I found a family of Hooded/Carrion hybrids in Mid Wales while completing a Spring/Summer survey in the hills around Rhyd Ddu, Montgomeryshire, 30km or so south of Welshpool last year. The adults were clearly Carrion and Hooded, while the young birds had variations of grey and black patterning to confuse observers in the future in that area.

The last records there were from 1952, so this record is very unusual, as it is inland and was of a breeding bird too.

jason atkinson wrote:

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Just out of interest being from Manchester and all, what is the status/population of Hooded Crow not only in the NW but also south of the border ? We can exclude South Stack and there seems to be odd records from the east coast, esp spurn and flamborough but not to many spring to mind down the west side ?

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Do they breed anywhere south of the border apart from, as you say, the Anglesey birds (which must be hybridised to hell by now) and the Isle of Man? The furthest south in Scotland I regularly see them in summer is the southern tip of the Kintyre Peninsular, which is further south than Ayr, though I'm sure I've seen birds in D&G in winter. Doesn't the southern range of the hoodie in the UK follow roughly what was known as the 'Highland Line', the topographic change between the Highlands and the Lowlands?

I occasionally stay with a gamekeeper in Norfolk and saw three hoodies there several years ago. The keeper said he hadn't seen any for some years, though they were much more common in Norfolk when he was a kid (his dad was the keeper on the same estate) and were seen most winters. These were, presumably, continental birds.

A hoodie wintered around Risley Moss 2008/9 winter. I saw it only once, coming off the landfill at Silver Lane, but the Risley birders saw it several times over and on the moss.

Would gladly trade our Hoodies for maybe a Magpie or a Jay, 2 Shetland Mega's.

cheers
jason

jason atkinson wrote:

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I can see where Matt is coming from, but i also know Pete and am from the same camp. I now live up in Shetland and we are surrounded by Hooded Crows so would probably do exactly the same thing. Just out of interest being from Manchester and all, what is the status/population of Hooded Crow not only in the NW but also south of the border ? We can exclude South Stack and there seems to be odd records from the east coast, esp spurn and flamborough but not to many spring to mind down the west side ?
Anyway Hooded Crows aside i had a Jackdaw and 2 Rooks today, springs on its way !!

cheers
jason

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I actually saw my very first Hooded Crow in Norfolk, many years ago. Well not that long ago, maybe 10 years or so!

I have just checked the Gm list and its down as Very Rare Visitor, the last recorded at Watergrove 14/1/96.

Can we have some more of yours please?

-- Edited by Matt Potter on Tuesday 16th of March 2010 10:07:56 PM

I can see where Matt is coming from, but i also know Pete and am from the same camp. I now live up in Shetland and we are surrounded by Hooded Crows so would probably do exactly the same thing. Just out of interest being from Manchester and all, what is the status/population of Hooded Crow not only in the NW but also south of the border ? We can exclude South Stack and there seems to be odd records from the east coast, esp spurn and flamborough but not to many spring to mind down the west side ?
Anyway Hooded Crows aside i had a Jackdaw and 2 Rooks today, springs on its way !!

cheers
jason

Just had a look at this thread and didnt like Matt Potters attitude at all, its only a hobby after all.
Anyway just before Christmas there were 2 crows hanging about near my Netto in Oldham with what looked like white wings - but definitely not hoodeds. One would have been strange but 2 together surprised me, looked liked they were a proper species of something, but hey ho Im no expert.

Mike Passant wrote:

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visiting birders happily tick off as a Hoodie and then go their merry way rejoicing - the black bleeds into the grey just a little too much and the grey is generally too sullied to be a tickable specimen.

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Not even if you look at it into the sun with squinty eyes?

It's quite amazing to me that when driving, how many times I'd like to stop to check out a bird and it is just impossible to do so. Either there is no safe "pull in" spot, or someone is driving so close behind it's not safe to even try to stop; (I think it's a variant of "Sods Law.")
However, back to the possible Hooded Crow as reported by Pete B. It's kind of him to actually put it out as such really, and anyone really intrigued can of course try to check it out for themselves as a result. If there is a candidate knocking about, it's important that any observers scrutinise it for any hybrid characteristics.
We've had a hybrid locally here (at Low Barns Co. Durham) for about 8 years, which out of area visiting birders happily tick off as a Hoodie and then go their merry way rejoicing. It looks OK superficially (sort of 3/4 Hoodie) but seems to me like a hybrid back crossed with a Hoodie, - the black bleeds into the grey just a little too much and the grey is generally too sullied to be a tickable specimen.

As a Cheadle Hulme resident whilst it may have been a hooded crow definately one was in the trees at the traffic lights at MERE GOLF CLUB ON THE 8TH March, had to go to a funeral in London that day and was being driven by someone else and i'm sure a special show had been put on for me 1 male hen harrier Dunham massey roundabout,

two buzzards in centre of roundabout 5 more by sandbach peragrine at norton caines
8 kestrals and 2 sparrow hawks with the events of the day I forgot to rarities in our region,

getting back to the hooded crows, more years than I care to to remember there used to be a small breeding population at lyme park disley that dissappeared round about the time of the last really long bad winter.
Now cheadle hulme crows or as i like to think of them my pond protectors at one time there was one thats wings were 50% white and he or she proved two be a good parent as there are atleast a dozen with white and grey flashes and in some light two or three can look positively grey.

Sorry if might comments muddied the water a bit, definate hooded mere golf club probably not Cheadle hulme

paul

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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I think Pete has understated the circumstances and restrictions on his viewing of this bird somewhat folks but either way we all go birding for our different reasons and are absolutely entitled to it. It's all too easy to cast judgement on forums like this but we seem to be getting away from the crux of Pete's post which was of a possible Hooded Crow. If we really feel the need to comment on 'peripherals' (which of course we're entitled to do too), especially in a manner likely to create ill feeling to another party for what was a well intentioned post then I'd ask we did so in a private message please

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Sorry Ian, I apologise. I am not trying to create ill feeling or have a go, I was just saying, based on evidence put down, that it was odd not to positivly ID a bird just cos of a possible boundary.

am off birding... well I wish I was... am stuck in work!

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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I think Pete has understated the circumstances and restrictions on his viewing of this bird somewhat folks but either way we all go birding for our different reasons and are absolutely entitled to it. It's all too easy to cast judgement on forums like this but we seem to be getting away from the crux of Pete's post which was of a possible Hooded Crow. If we really feel the need to comment on 'peripherals' (which of course we're entitled to do too), especially in a manner likely to create ill feeling to another party for what was a well intentioned post then I'd ask we did so in a private message please

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I second what ian says-keep this forum to sightings.We sometimes forget that its an hobby and when people see stuff while on the way to work etc,they don't always have the time to make possitive id's,or may not be in a birding frame of mind,Lets keep this as it is a friendly forum,and don't judge others,when none of us really know each other circumstances,and in the end there are more important things than birding

I think Pete has understated the circumstances and restrictions on his viewing of this bird somewhat folks but either way we all go birding for our different reasons and are absolutely entitled to it. It's all too easy to cast judgement on forums like this but we seem to be getting away from the crux of Pete's post which was of a possible Hooded Crow. If we really feel the need to comment on 'peripherals' (which of course we're entitled to do too), especially in a manner likely to create ill feeling to another party for what was a well intentioned post then I'd ask we did so in a private message please

If you apply Pete's criteria, there'd be far fewer Roving Records submitted to the Atlas

Whether you think they are a special bird or not isnt my point.

I see them a lot as well when I am in Scotland, but if I saw a possible Hooded Crow some 300 miles south of its 'normal' area, I would stop to see if it definatley was or not the species.

I just find it odd not to bother positivly identifying it simply because it was one side of a boundary or another!

I think they are quite nice actually!

I see them regulary when I'm in Scotland,which is most of the time,its not a special bird as far as I'm concerned.You would not get very far in Scotland if you stopped every time you saw a Hoodie!

-- Edited by pete berry on Monday 15th of March 2010 01:48:24 PM

pete berry wrote:

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Last Thursday as I was driving down Stanley Road,Cheadle Hulme I saw a couple of Crows stood on top of a lamp standard.One of them looked very much like a Hooded Crow.As I thought I was in Cheshire I didn't bother to stop to check it out,it wasn't till I got home and checked the A-Z that I realised I was just inside the GMC boundary.The two birds were adjacent to a field with sheep on the rhs of Stanley Road as you head away from the Wagon & Horses pub,just before the railway line.Might be worth checking out for anyone who lives in the area.

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It wouldnt matter where I was! If I was this south of the Highlands I would have stopped to check it out to see if it was a Hooded Crow or not!

Bit of an odd attitude just because you thought it wasnt it Greater Manchester!

-- Edited by Matt Potter on Monday 15th of March 2010 01:31:59 PM

Last Thursday as I was driving down Stanley Road,Cheadle Hulme I saw a couple of Crows stood on top of a lamp standard.One of them looked very much like a Hooded Crow.As I thought I was in Cheshire I didn't bother to stop to check it out,it wasn't till I got home and checked the A-Z that I realised I was just inside the GMC boundary.The two birds were adjacent to a field with sheep on the rhs of Stanley Road as you head away from the Wagon & Horses pub,just before the railway line.Might be worth checking out for anyone who lives in the area.