Took the little one to shakerley mere today to see the ducks. Saw a few goosanders for the first time in my local area there and a common gull amongst the black headeds.

I had a large circular walk today starting in moulton near bank farm walking down bellas walk field to vale royal locks and doing a circuit of hulses island. Then went up to rookery pool over the road to petty pool and up to new pool then walking back to the start via vale royal abbey. Amongst the usual suspects I saw 2 mandarin s between petty and new pools. Lots of gs woods, buzzards, 2 kingfishers, goldcrests, lots of redwing and fieldfares, mistle and song thrushes. The best was a mixed flock of tree and house sparrows near Whitegate golf course and a flock of 20 bramblings in the same general area. Had the dog and my father with me so wasn't giving full attention oh and saw a young mink on the banks of the weaver. Incidentally started a new job in Oxfordshire and theres red kites everywhere also lots of kestrels and owls at hooting at night the area looks full of potential.

Raptors against a clear blue sky are some of the best birding views you can have. I have photographed Kestrel like this & as for Red Kites against a blue sky........ divine

Hi Doc, I was there again yesterday and checked both the River Weaver/Witton Brook area along that section but no Mandarins in sight - just a Moorhen or two ! I did however see a lovely female Kestrel hovering by Cardens Ferry Bridge, and a Common Buzzard circling close to Carey Park under a blue sky during the afternoon :) also a Grey Heron on the River Weaver bank close to Cardens Ferry Bridge ( Tata side) .

They do vocalise, especially during courtship is just not really waht I would call a 'racket' but one mans racket is another mans murmur!! Looks like we'll never know for sure, but we'll keep looking

Hi Doc, this walker (who was also a birder) also saw the Mandarins so not sure what he meant by the noise (racket) they were making; do they squabble ? Its just a shame I couldn't see them for myself although I have no reason to doubt this chaps observations - especially with binoculars round his neck and quite knowledgeable about birds. I went back for another look around yesterday but no sign of any Mandarins.

I'm in Moulton so we could bump into each other down by the river Got some stunning shots of the Bittern when it was down there, great record for my 'local' patch, the stretch I do is down the track from Moulton under the railways, to New Bridge, then right along the river past Big Pond down to Vale Royal Locks. Mooch around various bits down there (Vale Royal Abbey, Blue Bridge Marsh, Old River etc), then back up to the railway bridge at Eaton Hall Farm and along Bella's Walk back to Moulton

Hi doc sorry I ve not seen the wood ducks although id like to. Although I am from Davenham and lived there till I was early 20s I spent years in the royal navy submarine service and then lived and worked abroad in Australia for a few years before seeing the light and coming back to Cheshire. There's no place like home mate! I must admit im really enjoying getting re acquainted with the local flora and fauna again. It is alarming however how many birds I used to see about are now rarities such as yellowhammers, tree sparrows and corn buntings. Looking forward to posting my findings though.

That is such a shame, Curt, I had high hopes that you had seen them reach flying stage. But one year they will do I hope I too have seen them at duckling stage too, very cute. Have you seen the pair of Wood Ducks recently, they bred a few years ago down there but again the young disappeared

Maybe 2014 will be the lucky year for Mandarins down the old river

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Sunday 9th of February 2014 12:04:40 PM

Hello doc I saw the adults with an entourage of ducklings down the old river weaver for a couple of weeks. I was just assuming that they would fledge successfully. Come to think of it I can't remember them reaching juvenile stage as due to working away a lot amongst other things means I don't get to go down there as often as I d like. Theres a good chance then that this brood went the same way as their predecessors and were not successful after all.

Thanks Hazel, genearlly Mandarins are a quiet species of duck & I have never heard them described as making a racket, a quote from a monograph on them says

"Vocalizations:

These are fairly quiet ducks but do have a short, high-pitched, breathy whistle call and a variety of clucks or clicks that can be used as warnings or calls."

Could the walker have misunderstood what the lady had said she was photographing maybe, or did she just say the wrong species to him perhaps. I have transposed the names of Gadwall & Garganey in the past when talking about these, and I know others have done the same (amazingly Gadwall/Garganey names seem to get transposed pretty often!!).

However we will never know unless they are relocated, but definitely worth putting the news out on here as it got folk out checking, unfortunately, like your search later, all searches failed to find Mandarins.

Hi Doc, unfortunately I didn't witness the Mandarin group myself; my husband was talking to another walker further up the river who told him a lady was photographing this large group of Mandarins and they were making quite a racket ! I was further down the Weaver by Cardens Ferry Bridge and although I went back later and also the following day there was no sign of them although the usual Cormorants, 2 Mute Swan, Moorhens and Coots. I walk there frequently so will keep a lookout for them.

Hi Curt

Interesting as they have hatched young most years for about the last 5 but usually they don't fledge but disappear before that stage, presumably predated. I spoke to Peter the lock keeper a few weeks ago & I thought he said the same had happened every year, that they hatched OK but over the next few weeks they disappeared one by one til none were left. I will pass on your info to him that they fledged successfully, any idea how many reached flying stage?

p.s. you are now on the email grapevine, Curt

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Saturday 8th of February 2014 12:30:42 PM

I don't know about recently but a family of mandarin s successfully reared a family last summer down the old river weaver.

I co-ordinate sightings for the area as an email grapevine, so if anyone would like to be added to the mailing list (especially useful if you have push emails to your mobile) then drop me a private message on here with your email of choice. We have a large group watching the area and sightings are passed round freely and get put out first on our grapevines rather than info systems, so it is useful joining!! Just remember to contribute as well as receive, best way a grapevine works.

After enquiries from interested 'Patch' users, Hazel, do you have any further info on the Mandarin sightings, folk have been down and checked but there's no sign of any??

Thanks for starting this thread off Curt, I too visit the Northwich Woods, River Weaver area frequently and yesterday a noisy group of 10 Mandarin ducks were spotted by another walker on the River Weaver, between Cardens Ferry Bridge and towards Haydns Pool area.

As this is my local stomping ground/dog walking area I thought that I'd start off a new thread. Some good birds crop up in the area and I'll keep you posted. An example being that a Bittern was seen on a small lake next to the river weaver between vale royal locks and newbridge and stayed for a few days.