down river. 100 starlings were on the farmland. Not a lot else though (model aircraft flyers on Goyt Farm!!!).
Andy Bissitt said
Fri Mar 18 10:07 AM, 2022
A swallow was sat on wires by Stockport Hydro, Otterspool, as I drove past at 9.20 this morning.
John Rayner said
Wed Nov 24 10:51 AM, 2021
10.45. 2 Little Egrets flying SW over Offerton Sand & Gravel, Bean Leach Rd from direction of R. Goyt. Cheers John.
-- Edited by John Rayner on Wednesday 24th of November 2021 03:22:22 PM
John Rayner said
Thu Jan 7 1:39 PM, 2021
I might add that I dont wander around this site. Just inside the gate is a concrete platform. This gives a view of the rectangular flat beds. Further in are circular beds but I consider those out of bounds. Be discrete.
Cheers John.
David Pierce said
Thu Jan 7 12:42 PM, 2021
Thanks, John. I walked along the other side of the valley this morning and the most interesting sighting was 8 mandarins (2 groups of 3m & 1f) on the river behind the sewage farm.
Chris Harper said
Wed Jan 6 9:41 PM, 2021
You pays your money.....
Sometimes the gates are locked, sometimes open.
John Rayner said
Wed Jan 6 7:54 PM, 2021
Hi David,
Just walked in the entrance off Bongs Lane and had a quick look. Probably shouldnt have done but I didnt see a soul.
Cheers John.
David Pierce said
Wed Jan 6 6:07 PM, 2021
How do you get a view of the beds?
John Rayner said
Wed Jan 6 6:00 PM, 2021
Offerton Effluent Treatment Works
On the settling beds: Pied Wagtail 31 Grey Wagtail 2 Meadow Pipit 4
Cheers, John
John Rayner said
Mon Sep 28 5:57 PM, 2020
Ring-necked Parakeets 3 (2 flew towards Romiley. 1 around Holiday Lane) Kingfisher 2 (at Poise Brook at Holiday Lane and Jim Fearney Bridge) Dipper on R. Goyt Jay 3
Cheers John
Chris Harper said
Sat May 23 7:27 PM, 2020
Jim Fernley bridge to Otterspool, then Bongs Lane and Holiday Lane. 14.30-16.30
Kingfisher and Dipper seen in the same field of view through the bins this morning from Jim Fearnley bridge.
That brings my 'lockdown' list to 50 !
Also seen in the same spot, Grey wagtail, Mandarin, Mallard, Chaffinch.
I've noticed on my walks along the river how adept some species are at flycatching. Robins, Chaffinches, Grey & Pied wagtails all showing their skills and behaving just like a Spotted flycatcher would.
-- Edited by Stephen Fuentes on Friday 8th of May 2020 12:35:38 PM
Barbara Bird said
Sun May 3 9:01 AM, 2020
One lapwing chick at Chadkirk Mill Pond. Could anyone local keep an eye open for any further woodchip dumping into this pond. It's taken me a long time to get it stopped.. There's barely any water in now. ( Great crested newt spot.)
Stephen Fuentes said
Fri May 1 5:40 PM, 2020
I have been doing a similar 'Lockdown' list recently mainly covering this area but my walks also stretch across Chadkirk and Kirk wood.
My 'patch list' currently stands at 47, with recent Swift (over my house in Bredbury) and Whitethroat bagged at Stockport Hydro yesterday morning.
Unlike Mark, I've yet to see Sand martin and Willow warbler.
As an aside I've recently seen Ring-necked parakeets over Poise brook and Kirk wood.
Mark Walsh said
Fri May 1 1:48 PM, 2020
The last few walks have turned up a couple of new birds, 7 Sand Martin (48) on the 29th (with 9 today) and a male Bullfinch (49) today at Middle Farm, I keep hoping for a Peregrine from Pear Mill but no luck yet.
-- Edited by Mark Walsh on Friday 1st of May 2020 01:49:07 PM
Mark Walsh said
Sun Apr 26 12:42 PM, 2020
My exercize walk today turned up a quite a few new birds for the lockdown list, some commoner species I'm rather surprised it's taken me this long to get.
1 Greenfinch just past Middle Farm 11 Starling in the same vicinity 1 Kestrel over as I walked along Bongs lane Goosander and Kingfisher both on the river near the Hare and Hounds 1 Whitethroat singing deep in a hedge along Mill Lane, he acidentally popped over to my side of the hedge and then hastily moved back to the other side, still I got a nice view
That brings me up to 47.
Mark Walsh said
Fri Apr 24 7:02 PM, 2020
A walk yesterday provided the first new bird for a whle with a Willow Wabler singing near Middle Farm, that brings the list up to 41.
Robert Adderley said
Fri Apr 17 11:51 AM, 2020
Male Wheatear in the cattle field by Middle Farm this morning.
Mark Walsh said
Sat Apr 11 2:38 PM, 2020
Midday exercise walk to Bongs Lane - Hydro plant - Jim Fearnley Bridge.
The warm sun had a lot of birds out singing with Dunnocks, Robins, Wrens and the occasional Chaffinch joining 7 Chiffchaff and 5 Blackcap. There were 3 new birds for the list with 2 House Martin and 3 Swallow representing my first Hirundine's of the year, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker also heard then seen near the bridge, that brings me up to 40 species since Lockdown.
Mark Walsh said
Tue Apr 7 1:13 PM, 2020
Same walk as Sunday but in reverse so Bongs Lane to Poise Brook.
5 Blackcap in song (these all along the path from the Hydro station to the bridge). 8 Chiffchaff singing all along the walk. A few new birds again with 2 Jay, 1 Grey Wagtail. 2 Canada Geese and 1 Grey Heron.
Mark Walsh said
Sun Apr 5 12:32 PM, 2020
Another hour but this time included a walk along Bongs Lane where there were a couple of new birds to add to the list.
1 Meadow Pipit called briefly and a Sparrowhawk wheeled in the sky while I walked down the lane. Other than that much the same as the last few visits.
Mark Walsh said
Fri Apr 3 2:31 PM, 2020
An hour's wander today turned up a few new birds, started at Poise Brook and headed over to the kennels and back.
14 Woodpigeon 7 Chiffchaff 5 Nuthatch 4 each of Goldfinch and Chaffinch 3 Song Thrush 2 Parakeet's 2 Buzzard 1 Singing Blackcap
Cheers
Mark
Mark Walsh said
Thu Mar 26 12:52 PM, 2020
It's been a while since I've been down holiday lane but it's only a 20 minute walk from the house making it perfect for a lockdown patch. Mainly concentrated on Poise Brook and over to Old Hall Farm.
Along Poise Brook;
5 Singing Chiffchaff 5 Chaffinch 3 Nuthatch 2 Tawny Owl's called briefly A good few Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tit's
Over the Goyt and heading towards Goyt Hall Farm there was a single Buzzard circling, a couple of Pied Wagtail calling and around 20 House Sparrows at the Farm.
I might try earlier tomorrow and include Chadkirk as well.
Andy Bissitt said
Wed Feb 12 9:01 PM, 2020
After walk through Chadkirk, continued down valley, but only 4 or 5 more buzzards caused any distraction. Roll on some warm weather.
Andy Bissitt said
Tue Dec 3 9:18 PM, 2019
A Little Egret was in a field opposite the exit of the Jim Fearnley Bridge path at 3.05, feeding well (it had not been there when I passed 20 minutes before). It flew off after about 5/6 minutes towards Goyt Hall and appeared to drop down behind it, but could not be traced when I looked. Plenty of places to hide here, though. Also seen: 40+ meadow pipits, dipper, fem. goosander, buzzard and 45 mallard on the river. Egret a great find locally, the first I've ever seen 'grounded' hereabouts.
Chris Harper said
Thu May 30 9:40 PM, 2019
Decent amount of Mayfly by Hare and Hounds pub from 20.30 to 21.00 this evening bought 10+ Common Swift to head height . Great spectacle .
Chris Harper said
Sun May 12 7:00 PM, 2019
Nice to see a gathering of 60 people today in a walk from Bredbury Hall to Holiday Lane to show support against the building of the by-pass through the valley.
Birds of note from 14:00-16:00 were 1+ Common Buzzard, Grey Wagtail, 30 Swallow, 10 Swift, 7 House Martin, 4 Sand Martin, 3 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Peregrine Falcon, Nuthatch and 4 Greenfinch.
Enjoy it while you can.
John Rayner said
Tue Mar 26 1:35 PM, 2019
Only a handful of Starlings around Brookside Avenue and adjoining estates this morning (but many other nearby areas unsearched). Perhaps the large Starling flock at Ludworth Moor also deserves a thorough scanning.
In Poise Brook Wood: Ring-necked Parakeets (2), Buzzards (2) and a Skylark over.
Cheers John
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Mar 25 10:13 PM, 2019
A first winter Rose-coloured Starling visited a garden on Brookside Avenue, Offerton, which backs onto Poise Brook Woods (accessible via Holiday Lane), on Saturday 23rd March.
The bird has unfortunately not been seen since despite being looked for in the garden but there are a good number of Starlings in the area.
Images of the bird are now on the website.
Info thanks to Donna Seaton
Andy Bissitt said
Tue Mar 12 9:52 PM, 2019
This p.m. from Goyt Hall Farm area to Offerton Water Treatment works. Not too exciting, but at least I was outside after a terrible morning. At least 'flocks' of a few birds made a change for here with c30 redwing, c15 meadow pipits and about the same of pied wagtails at least putting some life into the horse paddocks. The river was too wild for most birds, but a pair of goosander rode the rapids. Amongst other things seen were buzzard, stock dove, goldcrest, up to 4 treecreepers (2 in song), 2+ song thrushes and 2+ mistle thrushes making up about 30 species in all.
John Rayner said
Sat Feb 23 8:34 PM, 2019
Otterspool Bridge - Bredbury Hall
Raven 1 Lapwing 3 House Sparrow 15 Buzzard 2 Peregrine 2 (British Gas Tower)
Cheers John
Stephen Fuentes said
Tue Sep 18 11:48 AM, 2018
Saturday 15th Sept. (1pm)
8 Parakeets over Fearnley bridge, heading towards Woodbank park (presumably ring-necked).
Apologies for the late report.
Cheers Steve.
Chris Harper said
Fri Aug 31 8:58 PM, 2018
Otterspool-Bredbury Hall and back. 18.30-20.30
14 Mandarin Duck, Peregrine Falcon, Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Sand Martin amongst 50+ Barn Swallow, 3 Jay, Tawny Owl.
Raven over earlier at midday.
Chris Harper said
Fri Jun 8 6:18 AM, 2018
Bongs lane-Holiday lane-Otterspool 19.45-21.15
7 Ring Necked Parakeets (seem to have replaced the Jackdaws in one of their old nesting areas). 2 Common Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk, 6 Grey Wagtail 11 Mandarin Duck, Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 4 Swift, 3 Sand Martin, 5 Swallow, 5 House Martin, Jay, 4 Goldcrest, Nuthatch
I did a thorough search this morning covering Poise Brook (Holiday Lane - R. Goyt), the River Goyt itself from Goyt Hall Farm fish pools to Otterspool Bridge, Bongs Lane and also the brook at Chadkirk where a Little Egret was found some years ago.
Judging by the snow on the branches in the attached image, James Dempsey-Riley's photo was taken before the high winds arrived. There was zero snow on the trees today
So, no Egret but I saw the following:
Dipper 2 (1 gathering nesting material on Poise Brook) Ring-necked Parakeets 2 (Poise Wood) Jay 4 Redwing 12 Lapwing 4+3 (small parties looking forlorn in the snow) Mandarin 17 Goosander 1m, 3f Teal 4 Buzzard 3 (2 displaying with another male tagging on hopefully) Common Gull 2
Great footage of a Little Egret on Poise Brook on Stockport Nature Watch website today posted by James Dempsey-Riley. Not sure whereabouts on Poise Brook though.
Pied Wagtails 62 (on Offerton ETW settling beds) Redwings 53 Meadow Pipits 21 Black-headed Gull 45 Grey Wagtail 2 Jay 4 Nuthatch 3 Long-tailed Tit 6 with a Goldcrest in the flock Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Cheers John
Andy Bissitt said
Fri Nov 24 8:35 PM, 2017
A nice walk in the sun rudely interrupted by the noisy screams of parakeets!
2 ring-necked parakeets near to Jim Fearnley bridge this morning. Enquiries with a couple of dog walkers revealed that a bird was on the run having escaped from a keeper in Offerton. However, their apparent efforts to recapture the bird have been unsuccessful, probably due to the fact that it has met up with another 'wild' bird (of which the locals knew nothing about). One bird was inspecting nest holes, so we might be about to have a population explosion locally (unless the peregrine fancies nipping out for an Indian takeaway).
About 30 species of bird seen otherwise, but nothing else really of note apart from the song of a mistle thrush.
Chris Harper said
Tue Jul 25 3:43 PM, 2017
I realise it's an escapee but the best bird today was a White Java Sparrow by Stockport Hydro.
Kingfisher and 2 Grey Wagtail this morning by Jim Fernley bridge. Also Chiffchaff, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, 30+ each of Swallow and House Martin.
Andy Bissitt said
Sun Jun 4 9:28 PM, 2017
A minimum (could not all be viewed at same time due to tree cover) of 48 mandarin moulting near to Offerton Water treatment works. Ducks was all that this afternoon was good for due to rain!
Chris Harper said
Sun May 7 4:50 PM, 2017
A few sightings from the Goyt Valley SOS walk this afternoon.
4 Swift, 4 House Martin, 6 Swallow, 2 Chiffchaff, Blackcap. Enjoy them before there's a 4 lane by-pass through there.
Andy Bissitt said
Sun Apr 23 8:51 PM, 2017
1 whitethroat in farmland scrub with fishing ponds behind you. Otherwise not much apart from maybe 5-6 pairs of swallows, mostly at ramshackle farm towards Bredbury Hall, and many house sparrows. 12 starlings feeding on the grassland was almost a blast from the past.
A flock of close to 100 swifts & house martins were feeding over a field being cut for a car boot sale (that well known traditional farming practice) at Waterside farm. The cut was only just starting as I was setting off down the track towards the kennels, and just one swift was seen at that time. On my return, only about an hour later, the others had turned up. Amazing how the news gets around. Not so amazing was the total absence of swallows, which used to nest on the farm (and nearby Chadkirk) until about 5 years ago. What have we done? Whitethroat also heard, and a couple of female goosander were on the river.
Female Stonechat yesterday in hedge along the path by the exit to Jim Fearnley bridge.
Cheers,
Steve.
A Dipper was in song, sat on rocks in the middle of the river this afternoon; enjoying another Spring-like afternoon. Also 4 goosander (fem types) were on the water, with a couple of cormorants flying down river. 100 starlings were on the farmland. Not a lot else though (model aircraft flyers on Goyt Farm!!!).
2 Little Egrets flying SW over Offerton Sand & Gravel, Bean Leach Rd from direction of R. Goyt.
Cheers John.
-- Edited by John Rayner on Wednesday 24th of November 2021 03:22:22 PM
Cheers John.
Thanks, John. I walked along the other side of the valley this morning and the most interesting sighting was 8 mandarins (2 groups of 3m & 1f) on the river behind the sewage farm.
You pays your money.....
Sometimes the gates are locked, sometimes open.
Just walked in the entrance off Bongs Lane and had a quick look. Probably shouldnt have done but I didnt see a soul.
Cheers John.
How do you get a view of the beds?
On the settling beds:
Pied Wagtail 31
Grey Wagtail 2
Meadow Pipit 4
Cheers, John
Kingfisher 2 (at Poise Brook at Holiday Lane and Jim Fearney Bridge)
Dipper on R. Goyt
Jay 3
Cheers John
Jim Fernley bridge to Otterspool, then Bongs Lane and Holiday Lane. 14.30-16.30
1+Kingfisher, 21 Mandarin, 7 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 8 Swallow, 2 Sand Martin, 10 House Martin, 10 Swift, Common Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 7 Grey Wagtail, 4 Pied Wagtail, 1+ Kestrel, probable Dipper, Goldcrest.
Kingfisher and Dipper seen in the same field of view through the bins this morning from Jim Fearnley bridge.
That brings my 'lockdown' list to 50 !
Also seen in the same spot, Grey wagtail, Mandarin, Mallard, Chaffinch.
I've noticed on my walks along the river how adept some species are at flycatching. Robins, Chaffinches, Grey & Pied wagtails all showing their skills and behaving just like a Spotted flycatcher would.
-- Edited by Stephen Fuentes on Friday 8th of May 2020 12:35:38 PM
Could anyone local keep an eye open for any further woodchip dumping into this pond. It's taken me a long time to get it stopped.. There's barely any water in now. ( Great crested newt spot.)
I have been doing a similar 'Lockdown' list recently mainly covering this area but my walks also stretch across Chadkirk and Kirk wood.
My 'patch list' currently stands at 47, with recent Swift (over my house in Bredbury) and Whitethroat bagged at Stockport Hydro yesterday morning.
Unlike Mark, I've yet to see Sand martin and Willow warbler.
As an aside I've recently seen Ring-necked parakeets over Poise brook and Kirk wood.
-- Edited by Mark Walsh on Friday 1st of May 2020 01:49:07 PM
1 Greenfinch just past Middle Farm
11 Starling in the same vicinity
1 Kestrel over as I walked along Bongs lane
Goosander and Kingfisher both on the river near the Hare and Hounds
1 Whitethroat singing deep in a hedge along Mill Lane, he acidentally popped over to my side of the hedge and then hastily moved back to the other side, still I got a nice view
That brings me up to 47.
The warm sun had a lot of birds out singing with Dunnocks, Robins, Wrens and the occasional Chaffinch joining 7 Chiffchaff and 5 Blackcap. There were 3 new birds for the list with 2 House Martin and 3 Swallow representing my first Hirundine's of the year, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker also heard then seen near the bridge, that brings me up to 40 species since Lockdown.
5 Blackcap in song (these all along the path from the Hydro station to the bridge). 8 Chiffchaff singing all along the walk. A few new birds again with 2 Jay, 1 Grey Wagtail. 2 Canada Geese and 1 Grey Heron.
1 Meadow Pipit called briefly and a Sparrowhawk wheeled in the sky while I walked down the lane. Other than that much the same as the last few visits.
An hour's wander today turned up a few new birds, started at Poise Brook and headed over to the kennels and back.
14 Woodpigeon
7 Chiffchaff
5 Nuthatch
4 each of Goldfinch and Chaffinch
3 Song Thrush
2 Parakeet's
2 Buzzard
1 Singing Blackcap
Cheers
Mark
Along Poise Brook;
5 Singing Chiffchaff
5 Chaffinch
3 Nuthatch
2 Tawny Owl's called briefly
A good few Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tit's
Over the Goyt and heading towards Goyt Hall Farm there was a single Buzzard circling, a couple of Pied Wagtail calling and around 20 House Sparrows at the Farm.
I might try earlier tomorrow and include Chadkirk as well.
After walk through Chadkirk, continued down valley, but only 4 or 5 more buzzards caused any distraction. Roll on some warm weather.
A Little Egret was in a field opposite the exit of the Jim Fearnley Bridge path at 3.05, feeding well (it had not been there when I passed 20 minutes before). It flew off after about 5/6 minutes towards Goyt Hall and appeared to drop down behind it, but could not be traced when I looked. Plenty of places to hide here, though. Also seen: 40+ meadow pipits, dipper, fem. goosander, buzzard and 45 mallard on the river. Egret a great find locally, the first I've ever seen 'grounded' hereabouts.
Decent amount of Mayfly by Hare and Hounds pub from 20.30 to 21.00 this evening bought 10+ Common Swift to head height . Great spectacle .
Nice to see a gathering of 60 people today in a walk from Bredbury Hall to Holiday Lane to show support against the building of the by-pass through the valley.
Birds of note from 14:00-16:00 were 1+ Common Buzzard, Grey Wagtail, 30 Swallow, 10 Swift, 7 House Martin, 4 Sand Martin, 3 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Peregrine Falcon, Nuthatch and 4 Greenfinch.
Enjoy it while you can.
In Poise Brook Wood: Ring-necked Parakeets (2), Buzzards (2) and a Skylark over.
Cheers John
A first winter Rose-coloured Starling visited a garden on Brookside Avenue, Offerton, which backs onto Poise Brook Woods (accessible via Holiday Lane), on Saturday 23rd March.
The bird has unfortunately not been seen since despite being looked for in the garden but there are a good number of Starlings in the area.
Images of the bird are now on the website.
Info thanks to Donna Seaton
This p.m. from Goyt Hall Farm area to Offerton Water Treatment works. Not too exciting, but at least I was outside after a terrible morning. At least 'flocks' of a few birds made a change for here with c30 redwing, c15 meadow pipits and about the same of pied wagtails at least putting some life into the horse paddocks. The river was too wild for most birds, but a pair of goosander rode the rapids. Amongst other things seen were buzzard, stock dove, goldcrest, up to 4 treecreepers (2 in song), 2+ song thrushes and 2+ mistle thrushes making up about 30 species in all.
Raven 1
Lapwing 3
House Sparrow 15
Buzzard 2
Peregrine 2 (British Gas Tower)
Cheers John
Saturday 15th Sept. (1pm)
8 Parakeets over Fearnley bridge, heading towards Woodbank park (presumably ring-necked).
Apologies for the late report.
Cheers Steve.
Otterspool-Bredbury Hall and back. 18.30-20.30
14 Mandarin Duck, Peregrine Falcon, Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Sand Martin amongst 50+ Barn Swallow, 3 Jay, Tawny Owl.
Raven over earlier at midday.
Bongs lane-Holiday lane-Otterspool 19.45-21.15
7 Ring Necked Parakeets (seem to have replaced the Jackdaws in one of their old nesting areas). 2 Common Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk, 6 Grey Wagtail 11 Mandarin Duck, Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 4 Swift, 3 Sand Martin, 5 Swallow, 5 House Martin, Jay, 4 Goldcrest, Nuthatch
Treecreeper- 1
Grey Wagtail- 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker- 1
Ring-necked Parakeet- 5
Redwing- 10
Jay- 2
Mandarin- 2
Judging by the snow on the branches in the attached image, James Dempsey-Riley's photo was taken before the high winds arrived. There was zero snow on the trees today
So, no Egret but I saw the following:
Dipper 2 (1 gathering nesting material on Poise Brook)
Ring-necked Parakeets 2 (Poise Wood)
Jay 4
Redwing 12
Lapwing 4+3 (small parties looking forlorn in the snow)
Mandarin 17
Goosander 1m, 3f
Teal 4
Buzzard 3 (2 displaying with another male tagging on hopefully)
Common Gull 2
Cheers John
Great footage of a Little Egret on Poise Brook on Stockport Nature Watch website today posted by James Dempsey-Riley. Not sure whereabouts on Poise Brook though.
Pied Wagtail (86 on settling beds)
Grey Wagtail 1
Meadow Pipit 1
Cheers, John
Redwings 53
Meadow Pipits 21
Black-headed Gull 45
Grey Wagtail 2
Jay 4
Nuthatch 3
Long-tailed Tit 6 with a Goldcrest in the flock
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Cheers John
A nice walk in the sun rudely interrupted by the noisy screams of parakeets!
2 ring-necked parakeets near to Jim Fearnley bridge this morning. Enquiries with a couple of dog walkers revealed that a bird was on the run having escaped from a keeper in Offerton. However, their apparent efforts to recapture the bird have been unsuccessful, probably due to the fact that it has met up with another 'wild' bird (of which the locals knew nothing about). One bird was inspecting nest holes, so we might be about to have a population explosion locally (unless the peregrine fancies nipping out for an Indian takeaway).
About 30 species of bird seen otherwise, but nothing else really of note apart from the song of a mistle thrush.
I realise it's an escapee but the best bird today was a White Java Sparrow by Stockport Hydro.
Also Kingfisher, 10 Swallow, 8 Mandarin Duck, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper Nuthatch, Grey Wagtail, Goldcrest.
Kingfisher and 2 Grey Wagtail this morning by Jim Fernley bridge. Also Chiffchaff, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, 30+ each of Swallow and House Martin.
A minimum (could not all be viewed at same time due to tree cover) of 48 mandarin moulting near to Offerton Water treatment works. Ducks was all that this afternoon was good for due to rain!
A few sightings from the Goyt Valley SOS walk this afternoon.
4 Swift, 4 House Martin, 6 Swallow, 2 Chiffchaff, Blackcap. Enjoy them before there's a 4 lane by-pass through there.
1 whitethroat in farmland scrub with fishing ponds behind you. Otherwise not much apart from maybe 5-6 pairs of swallows, mostly at ramshackle farm towards Bredbury Hall, and many house sparrows. 12 starlings feeding on the grassland was almost a blast from the past.
Blackcap 5 (4 singing)
Swallow 4
Sand Martin 1
Chiffchaff 2
Mandarin 7 (6m, 1f)
Linnet 5
Greenfinch 2
Jay 1
Cheers John
Clapgate- Otterspool 5.30-6.30pm
Dipper, 10 Mandarin Duck, Chiffchaff, 3 Mistle Thrush, Grey Wagtail, Goosander pair.
Clapgate- Otterspool 11-12.30
Kingfisher, 3 pairs of Grey Wagtail, 20 Redwing, Common Buzzard, Stock Dove, Nuthatch, 3 Goosander, 2 drake Mandarin Duck, 4 Mistle Thrush