Thank you everyone for your support in finding Stock Dove around Manchester. The results of this have finally been published in Urban Ecosystems. It is open access and can be read here link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-022-01283-y
Acknowledgements on article includes:
"Assistance provided by Chris Sutton from the South Manchester Raptor Group with both Stock Dove records from birds nesting in raptor nest boxes as well as insight into Stock Dove behaviour was greatly appreciated. Detailed information on historical Stock Dove sightings from the members Manchester Birding forums was very valuable."
From which you should be able to collect data on Stockdoves
Regards David
James E Richardson said
Wed Jul 10 11:58 AM, 2019
Thank you for all of your support. I have some good presence data now for Spring 2019 which I will start to model to understand geographical preferences.
I have also been looking at historical presence data for Stock Dove from eBird, Manchester Birding and the BTO. I am interested in when Stock Dove are present in Manchester and whether they are present at different times of year. I have some interesting data showing seasonal movements in and out of Manchester. Stock Dove appear to move out of the centre during Winter, my assumption is that they move into flocks on more arable land (for example the big flocks we were seeing at Chat Moss this winter).
These models have also shown an interesting trend of Stock Dove moving closer to the centre over time. It looks like there are more sightings closer to the city centre in the last few years than 10 years ago. This could be for example that councils are cutting grass less now in parks and so there is more food. Does this trend fit with what you are seeing? Do you think that Stock Dove have a bigger presence within the M60 now than 10 years ago?
Thank you once again for all your help
James E Richardson said
Tue Apr 16 4:15 PM, 2019
Joel Tragen wrote:
Hope that is of some use James, if you need specific dates just let me know and I'm sure I can find them.
Great, thank you Joel. I've sent you a PM.
Joel Tragen said
Mon Apr 15 11:25 PM, 2019
Hi James, Not sure of dates but there's several sites in South Manchester where I've seen stock doves in the past 5 years or so. Some of them you are already checking. I've seen them on Turnmoss playing fields in the winter with woodpigeon flocks, drinking from Broad ees dole (quite recently with a minimum of 2 seen but probably more as they were flying in from all directions), fly-overs at Chorlton wp, Hardy farm and Stretford tip. Hope that is of some use James, if you need specific dates just let me know and I'm sure I can find them. Joel
James E Richardson said
Mon Apr 15 12:30 PM, 2019
Charles Farrell wrote:
Over the last 10 years I've only recorded Stock Dove here (SD8704) once - on 17/07/2016. It has puzzled me why there are so few around, when the other common pigeon/dove species are all present.
Hi Chris,
I have been interested in this question too. There seems to be very few stock dove in the North East of the city. My current thinking is shown in the photo below. This is taken from data from Manchester City of Trees and the GM Combined Authority. It shows patches of woodland (in colour) and trees over 15m (black dots) in Greater Manchester.
There is a healthy population of stock dove in Cheshire. There have been regular sightings of 60 - 100 stock dove around Chat Moss this winter. There seems to be good tree cover from these locations into areas around the Mersey Valley where we see a lot of stock dove sightings. However, in the North East there appears to be very little suitable habitat between the Pennines and Manchester.
It's still early days on my project and I am still busy collecting sightings around Manchester. Hopefully later in the year I will have a better idea on why stock dove are where they are.
-James
-- Edited by James E Richardson on Monday 15th of April 2019 01:15:30 PM
Stock Doves could be found in the woodland to the E of the Boating Lake, as your historic map indicates. I also found them to be present, over successive years, in an area to the NNW of the Boating Lake: this area may possibly be called 'The Dell'? There is a small pond there, hidden amongst the woodland, which holds Mallards etc. The approx. grid ref is SD829044. Might be worth a look in this area, when you survey Heaton Park.
Thanks Bill, I plan to have a good hunt around in the North of the Park and around the boating lake. Thank you for the extra info.
Bill Myerscough said
Sat Apr 13 7:20 PM, 2019
James E Richardson wrote:
I've noticed that there are no recent sightings of stock dove in Heaton Park on neither eBird nor Manchester Birding.
I've have put together the following map of historic stock dove sightings in Heaton Park to help narrow down the search area:
-- Edited by James E Richardson on Friday 12th of April 2019 11:53:29 AM
Hi James,
I haven't lived in Manchester since 2014 but when I visited Heaton Park - Stock Doves could be found in the woodland to the E of the Boating Lake, as your historic map indicates. I also found them to be present, over successive years, in an area to the NNW of the Boating Lake: this area may possibly be called 'The Dell'? There is a small pond there, hidden amongst the woodland, which holds Mallards etc. The approx. grid ref is SD829044. Might be worth a look in this area, when you survey Heaton Park. Good Luck.
Best wishes,
Bill.
Charles Farrell said
Sat Apr 13 12:24 AM, 2019
I know that Alkrington and Middleton is just outside the M60, but I've been surprised to find that its rather difficult to find Stock Doves here too (although I'm not a Manchester resident currently and visit for maybe 20-30 days a year)
Over the last 10 years I've only recorded Stock Dove here (SD8704) once - on 17/07/2016. It has puzzled me why there are so few around, when the other common pigeon/dove species are all present.
James E Richardson said
Fri Apr 12 11:52 AM, 2019
I've noticed that there are no recent sightings of stock dove in Heaton Park on neither eBird nor Manchester Birding.
I've have put together the following map of historic stock dove sightings in Heaton Park to help narrow down the search area:
Yes, I have a lot of records for Reddish Vale. I am trying to identify additional sites from the sites I already have records for. Some sites in Manchester seem to get very little birder traffic but have potentially good stock dove habitat. On this post on my site (http://stockdoves.jakobo.eu/jekyll/update/2019/02/18/stock-dove-manchester-distribution.html) you can see the sites that I already have stock dove records for, and the sites that my simple model predicted as good for stock doves. Having visited several of these sites now I am not convinced my model was that accurate. Places like Clayton Vale and Newton Heath have very young trees which are unlikely to have many cavities available for nesting. I expect any future model will need to take into account the size and age of the trees on a site.
James Richardson wrote:
P.S, what a great name you have - one of the best out there.
Indeed. I assume you also use eBird - Stuart Marsden originally thought it was you submitting some of my checklists :)
James Richardson said
Wed Mar 27 11:31 AM, 2019
Hi James,
There's definitely some at Reddish Vale too.
P.S, what a great name you have - one of the best out there.
James
James E Richardson said
Mon Mar 4 10:30 AM, 2019
Thank you Chris. I have replied to your PM.
Chris Sutton said
Sun Mar 3 1:46 PM, 2019
Hi James, I am a member of South Manchester Raptor Group. We have boxes along the Mersey Valley at a number of the locations you mention. When we don't have Owls, Kestrels, Manderin Duck or squirrels in the boxes we do get a lot of Stock Dove - sometimes 2 or 3 broods. I will send you a PM to see how we can help. Chris
James E Richardson said
Sat Mar 2 6:11 PM, 2019
Hi all,
I am a postgraduate student at MMU working with Stuart Marsden and Alex Lees. I am currently working on a project to better understand the distribution of stock doves in Manchester within the M60 ring road. Very little seems to be known or written about stock doves anywhere in their range - a shame as they are such great creatures. Although there are plenty of sightings of them (246 on Manchester Birding alone within the M60), why they are where they are is not very well understood. My project aims to examine the factors that affect their distribution as a first step towards managing the landscape for them.
Between March and May I hope to visit some 35+ sites in Manchester to record whether stock doves are present or not. The absence of stock doves is just as important as their presence as it will help determine which environmental factors are important to their distribution.
I would really appreciate any help that people could provide. It would be great to get any additional sightings of stock doves within the M60 at the sites I am visiting or elsewhere. It would also be very useful to know if you visit any of the sites below and don't see a stock dove.
Further information on the project can be found here http://stockdoves.jakobo.eu/ and here http://stuartmarsden.blogspot.com/.
If anyone has any further questions please reply here or send me a PM.
-James.
The sites I plan to visit are:
* Broadoak Park
* Gorton Reservoirs
* Clayton Vale
* Salford Sports Village
* Highfield Country Park
* Broad EES Dole
* Platt Fields Park
* The Cliff/Kersal Dale
* LIVIA Silverdale
* Tom Husband Leisure Complex
* Buile Hill Park
* Northenden Golf Course
* Blackley Forest
* Didsbury Golf Course
* Philips Park, Clayton
* Fog Lane Park
* Wythenshawe Sports Ground
* Bolton Road Playing Fields
* Newton Heath
* Mersey between Wilmslow Road and Mersey Vale Nature Park
* LIVIA Forest Bank
* Broadhurst Park
* River Tame East of Reddish Vale
* Manchester Ship Canal near Trafford Centre
* Near Ashcroft Bridge over Irwell
* Gosjac A.C. Fishing Ponds near Mersey Vale Nature Reserve
* Birchfields Park
* LIVIA The Nursery
* Willow Grove Cemetery
* Queen's Park
* Chorlton-Cum-Hardy Golf Course
* Brookdale Golf Course
* Ashton Moss
* Boggart Hole
* Weaste (Cemetery and WTW)
* Northern Cemetery
* Hough End Playing Fields
-- Edited by JamesR on Saturday 2nd of March 2019 07:30:43 PM
-- Edited by JamesR on Saturday 2nd of March 2019 07:31:13 PM
Acknowledgements on article includes:
"Assistance provided by Chris Sutton from the South Manchester Raptor Group with both Stock Dove records from birds nesting in raptor nest boxes as well as insight into Stock Dove behaviour was greatly appreciated. Detailed information on historical Stock Dove sightings from the members Manchester Birding forums was very valuable."
Here is a link to Leigh Ornithological Society's annual reports http://www.leighos.org.uk/p/reports.html
From which you should be able to collect data on Stockdoves
Regards David
Thank you for all of your support. I have some good presence data now for Spring 2019 which I will start to model to understand geographical preferences.
I have also been looking at historical presence data for Stock Dove from eBird, Manchester Birding and the BTO. I am interested in when Stock Dove are present in Manchester and whether they are present at different times of year. I have some interesting data showing seasonal movements in and out of Manchester. Stock Dove appear to move out of the centre during Winter, my assumption is that they move into flocks on more arable land (for example the big flocks we were seeing at Chat Moss this winter).
These models have also shown an interesting trend of Stock Dove moving closer to the centre over time. It looks like there are more sightings closer to the city centre in the last few years than 10 years ago. This could be for example that councils are cutting grass less now in parks and so there is more food. Does this trend fit with what you are seeing? Do you think that Stock Dove have a bigger presence within the M60 now than 10 years ago?
Thank you once again for all your help
Great, thank you Joel. I've sent you a PM.
Not sure of dates but there's several sites in South Manchester where I've seen stock doves in the past 5 years or so. Some of them you are already checking. I've seen them on Turnmoss playing fields in the winter with woodpigeon flocks, drinking from Broad ees dole (quite recently with a minimum of 2 seen but probably more as they were flying in from all directions), fly-overs at Chorlton wp, Hardy farm and Stretford tip. Hope that is of some use James, if you need specific dates just let me know and I'm sure I can find them.
Joel
Hi Chris,
I have been interested in this question too. There seems to be very few stock dove in the North East of the city. My current thinking is shown in the photo below. This is taken from data from Manchester City of Trees and the GM Combined Authority. It shows patches of woodland (in colour) and trees over 15m (black dots) in Greater Manchester.
See Full Image (9.8MB)
There is a healthy population of stock dove in Cheshire. There have been regular sightings of 60 - 100 stock dove around Chat Moss this winter. There seems to be good tree cover from these locations into areas around the Mersey Valley where we see a lot of stock dove sightings. However, in the North East there appears to be very little suitable habitat between the Pennines and Manchester.
It's still early days on my project and I am still busy collecting sightings around Manchester. Hopefully later in the year I will have a better idea on why stock dove are where they are.
-James
-- Edited by James E Richardson on Monday 15th of April 2019 01:15:30 PM
Thanks Bill, I plan to have a good hunt around in the North of the Park and around the boating lake. Thank you for the extra info.
Hi James,
I haven't lived in Manchester since 2014 but when I visited Heaton Park - Stock Doves could be found in the woodland to the E of the Boating Lake, as your historic map indicates. I also found them to be present, over successive years, in an area to the NNW of the Boating Lake: this area may possibly be called 'The Dell'? There is a small pond there, hidden amongst the woodland, which holds Mallards etc. The approx. grid ref is SD829044. Might be worth a look in this area, when you survey Heaton Park. Good Luck.
Best wishes,
Bill.
Over the last 10 years I've only recorded Stock Dove here (SD8704) once - on 17/07/2016. It has puzzled me why there are so few around, when the other common pigeon/dove species are all present.
I've noticed that there are no recent sightings of stock dove in Heaton Park on neither eBird nor Manchester Birding.
I've have put together the following map of historic stock dove sightings in Heaton Park to help narrow down the search area:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1I_cDBvZtrUnlnmvt2qlgvsUpZAQZNAJa
-- Edited by James E Richardson on Friday 12th of April 2019 11:53:29 AM
stockdoves.jakobo.eu/jekyll/update/2019/04/11/survey-update.html
Yes, I have a lot of records for Reddish Vale. I am trying to identify additional sites from the sites I already have records for. Some sites in Manchester seem to get very little birder traffic but have potentially good stock dove habitat. On this post on my site (http://stockdoves.jakobo.eu/jekyll/update/2019/02/18/stock-dove-manchester-distribution.html) you can see the sites that I already have stock dove records for, and the sites that my simple model predicted as good for stock doves. Having visited several of these sites now I am not convinced my model was that accurate. Places like Clayton Vale and Newton Heath have very young trees which are unlikely to have many cavities available for nesting. I expect any future model will need to take into account the size and age of the trees on a site.
Indeed. I assume you also use eBird - Stuart Marsden originally thought it was you submitting some of my checklists :)
There's definitely some at Reddish Vale too.
P.S, what a great name you have - one of the best out there.
James
Thank you Chris. I have replied to your PM.
I am a member of South Manchester Raptor Group. We have boxes along the Mersey Valley at a number of the locations you mention. When we don't have Owls, Kestrels, Manderin Duck or squirrels in the boxes we do get a lot of Stock Dove - sometimes 2 or 3 broods.
I will send you a PM to see how we can help.
Chris
Hi all,
I am a postgraduate student at MMU working with Stuart Marsden and Alex Lees. I am currently working on a project to better understand the distribution of stock doves in Manchester within the M60 ring road. Very little seems to be known or written about stock doves anywhere in their range - a shame as they are such great creatures. Although there are plenty of sightings of them (246 on Manchester Birding alone within the M60), why they are where they are is not very well understood. My project aims to examine the factors that affect their distribution as a first step towards managing the landscape for them.
Between March and May I hope to visit some 35+ sites in Manchester to record whether stock doves are present or not. The absence of stock doves is just as important as their presence as it will help determine which environmental factors are important to their distribution.
I would really appreciate any help that people could provide. It would be great to get any additional sightings of stock doves within the M60 at the sites I am visiting or elsewhere. It would also be very useful to know if you visit any of the sites below and don't see a stock dove.
Further information on the project can be found here http://stockdoves.jakobo.eu/ and here http://stuartmarsden.blogspot.com/.
If anyone has any further questions please reply here or send me a PM.
-James.
The sites I plan to visit are:
* Broadoak Park
* Gorton Reservoirs
* Clayton Vale
* Salford Sports Village
* Highfield Country Park
* Broad EES Dole
* Platt Fields Park
* The Cliff/Kersal Dale
* LIVIA Silverdale
* Tom Husband Leisure Complex
* Buile Hill Park
* Northenden Golf Course
* Blackley Forest
* Didsbury Golf Course
* Philips Park, Clayton
* Fog Lane Park
* Wythenshawe Sports Ground
* Bolton Road Playing Fields
* Newton Heath
* Mersey between Wilmslow Road and Mersey Vale Nature Park
* LIVIA Forest Bank
* Broadhurst Park
* River Tame East of Reddish Vale
* Manchester Ship Canal near Trafford Centre
* Near Ashcroft Bridge over Irwell
* Gosjac A.C. Fishing Ponds near Mersey Vale Nature Reserve
* Birchfields Park
* LIVIA The Nursery
* Willow Grove Cemetery
* Queen's Park
* Chorlton-Cum-Hardy Golf Course
* Brookdale Golf Course
* Ashton Moss
* Boggart Hole
* Weaste (Cemetery and WTW)
* Northern Cemetery
* Hough End Playing Fields
-- Edited by JamesR on Saturday 2nd of March 2019 07:30:43 PM
-- Edited by JamesR on Saturday 2nd of March 2019 07:31:13 PM