Goosander 2 females. Tufted Duck 15+ Mute Swan 2 adults, 5 juveniles. Coot 80+ Moorhen 4 Mallard 20+ on the river. Great Crested Grebe 4 Gadwall 8 Canada Geese Common Gull 1 adult. Black-headed Gulls Ring-necked Parakeet 10+ Goldcrest 2
etc.
Andrew Jeffery said
Sun May 14 3:56 PM, 2023
1 Pochard and 1 Reed Warbler were the highlights of a walk around this morning.
Matt Gillett said
Mon Mar 13 2:54 PM, 2023
Lunchtime run limits observations to mainly sound. Of note;
Great Spotted Woodpecker (drumming, noted pair high on tree line Kenworthy Woods side of River Mersey)
Chiffchaff (weak calling in woods between River Mersey and CWP water body near crossing bridge)
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 13th of March 2023 03:15:43 PM
Andrew Jeffery said
Sun Feb 12 1:39 PM, 2023
All the usual birds around this morning with the addition of a snoozing Pochard.
Andrew Jeffery said
Sun Jan 22 1:28 PM, 2023
80% iced over this morning consequently not much present. Highlights 32 Tufted Duck, 3 Shoveler & 4 Goosander.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 22nd of January 2023 02:33:23 PM
John Shaughnessy said
Sat Jan 21 10:16 PM, 2023
Some quick visits in the last week:
Tufted Duck - max. of only 24.
Pochard - 1 fem./imm.
Goldeneye - 1 ad. male on river.
Mallard - counted along river Jackson's Boat up to C.W.P. bridge, got 93, same as S.W.P. section. Also 20 on C.W.P. lake. So well over 200 Mallard in the S.W.P. - C.W.P. section of Mersey valley.
Water Rail - 1, E. end reeds.
Coot - 66, eleven of them with rings, all from C.W.P.
Mute Swan - 6 adults, prob. three pairs, which was two pairs too many for the resident male, who was spending every minute trying to get to grips with one of the other males. Lots of chasing around, wings raised etc., no peace and quiet for any of the six. One of the females involved was a bird which had spent the last couple of months at S.W.P.
Generally very unexciting for birds.
steven burke said
Sun Jan 8 11:19 PM, 2023
Afternoon visit.
45 tufted duck 20 goosander 16 shoveler 13 gadwall 2 mute Swan Amongst the black headed gulls were 2 common gulls & 1 Herring gull 4 cormorant 1 grey heron Several ring necked parakeets around 2 collared doves Nice flock of 50+ mostly redpolls & siskins on Barlow tip 1 woodcock on Barlow tip 1 buzzard
Andrew Jeffery said
Sun Jan 8 3:41 PM, 2023
Highlights of a walk around this afternoon were:
16 Shoveler
15 Goosander
12 Siskin
4 Goldcrest
-- Edited by Andrew Jeffery on Monday 9th of January 2023 11:37:49 AM
Good views of Reed Warbler singing away in the reeds by the children's play area.
Andrew Jeffery said
Sun May 8 3:43 PM, 2022
3 Swifts along the Mersey were my first of the year.
Andrew Jeffery said
Sat Apr 23 8:49 AM, 2022
Late one from yesterday for a walk along the Mersey. Highlights were - Kingfisher, 3 Swallow, 7+ Sand Martin and 2 Common Whitethroat.
PHIL GREENWOOD said
Fri Apr 22 6:32 PM, 2022
Goosander- 1 male, 1 female on the river. Blackcap- 12 singing. Chiffchaff- 1 singing. Willow Warbler- 2 singing. Goldcrest- 1 singing. Willow Tit- 1 singing. Song Thrush- 2 singing. RN Parakeet- 6 Tufted Duck- 1 male, 1 female. Great Crested Grebe- 3 Mute Swan- 4 Coot- 12+ etc.
PHIL GREENWOOD said
Sun Apr 3 5:41 PM, 2022
Goosander 2 females on the river. Grey Wagtail 1 Blackcap 2 singing. Chiffchaff 5 singing. Nuthatch 2 RN Parakeet 9 Great Crested Grebe 3 Buzzard 1 Tufted Duck 15+ Jay 1 plus Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Mallards and Canada Geese. etc.
Natalie Clarke said
Mon Feb 14 3:32 PM, 2022
A quick turn around the water Park as the sun was starting to show up!
6 female and 4 male goosander
2 great crested grebe
Around a dozen tufted duck
2 song thrush
And a gorgeous goldcrest who gave me an amazing mini acrobatic display as he was feeding
Andrew Jeffery said
Sat Feb 12 2:39 PM, 2022
Walk around in the rain today, not a huge number of ducks about 1 Pochard, 12 Tufted . 4 Herring gulls in a big mixed raft of Common and Black Headed gulls.
Highlight was a small mixed flock of 7 Goldfinch, 3 Siskin, 2 Redpoll. 1 Treecreeper and a Goldcrest,
Surprisingly few ducks - 6 Tufted Duck, about 10 Mallard, 1 Pochard and a female Shoveler
Flock of around 40 Siskin - there may have been a few Redpoll with them but they were very mobile (unlike me)
Tony Koziol said
Tue Jan 4 8:29 PM, 2022
Our first visit to the site on a lovely winters morning, really don't know why we haven't been before as its only fifteen minutes from home !!
All the usuals as listed in previous threads however we did see what looked like a good Tuftie/ Scaup male hybrid, green gloss to head, no crest evident a dark looking back albeit at distance so could have been lighter ( no scope today ?)
It would be interesting if any site regulars had seen this duck previously and had any further points of note or theories please.
Andrew Jeffery said
Mon Jan 3 2:46 PM, 2022
Highlights of a wander around today were 40+ Siskin, 7 Goosander. 2 Pochard and 4 Bullfinch.
steven burke said
Sun Dec 5 10:40 PM, 2021
Afternoon visit.
8 mute Swan 2 pochard, Inc male with wonky wing 10 tufted duck 2 goosander plus 1 on river 12 gadwall 1 Grey heron 6 cormorant 1 chaffinch 7 bullfinch A very impressive siskin flock 100+ easily but very mobile, when landed in tree tops I couldn't find anything else but 3 goldfinch. 1 Grey wagtail on river 1 great spotted woodpecker 1 Herring gull amongst the many black headed gulls & several common gulls. 1 collared dove in car park 15+ ring necked parakeets 5 redwing
PHIL GREENWOOD said
Wed Nov 24 5:06 PM, 2021
A morning visit produced:
Kingfisher 1 Pochard 1 male with wonky wing at the feeding station on the north bank. Goldeneye 3 female/immature. Goosander 1 male, 1 female on the river. Great Crested Grebe 5 Mute Swan 8 Shoveler 1 male. Gadwall 3 Grey Heron 1 Cormorant 3 Tufted Duck 10+ Coot 70+. A bit of a guess. Mallard 40+ Moorhen 6 Siskin 10+ with 10+ Goldfinch. Nuthatch 1 Song Thrush 1 RN Parakeet 6 Common Gull 2 Herring Gull 2 BH Gull 50+ etc.
Andrew Jeffery said
Sun Oct 10 3:01 PM, 2021
Male Mandarin present this morning, skulking in the willows around the eastern island.
Ian Howarth said
Sun Jun 27 1:52 PM, 2021
Lunchtime. In the reeds by the children's play area: 1 x Reed Warbler, 1 x Reed Bunting (M). Several Swift flying over the lake.
Steven Heywood said
Mon May 24 12:52 AM, 2021
Late afternoon stroll in the gloom. The usual pochard had emerged from his usual haunt under the trees so it could be seen that he's not moved on because he's got a very badly damaged right wing.
Thirty-odd swifts feeding low over the river by Chorlton WP. Also a male grey wagtail supervising a youngster.
Grasshopper Warbler reeling from within the scrub behind the Orchard in Kenworthy Wood at 7am.
Samglennie said
Fri Apr 2 10:43 PM, 2021
Morning walk today along mersey and CWP. Highlights inc 40+ chiffchaff, 4 Grey wag, 2x siskin jacksons boat, 2x blackcap and probable Common Whitethroat seen and calling on river next to power station. Probable willow warbler near chorlton golf course
Andrew Jeffery said
Fri Apr 2 1:58 PM, 2021
Morning walk around the park and along the Mersey, highlights being: Peregrine 1. Goosander (f) 1. Swallow 2 along the river. Bullfinch 1. Greenfinch 2. Grey Wagtail 4. Nuthatch 2
Chris Sutton said
Mon Mar 29 4:29 PM, 2021
3pm Visit today.
Swallow (1) - stayed for about 10 minutes high over the lake. Buzzard (1) - soaring higher above the lake. Nuthatch calling
Chris
Pete Hines said
Sat Mar 27 3:18 PM, 2021
Aythya hybrid considered to have some Pochard influence 1 (unprocessed photographs attached) Pochard 1 drake Tufted Duck 13 Sand Martin 15+ Blackcap 1 in song Chiffchaff 3 Siskin heard
The Ring-necked Duck could not be relocated here this afternoon. I also tried Sale WP and Platt Fields Park lake without success.
Chris Sutton said
Wed Mar 24 5:49 PM, 2021
Quick walk through Barlow Tip thisi afternoon;
Willow Tit - first for me on this site. 2-3 Chiffchaff singing away too. Greenfinch.
Chris
Chris Harper said
Thu Mar 11 1:12 PM, 2021
Quick visit again at lunch.
2 drake Pochard, 2 Goldeneye, 5 Great crested Grebe, 6 Ring Necked Parakeet (very close views on the car park feeders), Nuthatch (feeders), 10 Tufted Duck, 10 Mute Swan
Note there were two Police cars patrolling round - presumably using number-plate recognition to find 'out of area' visitors.
CALLUM VERNON said
Sun Feb 21 4:25 PM, 2021
Mixed flock of Siskins, Lesser Redpoll and Goldfinch. Approx 5 each
1x M Goldeneye
2x Pochard
1x Jay
4x Great Crested grebe
4x Collard Doves near car park
4x Goosander
Lots of Canada geese, coot, moorhen, black headed gulls, mute swans, mallards, Tufted ducks, robins, blue tits , great tits, long tailed tits, woodpigeon, crows, magpie, house sparrow
Vocal Nuthatches but didnt See them.
Keith Ogden said
Sun Feb 21 3:27 PM, 2021
Had a walk from Sale WP over to Charlton WP along the River Mersey. Not a good day to don't as it was like Piccadilly Circus with the amount of people knocking about.
This was what was seen along the route and from one side of CWP
X Canada Goose 7 Mute Swan X Tufted Duck -- Over 30 3 Common Goldeneye -- 2M 1F 5 Goosander -- 3 M & 2F 1 Great Crested Grebe X Common Moorhen X Eurasian Coot 2 Ring-necked Parakeet 4 Common Magpie 1 Carrion Crow 2 Long-tailed Tit 2 European Robin 5 Grey Wagtail -- Along the River Mersey 2 Common Reed Bunting -- Bush next to bridge on River Mersey at CWP
Regards
Keith
Huw Morgan said
Sat Feb 20 5:26 PM, 2021
Flock of approximately 30 Siskin and 5 Lesser Redpoll feeding in alders next to the main track through Barlow Tip. Goldeneye x3 (2m, 1f) Pochard x 2 (2m) Goosander x4 (4f) Cormorant x1 Great Crested Grebe x2 Tufted Duck x17 Buzzard x1
Natalie Clarke said
Sat Feb 13 12:54 PM, 2021
A really enjoyable turn around the water park this morning from half 8. Incredibly cold but had some great spots...my faves;
1 x redwing
1 x song thrush
Gadwall
1x jay
A family of long-tailed tit
1 x treecreeper which was my first of 2021 and he was really impressive and gave me an excellent view
1 x ring-necked parakeet
1 x pochard (possibly the injured one, you saw James? His wing looked at little out of place)
1 x great crested grebe - another impressive specimen
1 x grey heron
3 x raven just hanging out, picking up blocks of ice and mithering passers-by...which was highly amusing!
James Walsh said
Wed Jan 27 8:02 PM, 2021
Drake Pochard - injured right wing 5 Goldeneye 15 Gadwall 5 Goosander 40 Tufted Duck 5 Great Crested Grebe
Blackcap 2
Chiffchaff 10
Tufted Duck 15+
Coot 40+
Mallard 60+
Gadwall 15+
Shoveler 2 males.
Cormorant 2
Grey Heron 1
Mute Swan 4 adults, 4 juveniles.
Moorhen 6
RN Parakeet 8
Black-headed Gull 50+
Common Gull 4
etc.etc.etc.
Tufted Duck 15+
Mute Swan 2 adults, 5 juveniles.
Coot 80+
Moorhen 4
Mallard 20+ on the river.
Great Crested Grebe 4
Gadwall 8
Canada Geese
Common Gull 1 adult.
Black-headed Gulls
Ring-necked Parakeet 10+
Goldcrest 2
etc.
Lunchtime run limits observations to mainly sound. Of note;
Great Spotted Woodpecker (drumming, noted pair high on tree line Kenworthy Woods side of River Mersey)
Chiffchaff (weak calling in woods between River Mersey and CWP water body near crossing bridge)
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 13th of March 2023 03:15:43 PM
80% iced over this morning consequently not much present. Highlights 32 Tufted Duck, 3 Shoveler & 4 Goosander.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 22nd of January 2023 02:33:23 PM
Some quick visits in the last week:
Tufted Duck - max. of only 24.
Pochard - 1 fem./imm.
Goldeneye - 1 ad. male on river.
Mallard - counted along river Jackson's Boat up to C.W.P. bridge, got 93, same as S.W.P. section. Also 20 on C.W.P. lake. So well over 200 Mallard in the S.W.P. - C.W.P. section of Mersey valley.
Water Rail - 1, E. end reeds.
Coot - 66, eleven of them with rings, all from C.W.P.
Mute Swan - 6 adults, prob. three pairs, which was two pairs too many for the resident male, who was spending every minute trying to get to grips with one of the other males. Lots of chasing around, wings raised etc., no peace and quiet for any of the six. One of the females involved was a bird which had spent the last couple of months at S.W.P.
Generally very unexciting for birds.
45 tufted duck
20 goosander
16 shoveler
13 gadwall
2 mute Swan
Amongst the black headed gulls were 2 common gulls & 1 Herring gull
4 cormorant
1 grey heron
Several ring necked parakeets around
2 collared doves
Nice flock of 50+ mostly redpolls & siskins on Barlow tip
1 woodcock on Barlow tip
1 buzzard
Highlights of a walk around this afternoon were:
16 Shoveler
15 Goosander
12 Siskin
4 Goldcrest
-- Edited by Andrew Jeffery on Monday 9th of January 2023 11:37:49 AM
Pochard: 1m
Goldeneye: 3f & 2m
Shoveler: 6m & 2f
Goosander: 6m & 5f
Tufted duck: 27
Great crested grebe: 5
Mute swan: 2
Herring gull: 1 1cy
Cormorant: 1 ad & 1 1cy
Grey heron: 2
+ Kingfisher heard several times
27/12 - dusk visit
Goldeneye: 1f
Shoveler: 4m & 2f
Goosander: 7m & 6f
Tufted ducks: c20
Great crested grebe: 4
Mute swan: 2
Cormorant: 3 ad & 2 1cy
Usual gulls, mallards, etc. Also of note plenty of Coot with colour-rings with 11 reads across both visits.
PM visit.
Kingfisher - 1
Goosander - 13 male, 11 female.
Pochard - 1 male, 1 female.
Gadwall - 1 male, 1 female.
Mute Swan - Just 2 adults.
Great crested Grebe - 4
Coot - 70+
Moorhen - 10+
Cormorant - 5
Mallard - 40+
Shoveler - 10 male, 2 adult.
Tufted Duck - 17
Canada Geese - 80+
etc.
Tufted Duck 25+
Great Crested Grebe 6
Cormorant 6
Mallard 25+...most on river.
Gadwall 1 male.
Canada Geese 20+
Moorhen 20+
Mute Swan 2
Little Grebe 1
Goosander 1 male.
Grey Wagtail 1
Grey Heron 1
BH Gull 150+
Common Gull 10+
Herring Gull 2
RN Parakeet 10+
etc.
Duck numbers slowly starting to build up with:
3 Gadwall & 17 Tufted.
Blackcap- 12 singing.
Chiffchaff- 1 singing.
Willow Warbler- 2 singing.
Goldcrest- 1 singing.
Willow Tit- 1 singing.
Song Thrush- 2 singing.
RN Parakeet- 6
Tufted Duck- 1 male, 1 female.
Great Crested Grebe- 3
Mute Swan- 4
Coot- 12+
etc.
Grey Wagtail 1
Blackcap 2 singing.
Chiffchaff 5 singing.
Nuthatch 2
RN Parakeet 9
Great Crested Grebe 3
Buzzard 1
Tufted Duck 15+
Jay 1
plus Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Mallards and Canada Geese.
etc.
Surprisingly few ducks - 6 Tufted Duck, about 10 Mallard, 1 Pochard and a female Shoveler
Flock of around 40 Siskin - there may have been a few Redpoll with them but they were very mobile (unlike me)
Our first visit to the site on a lovely winters morning, really don't know why we haven't been before as its only fifteen minutes from home !!
All the usuals as listed in previous threads however we did see what looked like a good Tuftie/ Scaup male hybrid, green gloss to head, no crest evident a dark looking back albeit at distance so could have been lighter ( no scope today ?)
It would be interesting if any site regulars had seen this duck previously and had any further points of note or theories please.
8 mute Swan
2 pochard, Inc male with wonky wing
10 tufted duck
2 goosander plus 1 on river
12 gadwall
1 Grey heron
6 cormorant
1 chaffinch
7 bullfinch
A very impressive siskin flock 100+ easily but very mobile, when landed in tree tops I couldn't find anything else but 3 goldfinch.
1 Grey wagtail on river
1 great spotted woodpecker
1 Herring gull amongst the many black headed gulls & several common gulls.
1 collared dove in car park
15+ ring necked parakeets
5 redwing
Kingfisher 1
Pochard 1 male with wonky wing at the feeding station on the north bank.
Goldeneye 3 female/immature.
Goosander 1 male, 1 female on the river.
Great Crested Grebe 5
Mute Swan 8
Shoveler 1 male.
Gadwall 3
Grey Heron 1
Cormorant 3
Tufted Duck 10+
Coot 70+. A bit of a guess.
Mallard 40+
Moorhen 6
Siskin 10+ with 10+ Goldfinch.
Nuthatch 1
Song Thrush 1
RN Parakeet 6
Common Gull 2
Herring Gull 2
BH Gull 50+
etc.
Late afternoon stroll in the gloom. The usual pochard had emerged from his usual haunt under the trees so it could be seen that he's not moved on because he's got a very badly damaged right wing.
Thirty-odd swifts feeding low over the river by Chorlton WP. Also a male grey wagtail supervising a youngster.
Morning walk around the park and along the Mersey, highlights being: Peregrine 1. Goosander (f) 1. Swallow 2 along the river. Bullfinch 1. Greenfinch 2. Grey Wagtail 4. Nuthatch 2
Swallow (1) - stayed for about 10 minutes high over the lake.
Buzzard (1) - soaring higher above the lake.
Nuthatch calling
Chris
Pochard 1 drake
Tufted Duck 13
Sand Martin 15+
Blackcap 1 in song
Chiffchaff 3
Siskin heard
Willow Tit - first for me on this site.
2-3 Chiffchaff singing away too.
Greenfinch.
Chris
Quick visit again at lunch.
2 drake Pochard, 2 Goldeneye, 5 Great crested Grebe, 6 Ring Necked Parakeet (very close views on the car park feeders), Nuthatch (feeders), 10 Tufted Duck, 10 Mute Swan
Quick lunch break visit
2 Goldeneye, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Pochard, 10 Mute Swan, 10 Tufted Duck, 2 Nuthatch, Treecreeper, 6 Ring Necked Parakeet, Redwing.
Chiffchaff singing on Barlow Tip
Note there were two Police cars patrolling round - presumably using number-plate recognition to find 'out of area' visitors.
Mixed flock of Siskins, Lesser Redpoll and Goldfinch. Approx 5 each
1x M Goldeneye
2x Pochard
1x Jay
4x Great Crested grebe
4x Collard Doves near car park
4x Goosander
Lots of Canada geese, coot, moorhen, black headed gulls, mute swans, mallards, Tufted ducks, robins, blue tits , great tits, long tailed tits, woodpigeon, crows, magpie, house sparrow
Vocal Nuthatches but didnt See them.
Had a walk from Sale WP over to Charlton WP along the River Mersey. Not a good day to don't as it was like Piccadilly Circus with the amount of people knocking about.
This was what was seen along the route and from one side of CWP
X Canada Goose
7 Mute Swan
X Tufted Duck -- Over 30
3 Common Goldeneye -- 2M 1F
5 Goosander -- 3 M & 2F
1 Great Crested Grebe
X Common Moorhen
X Eurasian Coot
2 Ring-necked Parakeet
4 Common Magpie
1 Carrion Crow
2 Long-tailed Tit
2 European Robin
5 Grey Wagtail -- Along the River Mersey
2 Common Reed Bunting -- Bush next to bridge on River Mersey at CWP
Regards
Keith
Goldeneye x3 (2m, 1f)
Pochard x 2 (2m)
Goosander x4 (4f)
Cormorant x1
Great Crested Grebe x2
Tufted Duck x17
Buzzard x1
A really enjoyable turn around the water park this morning from half 8. Incredibly cold but had some great spots...my faves;
1 x redwing
1 x song thrush
Gadwall
1x jay
A family of long-tailed tit
1 x treecreeper which was my first of 2021 and he was really impressive and gave me an excellent view
1 x ring-necked parakeet
1 x pochard (possibly the injured one, you saw James? His wing looked at little out of place)
1 x great crested grebe - another impressive specimen
1 x grey heron
3 x raven just hanging out, picking up blocks of ice and mithering passers-by...which was highly amusing!
5 Goldeneye
15 Gadwall
5 Goosander
40 Tufted Duck
5 Great Crested Grebe