8 Tufted Ducks and 2 Cormorants

14 Tufted Ducks (12 drakes)

29/05/24 Round up since 05/04/24

Goosander - 1 drake lingered until at least 10/04
Mallard & Tufted Duck. Numbers remained about the same, with no sign of any ducklings
Canada Goose - 1 bird seemed to be sitting on one of the islands in the Anglers' lake but had stopped by 09/05 with no sign of any goslings
Coot - 3 pairs bred. 2 on the Duck pond, hatching broods of 4 and 6 of which currently 1 and 4 respectively seem to have survived, with the pair on the Anglers lake hatching 7 which they seem to have successfully hidden until 22/05 when I counted them for the first time - as large juveniles
Moorhen up to 4 seen on different visits but no sign of any young
Black-headed Gull - always at least a few birds around
Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 around on 22/04 with
Herring Gull 1 on that same date
Grey Heron - 2 pairs seem to have hatched 1 and 3 chicks between them. 2 of the 3 chicks are still around as of 29/05 on the Anglers' lake. No sign of the single chick from the Duck pond nest since 09/05
2 more pairs started to sit using adjacent nests to the first pairs, one on 14/05, the other on 22/05.
Cormorant juvenile bird present 29/05 on Anglers lake - for 2nd day, apparently.

05/04/24
Round up of weekly visits since 29/02/24

Goosander 5 - 1 female with 4 males in close attendance (05/04) - first for me here since the end of February
Mallard - no proper count but down to 7/8 drakes only
Tufted Duck - averaging 14 still with a roughly 2 to 1 ratio
Coot - between 4 and 8, with one bird sitting since 14/03 and a second seen 05/04
Moorhen - average of 4 - 1 breeding pair confirmed 05/04
Canada Goose -uncounted but numbers down
Black-headed Gull ditto - mostly still in 1st winter plumage
Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 a pair present until 21/03 when they were mobbing one of the..
Grey Heron - 1 pair have 2 quite large chicks (feeding observed 05/04) the other pair still incubating/brooding

29/02/24
Visits over last month (and a bit) -

Goosander 2 males (01/02 + 14/02)
Mallard - count of 51 (21/02)
Tufted Duck - varied between 14(14/02) and 26(21/02) with ratio of approx. 2m to 1f
Coot - maximum count of 8 (28/02) - 2N(28/02)
Moorhen - maximum count of 7 (01/02)
Canada Goose - c 68 counted 28/02
Black-headed Gull - maximum of 120 on 21/02 down to 45 on 28/02
Lesser Black-backed Gull 3 - 2xadult and 1x2nd winter bird 28/02
Grey Heron -bird on Angler's lake was sitting 14/02 - 1 bird back on the Duck pond 14/02 - egg turning observed 21/02 and a nest changeover 28/02. Change (decrease) in breeding colour of bill noted between 21/02 and 28/02. Numbers well down on spring of 2021 (6 active nests) and 2022 (only 2 active nests but up to 7 birds present)

24/01/24

Anglers Lake

Most of the Tufted Ducks have returned (10M 2F) after the 'Big Freeze'. Just the one Grey Heron, loitering with intent by one of the fishing peg. 1 adult winter Common Gull in with C 200 Black-headed Gulls.

Duck Pond
Goosander 1 Male actively fishing but not seeming to catch anything

at least a dozen each of Moorhen and Coot between the two water bodies.

Mistle Thrush singing otherwise fairly quiet.

Called in on the way home this afternoon. Both lakes around 80% frozen. The summer plumage adult Black-headed Gull pottering about on the ice looked a bit out of place (or should that be time?)

No sign of any Goosanders, Grey Herons or Tufted Ducks. 1 each of 1st Winter, 2nd winter and adult winter Common Gull among the Black-headed Gulls. Jan 12th birds were 2 adult and 1 second Winter. A 3rd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull and another large gull with an interesting mantle were also present but both departed S.W. before I could get a good look at the second bird.

-- Edited by Mike Chorley on Tuesday 16th of January 2024 08:26:43 PM

Unexpected extra visit this morning and some changes to numbers - all on the Anglers lake

Goosander up to 5 males
Tufted Duck now 18 - 12 M 6 F

Grey Heron 2 1 in thenesttree at the cafe end, the other right down by the bridge over the outlet to the pool.

3 Common Gulls were among circa 200 Black-headed Gulls

Minima of 6 Coot and 6 Moorhen seen.

11/01/24 late morning

Goosander 3 M on the Angler's Lake (obviously)
Tufted Duck 8 - 5 M & 2 F on the Angler's lake all diving in an area around 1 of the fishing pegs - 1 M on the Duck Pond
Grey Heron 1 huddled up on the south end of the southernmost islet in the Angler's Lake (around 8 old nests counted - all currently unclaimed - excluding the original, now fallen one)

Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and Canada Goose all present in reasonable (uncounted) numbers. Also a Muscovy Duck.

Black-headed Gull - c75 flew up off the Duck Pond and departed NW before I could do a proper count.

25.05.2023 - late morning

Very few ducks around, with no broods of ducklings
Mallard - uncounted but reduced numbers
Tufted Duck - 8 - 3 pairs and 2 extra males, all on the Anglers lake
Canada Goose - uncounted but numbers seemed lower 1 pair had 6 goslings and 2 other pairs had a creche of 15 goslings
Grey Heron - 6 minimum - 3 juveniles were in the nest on the Boat House end island on the Angler's lake, 2 juveniles were on the Fir Tree Island in the Duck Pond lake and an adult was sitting in a nest on the other island in that lake, possibly the bird seen earlier fishing in the Anglers lake.
Moorhen 1
Coot uncounted but an adult was with 2 large chicks on the park side of the Duck Pond and the nest under the old heron nest had 4 fuzzball chicks being fed, off the nest, by another adult.

Sad to say, I was in the Park this morning and spoke to one of the council Gardeners who informed me the Drake wood duck had sadly died....

Lunchtime (ish)visit

Tufted 17 -15 on Anglers' lake, a pair on the Duck Pond
No Goosanders
Coot 5 - 3 on Anglers' 2 on the Duck Pond, including one already in possession of the original Heron nest on the snapped branch. (That was the last to be occupied last season and hatched 2 chicks)
Moorhen 3-1 on Anglers' 2 on the Duck Pond
Grey Heron 6 - 1 well down in the main nest on the Duck Pond tree, the other 5 all in the nest tree on Angler's - 1 in a nest, the other 4 gathered around the the second nest.
Black-headed Gull c120. All initially on Angler's lake, then flew to the Duck Pond.
Mallard small number, uncounted
Canada Goose large number, ditto

Also Muscovy Duck.

Late morning visit:
Tufted Duck 11 -6M 1F on Anglers' lake, 2M 2F on Duck pond
Goosander 6 all M 4 together at far end of Angles' from cafe, 1 asleep cafe side of bridge and 1 on the Duck pond
Mallard - c 40
Canada Goose 90 min
Coot 5 - 3 on Anglers' 2 on Duck Pond
Moorhen 6 - 5 on/around Duck Pond 1 on Anglers'
Black-headed Gull c 27 on Anglers' but flushed by the acrobatics of the Christmas Tree pigeons as I was counting

Also Muscovy and Wood Duck in with the maingroup of Mallards
No Herons.

Drake North American Wood Duck and 7 Tufted Ducks - Alexandra Park Lakes

1 Redwing - Snipe Clough

2 Teal (eclipse drake and female) showing exceptionally well on the upper lake

Also the drake North American Wood Duck and 2 Tufted Ducks

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Rob Creek wrote:

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Hi James,
I have to ask if that Shoveler could be a hybrid as it looks rather like a female Mallard with a shoveler bill?

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 Are you looking at a different photo to the one posted 14th September? 

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Same bird Ian, I hold my hands up on that one, just looked very Mallardish with the blue segment, couldnt find anything showing 1st year drake Shovelers with the blue on it. Oh well, my apologies James.

First-year drake Shoveler, drake North American Wood Duck and 7 Tufted Ducks on the upper lake

Hi James,
I have to ask if that Shoveler could be a hybrid as it looks rather like a female Mallard with a shoveler bill?

First-year drake Shoveler, drake North American Wood Duck, eclipse drake Teal and 6 Tufted Ducks on the upper lake 11:30am

First-year drake Shoveler still present today on the upper lake, mainly in the channel adjacent to the bowling green, also the drake North American Wood Duck and 10 Tufted Ducks.

2 Rose-ringed Parakeets in the lakeside trees.

Shoveler still present today - information and photo thanks to Lynn Chadderton

Nice weather for ducks today in Alexandra Park!

A first-year drake Shoveler, a first for the site, on the upper lake, mainly in the channel adjacent to the bowling green, still present at 3pm.

The drake North American Wood Duck, a smart bird in any plumage, now in partial eclipse, present on both lakes until 3:30pm when it flew off strongly towards the Medlock Valley, with its' travelling companions, a pair of Mallard.

Also an eclipse drake Teal and 7 Tufted Ducks.

5 Rose-ringed Parakeets in trees around the bowling green.

Eclipse drake North American Wood Duck showing between Boathouse Cafe & the bridge on the main lake

Also 3 Tufted Ducks on the upper lake - 1 drake & the 2 juveniles

Eclipse drake North American Wood Duck showing around The Boathouse Cafe & slipway on the main lake

Also the 2 juvenile Tufted Ducks on the upper lake

The drake North American Wood Duck, now in eclipse plumage, has returned to Alexandra Park Lakes - also glimpsed on Saturday 6th August 2022 - after his Spring / Summer holiday in the Medlock Valley, exploring natural breeding territory!

Also the 2 juvenile Tufted Ducks - 1 diving like a proper Aythya, 1 that has grown up with a brood of Mallards and now behaves like a dabbling duck

Tufted Ducks have had a successful breeding season with 2 juveniles present on the lakes today

Thursday 14th July 2022

2 female Tufted Ducks and 2 ducklings

Sunday 15th May 2022

10 Tufted Ducks

Intriguingly the drake North American Wood Duck seems to have moved on from this site with no recent sightings from myself or the Boathouse Cafe staff who've been regularly reporting this bird during it's stay... it visited Daisy Nook CP on 29th April and the most recent sighting in Alexandra Park is 7th May

14 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck
16 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck
20 Tufted Ducks

20 Tufted Ducks

Tuesday 26th April 2022

Drake North American Wood Duck
22 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck
1 Goosander
24 Tufted Ducks

2 singing male Blackcaps between Alexandra Retail Park and Oldham Mumps

Drake North American Wood Duck
4 Goosander
22 Tufted Ducks
3 Chiffchaffs

Drake North American Wood Duck
3 Goosander
23 Tufted Ducks
1 Treecreeper
2 singing Chiffchaffs

3 singing Chiffchaffs on Snipe Clough

Drake North American Wood Duck
2 Goosander
22 Tufted Duck

Drake North American Wood Duck
20 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck still present in front of the cafe on the lower lake early this afternoon
4 Goosander 2m 2f
a number of grey heron nest with either sitting birds or active building taking place

Drake North American Wood Duck
4 Goosanders
25 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck
5 Goosanders (1 drake)
32 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck - very active today on both lakes, flying around the park and displaying to the Mallards, also 5 Goosanders and 21 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck
3 Goosanders (1 drake)
20 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck, associating with a pair of Mallards on the flooded park lawns
5 Goosanders (3 drakes)
20 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck - top lake
4 Goosanders (2 drakes)
30 Tufted Ducks

Drake North American Wood Duck
5 Goosanders (3 drakes)
15 Tufted Ducks
5 pairs of Grey Heron nesting in the park