I could not pick out the Red crested Pochard but did find some Redpolls but no Mealies - Smew on Horrocks though
Tom McKinney said
Wed Jan 24 5:02 PM, 2007
Third time lucky! Present on Pearson's Flash 11.30-2.30pm at least. Sat on the bench it was directly to your left but became totally invisible when it decided to slip into the reeds. In terms of camouflage that leucistic plumage gives it a definite evolutionary advantage when hiding in the reeds! So it's obviously a wild bird !
Also a Green Woodpecker flew over Pearson's but no sign of any Mealy Redpolls in a fruitless wander about on Ince Moss landfill.
Algernon Panayotis said
Tue Jan 23 4:35 PM, 2007
Back on Westwood Flash today @ 15:45.
Tom McKinney said
Fri Jan 12 6:14 PM, 2007
No sign on either Westwood or Pearson's 1.30-3.30pm. Bah!
-- Edited by Tom McKinney at 18:43, 2007-01-12
Judith Smith said
Fri Jan 12 2:51 PM, 2007
Back on Westwood Flash today, when we passed it on the way to do the TV interview (see General discussion page) but not there when we came back!
Tom McKinney said
Thu Jan 11 1:45 PM, 2007
Thanks for checking.
Tom
Jimmy Meadows said
Wed Jan 10 9:08 PM, 2007
no sign of the red crested pochard today
Jimmy Meadows said
Tue Jan 9 10:25 PM, 2007
i saw it new years day it flew off westwood and went on to pearsons il be round flashes tomorrow il put it on sightings if we see it
Geoff Hargreaves said
Tue Jan 9 10:06 PM, 2007
tom ,will be out and about sat sun will let you know if its spotted
Tom McKinney said
Tue Jan 9 6:03 PM, 2007
Has anyone seen the Pochard recently? Or does anyone know if it's been seen in 2007?
Cheers,
Tom
geoff h said
Sun Dec 31 2:23 PM, 2006
still on westwood 31/12/06 11am
Tom McKinney said
Sun Dec 31 2:14 PM, 2006
Thanks guys. Hopefully pick it up tomorrow morning before heading up to Islay!
Tom
Ian Woosey said
Sun Dec 31 2:10 PM, 2006
Sorry about that. - just shows how much notice I take of Pubs ! Hope I didn`t confuse you Tom .
dave broome said
Sun Dec 31 12:27 PM, 2006
to save any confusion, the pub by Tipping Street and the church is the Eckersley Arms (the Tippings Arms is closer to Scotmans Flash)
Ian Woosey said
Sat Dec 30 2:20 PM, 2006
Tom, get your A -Z out and try to follow this ;
Off the A49 you need the B5238 Poolstock Lane into Wigan. For Westwood, Scotman`s & Pearson`s I park at the church just off Tipping Street ( I`ve forgot the name of the church - DOH ! but you can`t miss it ) Turn left immediately after the Tippings Arms. Walk back across Poolstock Ln. where the roundabout is and up the bank onto the canal towpath. Walk right till you come to the 1st lock - go over it and after a short walk Westwood is on your left. I hope you see the bloody thing after all this ! ! Good Luck.
By the way, there are 3 other R -c Pochards knocking about the country ; one in Angus, one in Glamorgan and one in Northamptonshire - make of that what you will !
-- Edited by Ian Woosey at 16:14, 2006-12-30
geoff h said
Sat Dec 30 1:17 PM, 2006
dont shoot me if i ,m wrong but westwood is just before pearson,s sd 580042
good luck
Tom McKinney said
Sat Dec 30 12:56 PM, 2006
Can some kind soul out there tell me which flash Westwood is? Grid reference will be okay, full directions even better
Happy New Year!
Tom
-- Edited by Tom McKinney at 12:57, 2006-12-30
Ian McKerchar said
Fri Dec 29 9:37 PM, 2006
ORGANIC! FROM MARKS AND SPARKS! Need photographic evidence of this I'm afraid Ian
Ian Woosey said
Fri Dec 29 8:53 PM, 2006
Ian, I used organic wholemeal from Marks & Sparks on it - for me it`s passed the test with `flying colours` ! !
Ian McKerchar said
Fri Dec 29 8:14 PM, 2006
Bravo Rob , quite right too (I remember a White-headed Duck in Suffolk several years ago appearing rather pale and being put down to bleaching by the Mediterranean sun!), although you could have tried a decent loaf- Hovis would have done it non of that Netto rubbish (apologies to anyone who uses crappy Netto bread )
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 20:15, 2006-12-29
Robert Adderley said
Fri Dec 29 1:51 PM, 2006
The bird was fully winged, appeared to be unringed and wary, not coming to bread. I put the slight leucism of the bird's plumage down to bleaching by the Mediterranean sun on its breeding grounds!
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Dec 28 5:34 PM, 2006
Naughty Woosey, naughty As for the Red-crested Pochard, unless there's anything to the contrary there's no reason not to 'ave it (other than your own concience of course ) so I'll add it to your county life list, Rob's already indelibly marked it onto his year list!
JOHN TYMON said
Thu Dec 28 5:09 PM, 2006
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 18:52, 2006-12-28
Ian Woosey said
Thu Dec 28 4:51 PM, 2006
Red - crested Pochard still present (28 Dec) on Westwood. (are we avvin it Rob ??! ). Also single Wigeon and 4 on Pearsons
-- Edited by Ian Woosey at 16:56, 2006-12-28
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 17:29, 2006-12-28
Annette Cutts said
Tue Dec 19 11:40 PM, 2006
Robert female red crested pochards can be very variable with leucisim being a common trait. I havent seen any females in this area but have seen males at pennington flash a couple of times this last year. Whether they are escapees or not is anyones guess.
Robert Adderley said
Tue Dec 19 10:18 PM, 2006
I've just done a search of Red-crested Pochard on the internet and was surprised to see several photos depicting fem/imm birds with a plumage tone similar to the Wigan bird. Can the plumage tone for this species be quite variable or are there 1 or 2 of these apparent leucistic birds wandering around the country?
Robert Adderley said
Tue Dec 19 9:21 PM, 2006
Fem/immature Red-crested Pochard still present this morning. On the plus side the bird was fully winged, appeared to be unringed and passed the "bread test" unlike some of the Tufted Ducks it was consorting with which swam straight up to us to be fed, (the RC Pochard actually moved further away and was feeding naturally by upending). On the downside the bird displays Leucistic plumage with the primaries being a creamy white colour!!!!!!!!!!!
Jimmy Meadows said
Tue Dec 19 7:37 PM, 2006
there was a female on westwood at wigan flashes on sunday according to some other birders it had been about for aweek or so but i just took it as a escapee so did not put it on sightings board jimmy meadows
Phil Owen said
Tue Dec 19 7:20 PM, 2006
I've been told that there has been a Red-crested Pochard in the Greater Manchester area for the last two days.
Third time lucky! Present on Pearson's Flash 11.30-2.30pm at least. Sat on the bench it was directly to your left but became totally invisible when it decided to slip into the reeds. In terms of camouflage that leucistic plumage gives it a definite evolutionary advantage when hiding in the reeds! So it's obviously a wild bird
!
Also a Green Woodpecker flew over Pearson's but no sign of any Mealy Redpolls in a fruitless wander about on Ince Moss landfill.
-- Edited by Tom McKinney at 18:43, 2007-01-12
Tom
Cheers,
Tom
Tom
-- Edited by Ian Woosey at 16:14, 2006-12-30
dont shoot me if i ,m wrong but westwood is just before pearson,s sd 580042
good luck
Happy New Year!
Tom
-- Edited by Tom McKinney at 12:57, 2006-12-30
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 20:15, 2006-12-29
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 18:52, 2006-12-28
Red - crested Pochard still present (28 Dec) on Westwood. (are we avvin it Rob ??! ). Also single Wigeon and 4 on Pearsons
-- Edited by Ian Woosey at 16:56, 2006-12-28
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 17:29, 2006-12-28
I've been told that there has been a Red-crested Pochard in the Greater Manchester area for the last two days.
Does anybody know where it is at the moment????
Thanks
Phil Owen