Late record from today - Sinderland Green area - early this morning.

An indeterminate number of Bramblings in Sinderland Woods, a compact flock of maybe 50 mixed finches sounded like there were at least double figures of Bramblings present, but never seen on the ground.

A Little Owl on the high stump at the junction of Sinderland lane and Brookheys Lane for the second time in a week. This seems to be a regular perch but only until dawn when it moves on to another location which I have not yet worked out.

Little Grebe appears to be resident on Sinderland Brook, but very difficult to find.

Raven: a pair cronking from the pylon in field 25 (amazingly loud at a distance of only fifty metres) with another pair overhead.

Chiffchaff and Willow Tit, both in the north west corner of field 25,

Flock of 100 - 150 finches - f4 in trees near Old Orchard. Vast majority Chaffinches, with odd Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Managed to pick out one Brambling. Probably more of them could be Bramblings, didn't get a good look at most of the flock.

Not much else, few Reed Buntings, Redwings, tits, Kestrel, Buzzard

Steve Scrimgeour wrote:

---

Possibly Craig although in Pink feet sightings this flock is also mentioned by Nick Hilton.

Either way decent sighting

---

There's a few Bean Geese knocking around in the NE/West Yorks so be worth checking any flocks on the ground for the odd rarer species. I guess their current location doesn't give great viewing options though. Seemed quite difficult to park up and not really a convenient spot to scope from.

Steve Scrimgeour wrote:

---

Saw these myself this morning they mainly Pink Footed Geese, looked to be a couple of Canada Geese with them but was looking straight into the sun in places

-- Edited by Steve Scrimgeour on Thursday 29th of December 2016 01:15:16 PM

---

Maybe talking different flocks then Steve? - the ones I had were definitely mainly Canadas, but as I say it looked like a few grey geese so maybe others/more nearby.

-- Edited by Craig Higson on Thursday 29th of December 2016 11:49:35 PM

Saw these myself this morning they mainly Pink Footed Geese, looked to be a couple of Canada Geese with them but was looking straight into the sun in places

-- Edited by Steve Scrimgeour on Thursday 29th of December 2016 01:15:16 PM

Brookheys Road with Tim Wilcox:

Little Egret in sheep field adjacent to Sinderland Brook.
Also c200 Pink-footed Geese made a couple of low circuits around us seemingly looking for somewhere to land.

Late news for Tue 29th Nov:

Stock Dove 2
Fieldfare c. 100 in stubble and hawthorns
Linnet c. 35
Raven 1 over
Meadow Pipit 1 (moved away due to the hard frost?)
Buzzard 2
Skylark two separate flocks of c. 20 each

Nice to meet a local birder from Sale.

Snipe 4
Merlin 1
Buzzard 1
Willow Tit 1
Goldcrest 1
Brambling 1
Treecreeper 1
Chaffinches
Redwings
Fieldfares
Yellowhammer 10+
Skylark 10+
Linnet 10+
Starling 50+
Meadow Pipit 1
Bullfinch 1
Crows
Jackdaws
Rooks
Magpies
Grey Wagtail 1
Woodpigeons
etc.

Treecreeper 1
Skylark 4
Yellowhammer 1
Buzzard 1
Kestrel 1m
Chaffinch 5+
Goldcrest 1
Redwing 1
Willow Tit 1
Stock Dove 2

etc.etc.

Adult male Yellow Wagtail + 3 or 4 well grown juveniles in the f25/f24 area.
Also in the general area were 5 Whitethroat, 5 Skylark and 6 Yellowhammer (one collecting food).

--

-- Edited by Tony Darby on Wednesday 22nd of June 2016 06:57:41 PM

Hobby over f25 around 4pm then thermaled up before descending back onto a pylon to the West, then flew low north. Also Yellow Wagtail perched up on a crop-free muddy patch in f11 and 3 Buzzard around f25

Pied wagtail nest in a pump. Warning placed to stop anyone starting it.(spare one available) two chicks present.

Spotted one Yellow Wagtail last week.

Several Grey Wagtails present.

usual oystercatchers, Ringed plovers ,Linnet, Pheasant, Lapwing Wheatear (now gone). Pair of Ravens on silos.

1830-1930 this evening, of note;

F4 = 1 Whitethroat, 2 Yellowhammer, 3 Skylark
F13 = 1 Whitethroat, 1 Wheatear
F12 = 1 Wheatear
F11 = 2 Whitethroat, 2 Yellow Wagtail
F1 = 1 Whitethroat, 1 Yellowhammer

Carried out the BTO Breeding Bird Survey on the moss yesterday 0640-0810. Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow and Song Thrush relatively well presented (in comparison to previous years). No Grey Partridge recorded for the first time in a while.
7 Chiffchaff, 5 Whitethroat and a couple of Blackcap, but no Willow Warbler.
There were 2 Wheatear in F13 and 1 in F60. A single Fieldfare was in F5.
Whilst watching 3 Linnet on Isherwood Road I was stopped by a Police Officer who, thankfully, just wanted to discuss binoculars!

Red Kite drifting Easterly direction over field 57 at 4:00 pm today

Walk from Isherwood Road to ETW, then to Orchard and Site fenceline.

Brambling 3 field 5.
Yellowhammer 1
Sparrowhawk 1
Skylark 4 singing.
Blackcap 3 singing.
Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, etc.

ex Basell Site:

Wheatear 2m.
Ringed Plover 1
Lapwing 10+
Linnet 20+
Starling 15+
Mistle Thrush 4
Fieldfare 8
Kestrel 1
Skylark 1 singing.

Male wheatear field 73 and Swallow over Sinderland Green.

Field 56, this evening, conservative count of 112 Fieldfare, 36 Redwing and 2 Buzzard.

Late post for Friday 25/3/16.

A quick mooch for me and Josh in the search of Wheatears, none yet I may add.

Field 4 many Skylarks, as did fields 2 and 1.
Meadow Pipits (15) in Field 10
Old Orchard had Reed Bunting, Linnet & Bullfinch.
Field 4 on way back to car 20 plus Fieldfare.
1 Yellowhammer in normal bushes top of Field 4.
2 possibly 4 Willow Tits on path from Old Orchard to crossroads of fields 2.4 & 11. Definitely 2 in trees which we then lost to sight, but when watching the Yellowhammer, 2 more flew in from over field 11.
15 Buzzards on the Thermals over field 4 which was a fantastic sight as the males were bombing each other and came after a bizarre comment from a dog walker, whom had not seen a single buzzard all winter...(suggest you look up then).

Sinderland Green area. Three White Wagtails (plus 2 Pied Wagtails) in recently ploughed field 72 this morning.

Chiffchaff singing in Sinderland Woods this morning (my first this year).

Little else of note apart from a major conflict between two Goldcrests (presumed males) with a third (female?) following them.

8.10am - Pair of Grey Partridge in f22 this morning.

Sinderland Green area.

A short visit today 3pm to 5pm in spite of the weather as the forecast for tomorrow is even worse with rain all day. With the high winds and occasional hail/snow/rain I spent most of the time trying to find areas sheltered from the wind in the hope that the birds would do the same! In the end I spent about an hour in field 70. The strong wind was always a problem but the visit was not as bad as I expected with:

Peregrine over field 67 and female sparrowhawk over field 70, and surprisingly (considering the weather) Buzzards were seen many times.

Massive numbers (for here) of Yellowhammers in field 70, with at least 40 actually counted but I believe that the total may well have been over 80. They were very difficult to count in the high winds. Also at least 6 Reed Buntings which is quite good for here.

Finches were difficult to see apart from about 40 Linnets and a handful of Chaffinches and single Siskin and Bullfinch all in field 70.

Two Moorhens on Sinderland Brook (which are quite scarce here) which brings my year total here to 61 (the same as in 2105).

I also had fabulous close views of Long tailed Tits and Goldcrests, and I even heard Treecreeper singing!

One advantage of the appalling weather was that I could get close to birds without them noticing me and they could not hear me coming because of the incessant wind. Conversely there were many birds flying over that I could not identify by call because of the wind. I normally would have expected Skylark and Meadow Pipit and they may well have flown over but I did not pick them up.

Brambling 6+...NW corner of F5.
Chaffinch 50+...ditto.
Yellowhammer 6+...ditto.

Fieldfare 100+...over SE corner F5.
Redwing 1 only.
Missel Thrush 1
Jay 3
Rook/Jackdaw 300+
Wood/Feral Pigeon/Stock Dove 100+
Goldcrest 1
Skylark 3
Gold/Greenfinches.