A Hobby flew east over Hough End Fields at 10.10

Male Whinchat perched on fence in rugby club area

Male Wheatear on the Broughton Park Rugby Football Club pitch

8 Little Egret flew east over the playing fields at 08.37

Teal pair in the Clough
Common Gull 80 on the playing fields
Skylark 1 on the playing fields

Hough End Playing Fields

Black-headed Gull 136
Common Gull 71
Herring Gull 6
Lesser Black-backed Gull 14

Hough End Playing Fields

Swift 3
House Martin minimum of 40. Breeding success from the colony of the 5 visible nests in the Broughton Park Rugby Club stand, plus visitors
Sand Martin 3
Swallow 6
Common Gull 2 (adult, 1 immature)
Lesser Black-backed Gull 6
Black-headed Gull 90
Ring-necked Parakeet 13 minimum

Hough End Clough

Kingfisher 1
Blackcap 1 singing male

Playing fields

Skylark 2
Common Gull 68+
Herring Gull 51
Lesser Black-backed Gull 19
Black-headed Gull 213
Stock Dove 8 flew into the Clough

Common Gull 85
Black-headed Gull 210
Herring Gull 12
Lesser Black-backed Gull 17

Common Gull 56
Pink-footed Goose 59 east at 09.30
Jackdaw 219 over south
Jay 4 (including 2 high east)
Skylark 1 over
Sparrowhawk 2

Peregrine juvenile, red ring 5H on right leg (see photo) at the playing fields (present when I arrived) put on a fantastic performance for 40 minutes before flying east over Princess Road into Withington at 12.46. Caught a Woodpigeon, plucked it on the ground and 'toyed' with the Crows.

Found by Tony O'Mahony this morning and still present this afternoon at the Broughton Park FC (Rugby Union)

Whinchat 1
Wheatear 3

Common Gull - 41 on the playing fields this morning

Whinchat & Wheatear together at Broughton Park Rugby Club on fence by Hough End Fields. Found by Tony O'Mahony late morning, still present 14.20

Wheatear - 2 at south end on rugby pitches (Tony O'Mahony 11.35)

Spotted Flycatcher, one Hough End Fields in trees along Red Lion Brook and mobile. 11.58 Tony O'Mahony

14 Golden Plover early afternoon on the playing fields, though mobile mainly due to gulls harassing them

-- Edited by dave broome on Wednesday 28th of February 2018 11:14:43 AM

No sign of the Golden Plovers from 12.30, but otherwise

Skylark 10 (flying low, calling, presumably just flushed by a dog)
Common Gull 55
Herring Gull 3
Lesser Black-backed Gull 3

-- Edited by Pete Hines on Tuesday 27th of February 2018 01:15:09 PM

Afternoon 30 minute break, parked up by the bird table on main driveway to the rugby club.

Quick check on the playing fields but nothing of interest, only birds within visibility were lots of Woodpigeon and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull.
- Chiffchaff 1 splendid close up bird singing near the wagon responding to another near the Horse paddock.
- Robin 2
- Dunnock 1
- Great Tit 1
- Blackbird 4

Friday 4th March - afternoon break

Lots of birds present on the snow covered rugby fields.

- Black-headed Gull
- Common Gull
(By far the above 2 species the most numerous on the fields)
- Lesser Black-backed Gull 3 that I could see
- Herring Gull 2
- Skylark 9
- Meadow Pipit 2
- Mistle Thrush 2
- Blackbird 1
- Greenfinch 1 calling in tree near car park
- usual Corvids around and many more distant birds over the fields

This afternoon 2.15 - 3.00pm

Literally hundreds of birds on most areas of the playing fields, numbers impossible to give.

Black-headed Gull
Common Gull
Woodpigeon
Starling
(These 4 species by far outnumbering everything else)
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Magpie
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Herring Gull
and 2 Mistle Thrush

Alot of the birds seemed to be feeding well, and judging by the way alot were feeding probing their bills into the ground (especially the Starlings, Corvids, and alot of the Gulls) were probably taking Leatherjackets. Possibly due to the mild conditions for most of the winter, the Crane Fly larvae haven't wintered as long and are feeding on the grass roots a little earlier than normal.

Friday afternoon approx 2.30pm

Hundreds of Gulls on the playing fields, the vast majority being Common Gulls and Black-headed Gulls, difficult to put a number on it but at least a couple of hundred of each.

Also...
Lesser Black-backed Gull, 5 adults + 3 near adult
Herring Gull, 4 adults
Woodpigeon, well over 100
Starling, again well over 100

Late post for yesterday
3:30-5:00
No sign of Fridays golden plover.
Common gull numbers are outnumbering the black-headed gull numbers by 3:1
2 lesser black back gulls
3 grey wagtails on the brook
1 kingfisher (only my second here this month)
1 grey heron.
1 juv. Moorhen

16 Golden Plover present on the playing fields at 6pm.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

The Hough End Model Aircraft Club use the fields on Sundays at 2pm and at other times through the week, weather permitting. Therefore, if you do visit you might well expect them to be using the fields (legitimately). If you go on Saturdays you'll also find football on most of the pitches during the season, rugby on at least two and hockey/lacrosse occasionally.

Delivering in Chorlton this afternoon and took a tacho break at Hough End mid afternoon.

Remote Control Plane and Glider club was on again so most of the central areas of the fields were void of birds but a lot of usuals around the other parts.

Lots of Gulls incl adults and younger birds, many of them near the car park, a lot of the smaller Gulls basking in the hot sun, as was I. Some Gulls just too far away to put a number to on far outskirts of the fields.

- Black-headed Gulls - easily over 100
- Common Gulls - 50+
- Lesser Black-backed Gulls - 3 adults, 1 younger bird possibly 3rd year, and 3 large juveniles which I'm assuming we're Lesser Black-backed's simply because there were adults of that species around. Could easily have been Herring Gulls though but very mobile so difficult to tell.
- Carrion Crow - 4
- Jackdaw - 10+
- Magpies
- Pied Wagtail - 3
- Lots of Woodpigeon around too
- Starling - 2 large groups around, both consisting of 100+ birds, mainly near the main building and car park
- Swallow - between 10-20 but hard to tell for obvious reasons

Late report for Monday.
The Golden plover is still no where to be seen so I presume it's gone. But gull numbers have increased dramatically so with no sigh of the golden plover I decided to count the gulls instead. The highlights were:
73 common gulls
123 black headed gulls
7 lesser black backed gulls
1 herring gull
170c starlings
1 pied wagtail
47 swallows in the air over the fields (not counting the ones over low over the grass)
And 1 male sparro hawk causing the a real commotion.

no signs of the golden plover between 4-4.50pm, like joel I also looked in the paddocks (the ones you can actually see in) & also checked the rooftops no signs there either.
several swallows whizzing around
5 lesser black backed gull
15 common gull
20 black headed gull
100+ starling
20+ goldfinch

Golden Plover was present on the playing fields for a few minutes only between 2.29 - 2.35pm (checked photo time stamp) and only when the remote control planes had stopped. As soon as they started again, the Plover flew off away from the fields towards Mauldeth Road.

Mostly same birds as yesterday but also some Lesser Black-backed Gulls present too, and around 100 Starling in the blackberry bush near car park.

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Friday 11th of September 2015 07:29:48 PM

Had a visit from 2:55 till 3:55 with no sigh of the golden plover the money things about were a group flying planes in the area that Neil described. I checked every where including the paddocks but no sign of it. Hope it's still around.

Golden Plover still there at 12:00 today - I approached from Princess Road between the Metrolink Station and Hough End and walked along the "midway" with two sets of soccer fields running north-south on either side. About two-thirds of the way towards the parked cars the pitches on the right begin to run east-west and on the first such pitch the bird was sat tamely near to the first goalpost as if waiting for an incoming corner.

Same other birds as Shannon though amidst at least 50 Black-Headed gulls I saw five Lesser Black-Backed and four Common Gulls.

Great local bird and thanks to those whom posted it.

Juvenile Sparrowhawk calling intermittently from "Lime Walk" in the old part of Southern Cemetery running parallel to Nell Lane.



-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 11th of September 2015 03:20:14 PM

Golden plover still present when I left at approximately 7.45. On the opposite side of the fields from the main rugby pitch and leisure centre. Extremely confiding; I got to within an excellent distance to observe through my binoculars seemingly without disturbing it in the slightest, and the odd dog walker who got closer just caused it to scamper off a few metres. That's made my week. :)

Also plenty of swallows (not swifts, as I originally typed) and house martins, carrion crows and black-headed gulls feeding on the pitches, and three ring-necked parakeet over.



-- Edited by Shannon Llewellyn on Thursday 10th of September 2015 10:47:32 PM

Had a lovely visits today seen as it was not being disturbed as much. Relly nice to meet you rob. It was also really nice to meet Jamie dunning and Tony o'mahony who turned up while I was there. While talking to Jamie a council van came long and was heading straight for the golden plover but the golden plover noticed in time and flew to safety giving the driver a fright.

-- Edited by Joel Tragen on Thursday 10th of September 2015 09:53:19 PM

Rob Creek wrote:

---

Golden Plover still here. (Current time)

Looks settled, luckily not flushed by anything during my visit.

Was joined by Joel Tragen, nice to meet you mate.

---

Just to add to a quick post earlier due to tacho break nearing its end, took me around 20 minutes to locate the bird and I found it slap bang in the middle of the playing fields where I'd already covered, so it is possibly quite mobile over the area. There are lots of grass divots around too just to keep you checking everything.
The Plover was within about 25ft of me when Joel joined me, and still present when I left as I was travelling back to work down the Parkway and I glanced over the field where Joel was lay down photographing it. A top Birder in the making!


Other birds of note...
- Common Gull - approx 30+, many sat down sunning themselves
- Black-headed Gull - approx the same and some doing the same
- Woodpigeons
- Carrion Crows
- Jackdaws
- Starling - group of around 40-50
- Swallow - a few about feeding low over the fields

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Thursday 10th of September 2015 06:10:08 PM

Golden Plover still here. (Current time)

Looks settled, luckily not flushed by anything during my visit.

Was joined by Joel Tragen, nice to meet you mate.

Golden plover still present during my visit from 3:10 till 4:45. It was in the middle of the field. Took me 15 minutes to locate. The golden plover was dive bombed by swallows 3 times while we were there but this time it managed to duck them. Other birds around were:
19 common gulls
4 lesser black backed gulls
7 house martins
50+ swallows
30+ starlings

-- Edited by Joel Tragen on Wednesday 9th of September 2015 11:18:43 PM

Late post from yesterday.
A quick visit from 6:10 till 7:00 pm last night. No sign of the Golden Plover any where near the stadium so I cycled up and down the field until I decided to leave. When I saw it sat there only 3 meters from my bike. It took to the sky twice the first was when it got dive bombed by a swallow, the second was when. A dog scared it unfournatley after the dog had scared it it landed behind the stadium in the paddocks and I was unable to relocate it.
Other birds about:
17 common gulls
3 lesser black backed gulls
1 lesser black backed gulls
30+ house martins
22 swallows
100+ starlings

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 9th of September 2015 07:48:25 AM

-- Edited by Joel Tragen on Wednesday 9th of September 2015 11:20:37 PM

Juvenile golden plover still present 12.05 pm.

Golden Plover on the rugby pitch with the stadium Just next to the goal post at the end of the access road. Found by Tony O'Mahony Also 200 House Martins mostly juveniles

The Sparrowhawk pair from Weller Gardens Woods were causing no end of panic today, plenty of calls, from both the raptors ad the fleeing targets

-- Edited by John Doherty on Monday 20th of October 2014 03:08:14 PM

c900 Black-headed Gulls on the football pitches at 4pm today.

Hobby chasing hirundines this afternoon.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

you are so lucky to see a hobby on hough end i like to go there in the summer and have all the {hirundines} i had to look that one up,fly all around me catching insects coming up from the grass. If i saw a hobby it would make my year.I know i have to get out more. So thank you .

Hobby causing panic amongst hirundines over the playing fields at midday until it flew off north.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony