Posted by Ian Moffatt today, 16th Feb.

Had the wintering female Green Woodpecker along the `old course` valley again
today despite the felling of its favourite poplar trees, in the name of progress.
Also GS Woodpecker in the valley plus Kingfisher & 82 Teal on the river.
M.S.Canal
52 Tufted ducks, single Gadwall, pair of GC Grebes,5 Little Grebes + 2 Cormorants.
At last i had my 1st Goldcrest of the year,in the valley next to Barton Airport.
Cheers Ian

Popped down today,Aythea number had dropped right off,presumably the birds have found a better stretch of open water to roost on.
Tufted 115
Pochard 6
Also plenty of Teal about,on the brook and on the banks of the canal,,a lone Great Crested Grebe,a few Gadwall,couple of Goldeneye, and a few Black Headed Gulls feeding off the sewage works outfall.
A Buzzard was hunting over the rough ground,also a Kestrel.
The canal here has great potential in extreme weather as the outflow from Davyhulme Sewage Works should keep this stretch of canal free from ice long after other areas have frozen over.There is a more direct path further up the A57 but if you take it you miss any birds on the brook.

Ah so! It seems everyone has a favourite spot here, good info all round but either way Pete and I must have struck the right location when we visited with over 700 Tufties on view!

There is another large layby used by lorries by the Goldstein laboratories which I use, on the W side by the MOss Road turning (there is a white cottage on the corner.)
(SJ740969) Walk to the N end of the layby, cross the road and there is a double set of locked gates to a track (there is an entrance at the side of the gates). Walk down track - marked on A-Z - to ship canal and Barton Locks.

The way we went is the easiest and shortest way to get unrestricted views of ALL the water.Access is off the A57,park in the large layby on the south side of the A57,which is before the turning to Barton Airdrome(which is on the opposite side of A57).If you follow the path which runs alongside Salteye Brook this will take you to the Ship Canal just below Barton Locks where all the birds were last week.Good luck.

As you were looking directly into the Loading Bay from the north side of the MSC the bay widens out on the right hand side after the concrete jetty. The bank here is the favourite place for roosting/resting duck. Before the vegatation was recently removed it was very sheltered and secluded (thus their preference for the place).

I'm confused now we had unrestricted viewing across the whole locks area and into the sludge loading bay from our position on the north side of the ship canal, something which didn't seem feasable from the south side? Having never viewed from the south though is viewing the area better from there?

Cheers Nick. I see it now. Amazing. Langland Drive isn't even in the A-Z

Pete,

There is a footpath of sorts on the north side of the MSC all the way from Irlam Lochs to Peel Green Road (Barton Swing Bridge). If you Google map it you can see its called Langland Dr for the section between the Swing Bridge and the M60 High Level Bridge. But if you take this path its not easy to see into the Sludge Loading Bay which, on Google maps, is just north of Ripley Crescent on the south side of the MSC. The Sludge Loading Bay is best viewed from Davyhulme Millenium Park although on my last visit (Nov) UU had cut down all the vegetation around the bay which will have reduced its attractiveness to all the duck ! There are usually large numbers of Tufties, good numbers of Pochard, Shovelor, Teal, Gadwall and the occasional Scaup in this area at this time of year. I was there to do the WEBS today but, as you state, it was closed (there are a couple of ponds and for safety reasons they are probably keeping the kids out). The area holds decent numbers of Teal as there are loads of vegetated pools in the area closed to the public, you can hear them calling as you walk around the reserve. Due to the (unmanaged) vegetation build up on the reserve viewing over the rest of the MSC isn't what it used to be.
Cheers
Nick

Cheers Ian. Looking at the A-Z there ar a couple of tracks off the A57 towards the Ship Canal, one which goes straight there down from the locks is called 'Boysnope Wharf' . Must try and give it a butchers sometime as long time no big Aythya flocks for me.

Pete,

Pete Berry and I accessed from just a bit futher up from the entrance to Barton Aerodrome. There is a large lay-by on the ship canal side which you can park in. Then it's a case of making your way towards the ship canal across the rough fields. The birds gather on the downstream side of the locks and are probably best viewed from this (western) side of the canal as some birds can get tucked up against the banks etc.

I tried to access this site this afternoon, but had no joy From Davyhulme there is no access from Bent Lanes and the Millenium NR was locked up. Even when operational the last access is at 3.30 at the NR. Info required please on how to access a vantage point for the Aythya fest

-- Edited by Pete Hines on Sunday 17th of January 2010 07:46:17 PM

Originally posted today at 8:23pm by Brian Kirkwood

Hi All,

I met Judith at the locks on Sunday,i am the man with the Airedale,just to confirm there were 8/10 Shovler in two groups,i checked today before heading back up the motorway and counted six.

Best regards Brian


__________________
B A KIRKWOOD

A walk in the Millenium Reserve to Barton Locks, Tuesday, 12th January.

Fieldfares 20+
Goldfinches 10+
L.Redpoll 1
Kestrel 1m
Buzzard 1
Grey Heron 1
Miss.Thrush 1
BH Gulls 120+
C/H/LBB Gulls
Mallards 5
Coots 3
Moorhen 1
Canada Geese 100+
Tufted Ducks 300+
Pochards 19
Teal 3
Gadwall 2
Mute Swans 2ad
Little Grebes 2
Gt.Crested Grebes 3
Cormorants 5
etc.etc.etc.

I also had a look at this area between 1pm and 2pm. I only had 318 Tufties at the lock (ie adjacent to Davyhulme MNR) but could see groups stretching down the canal towards Irlam, and had seen groups as I drove along the A58 alongside the canal, so the total was probably considerably more, as you found! I had 7 Gadwall, 3 Little Grebes and 12 Mute Swans, also 36 Herring Gulls. Another birder (with Airedale) told me he had seen about 8-10 Shoveler downstream from Irlam locks and the railway bridge.
This whole area looks good whilst the weather is so cold.

Pete Berry and myself (plus our Jack), up to 1:15pm today:

No sign of the Smew here
748 Tufted Duck
26 Pochard
2 Gadwall
2 Snipe
1 Kingfisher
109 Teal on brook
1 female Shoveler on brook
3 Grey Heron on brook
1 Willow Tit

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 10th of January 2010 01:41:02 PM

6th Jan 1500-1615
Trudge through virgin snow the reach the canal to find a feast of wildfowl.
Counted the hugh raft of Tufted Ducks four times to confirm record numbers.
An incredible 452 birds present (previous best 333, 4th Jan 2009) plus
26 Canada geese,18 Gadwall,16 Mallards,12 Pochard,8 Teal,4 Goldeneye
6 Cormorants,3 Shovelers,2 Mute Swans,2 Herons,1 G.C.Grebe.
Also the usual Coots,Moorhens & B.H.Gulls present + a single Woodcock
flush from the banks of the canal, over 600 birds in total.
Happy new year to you all
Ian





-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 10th of January 2010 04:20:15 PM

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 16th of February 2010 07:42:55 PM