raptorpolitics.org.uk have launched an e-petition to lobby the government to provide better(any!) protection for Britains raptors, please visit the site and sign the petition. Cheers Ian
9am to 11am 11 Jan 2010
Just walking down the wooded valley alongside the River Medlock from Waterhead to Lees.
A pair of dippers side by side in the water really close (always knockin about together there)
And a snipe kept gettin' up and flying ahead of me down stream.
Last week had 2 greater spotte...
Hi there. I have a bird feeder question. I live on the first floor of a tower block facing several back gardens which attract the usual birds to them and I was hoping to get some to visit my feeder. My question is has anyone tried anything similar in terms of above-ground-level feeders or am I wasting my ti...
Last one, I promise! In the summer i've been allowed to go to Shetland on holiday, about mid-late June as i've got exams earlier than that. I haven't made any concrete plans, as I thought i'd ask first about where to go once there. I'd have a number of species that i'd aim to see, if its illegal to disclose s...
am-gm side fieldfare-300+ redwing -30+ swallow-2 sand martin-7 chiff chaff-1 kingfisher-1 yellowhammer-2 tree sparrow-8 -- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Sunday 28th of March 2010 03:56:14 PM
most of the people who contribute to this site will have travelled from manchester to sheffield via the woodhead pass. as you leave glossop you travel up the longendale valley with all of the resservoirs on your right. The peak park authority are currently holding a consultation, which could see the...
Elan Valley I started some new surveys in the Elan Valley area of south Powys this week with a long day in the field on Wednesday 27th April. I've not been to this area before, but if you can imagine a series of small valleys running out from a larger one, with wooded river banks, grassy tops with cr...
Site close park paper works Roe Deer Ground Beetles paradromius linearis Harpalus affinis metalic green 2 found ocys harpaloides true bugs Stenodema laevigata found in grass Ischnodemus sabuleti European Chinchbug moving north found in large number in reeds adults and red nymphs can swarm spid...
In actuality this North Manchester Reserve consists of 4 or so wooded areas, linked by public footpaths. Adjoined variously by housing, farmland, golf course and surrounding the former de la Salle training college. Habitat consists of broadleaf woodland of oak, beech and birch, with ponds and se...
Hi all. I'm fairly new to this lark (pun not intended) and as my poor mince pies frequently let me down, methinks I need a camera to capture my sightings so I can identify at my leisure. I don't want to pitch in at the deep end and pay £500+ for a Canon or Olympus, I'd probably never use 25% of the capacity of th...
If you can't handle the withdrawal symptoms and need another shot of atlas adrenaline, the following may be of interest. "Although the national bird atlas has finished the North Wales bird atlas is continuing for one more season. The idea of this last season is to fill in the last few gaps. Curre...
Nice day out with a good walk along the river at low tide 1 Pied wagtail 3 Great black backed gulls 10 Lesser black backed gulls 7 Common gulls 1 Cormorant 50-60 Rooks and Jackdaws 3 Mallard 15 Shell duck 14 Red shanks Plenty of Oyster catchers and Curlew Other waders to far out to identify will take a scope...
I managed to get a bit of birding done whilst coinciding a visit to my brother in Brussels. We took a walk in the Sonian Forest in the hope of finding a Middle spotted Woodpecker, Crested Tit or Short-toed Treecreeper. We ended up with a list that could have been written anywhere in Manchester. Lots of Gr...
Went to see Common Whitlowgrass (a pretty flower not a grass - grows in between the pavement) outside the Co-op museum today. It is the oldest known site in Rochdale for this plant, sadly (for the plant) they are carrying work out on the building so its not there anymore, however there w...
At 10:15am today Rob Adderley had a male Red-breasted Merganser fly off Arnfield Reservoir (just inside Derbyshire) and fly (flushed by the first emerging boats) strongly west into the Greater Manchester. One might presume Audenshaw Reservoirs to be its first visible decent looking site to drop...
I'm trying to decide between the Manfrotto 393 telephoto lens support (£120) and a Wimberley II clone from China on ebay here (£62). I prefer the look of the Wimberley clone an...
Last May (during our "big day" onslaught in Greater Manchester) I confessed to being impressed by Mr. Rayner's ability to i/d Egyptian goose solely on call, as I could not recall that I myself had ever knowingly heard one. One of my little local sites, Low Barns (known to the said J.W. Rayne...
Over the past few months I have been discussing putting on some birdwatching workshops with Ian, his knowledge about bird identification is extraordinary and I was very keen for him to lead some bird workshops for our company - www.discoverthewild.co.uk. Well at last I am please to announce that Ia...
I know I'm often late with my own submissions of BBS, Atlas and other survey data, but after I received my Lancashire Bird Report 2010 last week through the post I wondered if there was any sign of 2010 GM Bird Report on the horizon? I appreciate that a lot of hard work goes into the report, but my ex...
Personally I have always referred to " 12 Teal" or "500 Wigeon" , or a flock of Shoveler for e.g. I have noticed in the RSPB magazine and, more recently on here, people referring to "Teals" and "Wigeons". To me, Teals is the equivalent of "geeses&quo...
Hi all. I am about to start working on an assignment for my Species Conservation module at University (I am studying Wildlife Conservation and Zoo Biology at The University of Salford). My chosen topic for the assignment is to study the reasons behind the decline of Britain's migrant breeding birds...
Hi All, I'm curious as to whether anyone has recorded any roding woodcock yet in Greater Manchester, in view of you all being some way further south of us here in Durham. I was surprised to hear the familiar overhead squelchy grunt and saw a bird circling our valley here at dusk on March 1st, which surely...
near tram stop, then swam across the ship canal/irwell.
I appreciate that a lot of hard work goes into the report, but my ex...