Redshank on the wall which flew east 6 Snipe east 2 Curlew west 2 oystercatcher 5 Sand Martin 6+ Chiffchaff 24 Redwing 2 skylark ( 1 singing dofferfold + 1 north) 2 Siskin north 268 meadow pipit north 2 Greylag Geese dropped in Mediterranean Gull ad flew down res towards sailing club 17 Goldeneye Gadwall
06.45am-10.30am. Nice to see a general increase in activity.
1 Redshank (on shoreline near car park - not seen when back at car park later) 5 Curlew (1 east, then 4 SW) 6 Little Egret (3 again near stream at Crow Trees, 3 more up towards Coney Green) 2 Kestrel 1 Willow Tit 4 Chiffchaff (1 just past sailing club, 3 between creek and capsticks) 5 Siskin (2 male and 3 female at feeders) 26 Lapwing 15 Redwing (in field near Crow Trees) 15 Pied Wagtail (flooded field near canal) 16 Meadow Pipits (15 over in small groups plus 1 in capsticks field) 2 Common Gull
Also heard Blackcap twice near capsticks (once near reservoir and once in hedgerow up to Doffer farm, but could not see it.
-- Edited by Paul Wilson on Monday 11th of March 2024 10:55:33 AM
a selection of notables seen by me from Irwell/canal side of the res
siskin (f) and treecreeper at feeders plus numerous goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, bullfinch (m) pair of collared doves
on/over res
2 goldeneye
3 oystercatcher
20+ lapwing
2 gadwall
1 goosander (on Irwell)
3 cormorant
4 mute swan
4 great crested grebe
2 rooks
also shoveler, tufted duck, teal, black headed gull, gbb gIll, lbb gull, Canada geese,
Sightings from this morning with Paul and Simon produced 68 species.
3 Pintail (2 drakes) circled the res twice at 07:50 and flew off SE ish 13 Whooper Swan flew NW at 10am looked like they dropped down to Lowercroft (same birds seen over Carr Vale in Derbys at 08:12). 129 Pink-footed Geese NW (20 and 109). 1 Green Sandpiper 2 Woodcock 3 Oystercatcher 1 Curlew over 13 Skylark over 21 Goldeneye 36 Goosander roosted 4 Water Rail 1 Little Egret 3 Ring-necked Parakeet 1 Dipper - Paul 100 Fieldfare 3 Redpoll feeders 18 Siskin 2 Meadow Pipit
Dear annonymous ebirder, there is no need to keep putting our sightings on ebird on our behalf, we are capable of putting our own sightings on ebird. All you are doing is duplicating records which is completely senseless.
7.30am - 10.50am. Very tough - ice everywhere (only a small area of the reservoir near the creek was not iced up)
Highlights:
3 Shoveler 27 Gadwall 40+ Teal 2 Lapwing 1 Jack Snipe (took 20 minutes looking at it at stream in Capsticks before I could see enough for positive ID) 9 Common snipe (1 in Capsticks, others on main marsh) 2 Common Gull 2 Kingfisher 1 GS Woodpecker 1 Willow Tit (at feeders) 2 Redwing 4 Fieldfare 6 Meadow pipit (on banking blow pump house)
Mornings highlights, 4 Little Egrets, 13 Greylag Geese flew over NE and 2 Willow Tits with numerous Finches at the feeders. Also 2 Woodcock flying over.
-- Edited by Ian Campbell on Monday 8th of January 2024 07:09:11 PM
Tue 26th pm; fairly quick visit, nothing notable, only walked round the "dry" (Old Hall Farm) side to Withins & back
On or next to the feeders:
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed tit
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Bullfinch
House Sparrow
Robin
Reed Bunting
Collared Dove
On the Reservoir (+ banks) - the water level is high:
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Grey Heron
Mute Swan (2)
Canada Geese (many)
Ducks - Teal (sticking to the shore), Mallard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye (several; probably 10-15), Goosander (1 pair - not sure they were talking to each other)
Gulls - Black-headed, Herring, Lesser Black-backed (definitely no GBB and probably no Common but I wasn't checking closely)
Moorhen & Coot of course
Pied and Grey Wagtails - 1 of each flitting along together at the water's edge (is this inter-species fraternisation allowed? - seriously though, made me wonder if they ever cross-breed, presumably any offspring would be sterile anyway)
Withins:
1 Black-headed gull on the water and another flying around - that was it - never seen it so quiet
-- Edited by Michael Hood on Tuesday 26th of December 2023 06:37:12 PM
Fri 15/12 car park area
Male Brambling on ground under feeders
Little Egret flew along stream
Woodcock flushed from small stream by path
Redwing 8
Lesser redpoll male
Mornings highlights, 1 Peregrine over carrying prey, 4 Little Egrets, Brambling heard below Withins, Water Rail heard along canal and a Willow Tit (again heard only ) 2 were seen here at bridge 20 yesterday.
In no particular order - complete list of sightings for a change:
Great Crested Grebe - including some juveniles that still had a bit of stripy plumage on the neck/head
Cormorant - about 20 on the sailing club jetty and also a dozen on one of the pylons, a few in Withins
Little Egret - 1 or 2; might have been the same one - firstly around the creek, later in the field below the lane to Old Hall farm
Grey heron - several in various places
Mute Swan - 7, at least one juvenile
Pink-footed Geese - 2 skeins of 50-60 at the same time around 10:00; 1 to the north-east going south-east, 1 to the south-west going north-west; i.e. totally opposite directions - make your minds up!
Canada Goose - only 2
Teal - 7+ skulking at the edge near the far (south) end
Mallard - many
Tufted Duck - many
Goldeneye - at least 2m + 2f
Goosander - 2 + 1 on the river - no green heads (yet) but judging by the pinkish belly, at least 1 was male
Sparrowhawk - female, flying parallel to the canal
Moorhen - many
Coot - loads
Black-headed Gull - many
Lesser Black-backed Gull - at least 2, they seem to favour the buoys
Woodpigeon - many
Grey Wagtail - 1 with the...
Pied Wagtail - about 8, in the mud where the path from Crow Trees Farm to bridge 19 turns right
Wren - saw a couple, heard more
Blackbird - lots
Redwing - no big flocks, probably 15-20 overall, no Fieldfare
Goldcrest - 2 or 3 in the trees near the creek, with...
I am on the "Bury folk keep it green" site and there is a report on there that the current owners of Withins reservoir plan to to drain it and fill it in as they cannot afford to keep it as a reservoir. I am sure this will be of concern to local birders who would like to maintain it as it is. It is possible you all know about this, but I will post a link in case you want to investigate the situation and hopefully try and prevent this.
On current understanding this (mis) information is not the case and is nothing more than a social media kneejerk (over) reaction. We are told the reservoir has been drained slightly to permit essential dam maintenance.
Hawfinch flew over withins calling. Originally heading north but then changed to west 2 Goldeneye 8 little egret 500 Redwing NE 10 redpoll withins 6 skylark east
166 Tufted Duck 4 Goldeneye Dunlin flying around withins Kingfisher 415 Pink-footed Geese se 249 starling west 127 Redwing 258 Fieldfare south Treecreeper 8 Siskin south 5 skylark south
Elton this morning in the heavy showers! 9 Whooper swan SE, 16 Brambling, 25 linnet 1800 Fieldfare 10 snipe 1052 redwing Stock dove 254 Woodpigeon all south. 3 little egret withins 5 goldeneye on res
Any further posts relating to this Withins issue please post on the discussion forum not least so they are more easily accessible and remain together for reference.
Tragic Day. The waterwell company that bought Withins Reservoir and spent thousands last year on meeting the requirements of the Reservoir Inspectors report have "decided to drain Withins Reservoir". The birders have spoken with the Environment Agency who had been notified and had yesterday had on site presence and they are looking at environmental impacts to the water environment. We don't have any further details don't know if this is a full drain or a limited one. Surely the amount of water coming into the brook this year is a liability concern. Constant juvenile vandalism took it's toll. The owners told us 2021 they wanted an angling business to take it on but no one offered anything that would generate an income. Ourselves and Radcliffe Litterpickers have held multiple tasks to clean the water area and surrounds so it was being well looked after (we mooted a south bank post summer litterpick only yesterday).
The reservoir is in the retained Greenbelt in any event so will "never" be available for building whilst it remains so. But landfill is allowed in Greenbelt if access can be arranged for lorries and planning permission granted. EA have a policy of objecting to the culverting of streams and Places for Everyone and existing council policies would prevent any landfill anyway. So landfill will "never" be allowed as it would revert to a natural wildlife rich valley, a wildlife corridor, crossed by a Roman Road.